MIDIANITE
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MIDIANITE
the nameless hordes who, under the common designa- tion of " tlie people of the East," Bene-Kedem, harassed the eastern border of Palestine.
To this victory there are subsequent allusions in the sacred writings (Psa. Ixxxiii, 10, 12; Isa. ix, 4; x, 6); but the Midianites do not again appear in sacred or pro- fane history. The name, indeed, occurs after the exile in Judith ii, 16, but it seems to be there confounded with the Arabians. Josephus, however, asserts (Ant. iv, 7, 1) that Petra, the capital of Arabia (i. e. Idumsea), was called by the natives Areceme, from the IMidianitish king Kekem slain by Moses (Numb, xxxi, 8). Euse- bius and Jerome also mention a city Madian, so named after the son of Abraham by Keturah, situated beyond Arabia (Idumsea) to the south, by the Ked Sea, from which the district was called ; and another city of the same name near the Anion and Areopolis, the ruins of which only existed in their days (Onomast. s. v. ; comp. Jerome, Comment, ad Jes. Ix, and Ezech. xxv). These were doubtless traditionary recollections of the different branches of the Midianitish stock, showing their preva- lence throughout Idumiea and the Siuaitic peninsula as a migratory tribe.
II. Geographical Identification. — From all the above notices, we may gather with considerable certainty that there were at least two main branches of the Midianites. It seems to have been that portion of the tribe dwelling about the eastern arm of the Ked Sea, among whom Moses found refuge when he tied from Egypt, and whose priest or sheik was Jethro, who became the father-in- law of the future lawgiver (Exod. iii, 1 ; Numb, x, 29). See Kenitk. These in like manner are usually reck- oned along with the Ethiopians of Cushite origin. It is certain that some Cushite tribes did settle in and on the outskirts of Arabia, which was therefore called Cush, in common with other districts occupied by Cush- ite tribes ; and, under this view, it is observable that the wife of Moses is called a Cushite (Numb, xii, 1), and that, in Hab. iii, 7, the Midianites are named with the Cushites ; for these are undoubtedly the Midianites who trembled for fear when they heard that the Israelites had passed through the Ked Sea. We do not again meet with these Midianites in the Jewish history, but they appear to have remained for a long time settled in the same quarter, where indeed is the seat of the only Midianites known to Oriental authors. The Arabian geographers of the middle age (Edrisi, dim. iii, 5, p. 3; Ibn el-Wardi, and Abulfeda, A rah. descr. p. 77 ; comp. Seetzen, xx, 311) speak of the ruins of an ancient town called Madian, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, where was still to be seen the well at which Moses wa- tered the flocks of Shoaib or Jethro. This was doubt- less the same as Modiana, a town in the same district, mentioned by Ptolemy {Geog. v, 19) ; and Niebuhr con- jectures that the site is now occupied by IMoilah, a small town or village on the Ked Sea, on the Haj road from Egypt {Descript. A rab. p. 377) ; but, as Rosenmiiller re- marks {Bihl. Geog. iii, 224), this place is too far south to be identified with the Midian of Jethro. The Madi- an of Abulfeda is doubtless that mentioned by Josephus {Ant. xii, 11, 1) as Madiene (MaSvrjin}), situated at the Eed Sea, properly identified by Reland {Palcest. p. 98, 100) with the modern Midi/an, situated about half-way down the eastern coast of the /Elanitic Gulf (Forster's Geoffi: of Arabia, ii, 116, and Index, s. v.). To the same effect are the notices of the city Madian in Euse- bius and Jerome above.
Another branch of the Midianites occupied the coun- try east and south-east of the Jloabites, who were seateil on the east of the Dead Sea ; or rather, perhaps, we should say that, as they appear to have been a semi- nomad people, they pastured their flocks in the unset- tled country beyond the INIoabites, with whom, as a kin- dred, although more settled tribe, they seem to have been on the most friendly terms, and on whose borders were situated those "cities and goodly castles which they possessed" (Numb, xxxi, 10). It is to these Mid-
ianites that we must refer the brief statements of a col- lision with Hadad, one of the early Edomitish kings ((ien. xxxvi, 35). These Midianites, like the other tribes and nations who had a common origin with them, were highly hostile to the Israelites.