According to the
Book of Genesis, the Midianites were the descendants of
Midian, a son of
Abraham and his wife
Keturah: "Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah" (
Genesis 25:1–2,
King James Version).[4]
Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources,[5] but in 2010 a reference to Midian was identified in a
Taymanitic inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.[6]
Land or tribal league?
Some scholars have suggested that the name "Midian" does not refer to geographic places or to a specific tribe,[7][8] but to a confederation or "league" of tribes brought together as a collective for worship purposes.
Paul Haupt first made this suggestion in 1909,[9] describing Midian as a "cultic collective" (
German: Kultgenossenschaft) or an
amphictyony, meaning "an association (
German: Bund) of different tribes in the vicinity of a
sanctuary".
Elath, on the northern tip of the
Gulf of Aqaba was suggested[by whom?] as the location of the first
shrine, with a second sanctuary located at
Kadesh.[citation needed]
Later writers have questioned the identified sanctuary locations but supported the thesis of a Midianite league.
George Mendenhall suggests that the Midianites were a non-
Semitic confederate group,[10] and
William Dumbrell maintains the same:
We believe that Haupt's proposal is to be adopted, and that Midian, rather than depicting a land, is a general term for an amorphous league of the
Late Bronze Age, of wide geographical range, who, after a series of reverses, the most prominent of which are recorded in
Judges 6–7, largely disappeared from the historical scene...[11]
Metallurgy
The area of
Timna valley contains large deposits of copper that had been mined from the prehistoric times onward. Copper was mined here by the Egyptians during the reign of Pharaoh
Seti I at the end of the 14th century BCE.[12]
It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the
Moabites[13] they are thought to have
worshipped a multitude, including
Baal-peor and
Ashteroth. According to
Karel van der Toorn, "By the 14th century BC, groups of Edomites and Midianites worshipped
Yahweh as their God;" this conclusion is based on identification between Midianites and the
Shasu.[14]
The Midianite connections to metallurgy at Timna have been noted by many scholars. Large amounts of Midianite ceramic ware has been discovered at these mining sites.[15]
An Egyptian temple of
Hathor at Timna (Site 200) was first discovered during the
Beno Rothenberg's excavations.[16]
"Rothenberg’s excavation of Site 200 revealed a number of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions including those of: Seti I, Ramesses II, Merneptah, Seti II, and Queen Twosret of the Nineteenth Dynasty, as well as Ramesses III, Ramesses IV, and Ramesses V of the Twentieth Dynasty (pp. 163–166)."[17]
The site also continued to be used during the Midianite occupation in the area, which is usually dated to terminal Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age.
The Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine.[18] In addition to the discovery of post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were found all along two walls of the shrine.
Beno Rothenberg,[19] the excavator of the site, suggested that the Midianites were making offerings to Hathor, especially since a large number of Midianite votive vessels (25%) were discovered in the shrine. However, whether Hathor or some other deity was the object of devotion during this period is difficult to ascertain.
A small bronze snake with gilded head was also discovered in the
naos of the Timna mining shrine, along with a hoard of metal objects that included a small bronze figurine of a bearded male god, which according to Rothenberg was Midianite in origin. Michael Homan observes that the Midianite tent-shrine at Timna is one of the closest parallels to the biblical
Tabernacle.[20]
In religious scripture
In the Bible
Midian was the son of
Abraham.[21] Abraham's great-grandson
Joseph, after being thrown into a pit by his brothers, was sold to either Midianites or
Ishmaelites.[22]
Moses spent 40 years in voluntary exile in Midian after killing an Egyptian.[23] There, he married
Zipporah, the daughter of Midianite priest
Jethro[24] (also known as
Reuel). Jethro advised Moses on establishing a system of delegated legal decision-making.[25] Moses asked
Hobab, the son of Reuel, to accompany the Israelites travelling towards the
Promised Land because of his local knowledge, but Hobab preferred to return to his homeland.[26] A number of scholars have proposed that the biblical description of devouring fire on Mount Sinai refers to an erupting volcano in the land of biblical Midian identified as
Hala-'l Badr in northwestern
Saudi Arabia.[27]
During the
Baal-Peor episode, when Moabite women seduced Israelite men,
Zimri, the son of a
Simeonite chief, got involved with a Midianite woman called
Cozbi. The couple were speared by
Phinehas.[28] War against Midian followed.
Numbers 31 reports that all but the virgin females were slain and their cities burned to the ground.[29] Some commentators, for example the
Pulpit Commentary and
Gill's Exposition of the Bible, note that God's command focused on attacking the Midianites and not the Moabites,[30] and similarly Moses in
Deuteronomy directed that the Israelites should not harass the Moabites.[31] A modern-day movement, the
Phineas Priesthood, has interpreted this story as a prohibition against
miscegenation, despite the Midianites being closely related to the Israelites as descendants of Abraham, and Moses being married to a Midianite.
During the time of the
Judges, Israel was oppressed by Midian for seven years[32] until
Gideon defeated Midian's armies.[33]Isaiah speaks of camels from Midian and
Ephah coming to "cover your land", along with the gold and frankincense from
Sheba.[34] This passage, taken by the
Gospel of Matthew as a foreshadowing of the
Magi's gifts to the infant
Jesus, has been incorporated into the
Christmas liturgy.[citation needed]
In the Quran
The people of Midian are mentioned extensively in the
Quran. The word 'Madyan' appears 10 times in it. The people are also called ʾaṣḥabu l-ʾaykah (
Arabic: أَصْحَابُ ٱلْأَيْكَة,
lit. 'Companions of the Wood').[35][36][37][38] The lands of Midian are mentioned in sura
Al-Qasas (The Stories), verses 20–28, of the Quran as the place where Moses escaped upon learning of the chiefs conspiring to kill him.[39]
Surah 9 (
Al-Tawbah), verse 70 says "Has not the story reached them of those before them? – The people of Nūḥ (Noah),
ʿĀd and
Thamud, the people of Ibrahim (Abraham), the dwellers [literally, comrades] of Madyan (Midian) and the cities overthrown [i.e. the people to whom Lūt (Lot) preached], to them came their Messengers with clear proofs. So it was not
Allah who wronged them, but they used to wrong themselves."[40]
In Surah 7 (
Al-ʾAʿrāf), Madyan is mentioned as one of several peoples who were warned by prophets to repent lest judgment fall on them. The story of Madyan is the last, coming after that of
Lot preaching to his people (referring to the destruction of the
Cities of the Plain). Madyan was warned by the prophet
Shuʿaib to repent of practicing polytheism, using false weights and measures and lying in wait along the road. But they rejected Shuʿayb, and consequently were destroyed by a tremor (rajfa, v. 91).
Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his commentary (1934) writes, "The fate of the Madyan people is described in the same terms as that of the Thamūd in verse 78 above. An earthquake seized them by night, and they were buried in their own homes, no longer to vex Allah's earth. But a supplementary detail is mentioned in [Quran] 26:189, 'the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom,' which may be understood to mean a shower of ashes and cinders accompanying a volcanic eruption. Thus a day of terror drove them into their homes, and the earthquake finished them."[41] Excavations at the oasis of
Al-Bad', identified as the city of Midian mentioned in classical and Islamic sources, have uncovered evidence of an occupation spanning from the 4th millennium BC.[42][43]
Pottery
Midianite pottery, also called Qurayyah Painted Ware (QPW), is found at numerous sites stretching from the southern
Levant to NW Saudi Arabia, the
Hejaz; Qurayyah in NW Saudi Arabia is thought to be its original location of manufacture.[44] The pottery is bichrome / polychrome style and it dates as early as the 13th century BC; its many geometric, human, and animal motifs are painted in browns and dark reds on a pinkish-tan slip. "Midianite" pottery is found in its largest quantities at metallurgical sites in the southern Levant, especially Timna.[45] Because of the
Mycenaean motifs on Midianite pottery, some scholars including George Mendenhall,[46] Peter Parr,[47] and
Beno Rothenberg[48] have suggested that the Midianites were originally
Sea Peoples who migrated from the
Aegean region and imposed themselves on a pre-existing Semitic stratum. The question of the origin of the Midianites still remains open.[citation needed]
^Haupt, Paul (1909).
"Midian und Sinai" [Midian and Sinai]. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German). 63: 56. Archived from
the original on 2015-12-17. Retrieved 1 August 2015; quoted in Dumbrell
^"The Incident at Beth Baal Peor", The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition, 1973
^
William J. Dumbrell, Midian: A Land or a League?, Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 25, Fasc. 2, No. 2a. Jubilee Number (May, 1975), p. 32.
^Toorn, Karel van der. Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit, and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life. Leiden:
Brill Publishers. p. 283.
^Rothenberg, Beno. The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna. Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies London: Thames and Hudson, 1988
^Rothenberg, Beno (1972). Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines. London:
Thames and Hudson.
^Avner, Uzi (2014).
"Egyptian Timna – Reconsidered". In Tebes, Juan Manuel (ed.). Unearthing the Wilderness: Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age. Peeters. pp. 103–162.
ISBN978-90-429-2973-9.
^Rothenberg, Beno (1972). Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines. London:
Thames and Hudson.
^Homan, Michael M. (2002). "To Your Tents, O Israel!: The Terminology, Function, Form, and Symbolism of the Tents in the Bible and the Ancient Near East". Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. 12.
Brill Publishers: 118.
^B. Rothenberg and J.Glass, "The Midianite Pottery," in Midian, Moab, and Edom: The History and Archaeology of the Late Bronze and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia, JSOT Supplement Series 24, ed. John F.A. Sawyer and David J.A. Clines (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1983), pp. 65–124.
^Tebes, "Pottery Makers and Premodern Exchange in the Fringes of Egypt: An Approximation to the Distribution of Iron Age Midianite Pottery," Buried History 43 (2007), pp. 11–26.
^George Mendenhall, "Qurayya and the Midianites," in Studies in the History of Arabia, Vol. 3, ed. A. R. Al-Ansary (Riyadh: King Saud University), pp. 137–45
^Peter J. Parr, "Further Reflections on Late Second Millennium Settlement in North West Arabia," in Retrieving the Past: Essays on Archaeological Research and Methodology, ed. J. D. Seger (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1996), pp. 213–18.
^Rothenberg, "Egyptian Chariots, Midianites from Hijaz/ Midian (Northwest Arabia) and Amalekites from the Negev in the Timna Mines: Rock drawings in the Ancient Copper Mines of the Arabah – new aspects of the region's history II," Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies, newsletter no. 23 (2003), p. 12.
Clines, David and John Sawyer, eds. "Midian, Moab and Edom: The History and Archaeology of Late Bronze and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series, No. 24. Sheffield Academic Press, 1983.
Graf, David F. (2016).
"Arabia and the Arabians". In Arnold, Bill T.; Strawn, Brent A. (eds.). The World around the Old Testament: The People and Places of the Ancient Near East. Baker Academic. pp. 417–466.
ISBN978-1-4934-0574-9.
Note: Mountains are sorted in alphabetical order, unless where it concerns ranges. The highest confirmed mountains in each country are indicated with 'HP', and those with the highest peak are indicated with 'HP', bearing in mind that in the UAE, the highest mountain and the mountain with the highest peak are different.
Outcrops are indicated with 'OC', and
outliers with 'OL', and
anticlines with 'AC'.
Volcanoes are indicated with 'V',
volcanic craters with 'VC',
lava fields with 'LF', and
volcanic fields with 'VF'.