Meaning of MIDIANITES

Desert dwellers (Gen. 25:2, 6; Num. 10:29-31; Is. 60:6; Hab. 3:7; Jdt. 2:26). Five families arose from Midian, the father of them all (Gen. 25:4).

Midianite merchants bought Joseph and took him to Egypt; They accompanied the caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead (Gen. 37:25, 28, 36). Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite (Ex. 3:1). The Midianites, allied with the Moabites, seduced Balaam into cursing Israel and luring them into an idolatrous and immoral cult (Num. 22:4, 6; 25).

Jehovah ordered Moses, therefore, to fight against Midian. The Israelites put to death the five kings of this nation, all the men and all the married women, who had been the instigators of all the dissolution into which Israel had fallen (Num. 31:3-18; cf. v. 16). The kings of Midian were allies, or vassals, of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh. 13:21).

In the time of the Judges, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the East invaded Canaan like a swarm of locusts. There they took their animals, their tents, also taking over the crops of the Israelites, who were reduced to the greatest extremity.

After seven years, the Lord, having mercy on the people in need of him, gave him a liberator, Gideon. He crushed the oppressors in the battle of the plain of Jezreel, killing the two princes Oreb and Zeeb, and later the kings Zebah and Zalmunna. From then on the country had forty years of peace (Judges 6-8; 9:17; Ps. 83:9-12; Is. 9:3; 10:26).

After that, the Midianites are not mentioned again in the Bible, except as historical reminiscence (Is. 60:6; Hab. 3:7). It is probable that, being mixed early with the Ismailis, they were finally absorbed by the nomads of the north of the Arabian desert, designated by the general name of Arabs.