Midian, the Midianites, the land of Midian
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(dispute, strife) (Exod 2:15; Acts 7:29) — a desert region lying around the eastern arm of the Red Sea, inhabited, as is supposed, by the descendants of Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah. They were defeated by Hadad in the field of Moab (Gen 36:35). The land of Midian was famous for its camels (Judg 7:12), and the descendants of Midian possessed immense herds of camels and dromedaries (Isa 60:6). Here Moses fled from Pharaoh; here he married the daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro, and here he lived forty years, tending his father-in-law’s flocks (Exod 2:16-22).
It is evident that the Midianites were a nomadic people, living on the Sinai peninsula at the time when the children of Israel camped on the plains of Moab. At the invitation of the Moabites, the Midianites sent their elders together with them to Balaam, to ask him to curse Israel. For this hostile conduct toward the Hebrews they were severely punished: their kings and male population were destroyed, their cities and strongholds given to the fire, and their possessions, together with their wives and children, were brought to the camp of Israel and there divided by Moses and Eleazar among the people (Num 31).
Perhaps only some part of the Midianites escaped this general slaughter, since a little later we find them attacking and oppressing the Israelites for seven years, until they were utterly routed by Gideon (Judg 6). “Thus were the Midianites subdued before the children of Israel,” remarks the sacred writer of the book of Judges on this occasion, “and they lifted up their heads no more” (Judg 8:28). After this the name of the Midianites is very seldom encountered in Holy Scripture, except perhaps in references to their existence in ancient times.
The memory of the terrible defeat Gideon inflicted on the Midianites became, as it were, a byword in later ages: “Do unto them as unto Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kishon,” the psalmist cries to God, concerning vengeance upon the enemies of God’s people (Ps 83:9). The expression “the tent-curtains of the land of Midian” (Hab 3:7) allegorically signifies the borders, or the inhabitants, of Midian.