Midian

Midian (Hebrew מִדְיָן ) is the name of the ancestor of the Midianites in the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible. So there is, at the same time this people and their settlement area. The name literally means " dispute " or " judgment " (Arabic مدين madyan ).

Progenitor

Midian is mentioned in the first book of Genesis 25.2-4, the fourth son of Abraham and his second wife Keturah. His brothers were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Ishbak and Shuah. Isaac was, therefore, his half-brother of Abraham's first marriage to Sara. The 1st Book of Chronicles 1.32 f takes up this point and assigns Midian in the pedigree of Israel a. It also lists five of his sons: ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.

Midian was sent by Abraham as Ishmael to the east and given gifts, apparently so as not to conflict with Isaac. This was a first-born son of Sarah, the main wife of Abraham, whose legacy.

Also in the Quran and the following Arab and Islamic tradition Midian seen as a legitimate son of Abraham, the ancestor of the Midianites, who mixed with the Ishmaelites. From this, the Arabs had emerged. The Egyptian historian Al- Maqrizi (1364-1442) emphasized this in the Middle Ages.

Nation and region

The Midianites were according to the Bible, a tribe of warlike desert nomads. They are there counted along with the Arameans, Edomites, Israelites and Joktanitern to the Arameans. Their occurrence falls in the pre-state " period of the Judges ," which is set to 1200-1000 BC.

The land of Midian is located in the Bible only in the approximate direction southeast of Palestine in the mountainous desert. Since the Midianites have conducted extensive raids, crisscrossed and dominated it probably far from their stem region remote areas. Therefore, their location remains uncertain.

Since according to Ex 3.1 there, the mountain of God, Horeb - who was not identified until much later with Mount Sinai in the south of the peninsula - and this was after the theophany in Ex 19,16 probably an active volcano was, it is believed that the area in the northwestern part of present-day Saudi Arabia, east of the Gulf of Aqaba was. There was in ancient times, active volcanoes, of which the Hala - ' l Badr is the most famous.

Biblical meaning

Midian and the Midianites are for the origin story of the people of Israel in the Pentateuch is of great importance. Moses fled after his murder of an Egyptian slave driver to Midian, where he married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, to him two sons, Gershom and Eliezer gave birth (Ex 2). After 40 years (Acts 7.30-35 ) Moses then met YHWH, the God of his forefathers hitherto unknown, at the mountain of God, Horeb in a burning bush and received the appointment as leader of his people from slavery (Ex 3).

After the successful exodus from Egypt, the priest Jethro had praised his God for the liberation of God at Mount Horeb, he offered one sacrifice and held the sacrificial meal with Moses and the elders of the Israelites. Thus, the Bible affirms the common worship of the same God in both nations, although Jethro his God not explicitly " YHWH " is the name (Ex 18). Subsequent to this scene then finds the big revelation at Sinai, the announcement of the Torah and the covenant of God with Israel instead of (Ex 19-24).

Although this representation today's historical-critical biblical scholarship sees primarily as a construct that different, originally independent tradition complexes should only connect later. An indication of this is the different naming the priest of Midian in various Bible passages as Reuel (Ex 2:18) or Hobab and its partial assignment to the Kenites (Judges 4:11), a returned unto Cain, another tribe in the east of Palestine.

In Numbers 25, 31 and Ri 6 Midian appear as sworn enemies of Israel, the complete extermination ( spell ) YHWH commanded or enforced by the army commander Gideon conferred charisma itself.

Nevertheless, an early encounter between Hebrews and Midianites or Kenites and common worship of the god YHWH is considered likely, since this God's name is assigned in extra-biblical discoveries such as the Mesha Stele and this partly also refer to an area east of the Gulf of Aqaba.