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Midian (; Mīḏyān; ; , Madiam; Taymanitic: 𐪃𐪕𐪚𐪌 MDYN) is a geographical region in West Asia mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Arabian Peninsula, on the east shore of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea", an area which contained at least 14 inhabited sites during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
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).
Traditionally, knowledge about Midian and the Midianites' existence was based solely upon Biblical and classical sources, but in 2010 a reference to Midian was identified in a inscription dated to before the 9th century BC.
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,"The Incident at Beth Baal Peor", The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition, 1973 and William Dumbrell maintains the same:
Otherwise, the land of Midian roughly corresponds to what is now the Tabuk Province of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia.
Scholars have noted the Midianite connections to metallurgy at Timna. Large amounts of Midianite ceramic ware has been discovered at these mining sites.Rothenberg, Beno. The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna. Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies London: Thames and Hudson, 1988
An Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna (Site 200) was first discovered during Beno Rothenberg's excavations.
The site also continued in use 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. 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, 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 a gilded head was also discovered in the cella 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 provides one of the closest parallels to the biblical Tabernacle.
Moses spent 40 years in self-imposed exile in Midian after killing an Egyptian. There, he married Zipporah, the daughter of Midianite priest Jethro (also known as Reuel). Jethro advised Moses on establishing a system of delegated legal decision-making. 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. 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.
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. War against Midian followed. Numbers 31 reports that all but the virgin females were slain and their cities burned to the ground. and 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, and similarly Moses in Deuteronomy directed that the Israelites should not harass the Moabites. 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 until Gideon defeated Midian's armies. Isaiah speaks of camels from Midian and Ephah coming to "cover your land", along with the gold and frankincense from Sheba. This passage, taken by the Gospel of Matthew as a foreshadowing of the Biblical Magi's gifts to the infant Jesus, has been incorporated into the Christmas liturgy.
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, of Madyan (Midian) and the cities overthrown i.e., to them came their Messengers with clear proofs. So it was not Allah who wronged them, but they used to wrong themselves."
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 Shuaib to repent of practicing polytheism, using false weights and measures and lying in wait along the road. But they rejected Shuʿaib, 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." 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.
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