Midian
Midian
region of Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia
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Midian (
According to the
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]
Religion
It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the
An Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna continued to be used during the Midianite occupation of the site (terminal Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age); the Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine.[14] 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,[15] 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.[16]
In religious scripture
In the Bible
Midian was the son of
During the
During the time of the Judges, Israel was oppressed by Midian for seven years[28] until Gideon defeated Midian's armies.[29] Isaiah speaks of camels from Midian and Ephah coming to "cover your land", along with the gold and frankincense from Sheba.[30] 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
Surah 9 (
In Surah 7 (
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.[40] 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.[41] Because of the Mycenaean motifs on Midianite pottery, some scholars including George Mendenhall,[42] Peter Parr,[43] and Beno Rothenberg[44] 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]
Midian Mountains
Midian Mountains | |
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Arabic) | |
Geography | |
Country | Saudi Arabia Jordan |
Region | Tabuk (KSA) 'Aqabah (Jordan) Middle East |
Range coordinates | 28°18′N 35°36′E / 28.3°N 35.6°E |
The Midian Mountains (
-
Haql on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba between the Syrian region and Arabian and Sinai Peninsulas, with the mountains in the background
See also
- ʿĀd
- Balak
- Al-Bad'
- Ishmaelites
- Kedar
- History of ancient Israel and Judah
- The Bible and history
- Midian war
- Sodom and Gomorrah
- Abarim, Jordanian mountains to the north
- Biblical Mount Sinai
Notes
- ^ Also Μαδιανίτης for "Midianite".
References
- ISBN 978-0-8028-4416-3
- ^ Graf 2016, p. 428.
- ^ Luciani, Marta (November–December 2023). "Archaeology in the Land of Midian: Excavating the Qurayyah Oasis". Biblical Archaeology Review. 49 (4).
- Bible Gateway. King James Version.
- ISBN 978-0-415-39485-7.
- S2CID 246891828.
- ^ William J. Dumbrell, Midian: A Land or a League?, Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 25, Fasc. 2, No. 2a. Jubilee Number (May, 1975), pp. 323–37
- ISBN 978-0-8028-3783-7. p. 350.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Numbers 22:4, 7
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-90-429-2973-9.
- 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.
- ^ Genesis 25:1–2
- ^ Genesis 37:28
- ^ Exodus 2:11–15
- ^ Exodus 2:21
- ^ Exodus 18
- ^ Numbers 10:29–31
- ISSN 0309-0892.
- ^ Numbers 25:6–8, 14–15
- ^ Numbers 25:17 and Numbers 31
- ^ "Pulpit Commentary and Gill's Exposition of the Bible". BibleHub. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ Deuteronomy 2:9
- ^ Judges 6:1–6
- ^ Judges 6:7–9
- ^ Isaiah 60:6
- ^ Quran 15:78-79
- ^ Quran 26:176-189
- ^ Quran 38:13-15
- ^ Quran 50:12-14
- ^ "Surah Al-Qasas - 20-28". The Noble Quran. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
- ^ "Muhammad Taqi-Ud-Din al-Halali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan's Translation". July 2009. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023.
- ^ Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Quran – English Translation of the Meaning and Commentary. King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ISSN 2031-5937.
- ^ "Al-Badʿ - Archéologie - culture.fr". archeologie.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-9-4017-3637-4.
- ISBN 0-7614-7571-0.
- ISBN 8-1702-2292-3.
- ISBN 978-1-4629-1365-7.
Bibliography
- 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. ISBN 978-1-4934-0574-9.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Midian and Midianites". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.