MADIAMITE8
614
MADIAKITES
flalle, 1906, 314. — DadaUy too, inay probably be
oonsidered as a geographical name in the region of
Teim&) . The continuation of the genealogy settles its
character and permits a better identification of the
Madianites: Madian must have had five sons, 'Epha,
- £ph6r, H&nOk, AbtdA*, and '£ld&h. The last two are
used as proper names in the Sabeo-Minean inscrip- tions, but are otherwise unknown. The first thr^, which occur in later Israelitish genealogies (see Num., xxvi, 5; I Chron., ii, 47; iv, 17), have b«Bn rightly compared with local and ethnolo^cal designations in soutnem Arabia (see the more important citations from Arabian authors collected in DiUmann, "Die Genesb erklart ", 6th ed., Leipzig, 1892, 308 sq.). For 'Epha in particular there is the valuable witness of the Assyrian texts. The annals of Tiglath-Pileser (D. V. Theglathphalasar); (d. 727 b. c.) mention among the tribes of Teim& and Saba a tribe called Hayapa which is philologically the equivalent of the Hebrew HB^y (cf . Schrader, " Die Keilenschrif ten und das A. T.", 3rd ed., Berlin, 1903, 58). — It may be inferred from these in- dicatiohs that the genealogy of Madian is a hterary process by which the Bible connects with the history of the Hebrew people the Arabian tribes of the regions which we now call Nejd and Jddf. Madianites \a, then, to be regarded as the generic name of an im- mense tribe divided into several clans of which we know at least some of the names.
This notion established, there will be scarcely any difficulty in tracing through sacred history the rdfe played by the Madianites, without having recourse, as nas too often been done, to alleged contradictions in the sources. Some of these — e. g.. Gen., xxxvii, 28, 36 (cf. Is., Ix, 6) — represent them as merchants en- gaged cbiefiy in the transportation of aromatics by &eir camel caravans. Otners — e. g., Ex., ji, 16 sq.; iii, 1— depict them as shepherds, but somewhat seden- • tary. In one place (v. g., Ex., xviii, 7-12, and Judges, L 16; see the commentaries of Moore^ Lagrange, etc., for the exact reading) the Madianites m general, or the special clan of the (^nites (D.V. Cinites), appear as tne friends and allies of Israel; in another (v. g.. Judges, vi-viii, and Num., xxv, xxxii) they are irrecon- cilable enemies; Hab., iii, 7, manifestly localizes them in southern Arabia, by parallel with JK^3 which designates a country of eastern K(^h, most certainly distmct from Ethiopian Nubia. (This distinction, first established by Glaser. then by Winckler and Hommel, has been discussed by Lagrange in " Les in- scriptions du sud de 1' Arabic et Tex^gdse biblique " in "Revue Biblique"^ 1902, 269 sqq. Ed. Meyer, who denies the distinction, in "Die Israeliten", 315 sqq., does not bring forward any solid argument against it.) Num.. xxii, 4, and especially Gen., xxxvi, 35, place them oeyond contradiction in almost immediate rela- tion with Moab. so that Winckler (" Geschichte Israels in Einzeldarsteilungen "^ I, Leipzig, 1895, 47 sqq.) as- signs to them as habitat, according to the most ancient tradition, the country later occupied by the Moabites.
It is evidently a matter for Biblical criticism to ex- amine the particular point of view of the various ac- counts in which the Madianites occur, and to explain, for instance, why Madianites and Ishmadites are em- ployed in apparent equivalence in Gen., xxxvii, 25, 28, and Judges, viii, 24, 26. For the rest, much light is shed on the history of this ancient and powerful tribe by analogies with what we know concerning the great Arabian tribes, their constitution, their division, their habitat, their relations with the neighbouring tribes or sedentary peoples . As we find them in the Pentateuch the Madianites were an important tribe in which were lathered the chief clans inhabiting Southern Aralna. The area wherein these nomads moved with their flocks stretched towards the west, probably to the frontiers of Egypt, and towards the north, without well-defined limits to the plateaux east of the Dead
Sea and towards Hauran. (Compare the modefm
tribe — much less important, it is true — of the Qawei-
t&te.) It was with them that Moses sought refuge
when he was fleeing from E^n>t (Ex., ii, 15), as did the
E^rptian officer in the weU-known account of Sino-
uhit. His welcome to the tribe and the alliance which
subsequently resulted therefrom^ when Moses and his
people were marching towards Sinai, are like common
occurrences in the history of modern tribes. But the
Madianites were not all, nor exclusively, shepherds.
Masters of the eastern desert, if not also of the fertile
countries oi southern Arabia, they at least monopo-
lized the traffic between Arabia and the Aramean
countries^ on the north, or Egypt, on the west . Their
commercial caravans brought them into contact witl^
the regions of culture, and thus, as always happens
with nomads, the spectacle of the prospenty of more
settled peoples aroused their covetousness and
tempted them to make raids. When Israel was forming Its political and religious organizations at Mount
Sinai, it was in peaceful contact with one of the Madi-
anite clans, the Cinites. TOne considerable school in
recent times has even undertaken to prove that the
religion of Israel, and especially the worship of Jahve,
was borrowed from the Uinites. Lagrange nas shown,
in "Revue Biblique", 1903, 382 sqq., that this assump-
tion is without foundation.) It has even been estaD-
lished that a portion of this clan united its fortunes
with those of Israel and followed it to Chanaan (cf .
Num., xxiv, 21 sq.; Judges, i, 16; iv, 11. 17; v, 24; I
Sam., XV, 6 sq.). However, other Madianite clans
scattered through the eastern desert were at the same
time covetously watching the confines of the Aramean
country. They were called upon by the Moabites to
oppose the passage of Israel (Num., xxii, sqq.). As to
these "Mountains of the east", (HdrerB Q^dSm) of
Num., xxiii, 7, whence was brought the Madianite
diviner Balaam, cf . " the east country " of Gen., xxv, 7,
to which Abraham relegated the offspring of his con-
cubine Getura; cf. also the modern linguistic usage of
the Arabs, to whom " the East " (Sherq) indicates the
entire desert region where the Bedouin tribes wander,
between Sjrria and Mesopotamia, to the north, and be-
tween the Gulf of Akabah and the Persian Gulf to the
south.
Nothing is to be concluded from this momentary alliance between the Moabites and a portion of the Madianites, either with regard to a very definite hab- itat of the great tribe on the confines of Moab, or with regard to a contradiction with other Biblical accounts. In the time of Gedeon, perhaps two centuries after the events in Moab, the eastern Madianites penetrated the fertile regions where Israel was for a long time settled. This was much more in the nature of a foray than of a conquest of the soil. But the Madianite chieftains had exasperated Gedeon by slaying his brothers. The vengeance taken was in conformity with the law of the times, which is to this day the Arabian law. Gedeon, as conqueror, exterminated the tribe after having slain its leacfers (Judges, viii) . From this time the tribe dis- appeared almost entirely from the history of Israel and seems never to have regained much of its importance. The installation of the eastern Israelitish tribes forced these Madianites back into the desert; the surviving clans fell back towards the south, to Arabia, which had been their cradle, and where some portions of the tribe had never ceased to dwell. This was their centre in the time of Isaias (Ix, 6), probably also in the time of Habacuc (iii, 7; about 600 b. c.); here, at any rate, all the Assyrian documents of Theglathphalasar (745- 27) and Sargon (722-05) make mention of one of their clans. Howeve?, the conflict between the South- Arabian tribes increased, and new waves of popula- tion, flowing northwards to the regions of culture, were to absorb the remains of the ancient decayed tribe. According to the testimony of Greek geo^- phers and, later, of Arabian authors, the MadianitM
