They were the original “camel jockeys,” skilled riders and feared raiders. These nomads occupied the area around the Sinai peninsula. It was Midianite traders who sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt (Gen. 37).
When Moses fled from Egypt he lived in Midian, where he married a daughter of the Midianite priest Jethro (Ex. 2). Later, as the Israelites left Egypt and journeyed to Canaan, God commanded Moses to kill the Midianites, who were their enemies (Num. 25:16–18).
The judge Gideon had to free Israel from the oppression of the Midianites (Judg. 6-8), who were “like swarms of locusts” that “did not spare a living thing.” Gideon’s defeat over a much larger Midianite force is well told in Judges 7.
The Midianites were noted not only for their brutality but for their wealth. Judges 8:26 mentions the Midianite kings’ purple robes and—an appropriate touch—chains around their camels’ necks.
