Madian

see also: Etymology of Madian

According to the Bible, Madian or Midian is one of wire of Abraham and his/her concubine Ketourah. Its descendants, Madianites, would have settled in the East of the the Jordan between the Dead Sea and to the peninsula of the the Sinai in the south. Moïse was accommodated there during 40 years by the priest of this tribe, Jethro, after having fled Egypt. It marries there Tsiporah, one of the girls of Jethro. It is during this period of the account that God appears in the episode of the Burning bush and sends Moïse to deliver the people of Israel of slavery.

The revenge exerted by Moïse against Madianites, whose women had allured the children of Israel and makes adopt the worship of the idols, is covered in chapter 31 of the Livre of the Numbers.

Later, in the Book of the Judges, Gédéon will put a term at the attacks of Madianites against the Jews.

In Coran

In the Coran God sent in the country of Madian, the Prophète Chu `ayb which is often identified in Jethro of the Bible. Madianites were accustomed to falsifying the weights and defrauding on the goods. The madianites were punished by an earthquake. Chu `ayb adds an injunction to give up the idols for single God.

Nothing explicit in Coran makes it possible to identify Chu `ayb in Jéthro if it is not that they are both of the madianites. For the tradition brought back by Tabarî that is not any doubt. According to Tabarî, Chu `ayb request in Moïse eight years of work mercenary for the price of his daughter Séphora. It is only after this time that Moïse marries Séphora. Before Moïse does not turn over to Egypt, Chu `ayb gives him the stick which will change into snake in front of the Pharaon.

References

Madiân or Midyân. Country located in the north-western part of the Arabic peninsula, in the east of the gulf of Aqaba ; limited to north by Edom, the south by the kingdoms of Arabia. Madianites controlled at certain times of the whole areas of Arabia, the Negev and the the Sinai. Madianites are attached to a series of Arab tribes resulting from Qeturah, woman of Abraham. Tabarî says that they are the wire of Madian, wire of Abraham.

Random links: