Midian lay in the desert east of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The name comes from Midian, one of the sons Abraham had with Keturah after Sarah’s death.
The Midianites were a nomadic people, devoted to shepherding and to caravan trade between Egypt and Arabia. They did not form a single kingdom, but lived in clans led by local chiefs.
It was there that Moses fled after killing an Egyptian, and there he spent decades as a shepherd in the household of Jethro, priest of Midian. In Midian he married Zipporah and received from the Lord himself the command to return to Egypt.
Later, in the days of Numbers, the Midianites became adversaries of Israel in the desert, and the Lord commanded Moses to wage a war of vengeance against them. The story of Midian shows how God prepares his servants even in a place of exile.
