The Midianites were a biblical people who occupied territory east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, and southward through the desert wilderness of the Arabah. They reportedly dominated this territory from roughly the twelfth through the tenth centuries B.C.E. In the biblical account, the Midianites were descended from Midian, a son of Abraham through his concubine Keturah (Genesis 25:1-6). She was not a concubine.. scripture calls her wife.
