The Midianites were Bedouin nomads and descendants of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25:2) who occupied the plains that bordered the Arabian desert to the east of Moab and Ammon. They were raiders who descended on the Israelites at harvest times, stole their crops and possessions, and then retreated to their own land (cf. Isa. 2:12, 19; 9:4). They did not want to kill the Israelites and take over their land. They preferred to let the Israelites sow and harvest their crops and then steal what God's people had labored so hard to produce. The Midianites conducted their raids on camels that made them very hard to overtake in pursuit.
"This is the earliest instance of such a phenomenon of which we have record. The effective domestication of the camel had been accomplished somewhat earlier deep in Arabia and had now spread to tribal confederacies to the south and east of Palestine, giving them a mobility such as they had never had before."137
To conceal their harvested crops and other valuable possessions the Israelites hid them in caves and other holes in the ground. Many of the mountainous areas of Israel abound with natural caves and dens.
The Amalekites and other tribes that lived in the Arabian desert east of Canaan joined the Midianites in their raids. These desert dwellers were the "sons of the east"(v. 3). The raids extended all the way to Gaza on the Mediterranean coast (v. 4), far into Israel.
After seven years of these locust-like devastating raids (cf. Deut. 28:31, 38; Joel 1:4), the Israelites were at their wits end and called out to Yahweh in their misery (v. 6). In response to their cries God sent an unnamed prophet (v. 8) to explain the reason for their discipline. They had again disobeyed the Lord (v. 10).
