Topic
Oreb; Zeeb
6 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Judges 7:25ISBE
And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.
- Judges 8:3ISBE
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
- Psalms 83:11ISBE
Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
- Isaiah 9:4ISBE
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
- Isaiah 10:24–26ISBE
¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the…
- Isaiah 10:26ISBE
And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 11 references
o'-reb, ze'-eb, zeb (`orebh, "raven," especially "crow"), and (ze'ebh, "wolf") (Jud 7:25; 8:3; Ps 83:11, Isa 10:26 (Oreb only)): Two Midianite chieftains captured and beheaded by the Ephraimites, who brought their heads to Gideon.
1. Meaning of Names:
As to the meaning of the two names, both words are found in Arabic. Robertson Smith, Kinship, etc. (190 ff, 218 ff), says that the use of the names of animals as names of persons is a relic of totemism. But Noldeke (ZDMG, XL, 160 ff) and others hold that such a use shows a desire that those so named should be as disagreeable to their enemies as the plant or animal which the name denoted. Some again (e.g. Stade, Geschichte, 189 ff) maintain that the two names here are borrowed from localities and not vice versa, as Jud 7:25 implies. If so, we must take the names to be originally two places, apparently in Ephraim, for the words "beyond Jordan" in 7:25 contradict 8:4, where it is said that Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over. Moore (Jgs, 214) suggests that the two localities were near the junction with the Jordan of the stream that comes from Wady Far`ah. The construction of the Hebrew allows of a translation "the rock (called) Oreb," and "the winepress (called) Zeeb."
2. The Battle of Oreb:
The account of a battle here is corroborated by Isa 10:26, a verse which mentions the "rock of Oreb," and suggests that the great defeat of the Midianites took place there (compare Isa 9:4). The passage in Isa 10:24-26 is prose, however, and is said to be late editing (see G.H. Box, Isa, 65). In Ps 83:11 (Hebrew 12) there is a prayer that God would make the "nobles" among the Psalmist's enemies as Oreb and Zeeb.
David Francis Roberts
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.