OREB, AND ZEEB
Raven and wolf, two Midianite chiefs, captured after the victory of Gideon, and slain at the spots whither they had fled, and which were afterwards called in memory of them “the rock of Oreb” and the wine- press or cellar of Zeeb, Jdg 7:25 . Their punishment foretells that of all God’s enemies, Psa 83:12 ; Isa 10:26 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Oreb And Zeeb
OREB AND ZEEB.Two princes of Midian in the invasion of Israel, mentioned as inferior to the kings Zebah and Zalmunna (Jdg 7:25; Jdg 8:3, Psa 83:11; cf. also Isa 10:26). The meaning of the names is raven and wolf. Associated with the invasion put down by Gideon, these two princes were killed by the men of Ephraim, who rose at Gideons suggestion and intercepted the princes and their followers at the river Jordan. That their death, so briefly narrated in Judges, was accompanied by great slaughter may be inferred from the incidental references by the writers of Psa 83:1-18 and Is 10. Isaiah compares the destruction to that of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, while the Psalmist compares the flying Midianites to the whirling dust or chaff driven before the wind. The rock Oreb and the wine-press Zeeb took their names from this incident.
T. A. Moxon.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Oreb and Zeeb
oreb, zeeb, zeb (, , orebh, raven, especially crow), and (, ze’ebh, wolf) (Jdg 7:25; Jdg 8:3; Psa 83:11, and 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 Jdg 7:25 implies. If so, we must take the names to be originally two places, apparently in Ephraim, for the words beyond Jordan in Jdg 7:25 contradict Jdg 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 Farah. 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 Psa 83:11 (Hebrew 12) there is a prayer that God would make the nobles among the Psalmist’s enemies as Oreb and Zeeb.