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•MEDAN contention, the third son of Abraham by Keturah (Genesis 25:2).
•MEDE (Hebrews Madai), a Median or inhabitant of Media (Daniel 11:1). In Genesis 10:2 the Hebrew word occurs in the list of the sons of Japheth. But probably this is an ethnic and not a personal name, and denotes simply the Medes as descended from Japheth.
•MEDEBA waters of quiet, an ancient Moabite town (Numbers 21:30). It was assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:16). Here was fought the great battle in which Joab defeated the Ammonites and their allies (1 Chronicles 19:7-15; comp. 2 Samuel 10:6-14). In the time of Isaiah (15:2) the Moabites regained possession of it from the Ammonites. (See HANUN.)
The ruins of this important city, now Madeba or Madiyabah, are seen about 8 miles south-west of Heshbon, and 14 east of the Dead Sea. Among these are the ruins of what must have been a large temple, and of three cisterns of considerable extent, which are now dry. These cisterns may have originated the name Medeba, “waters of quiet.” (See OMRI.)
•MEDIA Hebrews Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Genesis 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isaiah 21:2; Daniel 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Daniel 11:1.
We first hear of this people in the Assyrian cuneiform records, under the name of Amada, about B.C. 840. They appear to have been a branch of the Aryans, who came from the east bank of the Indus, and were probably the predominant race for a while in the Mesopotamian valley. They consisted for three or four centuries of a number of tribes, each ruled by its own
chief, who at length were brought under the Assyrian yoke (2 Kings 17:6). From this subjection they achieved deliverance, and formed themselves into an empire under Cyaxares (B.C. 633). This monarch entered into an alliance with the king of Babylon, and invaded Assyria, capturing and destroying the city of Nineveh (B.C. 625), thus putting an end to the Assyrian monarchy (Nah. 1:8; 2:5,6; 3:13, 14).