91 THE BAAL PEOR EPISODE REVISITED conflated with the Balaam narrative immediately preceding in which Moabites and Midianites are closely associated (Num 22,4.7). The blow struck by Phineas will have its sequel in the war of extermination against the Midianites in which Phineas will again play a leading role. In the course of that war Balaam will have to die for having advised the Midianite women to seduce the Israelites into apostasy in the affair of Peor, the allusion of course being to the first Baal Peor episode featuring Moabite women (Num 31,8.16)9. The Midianite-Moabite connection appears in other contexts. We hear that the Edomite king Hadad defeated the Midianites in Moab (Gen 36,35), and the five Midianite “kings” killed in the war of extermination were vassals of Sihon who reigned in Moab (Josh 13,21). Finally, the name Zippor, belonging to the father of king Balak of Moab, is the masculine counterpart to the name of Moses’ Midianite wife, Zipporah (Exod 2,21; 4,25; 18,2). The presence of Midianites in Moab evidenced in these biblical texts is consistent with what is known about the extent of Midianite expansion in the late second millennium B.C. By the Achaemenid period, however, they were long gone from the scene, though still remembered, their place having been taken first by the Ishmaelite tribal federation, later still by the Kedarite Arabs who expanded into southern Palestine and the Transjordanian plateau including land formerly part of the kingdom of Moab. Under their leader Geshem (Gashm), they were one of several thorns in Nehemiah’s side during his governorship (Neh 2,19; 6,1-2.16) 10. III. Historical context It is surprising that throughout the history of interpretation of the Baal Peor episode little attention has been given to another Israelite-Midianite marriage, that of Moses to Zipporah (Exod 2,21; 4,25; 18,2). The Moses saga 9 On the tainted reputation of Balaam, which continued into early Chris- tian times (2 Pet 2,15; Jude 11; Rev 2,14), see J. VAN SETERS, “From Faith- ful Prophet to Villain: Observations on the Tradition History of the Balaam Story”, A Biblical Itinerary. In Search of Method, Form and Content. Essays in Honor of George W. Coats (ed. E.E. CARPENTER) (JSOTSS 240; Sheffield 1997) 126-132. Van Seters attributes the derogatory portrait of Balaam to the P author and to xenophobia in Judah of the Persian period in general. 10 On the extent of Midianite expansion and the Midianite-Moab connection see O. EISSFELDT, “Protektorat der Midianiter über ihre Nachbarn im letzten Viertel des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr.”, JBL 87 (1968) 383-393; W.J. DUMBRELL, “Midian: A Land or a League?”, VT 25 (1975) 323-337; E.J. PAYNE, “The Mid- ianite Arc in Joshua and Judges”, Midian, Moab and Edom (eds. J.F.A. SAWYER – D.J.A. CLINES) (JSOTSS 24; Sheffield 1983) 163-172; E.A. KNAUF, Midian. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte Palästinas und Nordarabiens am Ende des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. (Wiesbaden 1988) 162-164.