Oreb

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("raven".) Prince of Midian defeated by Gideon (Judges 7:25; Judges 8:3). His name, as Zeeb ("wolf"), indicates a fierce and ravenous warrior. Slain upon the rock Oreb in the pursuit after the battle, by the men of Ephraim, who intercepted and slew with great slaughter the Midianites after the Jordan fords. This second part of the victory is celebrated Psalms 83:11-14; Isaiah 10:26, "according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb." Oreb and Zeeb were the prince generals of Midian. Zebah and Zalmunna were their kings (Judges 8:5; Judges 8:10; Judges 8:12; Judges 8:18; Judges 8:21). "Make them like a wheel, as the stubble before the wind, as the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountain on fire." The Arabic imprecation illustrates this, "may you be whirled as the 'akkub before the wind, until you are caught in the thorns or plunged in the sea!" Thomson describes the wild artichoke when dry thus swept before the wind. The chaff from the exposed threshing floor, and the rapidly sweeping flame on a wooded hill in hot countries, are equally expressive images.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Oreb (ô'reb), raven. The "rock of Oreb" was named after Oreb, one of the princes of Midian, whom the men of Ephraim slew. Judges 7:25; Isaiah 10:26. Reland and others would locate Oreb east of the Jordan and in the neighborhood of Bethshean, at a place called Orbo.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

O'reb. (raven). One of the chieftains of the Midianite host, which invaded Israel, and was defeated and driven back by Gideon. Judges 7:25. (B.C. 1362). Isaiah, Isaiah 10:26, refers to the magnitude of this disaster. Compare Psalms 83:1.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Prince of Midian: he invaded Israel, but was defeated by Gideon, and slain at the ROCK OREB — this occurrence apparently giving to the rock its name. Judges 7:25; Judges 8:3; Psalm 83:11; Isaiah 10:26 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Judges 7:20-25Psalm 83:9Isaiah 10:26

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

One of the princes of Midian. (Judges 7:25) If from Harab, it means raven.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Oreb', עוֹרֵב [Judges 7:25; Isaiah 10:26, עֹרֵב , a raven; Sept. ᾿Ωρήβ v. r. Ο᾿ρήβ; Josephus, ᾿Ωρηβός , Ant. v. 6, 5), the name of a sheik of the Midianites, who, with Zeeb ("the wolf"), invaded Israel and was defeated and driven back by Gideon. B.C. cir. 1362. (See Gideon). The title given to them ( שָׂרַים, A. V. "princes") distinguishes them from Zebah and Zalmunna, the other two chieftains, who are called "kings" (מלכים ), and were evidently superior in rank to Oreb and Zeeb. "They were killed, not by Gideon himnself, or the people under his immediate conduct, but by the men of Ephraim, who rose this entreaty and intercepted the flying horde at the fords of the Jordan. This was the second act of that great tragedy. It is but slightly touched upon in the narrative of Judges, but the terms in which Isaiah refers to it (Isaiah 10:26) are such as to imply that it was a truly awful slaughter. He places it in the same rank with the two most tremendous disasters recorded in the whole of the history of Israel — the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and of the army of Sennacherib. Nor is Isaiah alone among the poets of Israel in his reference to this great event. While it is the terrific slaughter of the Midianites which points his allusion, their discomfiture and flight are prominent in that of the author of Psalms 83. In imagery both obvious and vivid to every native of the gusty hills and plains of Palestine, though to us comparatively unintelligible, the Psalmist describes them as driven over the uplands of Gilead like the clouds of chaff blown from the threshing-floors; chased away like the spherical masses of dry weeds which course over the plains of Esdraelon and Philistia — flying with the dreadful hurry and confusion of the flames that rush and leap from tree to tree and, hill to hill when the wooded mountains: of a tropical country are by chance ignited (Psalms 83:13-14). The slaughter was concentrated around the rock at which Oreb fell, and which was long known by his name (Judges 7:25; Isaiah 10:26). This spot appears to have been in the valley of the Jordan, from whence the heads of the two chiefs were brought to Gideon to encourage him to furtler pursuit after the fugitive Zebah and Zalmunna." See below.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

O´reb and Ze´eb, the remarkable names (raven and wolf) of two emirs of the Midianites, who were made prisoners by the Ephraimites is attempting to recross the Jordan after the victory of Gideon. They were put to death by the captors, and their heads carried as a trophy to the conqueror, who was then on the other side the Jordan . The first of these princes met his death near a rock, which thenceforth bore his name the other seems to have at first sought refuge in one of those excavations in which wines were preserved, and which was thenceforth called the winepress of Zeeb .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

In 2 Esdras 2:33 the King James Version for MT. Horeb (which see; so the Revised Version (British and American)).