The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh: and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
"And the hand of Midian prevailed"  (Judges 6:2).  The oppression had been going on for seven years when the events of this chapter unfolded. "The genealogy of the Midianites reached all the way back to Abraham and his son Midian by his second wife Keturah,"[1] making them kinsmen of the Israelites.