Gad
GAD
Prosperity, fortune,1. Son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah’s servant, Gen 30:11 . Leah called him Gad, and said, “A troop cometh.” Compare Gen 49:19 ; but many Hebrew scholars prefer the rendering, good fortune or prosperity cometh. The tribe of Gad came out of Egypt in number forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty, Gen 46:16 Num 1:24 . After the defeat of the kings Og and Sihon, Gad and Reuben desired to have their allotment east of Jordan, alleging their great number of cattle. Moses granted their request, on condition that they should accompany their brethren, and assist in conquering the land west of Jordan, Num 32:1-42 . The inheritance of the tribe of Gad lay between Manesseh on the north, Reuben on the south, the Jordan on the west, and the Ammonites on the east. The northwest point stretched to the Sea of Galilee. It was a fine pastoral region, though its exposure to the incursion of eastern Arabians compelled the Gadites to be well armed and on the alert, Gen 49:19 Deu 33:20 1Ch 5:18-22,25,26 12:8. The principal cities of Gad are called cities of Gilead, Jos 13:25 .2. David’s friend, who followed him when persecuted by Saul, and was often sent with a divine message to David, 1Sa 22:5 2Sa 24:11-19 1Ch 21:9-19 2Ch 29:25 . Scriptures styles him a prophet, and David’s seer. He appears to have written a history of David’s life;which is cited in 1Ch 29:29 .3. Rendered “troops” in Isa 65:11, but generally supposed to be the name of a heathen god of fortune; and perhaps of the planet Jupiter, the star of good fortune. Compare Jos 11:17 15:37. MENI in the same verse, translated “number,” is supposed by some to mean destiny; by others, the planet Benus, and the goddess of good fortune.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Gad
See Tribes.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Gad
(Hebrew: fortune, luck)
Patriarch, seventh son of Jacob (Genesis 35).
Tribe of Israel dwelling east of the Jordan, between Manasses on the north and Ruben on the south. They were a war-like race whose valor is highly praised in the parting blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 33), and in the prophecy of Jacob (Genesis 49).
Hebrew prophet (1 Kings 22), contemporary of King David .
Pagan divinity (Isaiah 65:11, where the Hebrew Gad is rendered “fortune”).
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Gad
(, fortune, luck).
A proper name which designates in the Bible, (I), a patriarch; (II), a tribe of Israel; (III), a prophet; (IV), a pagan deity.
I. GAD (PATRIARCH)
A patriarch, to wit, the seventh son of Jacob, and the first by Zelpha, Lia’s handmaid. He was born to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria (Aram), like his full brother, Aser (Genesis 35:26). On his birth, Lia exclaimed: Happily! () and therefore called his name Gad (Genesis 30:11). The exclamation and the name given thereupon bespeak a real relation between the name of this son of Jacob, and that of the pagan deity which was also called “Gad”; although the exact nature of this relation is variously estimated at the present day. The patriarch Gad begot seven sons (Genesis 46:16). Nothing more is said in Holy Writ concerning him personally.
II. GAD (TRIBE)
Tribe of Israel on the east of Jordan, between eastern Manasses on the north, and Ruben on the south. The territorial possessions of the descendants of Gad cannot be given with perfect exactness. On the west, the portion of Gad abutted on the Jordan, and ran up the Arabah or Jordan valley, in a narrow strip, from the northern end of the Dead Sea to the southern extremity of the lake of Genesareth; but on the other three sides, its boundaries cannot be described with equal certainty. Thus, on the east, the Bible assigns to Gad no distinct limit. On the north, it gives, in one place (Deuteronomy 3:16), the river Jeboc as the extreme limit of that tribe, while, in two other places (Joshua 13:26, 30), it treats as such the locality of Manaim (Heb. Mahanaim) which was to the north of the Jeboc. In like manner, on the south, the sacred text represents in Jos., xiii, 15 sqq., as the boundary between Gad and Ruben, a straight line drawn eastwards from the Jordan and passing exactly northward of Hesebon, a town which it ascribes to Ruben; whereas, it assigns elsewhere (Numbers 32:34 sqq.; Joshua 21:37), to Ruben several towns north of Hesebon, and to Gad, the very town of Hesebon. From these apparently conflicting biblical data it is natural to infer that the extent of the tribe of Gad varied at different times in Hebrew history, and to consider as simply conventional the definite limits ascribed to Gad on the ordinary maps of Palestine divided among the twelve tribes of Israel. The following are the principal towns mentioned in Jos., xiii, 25 sqq. and Num., xxxii, 34-36, as belonging to the descendants of Gad: Jaser, Ramoth, Masphe, Betonim, Manaim, Betharan, Bethnemra, Socoth, Saphon, Jegbaa, Etroth, Sophan. During the journey through the wilderness, the tribe of Gad counted upwards of 40,000 men and marched with Ruben and Simeon on the south side of Israel. Allowed by Moses to settle on the east side of the Jordan, on condition of aiding in the conquest of western Palestine, the Gadites complied with that condition, took possession of the territory which they had desired as favourable to pastoral pursuits, and formed for centuries the most important Israelite tribe beyond Jordan. They were a warlike race whose valour is highly praised in the parting blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:20, 21) and in the prophecy of Jacob (Genesis 49:19), and were able to hold their own in the raids made against them, chiefly by the children of Ammon. Upon the disruption of Solomon’s empire, they formed a part of the northern kingdom, and shared with varying success in the subsequent wars against northern Israel. Their name appears on the Moabite stone (line 10). They were carried into captivity at the same time as the other tribes beyond Jordan by Teglathphalasar (734 B. C.), and in the time of the prophet Jeremias their cities were inhabited by the Ammonites. Their territory comprised the land of Galaad, the fertility and beauty of which are still praised by eastern travellers.
III. GAD (PROPHET)
A Hebrew prophet, contemporary with King David. He came to that prince when the latter was hiding in the cave of Odollam (I Kings [Samuel], xxii, 5), and was probably one of the Gadites who joined David there (I Par. [Chronicles], xii, 8). He then began under God’s guidance his career of counsellor, which eventually won him the name of “the seer of David” (2 Samuel 24:11; 1 Chronicles 21:9). Gad announced to the king the divine punishment for numbering the people, and advised him to erect an altar to God on Ornan’s threshing-floor (2 Samuel 24:11 sqq.; 1 Chronicles 21:9 sqq.). He is referred to as the author of a book narrating part of David’s reign (1 Chronicles 29:29) and as having assisted that king in arranging the musical services of the House of the Lord (2 Chronicles 29:25).
IV. GAD (PAGAN GOD)
A pagan divinity explicitly mentioned in Is., lxv, 11, where the Hebrew name , “Gad”, is rightly rendered “Fortune” in the Vulgate. As far as is known in the present day, Gad is a word of Chanaanite origin, which, long before the passage of Isaias just referred to was written, had, from a mere appellative, become the proper name of a deity. Biblical testimony to the ancient worship of Gad in Chanaan is certainly found in the names of such places as Baalgad (Joshua 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) and Maglalgad “tower of Gad” (Joshua 15:37). A trace of Gad’s worship in Syria may perhaps be found in Lia’s exclamation “begad” on the birth of her first son when she also called “Gad” (Genesis 30:11); this was admitted of old by St. Augustine (Quæstiones in Heptateuchum, in P. L., XXXIV, col. 571), and at a much more recent date by Dom Calmet, in his Commentary on Genesis.
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FRANCIS E. GIGOT Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to Fr. John Hilkert, Akron, Ohio
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VICopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Gad
(Heb. id. , fortune, Gen 30:11, although another signification is alluded to in Gaen. 49:19 Sept. and N.T. ), the name of two men, and of the descendants of one of them; also of a heathen deity and of a plant. SEE BAAL-GAD; SEE MIGDAL-GAD.
1. (Josephus .) Jacob’s seventh son, the first-born of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, and whole-brother to Asher (Gen 30:11-13; Gen 46:16; Gen 46:18), born autumn B.C. 1915. The following is a copious account of him and his posterity. SEE JACOB.
1. As to the name, there are several interpretations:
(a.) The passage in which the bestowal of the name of Gad is preserved like the others, an exclamation on his birth is more than usually obscure: “And Leah said, ‘In fortune (be-gad, ), and she called his name Gad” (Gen 30:11). Such is supposed to be the meaning of the old text of the passage (the Kethib); so it stood at the time of the Sept., which renders the key word by , in which it is followed by Jerome in the Vulg. Feliciter. In his Quaest. in Genesim, Jerome has infortuna. Josephus (Ant. 1:19, 8) gives it still a different turn-= fortuitous. But in the Marginal emendations of the Masoretes (the Keri) the word is given , “Gad has come.” This construction is adopted by the ancient versions of Onkelos, Aquila ( ), and Synemachus ( ).
(b.) In the blessing of Jacob, however, we find the name played upon in a different manner: “Gad” is here taken as meaning a piratical band or troop (the term constantly used for which is gedud’, ), and the, allusion the turns of which it is impossible adequately to convey in English would seem to be to the irregular life of predatory warfare which should be pursued by the tribe after their settlement on the borders of the Promised Land. “Gad, a plundering troop (gedud’) shall plunder him (ye-gud-en’nu), but he will plunder (ya-gutd’) [at the] heel” (Gen 49:19). Jerome (De Benedict. Jacobi) interprets this of the revenge taken by the warriors of the tribe on their return from the conquest of Western Palestine for the incursions of the desert tribes during their absence.
(c.) The force here lent to the name has been by some partially transferred to the narrative of Genesis 30, e.g. time Samaritan version, the Veneto- Greek, and our own A.V. (uniting this with the preceding) “a troop (of children) cometh.” But it must not be overlooked that the word gedut by which it is here sought to interpret the gad of Gen 30:11 possessed its own special signification of turbulence and fierceness, which makes it hardly applicable to children in the sense of a number or crowd, the image suggested by the A.V. Exactly as the turns of Jacob’s language apply to the characteristics of the tribe, it does not appear that there is any connection between his allusions and those in the exclamation of Leah. The key to the latter is probably lost. To suppose that Leah was invoking some ancient divinity, the god Fortune, who is conjectured to be once alluded to and once only in the latter part of the book of Isaiah, under the title of Gad (Isa 65:11; A.V. “that troop;” Gesenius, “dem Gluck”), is surely a poor explanation. See below, 3.
2. Of the childhood and life of the individual GAD nothing is preserved. At the time of the descent into Egypt seven sons are ascribed to him, remarkable from the fact that a majority of their meaemses have plural terminisations, as if those of families rather than persons (Gen 46:16). The list, with a slight variation, is again given on the occasion of the census in the wilderness of Sinai (Num 26:15-18). SEE AROD EZBON; SEE OZNI.
TRIBE OF GAD. The position of Gad during the march to the Promised Land was on the south side of the tabernacle (Num 2:14). The leader of the tribe at the time of the start from Sinai was Eliasaph, son of Renel or Des-el (Num 2:14; Num 10:20). Gad is regularly named in the various enumerations of the tribes through the wanderings-at the dispatching of the spies (Num 13:15), the numbering in the plains of Moab (Num 26:3; Num 26:15) but the only inference we can draw is an indication of a commencing alliance with the tribe which was subsequently to be his next neighbor. He has left the more closely-related tribe of Asher to take up his position next to Reuben. These two tribes also preserve a near equality in their numbers, not suffering from the fluctuations which were endured by the others. At the first census Gad had 45,650, and Reuben 46,500; at the last Gad had 40,500, and Reuben 43,330. This alliance was doubtless induced by the similarity of their pursuits. Of all the sons of Jacob, these two tribes alone returned to the land which their forefathers had left five hundred years before with their occupations unchanged. “The trade of thy slaves hath been about cattle froms our youth even till now “we are shepherds, baothe cee and our fathers” (Gen 46:34; Gen 47:4) such was the account which the patriarchs gave of themselves to Pharaoh. The civilization and the persecutions of Egypt had worked a change in the habits of most of the tribes but Reuben and Gad remained faithful to the pastoral pursuits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and at the halt on the east of Jordan we find them coming forward to Moses with the representation that they “have cattle” “a great multitude of cattle,and the land where they now are is a “place for cattle.” What should they do in the close precincts of the contatry west of Jordan with all their flocks and herds? Wherefore let this land, they pray, be given them for a possession, and let them not be brought over Jordan (Num 32:1-5). They did not, however, attempt to evade taking their proper share of the difficulties of subduing the land of Canaan, and after that task bad been effected, and the apportionment amongst the nine and a half tribes completed “at the doorway of the tabernacle of the congregation in Sheil before Jehovah,” they were dismissed by Joshua “to their tents,” to their “wives, their little ones, and their cattle,” which they had left behind them in Gilead. To their tents they went to the dangers and delights of the free Bedouin life in which they had elected to remain, and in which a few partial glimpses excepted the later history allows them to remain hidden from view.
The country allotted to Gad appears, speaking roughly, to have lain chiefly about the center of the land east of Jordan. The south of that district from the Arnon (wady Mojeb), about half way down the Dead Sea, to Heshbon, nearly due east of Jerusalem was occupied by Reuben, and at or about Heshbon the possessions of Gad commenced. They embraced half Gilead, as the oldest record specially states (Deu 3:12), or half the land of the children of Ammon (Jos 13:25), probably the mountainous district which is intersected by the torrent Jabbok if the wady Zurka be the Jabbok including as its most northern town the ancient sanctuary of Mahanaim. On the east the furthest landmark given is “Aroer, that faces Rabbah,” the present Amman (Jos 13:25). The Arabian desert thus appears to have been the eastern boundary. West was the Jordan (Jos 13:27). The northern boundary is somewhat more difficult to define. Gad possessed the whole Jordan valley as far as the Sea of Galilee (13:27), but among the mountains eastward the territory extended no farther north than the river Jabbok. The border seems to have run diagonally from that point across the mountains by Mahanaim to the southern extremity of the Sea of Galilee (Jos 12:1-6; Jos 13:26; Jos 13:30-31; Deu 3:12-13; see Porter’s Damascus, 2:252). The territory thus consisted of two comparatively separate and independent parts, (1) the high land on the general level of the country east of Jordan, and (2) the sunk valley of the Jordan itself; the former diminishing at the Jabbok, the latter occupying the whole of the great valley on the east side of the river, and extending up to the very Sea of Cinnereth or Gennesaret itself.
Of the structure and character of the land which thus belonged to the tribe “the land of Gad and Gilead” we have only vague information. From the western part of Palestine its aspect is that of a wall of purple mountain, with a singularly horizontal outline; here and there the surface is seamed by the ravines, through which the torrents find their way to the Jordan, but this does not much affect the vertical walllike look of the range. But on a nearer approach in the Jordan valley, the horizontal outline becomes broken and when the summits are attained a new scene is said to burst on the view. “A wide table-land appears, tossed about in wild confusion of undulating downs, clothed with rich grass throughout; in the southern parts trees are thinly scattered here and there, aged trees covered with lichen, as if the relics of a primeval forest long since cleared away; the northern parts still abound in magnificent woods of sycamore, beech, terebinth, ilex, and enormous figtrees. These downs are broken by three deep defiles, through which the three rivers of the Yarmuk, the Jabbok, and the Arnon fall into the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. On the east they melt away into the vast red plain, which by a gradual descent joins the level of the plain of the Hauran, and of the Assyrian desert” (Stanley, Palestine, page 320). It is a very picturesque country-not the “flat, open downs of smooth and even turf” of the country round Heshbon (Irby, page 142), the sheep-walks of Reuben and of the Moabites, but ” most beautifully varied with hanging woods, mostly of the vallonia oak, laurestinus, cedar, arbutus, arbutus andrachne, etc. At times the country had all the appearance of a noble park” (ib. page 147), “graceful hills, rich vales, luxuriant herbage” (Porter, Handb. page 310). SEE GILEAD.
Such was the territory allotted to the Gadites; but there is no doubt that they soon extended themselves beyond these limits. The official records of the reign of Jotham of Judah (1Ch 5:11; 1Ch 5:16) show them to have been at that time established over the whole of Gilead, and in possession of Bashan as far as Salcah the modern Sulkhad, a town at the eastern extremity of the noble plain of the Hauramn and very far both to the north and the east of the border given them originally, while the Manassites were pushed still further northwards to Mount Hermon (1Ch 5:23). They soon became identified with Gilead, that name so memorable in the earliest history of the nation; and in many of the earlier records it supersedes the name of Gad, as we have already remarked it did that of Bashan. In the song of Deborah, ” Gilead” is said to have “abode beyond Jordan” (Jdg 5:17). Jephthah appears to have been a Gadite, a native of Mizpeh (Jdg 11:34; compare 31, and Jos 13:26), and yet he is always designated “the Gileadite;” and so also with Barzillai of Mahanaim (2Sa 17:27; Ezr 2:61; comp. Jos 13:26). The following is a list of all the Biblical localities in this tribe, with their probable identifications:
The character of the tribe is throughout strongly marked fierce and warlike “strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions; and like roes upon the mountains for swiftness.” Such is the graphic description given of those eleven heroes of Gad “the least of them more than equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand” who joined their fortunes to David at the time of his greatest discredit and embarrassment (1Ch 12:8), undeterred by the natural difficulties of “floods and field” which stood in their way. Surrounded as they were by Ammonites, Midianites, Hagarites, “Children of the East,” and all the other countless tribes, animated by a common hostility to the strangers whose coming had dispossessed them of their fairest districts, the warlike propensities of the tribe must have had many opportunities of exercise. One of its greatest engagements is related in 1Ch 5:19-22. Here their opponents were the wandering Ishmaelitish tribes of Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab (comp. Gen 25:15), nomad people, possessed of an enormous wealth in camels, sheep, and asses, to this day the characteristic possessions of their Bedouin successors. This immense booty cames into the hands of the conquerors, who seem to have entered with it on the former mode of life of their victims: probably pushed their way further into the Eastern wilderness in the “steads” of these Hagarites. Another of these encounters is contained in the history of Jephthah, but this latter story develops elements of a different nature and a higher order than the mere fierceness necessary to repel the attacks of the plunderers of the desert. In the behavior of Jephthah throughout that affecting history there are traces of a spirit which we may almost call chivaleresque; the high tone taken with the elders of Gilead, the noble but fruitless expostulation with the king of Ammon before the attack, the hasty vow, the overwhelming grief, and yet the persistent devotion of purpose, survive sin all these there are marks of a great nobility of disposition, which must have been more or less characteristic of the Gadites in general. If to this we add the loyalty, the generosity, and the delicacy of Barzillai (2Sa 19:32-39), we obtain a very high idea of the tribe at whose head were such men as these. Nor must we, while enumerating the worthies of Gad, forget that in all probability Elijah the Tishebite, “who was of the inhabitants of Gilead,” was one of them.
But, while exhibiting these high personal qualities, Gad appears to have been wanting in the powers necessary to enable him to take any active or leading part in the confederacy of the nation. The warriors, who rendered such assistance to David, might, when Ishbosheth set up his court at Mahanaim as king of Israel, have done much towards affirming his rights. Had Abner made choice of Shechem or Shiloh instead of Mahanaim the quick, explosive Ephraim instead of the unready Gad who can doubt that the troubles of David’s reign would have been immensely increased, perhaps the establishment of the northern kingdoms antedated by nearly a century? David’s presence at the same city during his flight from Absahelm produced no effect on the tribe, and they are not mentioned as having taken any part in the quarrels between Ephraim and Judah.
Cut off as Gad was by position and circumstances froan its brethren on the west of Jordan, it still retained some connection with them. We may infer that it was considered as belonging to the northern kingdom. “Know ye not,” says Ahab in Samaria, “know ye not that Raroth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the band of the king of Syria?” (l Kings 22:3). The territory of Gad was the battlefield as which the long and fierce struggles of Syria and Israel were fought out, and, as an agricultural pastoral country, it must have suffered severely in consequence (2 Kings 20:33).
Gad was carried into captivity by Tiglath Pileser (1Ch 5:26), and is the time of Jeremiah the cities of the tribe seem to have been inhabited by the Ammonites. “Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why doth Malcham (i.e. Moloch) inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?” (49:1). See Relamed, Palaest. page 162 sq.; Burckhardt, Trav. in Syria, page 345 sq.
2. (Josephus , Anmt. 7:13, 4.) “The seer or “the king’s seer,” i.e., David’s such appears to have been his official title (1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 29:25; 2 Chronicles 2 Same. 24:11; 1Ch 21:9) was a “prophet” (), who appears to have joined David when in “the hold,” and at whose advice he quitted it for the forest of Hareth (1Sa 22:5), B.C. 1061. Whether he remained with David during his wanderings is not to be ascertained: we do not again encounter him till late in the life of the king, when he reappears in connection with the punishment inflicted for the numbering of the people (2Sa 24:11-19; 1Ch 21:9-19), B.C. cir. 1016. But he was evidently attached to the royal establishment at Jerusalem, for he wrote a book ( SEE CHRONICLES, BOOK OF ) of the Acts of David (1Ch 29:29), and also assisted in settling the arrangements for the musical service of the “house of God,” by which his name was handed down to times long after his own (2Ch 29:25). In the abruptness of his introduction Gad has been compared with Elijah (Jerome, Qu. Hebr. on 1Sa 22:5), with whom he may have been of the same tribe, if his name can be taken as denoting his parentage, but this is unsupported by any evidence. Nor is there any apparent ground for Ewald’s suggestion (Gesch. 3:116) that he was of the school of Samuel. If this could be made out it would afford a natural reason for his joining David. SEE DAVID.
3. The name GAD (with the art. ; Sept. v.r. , or, according to the reading of Jerome and of some MSS., ) is mentioned in Isa 65:11 (A.V. “troop”). The word, by a combination with the Arabic, may be legitimately taken to denotefortune (see Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. page 140). So Gesenius, Hitzig, and Ewald have taken Gad in their respective versions of Isaiah, rendering the clause, “who spread a table to fortune.” This view, which is the general one, makes fortune in this passage to be an object of idolatrous worship. There is great disagreement, however, as to the power of nature which this name was intended to denote, and, from the scanty data, there is little else than mere opinion on the subject. The majority, among whom are some of the chief rabbinical commentators (see Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 1034), as well as Gesenius, Munter, and Ewald, consider Gad to be the form under which the planet Jupiter was worshipped as the greater star of good fortune (see especially Gesenius, Comm. uber Jesaia, ad loc.). Others, among whom is Vitringa, suppose Gad to have represented the Sun, while Huetius regards it as a representative of the moon, and Movers, the latest writer of any eminence on Syro-Arabian idolatry, takes it to have been the planet Venus (Die Phinicier, 1:650). SEE BEL. On the other hand, if Gad be derived from in the sense of to press, to crowd, it may mean a troop, a heap (to which sense there is an allusion in Gen 49:19); and Hoheisel, as cited in Rosenmuller’s Scholia, ad loc., as well as Deyling, in his Observat. Miscell. page 673, have each attempted a mode by which the passage might be explained if Gad and Meni were taken in the sense of troop and number (see further Dav. Mill’s diss. ad.loc. in his Diss. Selecte, pages 81- 132). SEE MENI.
Some have supposed that a trace of the Syrian worship of Gad is to be found in the exclamation of Leah, when Zilpah bare a son (Gen 30:11), , ba-gad, or, as the Keri has it, , “Gad, or good fortune cometh.” The Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum both give “a lucky planet cometh,” but it is most probable that this is an interpretation which grew out of the astrological beliefs of a later time, and we can infer nothing from it with respect to the idolatry of the inhabitants of Padan Aram in the age of Jacob. That this later belief in a deity Fortune existed, there are many things to prove. Buxtorf (Lex. Talm. s.v.) says that anciently it was a custom for each man to have in his house a splendid couch, which was not used, but was set apart for “the prince of the house,” that is, for the star or constellation Fortune, to render it more propitious. This couch was called the couch of Gada, or good-luck (Talm. Babl. Sanhed. f. 20 a; Nedarim, f. 56 a). Again, in Bereshith Rabba, 65, the words , in Gen 27:31, are explained as an invocation to Gada or Fortune. Rabbi Moses the Priest, quoted by Aben-Ezra (on Gen 30:11), says “that (Isa 65:11) signifies the star of luck, which points to everything that is good, for thus is the language of Kedar (Arabic); but he says that (Gen 30:11) is not used in the same sense.”
Illustrations of the ancient custom of placing a banqueting table in honor of idols will be found in the table spread for the sun among the Ethiopians (Herod. 3:17, 18), and in the feast made by the Babylonians for their god Bel, which is described in the apocryphal history of Bel and the Dragon (comp. also Herod. 1:181, etc.). The table in the temple of Belus is described by Diodorus Siculus (2:9) as being of beaten gold, 40 feet long, 15 wide, and weighing 500 talents. On it were placed two drinking-cups () weighing 30 talents, two censers of 300 talents each, and three golden goblets, that of Jupiter or Bel weighing 1200 Babylonian talents. The couch and table of the god in the temple of Zeus Tryphilius at Patara, in the island of Panchea, are mentioned by Diodorus (5:46; comp. also Virgil, AEn. 2:763). In addition to the opinions which have been referred to above, may be quoted that of Stephen le Moyne (Var. Sacror. page 363), who says that Gad is the goat of Mendes, worshipped by the Egyptians as an embellem of the sun; and of Le Clerc (Comm. in Isa.) and Lakemacher (Obs. Php 4:18, etc.), who identify Gad with Hecate. Macrobius (Sat. 1:19) tells us that in the later Egyptian mythology was worshipped as one of the four deities who presided over birth, and was represented by the moon. This will perhaps throw some light upon the rendering of the Sept. as given by Jerome. Traces of the worship of Gad remain in the proper names Baal Gad and Giddeneme (Plaut. Poen. 5:3), the latter of which Gesenius’ (Mon. Phan. page 407) renders , “favoring fortune” (comp. Wirth, De Gad et Meni Judaeorum hodieanorum diis, Altorf, 1725). SEE BAAL.
4. For the plant gad, SEE CORIANDER. Gadara ( in Josephus, prob. from , a wall SEE GEDERAH; only in N.T. in the Gentile ), a strong city (Josephus, Ant. 13:13, 3), situated near the river Hieromax (Pliny, H.N. 5:16), east of the Sea of Galilee, over against Scythopolis anti Tiberias (Eusebius, Onomasticon, s.v.), and 16 Roman miles distant from each of those places (Itin. Anton. ed. Wess. pages 196, 198; Tab. Peut.), or 60 stadia from the latter (Joseph. Life, 65). It stood on the top of a hill, at the foot of which, upon the banks of the Hieromax, three miles distant, were warm springs and baths called Amatha (Onom. s.v. AEtham and Gadara; Itin. Ant. Martyr.). Josephus calls it the capital of Peraea (War, 4:3), and Polybius says it was one of the most strongly fortified cities in the country (5:71, 3). A large district was attached to it, called by Josephus Gadaritis (, War, 3:10, 10); Strabo also informs us that the warm healing springs were “in the territory of Gadara” ( , Geog. 16 They were termed Thermae Heliae, and were reckoned inferior only to those of Baite (Easel). Onomast.). According to Epiphanius (adv. Heares. 1:131), a yearly festival was held at these baths (Reland, page 775). The caverns in the rocks are also mentioned by Epiphanius (1.c.) in terms which seem to show that they were in his day used for dwellings as well as for tombs. Gadara itself is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is evidently identical with the “country of the Gadarenes” ( or , Mar 5:1; Luk 8:26; Luk 8:37).
Gadara seems to have been founded and chiefly inhabited by Gentiles, for Josephus says of it, in conjunction with Gaza and Hippos, “they were Grecian cities” (Ant. 17:11, 4). The first historical notice of Gadara is its capture, along with Pella and other cities, by Antiochus the Great, in the year B.C. 218 (Joseph. Ant. 12:3, 3). About twenty years afterwards it was taken from the Syrians by Alex. Jannaus, after a siege of ten months (Ant. 13:13, 3; War, 1:4, 2). The Jews retained possession of it for some time; but the place having been destroyed during their civil wars, it was rebuilt by Pompey to gratify his freedman Demetrius, who was a Gadarene (War, 1:7, 7). When Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, changed the government of Judaea by dividing the country into five districts, and placing each under the authority of a council, Gadara was made the capital of one of these districts (War, 1:8, 5). The territory of Gadara, with the adjoining one of Hippos, was added by Augustus to the kingdom of Herod the Great (Ant. 15:7, 3); from which, on the death of the latter, it was, sundered, and joined to the province of Syria (Joseph. War, 2:6, 3). According to the present text of the Jewish historian, Gadara was captured by Vespasian on the first outbreak of the war with the Jews, all its inhabitants massacred, and the town itself, with the surrounding villages, reduced to ashes (Joseph. War, 3:7, 1); but there is good reason to believe (see Robinson, Later Bib. Res. p. 87, note) that the place there referred to is GABARA SEE GABARA (q.v.). However that may have been, Gadara was at this time one of the most important cities cast of the Jordan (Joseph. War, 4:8, 3). Stephen of Byzantium (page 254) reckoned it a part of Coele-Syria, and Pliny (Hist. Nat. 5:16) a part of the Decapolis (comp. William of Tyre, 17:13). At a later period it was the seat of an episcopal see in Palaestina Secunda, whose bishops are named in the councils of Nice and Ephesus (Reland, Palaest. pages 176, 215, 223, 226). It is also mentioned in the Talmud (Reland, page 775; Ritter, Erdk. 17:318). For coins, see Eckhel (Doctr. Num. 3:348). It fell to ruins soon after the Mohammedan conquest, and has now been; deserted for centuries, with the exception of a few families of shepherds, who occasionally find a home in its rock-hewn tombs.
Most modern authorities (Raumler, in his Palastina, Burckhardt, Seetzen) find Gadara in the present village of Um-keis. Buckingham, however, identifies this with Gamala (Trav. in Palest. 2:252 sq.); though it may be added that his facts, if not his reasonings, lead to a conclusion in favor of the general opinion. On a partially isolated hill at the north-western extremity of the mountains of Gilead, about sixteen miles from Tiberias, lie the extensive and remarkable ruins of Um-Keis. Three miles northward, at the foot of the hill, is the deep bed of the Sheriat el Mandhfir, the ancient Hieromax; and here are still the warm springs of Amatha (see Irby and Mangles, page 298; Lindsay, 2:97, 98). On the west is the Jordan valley; and on the south is wady el ‘Arab, running parallel to the Mandhur. Um- Keis occupies the crest of the ridge between the two latter wadys; and as this crest declines in elevation towards the east as well as the west, the situation is strong and commanding. The city formed nearly a square. The upper part of it stood on a level spot, and appears to have been walled all round, the activities of the hill being on all sides exceedingly steep. The eastern gate of entrance has its portals still remaining. The prevalent orders of architecture are the Ionic and the Corinthian. The whole space occupied by the ruins is about two miles in circumference, and there are traces of fortifications all round, though now almost completely prostrate. These ruins bear testimony to the splendor of ancient Gadara. On the northern side of the hill is a theatre, and not far from it are the remains of one of the city gates. At the latter a street commences the via recta of Gadara which ran through the city in a straight line, having a colonnade on each side. The columns are all prostrate. On the west side of the hill is another larger theatre in better preservation. The principal part of the city lay to the west of these two theatres, on a level piece of ground. Now not a house, not a column, not a wall remains standing; yet the old pavement of the main street is nearly perfect, and here and there the traces of the chariot- wheels are visible on the stones, reminding one of the thoroughfares of Pompeii. Buckingham speaks of several grottoes, which formed the necropolis of the city, on the eastern brow of the hill. The first two examined by him were plain chambers hewn down so as to present a perpendicular front. The third tomb had a stone door, as perfect as on the day of its being first hung. The last was an excavated chamber, seven feet in height, twelve paces long, and ten broad; within it was a smaller room. Other tombs were discovered by Buckingham as he ascended the hill. He entered one in which were ten sepulchres, ranged along the inner wall of the chamber in a line, being pierced inward for their greatest length, and divided by a thin partition left in the rock, in each of which was cut a small niche for a lamp. Still more tombs were found, some containing sarcophagi, some without them; all, however, displaying more or less of architectural ornament. One of the ancient tombs was, when our traveler saw it, used as a carpenter’s shop, the occupier of it being employed in constructing a rude plow. A perfect sarcophagus remained within, which was used by the family as a provision-chest. See Burckhardt, Syria. Page 270 sq.; Porter, in Journal of Sac. Lit. 6:281 sq.; Hackett, Illustr. of Script. page 190; Traill’s Josephus, 1:145.
Gadara derives its greatest interest from having been the scene of our Lord’s miracle in healing the daemoniacs (Mat 8:28-34; Mar 5:1-21; Luk 8:26-40). “They ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.” Christ came across the lake from Capernaum, and landed at the southeastern corner, where the steep, lofty bank of the eastern plateau breaks down into the plain of the Jordan. The daemoniacs met him a short distance from the shore; on the side of the adjoining declivity the “great herd of swine” were feeding; when the daemons went among them the whole herd rushed down that “steep place” into the lake and perished; the keepers ran up to the city and told the news, and the excited population came down in haste, and “besought Jesus that he would depart out of their coasts.” The whole circumstances of the narrative are thus strikingly illustrated by the features of the country. Another thing is worthy of notice. The most interesting remains of Gadara are its tombs, which dot the cliffs for a considerable distance round the city, chiefly on the north-east declivity, but many beautifully-sculptured sarcophagi are scattered over the surrounding heights. They are excavated in the limestone rock, and consist of chambers of various dimensions, some more than 20 feet square, with recesses in the sides for bodies. The doors are slabs of stone, a few being ornamented with panels; some of them still remain in their places (Porter, Damascus, 2:54). The present inhabitants of Um-Keis are all troglodytes, “dwelling in tombs,” like the poor maniacs of old, and occasionally they are almost as dangerous to the unprotected traveler. In the above account, in the Gospel of Matthew (8:28), we have the word Gergesenes (, instead of ), which seems to be the same as the Hebrew (Sept. ) in Gen 15:21, and Deu 7:1, the name of an old Canaanitish tribe SEE GIRGASHITES, which Jerome (in Comm. ad Genesis 15) locates on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. Origen also says (Opp. 4:140) that a city called Gergesa anciently stood on the eastern side of the lake. Even were this true, still the other Gospels would be strictly accurate. Gadara was a large city, and its district would include Gergesa. But it must be remembered that the most ancient MSS. give the word , while others have the former reading is adopted by Griesbach and Lachmann. while Scholz prefers the latter; and either one or other of these seems preferable to . SEE GERASA.
Gadarene (), an inhabitant of GADARA SEE GADARA (q.v.), occurring only in the account of the daemoniacs cured by Christ (Mar 5:1; Luk 8:26; Luk 8:37), and perhaps to be read in the third Evangelist (Mat 8:28) instead of GERGESENE SEE GERGESENE (q.v.).
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Gad
fortune; luck. (1.) Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher (Gen. 30:11-13; 46:16, 18). In the Authorized Version of 30:11 the words, “A troop cometh: and she called,” etc., should rather be rendered, “In fortune [R.V., ‘Fortunate’]: and she called,” etc., or “Fortune cometh,” etc.
The tribe of Gad during the march through the wilderness had their place with Simeon and Reuben on the south side of the tabernacle (Num. 2:14). The tribes of Reuben and Gad continued all through their history to follow the pastoral pursuits of the patriarchs (Num. 32:1-5).
The portion allotted to the tribe of Gad was on the east of Jordan, and comprehended the half of Gilead, a region of great beauty and fertility (Deut. 3:12), bounded on the east by the Arabian desert, on the west by the Jordan (Josh. 13:27), and on the north by the river Jabbok. It thus included the whole of the Jordan valley as far north as to the Sea of Galilee, where it narrowed almost to a point.
This tribe was fierce and warlike; they were “strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions, and like roes upon the mountains for swiftness” (1 Chr. 12:8; 5:19-22). Barzillai (2 Sam. 17:27) and Elijah (1 Kings 17:1) were of this tribe. It was carried into captivity at the same time as the other tribes of the northern kingdom by Tiglath-pileser (1 Chr. 5:26), and in the time of Jeremiah (49:1) their cities were inhabited by the Ammonites.
(2.) A prophet who joined David in the “hold,” and at whose advice he quitted it for the forest of Hareth (1 Chr. 29:29; 2 Chr. 29:25; 1 Sam. 22:5). Many years after we find mention made of him in connection with the punishment inflicted for numbering the people (2 Sam. 24:11-19; 1 Chr. 21:9-19). He wrote a book called the “Acts of David” (1 Chr. 29:29), and assisted in the arrangements for the musical services of the “house of God” (2 Chr. 29:25). He bore the title of “the king’s See r” (2 Sam. 24:11, 13; 1 Chr. 21:9).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Gad (1)
Jacob’s seventh son; Leah’s maid Zilpah’s firstborn; Asher’s brother. Gen 30:11-13, for “a troop cometh,” translated “good fortune cometh,” answering to Asher, “blessedness,” the name of the next son; Gen 46:16; Gen 46:18. In Gen 49:19 translated “Gad, troops shall troop upon him (Gad, gedud ye-guddenu), but he shall troop upon (yagud) their rear” in retreat; alluding to the Arab tumultuous tribes near, who would invade Gad, then retire, Gad pressing on them in retreat. Gedud implies not merely a numerous “troop,” but a fierce turbulent band. The tribe’s position on march was S. of the tabernacle (Num 2:14). Eliasaph, Reuel’s’ son, was their leader. In Num 2:10; Num 2:14, we find Gad united to Reuben on the S. side of the sanctuary. Companionship in arms and hardships in the wilderness naturally led them to desire neighborhood in their possessions; also similarity of pursuits in tending flocks and herds led Gad to alliance with Reuben.
And their respective numbers were nearly the same; at the first census, Gad 45,650, Reuben 46,500; at the last, Gad 40,500, and Reuben 43,330. These undesigned coincidences confirm the truth of the narrative. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the tribes they two alone remained shepherds still after the intervening centuries since Jacob left Canaan for Egypt. They therefore received the pasture lands E. of Jordan for their possession (Numbers 32), as suited for their “multitude of cattle,” but accompanied the nine tribes and a half across Jordan to war with the Canaanites; and only after their conquest and the apportionment of the whole land to their brethren “at the doorway of the tabernacle of the congregation in Shiloh, before Jehovah” (Jos 19:51; Jos 22:1-8), were they dismissed “to their tents (for still they led a half nomadic life) and the land of their possession.”
Gad’s allotment lay chiefly about the center of the land E. of Jordan, comprising the high land on the general level, stopping short at the Jabbok, and also the sunk valley of the Jordan itself, the whole eastern side up to the sea of Cinnereth or Gennesaret. The farthest landmark eastward is Aroer facing Rabbah, now Arabian (Jos 13:25). Half Gilead (Deu 3:12), and half of the land of Ammon, the mountainous district intersected by Jabbok. (See GILEAD.) Manasseh lay N. and E. (reaching S. as far as Mahanaim), Reuben S., of Gad. Mahanaim the ancient sanctuary was on Gad’s northern border; Heshbon lay somewhat S. of its southern border. From western Palestine the territory of Gad looks like a wall of purple mountain with a marked horizontal outline. On a nearer approach picturesque undulating downs are seen on every side clothed with rich grass; and three rivers, the Yarmuk, Jabbok, and Arnon flow down into the Jordan and Dead Sea by deep ravines which seam the horizontal line of hills.
Not the flat sheep walks of Reuben and Moab, but well wooded, especially in the N., with sycamore, beech, terebinth, ilex, cedar, arbutus, and enormous fig trees. In the official record in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and Jeroboam king of Israel, Gad had extended its possessions to Salcah in Bashan (1Ch 5:11; 1Ch 5:16-17), E. of the Hauran plain, while Manasseh was pushed further N. to mount Hermon (1Ch 5:23). Thus Gad and Gilead became synonymous (Jdg 5:17).
Jephthah is called “the Gileadite,” being a native of Mizpeh of Gad (Jdg 11:31; Jdg 11:34; Jos 13:26). In Deu 33:20-21, Moses said of Gad, “Blessed is He that enlargeth (i.e. God who gives a large territory to) Gad; he lieth down as a lioness, and teareth the arm, yea (aph, not with) the crown of the head (of his foes); and he provided the first part (the first-fruit portion of the land conquered by Israel) for himself, because there was the leader’s (Gad’s) portion reserved (saphun), Gad at the head of the tribes asked Moses for the conquered land E. of Jordan (Num 32:2; Num 32:6; Num 32:25; Num 32:34, etc.), even as they took the lead above Reuben in fortifying the cities Dibon, etc. Their name accordingly is prominent on the Dibon stone); and he came with the heads of the people (i.e., he according to his stipulation to Moses went at the head of the tribes to conquer Canaan W. of Jordan, along with them: Num 32:17; Num 32:21; Num 32:32; Jos 1:14; Jos 4:12), he executed the justice of Jehovah (Moses prophetically foresees Gad will do what Jehovah required of His people as righteousness) and His judgments (in fellowship) with (the rest of) Israel.” (See DIBON.)
Their prowess is vividly portrayed in 1Ch 12:8, “men of might and of war, fit, for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were the faces of lions, and as swift as the roes upon the mountains”; “one of the least was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand.” In spite of the Jordan’s overflow in the first month, and of the opposition of “all them of the valleys toward the E. and toward the W.,” they joined David at Ziklag. Their war, in concert with Reuben, against the Hagarites, with Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab, resulted in the defeat and utter spoiling of the Hagarites, and the dispossessing them of “their steads.”
“The war was of God,” and the victory was because the Gadites, etc., “cried to God in the battle and He was entreated of then, because they put their trust in Him” (1Ch 5:18-22). Other famous men of Gilead or Gad were the loyal, generous, and unambitious Barzillai (2Sa 17:27-29; 2Sa 19:31-40) and the prophet Elijah. The land of Gad was the battlefield for long between Syria and Israel (2Ki 10:33). Gad finally was carried captive by Tiglath Pileser, and Ammon seized their land and cities (2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26; Jer 49:1).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Gad (2)
The “seer” of king David (1Ch 29:29). “The acts of David” were recorded “in the book of Gad the seer.” He joined David while in “the hold,” having probably first become acquainted with David in the latter’s visits to Samuel and the schools of the prophets, and by his advice David left it for the forest of Hareth (1Sa 22:5). At the numbering of the people Gad was Jehovah’s monitor to David (2Sa 24:11-19; 1Ch 21:9). He also took part in arranging the musical services of the temple (2Ch 29:25). Jerome compares Gad to Elijah in the abruptness of his introduction; this concentrates all attention on his work and message, none on himself.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Gad (3)
Margin Isa 65:11, “that troop,” rather “that prepare a (sacrificial) table for the Gad,” i.e. the deity of fortune, a Babylonian idol worshipped by the Jews, answering to either the moon or Jupiter, related to Syriac gado, and Arab jad “good fortune.” The star of luck, for which a couch was laid out and a banqueting “table.” Meni (“that number,” margin Isa 65:11) was the lesser good fortune, Gad the greater.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
GAD
Only nine and a half of Israels twelve tribes settled in the area commonly known as Canaan (i.e. the land west of the Jordan River). The other two and a half tribes settled in the area east of Jordan. In this eastern area half of the tribe of Manasseh was in the north, the tribe of Gad in the centre and the tribe of Reuben in the south (Num 32:1-5; Num 32:33; Jos 13:8-33). (For the settlement of the two and a half eastern tribes see REUBEN.)
Although the tribe was known as Gad (after the son of Jacob who fathered it; Gen 30:9-11), the area where it dwelt was commonly known as Gilead. Sometimes the names Gad and Gilead were used interchangeably (Jos 13:24-25; Jdg 5:17; Jdg 11:5; Jdg 12:4; 1Sa 13:7). (For the physical features of the region see GILEAD.)
Gad, like the other eastern tribes, was more open to attack than the western tribes, but the men of Gad were fierce fighters who drove back the invaders (Gen 49:19). They could not, however, withstand invasions for ever, and when Israel was later destroyed by Assyria, they were among the first Israelites to go into captivity (2Ki 10:32-33; 2Ki 15:29).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Gad
GAD (fortunate).Gen 30:9 ff. (J [Note: Jahwist.] ), Gen 35:26 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ); the first son of Zilpah, Leahs handmaid, by Jacob, and full brother of Asher (Happy). This like other of the tribal names, e.g. Dan, Asher, is very probably, despite this popular etymology, the name of a deity (cf. Isa 65:11, where AV [Note: Authorized Version.] renders troop but RV [Note: Revised Version.] Fortune). Another semi-etymology or, better, paronomasia (Gen 49:19) connects the name of the tribe with its warlike experiences and characteristics, taking note only of this feature of the tribal life:
gdh gedhdh yeghdhennu
weh yghdh qbh:
As for Gad, plunderers shall plunder him,
And he shall plunder in the rear (i.e. effect reprisals and plunder in return).
In the Blessing of Moses (Deu 33:20) Gad is compared to a lioness that teareth the arm and the crown of the head, and later (1Ch 12:8; 1Ch 12:14) the Gadites who joined David are described as leonine in appearance and incomparable in combat: Their faces are as the faces of lions, the smallest is equal to a hundred and the greatest to a thousand.
Upon the genetic relations of Gad and Asher the genealogy throws no light, for the fact that Gad and Asher, as it appears, were names of related divinities of Good Fortune would be sufficient ground for uniting them; but why they should have been brought together under the name of Zilpah is not to be conjectured with any certainty. Leah, unlike Rachel, who was barren until after her maid had brought forth to Jacob, had already borne four sons before Zilpah was called in to help her infirmity.
It appears that Gad, notwithstanding the genealogy, was a late tribe. In the Song of Deborah it is not even mentioned. Gilead there takes its place, but Mesha (9th cent.) knows the inhabitants of Gilead as the men of Gad.
The families of Gad are given by P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] in Gen 46:16 and Num 26:15 ff., 1Ch 5:11 ff. repeats them with variations. In the Sinai census P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] gives 46,650 men of war. By the time they had reached the Wilderness they had decreased to 40,500. Their position on the march through the desert is variously given in Numbers as 3rd, 6th, 11th.
Num 32:34-36 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) gives eight towns lying within the territory of Gad. The most southerly, Aroer, lay upon the Arnon; the most northerly, Jogbehah, not far from the Jabbok. Ataroth, another of these towns, is mentioned on the Moabite stone (l. 10), and the men of Gad are there said to have dwelt within it from of old. Within this region, and clustering about Heshbon, P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] gives six cities to the Reubenites, But in Jos 13:15 ff. Reuben has all to the south of Heshbon, and Gad all to the north of it. Owing to the divergent statements in the Hexateuch and the historical books, it is quite impossible to say what the northern boundary was. In any case it was not a stable one.
The reason assigned by the traditions for the settlement of Gad and Reuben in Gilead is that they were pastoral tribes, with large herds and flocks, and that they found the land pre-eminently adapted to their needs. They, therefore, obtained from Moses permission to settle on the east side of Jordan after they had first crossed the river and helped the other tribes in the work of conquest (see Num 32:1-42 and Deu 3:18-20).
After the conquest, in the time of the Judges, the people of Gilead were overrun by the Ammonites until Jephthah finally wrought their deliverance. In Davids conflicts with Saul, the Gadites and other eastern tribes came to his assistance. As the Mesha stone shows, they had probably at that time absorbed the Reubenites, who had been more exposed previously to Moabite attacks, which at this time fell more directly upon Gad. When the northern tribes revolted, Jeroboam must have found the Gadites among his staunchest supporters, for it was to Penuel in Gadite territory that he moved the capital from Shechem in Ephraim (1Ki 12:25).
In 734 the Gadites with their kinsmen of the East Jordan, Galilee and Naphtali, were carried captive by Tiglath-pileser iii. when Ahaz in his perplexity ventured upon the bold alternative of appealing to him for assistance against the powerful confederation of Syrians, Israelites, and Edomites who had leagued together to dethrone him (1Ki 15:29, 2Ch 28:16 ff.). It was clearly a case of Scylla and Charybdis for Ahaz. It was fatal for Gad. See also Tribes of Israel.
James A. Craig.
GAD.A god whose name appears in Gen 30:11 (by the help of Gad; so in Gen 30:13 by the help of Asherah); in the place-names Baal-gad, and Migdal-gad (Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7; Jos 13:5; Jos 15:37); and in the personal name Azgad (Ezr 2:12, Neh 7:17; Neh 10:15). In Isa 65:11 Gad (RV [Note: Revised Version.] Fortune) and Meni are named as two demons with whom the Israelites held communion (see Meni). Gad was probably an appellative before it became a personal name for a divinity, and is of Araman, Arabian, and Syrian provenance, but not Babylonian. He was the god who gave good fortune (Gr. Tyche), and presided over a person, house, or mountain.
W. F. Cobb.
GAD is entitled the seer (1Ch 29:29), Davids or the kings seer (1Ch 21:9, 2Ch 29:25, 2Sa 24:11), or the prophet (1Sa 22:5, 2Sa 24:11), He is represented as having announced the Divine condemnation on the royal census, and as having advised the erection of an altar on Araunahs threshing-floor (2Sa 24:11 ff. = 1Ch 21:9 ff.). The Chronicler again (1Ch 29:29) names him as having written an account of some part of his masters reign. A late conception associated him with the prophet Nathan (2Ch 29:25) in the task of planning some of the kings regulations with reference to the musical part of the service, while (1Sa 22:5) he is also stated to have acted as Davids counsellor in peril during the period when the two dwelt together in the hold.
GAD (Valley of).Mentioned only in 2Sa 24:5, and there the text should read in the midst of the valley towards Gad, the valley (wady) here being the Arnon (wh. see).
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Gad
We meet with this name in the holy Scriptures, to denote three very different characters. The first is one of Jacob’s sons, which he had by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, (Gen 30:11) and she called his name Gad, which signifies armed; and, therefore, in the margin of our Bibles it is marked a troop, or company. The second Gad we meet with, is the prophet Gad, David’s seer. (2Sa 24:11) The character of this man is well spoken of, by his conduct and faithfulness, in Scripture. He was much attached to David; (See 1Sa 22:5) yet faithful to the Lord at the time of David’s transgression. (See 2Sa 24:10-19) We read also, that Gad compiled a history of the acts of David. (See 1Ch 29:29-30) The third mention of Gad is as an idol. There was a Baal-Gad in the valley of Lebanon. (Jos 11:17) And the prophet Isaiah speaks of some “who prepared a table for that troop” [Gad,] “and that furnished a drink offering for that number.” [meni] (Isa 65:11) The dying patriarch Jacob blessing his sons, made a memorable prophecy concerning Gad: “A troop” (said Jacob) “shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last.” (Gen 49:19) Considered in a temporal sense, this was literally true. For the Gadites were a numerous tribe, and a warlike tribe. We find no less than forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty, came out of Egypt, (Num 2:15) “men both of might, and men of war, fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.” (1Ch 12:8) And considered in a spiritual sense, the seed of Israel, though frequently overcome by troops of foes, yet though conquered, still they are a conquering people. Troops of lusts, troops of corruptions, troops from hell, and troops from the world, may, and will, bring the poor exercised soul too often under: yet the victory is still on the side of Jacob’s seed. The praying seed of Jacob, at length come off as the prevailing Israel; for they must overcome “by the blood of the Lamb,” and be more than conquerors through his grace making them so.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Gad (1)
(, gadh, fortune; , Gad):
1. The Name
The seventh son of Jacob, whose mother was Zilpah (Gen 30:11), and whose birth was welcomed by Leah with the cry, Fortunate! Some have sought to connect the name with that of the heathen deity Gad, of which traces are found in Baal-gad, Migdal-gad, etc. In the blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:19) there is a play upon the name, as if it meant troop, or marauding band. Gad, a troop shall press upon him; but he shall press upon their heel (Hebrew gadh, gedhudh, yeghudhennu, wehu yaghudh akebh). Here there is doubtless a reference to the high spirit and valor that characterized the descendants of Gad. The enemy who attacked them exposed himself to grave peril. In the blessing of Moses again (Deu 33:20) it is said that Gad dwelleth as lioness, and teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head. Leonine qualities are ascribed to the Gadites, mighty men of valor, who joined David (1Ch 12:8, 1Ch 12:14). Their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountain. Among their captains he that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand.
2. The Tribe
Of the patriarch Gad almost nothing is recorded. Seven sons went down with him into Egypt, when Jacob accepted Joseph s invitation (Gen 46:16). At the beginning of the desert march Gad numbered 45,650 from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war (Num 1:24). In the plains of Moab the number had fallen to 40,500 (Num 26:18). The place of Gad was with the standard of the camp of Reuben on the South side of the tabernacle (Num 2:14). The prince of the tribe was Eliasaph, son of Deuel (Num 1:14), or Reuel (Num 2:14). Among the spies Gad was represented by Geuel son of Machi (Num 13:15). See NUMBERS.
3. The Tribal Territory
From time immemorial the dwellers east of the Jordan have followed the pastoral life. When Moses had completed the conquest of these lands, the spacious uplands, with their wide pastures, attracted the great flock-masters of Reuben and Gad. In response to their appeal Moses assigned them their tribal portions here: only on condition, however, that their men of war should go over with their brethren, and take their share alike in the hardship and in the glory of the conquest of Western Palestine (Nu 32). When the victorious campaigns of Joshua were completed, the warriors of Reuben and Gad returned to their possessions in the East. They halted, however, in the Jordan valley to build the mighty altar of Ed. They feared lest the gorge of the Jordan should in time become all too effective a barrier between them and their brethren on the West. This altar should be for all time a witness to their unity in race and faith (Josh 22). The building of the altar was at first misunderstood by the western tribes, but the explanation given entirely satisfied them.
4. Boundaries
It is impossible to indicate with any certainty the boundaries of the territory of Gad. Reuben lay on the South, and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the North. These three occupied the whole of Eastern Palestine. The South border of Gad is given as the Arnon in Num 32:34; but six cities to the North of the Arnon are assigned in Num 32:16 to Reuben. Again, Jos 13:26 makes Wady Hesban the southern boundary of Gad. Mesha, however (MS), says that the men of Gad dwelt in Ataroth from old time. This is far South of Wady Chesban. The writer of Nu 32 may have regarded the Jabbok as the northern frontier of Gad; but Jos 13:27 extends it to the Sea of Chinnereth, making the Jordan the western boundary. It included Rabbath-ammon in the East. We have not now the information necessary to explain this apparent confusion. There can be no doubt that, as a consequence of strifes with neighboring peoples, the boundaries were often changed (1Ch 5:18 f). For the Biblical writers the center of interest was in Western Palestine, and the details given regarding the eastern tribes are very meager. We may take it, however, that, roughly, the land of Gilead fell to the tribe of Gad. In Jdg 5:17 Gilead appears where we should naturally expect Gad, for which it seems to stand. The city of refuge, Ramoth in Gilead, was in the territory of Gad (Jos 20:8). For description of the country see GILEAD.
5. History
Reuben and Gad were absent from the muster against Sisera (Jdg 5:15); but they united with their brethren in taking vengeance on Benjamin, Jabesh-gilead, from which no contingent was sent, being destroyed (20 f). Jephthah is probably to be reckoned to this tribe, his house, Mizpah (Jdg 11:34), being apparently within its territory (Jos 13:26). Gad furnished a refuge for some of the Hebrews during the Philistine oppression (1Sa 13:7). To David, while he avoided Saul at Ziklag, certain Gadites attached themselves (1Ch 12:8). A company of them also joined in making him king at Hebron (1Ch 12:38). In Gad the adherents of the house of Saul gathered round Ish-bosheth (2Sa 2:8). Hither David came in his flight from Absalom (2Sa 17:24). Gad fell to Jeroboam at the disruption of the kingdom, and Penuel, apparently within its borders, Jeroboam fortified at first (1Ki 12:25). It appears from the Moabite Stone that part of the territory afterward passed into the hands of Moab. Under Omri this was recovered; but Moab again asserted its supremacy. Elijah probably belonged to this district; and the brook Cherith must be sought in one of its wild secluded glens.
Gad formed the main theater of the long struggle between Israel and the Syrians. At Ramoth-gilead Ahab received his death wound (1 Ki 22). Under Jeroboam II, this country was once more an integral part of the land of Israel. In 734 bc, however, Tiglath-pileser appeared, and conquered all Eastern Palestine, carrying its inhabitants captive (2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:26). This seems to have furnished occasion for the children of Ammon to occupy the country (Jer 49:1). In Ezekiel’s ideal picture (Eze 48:27, Eze 48:34), a place is found for the tribe of Gad. Obadiah seems to have forgotten the tribe, and their territory is assigned to Benjamin (Oba 1:19). Gad, however, has his place among the tribes of Israel in Rev 7.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gad (2)
(, gadh, fortunate): David’s seer (hozeh, 1Ch 21:9; 1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 29:25), or prophet (nabh); compare 1Sa 22:5; 2Sa 24:11). He appears (1) to advise David while an outlaw fleeing before Saul to return to the land of Judah (1Sa 22:5); (2) to rebuke David and give him his choice of punishments when, in spite of the advice of Joab and the traditional objections (compare Exo 30:11), he had counted the children of Israel (2Sa 24:11; 1Ch 21:9); (3) to instruct David to erect an altar on the threshing-floor of Araunah when the plague that had descended on Israel ceased (2Sa 24:18; 1Ch 21:18); and (4) to assist in the arrangement of Levitical music with cymbals, psalteries and harps (compare 2Ch 29:25). Of his writings none are known, though he is said to have written a history of a part of David’s reign (1Ch 29:29).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gad (3)
(, gadh, fortune): A god of Good Luck, possibly the Hyades. The writer in Isa 65:11 (margin) pronounces a curse against such as are lured away to idolatry. The warning here, according to Cheyne, is specifically against the Samaritans, whom with their religion the Jews held in especial abhorrence. The charge would, however, apply just as well to superstitious and semi-pagan Jews. But ye that forsake Yahweh, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny; I will destine you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter. There is a play upon words here: Fill up mingled wine unto Destiny (, men) and I will destine , manith, i.e. portion out) you for the sword (Isa 65:11, Isa 65:12). Gad and Meni mentioned here are two Syrian-deities (Cheyne, Book of the Prophet Isaiah, 198). Schrer (Gesch. d. jd. Volkes, II, 34 note, and bibliography) disputes the reference of the Greek (, Tuche) cult to the Semitic Gad, tracing it rather to the Syrian Astarte worship. The custom was quite common among heathen peoples of spreading before the gods tables laden with food (compare Herod. i. 181, 183; Smith, Rel. of Semites, Lect X).
Nothing is known of a Babylonian deity named Gad, but there are Aramean and Arabic equivalents. The origin may have been a personification of fortune and destiny, i.e. equivalent to the Fates. The Nabatean inscriptions give, in plural, form, the name of Meni. Achimenidean coins (Persian) are thought by some to bear the name of Meni. How widely spread these Syrian cults became, may be seen in a number of ways, e.g. an altar from Vaison in Southern France bearing an inscription:
Belus Fortunae rector, Menisque Magister.
Belus, signifying the Syrian Bel of Apamaea (Driver). Canaanitish place-names also attest the prevalence of the cult, as Baal-gad, at the foot of Hermen (Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7; Jos 13:5); Migdal-gad, possibly Mejdel near Askalon (Jos 15:37); Gaddi and Gaddiel (Num 13:10 f). In Talmudic literature the name of Gad is frequently invoked (compare McCurdy in Jewish Encyclopedia, V, 544). Indeed the words of Leah in Gen 30:11 may refer not to good fortune or luck but to the deity who was especially regarded as the patron god of Good Fortune (compare Kent, Student’s Old Testament, I, 111). Similar beliefs were held among the Greeks and Romans, e.g. Hor. Sat. ii.8, 61:
…. Fortuna, quis est crudelior in nos te deus?
Cic. N.D. iii.24, 61:
Quo in genere vel maxime est Fortuna numeranda.
The question has also an astronomical interest. Arabic tradition styled the planet Jupiter the greater fortune, and Venus the lesser fortune. Jewish tradition identified Gad with the planet Jupiter, and it has been conjectured that Meni is to be identified with the planet Venus. See, however, ASTROLOGY, 10.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gad (4)
(, ‘azal, to go about): Used once in Jer 2:36, Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? of going after Egypt and Assyria.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Gad
Gad (a troop, or fortunate).
Gad, 1
A son of Jacob by his concubine Zilpah (Gen 30:10, sq.), and who became the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes. The sons of Gad are enumerated in Gen 46:15, sq., and Num 26:15, sq. At the time of the conquest of Canaan, the tribe of Gad counted 45,650 warriors (Num 1:24-25): the position of their camp in the desert is given Num 2:14, and the names of their chiefs, Num 1:14; Num 2:14; Num 7:42, sq.
As a reward for their having formed the vanguard in war of the army of the tribes collectively, they were allowed to appropriate to their exclusive use some pastoral districts beyond the Jordan (Num 32:17, sq.).
The inheritance of this tribe, called the landsof Gad (1Sa 13:7; Jer 49:1), was situated beyond the Jordan in Gilead, north of Reuben, and separated on the east from Ammon by the river Jabbok. According to 1Ch 5:11, the Gadites had extended their possessions on the east as far as Salcah, though the latter had been allotted by Moses to Manasseh (Deu 3:10; Deu 3:13): a proof how difficult it is to draw a strong line of demarcation between the possessions of pastoral tribes. The territory of Gad forms a part of the present Belka.
In Jos 13:25, the land of Gad is called ‘half the land of the children of Ammon;’ not because the latter were then in possession of it, but probably because the part west of the Jabbok had formerly borne that name (comp. Jdg 11:13).
The principal cities of Gad pass by the general appellation of the Cities of Gilead (Jos 13:25)
The Gadites were a warlike people, and were compelled to be continually armed and on the alert against the inroads of the surrounding Arabian hordes (comp. Gen 49:19; Deu 33:20; 1Ch 5:19, sq.).
Gad, 2
Gad, a prophet contemporary with David, and probably a pupil of Samuel, who early attached himself to the son of Jesse (1Sa 22:5). Instances of his prophetic intercourse with David occur in 2Sa 24:11, sq.; 1Ch 21:9, sq.; 29:25. Gad wrote a history of the reign of David, to which the author of the II Samuel seems to refer for further information respecting that reign (1Ch 29:29), B.C. 1062-1017.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Gad
The seventh son of Jacob, and the first of Zilpah, Leah’s maid. Very little is recorded of Gad, except that he had seven sons. Gen 30:11; Gen 46:16; 1Ch 5:11. Jacob in blessing his sons said of Gad, “A troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.” Gen 49:19. Moses said, “Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with [or rather, ‘even’] the crown of the head. And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgements with Israel.” Deu 33:20-21. On leaving Egypt the number of those able to bear arms was 45,650, but on the crossing of the Jordan their number was about five thousand less.
Being on the east of Jordan, this tribe, with Reuben and Manasseh, would necessarily have to bear the shock of the enemies that attacked Israel on the east. 1Ch 5:18-22. They were a warlike tribe, suitable for such an exposed position. Of those who joined David it is said they were “men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.” 1Ch 12:8-15. Jephthah and Barzillai were of this tribe.
Gad possessed a large district from a little above the north corner of the Dead Sea to near the south corner of the Sea of Galilee, then a very fertile plain suitable for their flocks and herds, including the highlands of Gilead. The tribes on the east of the Jordan were the first carried away by the king of Assyria, about B.C. 740; and the Ammonites took possession of the territory of Gad. 1Ch 5:25-26; Jer 49:1. Twelve thousand of this tribe will in a future day be sealed for blessing. Rev 7:5. Their allotment will be in the extreme south in the restoration of Israel. Eze 48:27.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Gad
H1408 H1410
1. Jacob’s seventh son
– General references
Gen 30:11; Gen 35:26; Exo 1:4
– Children of
Gen 46:16; Num 26:15-18; 1Ch 5:11
– Prophecy concerning
Gen 49:19
2. A tribe of Israel
– Blessed by Moses
Deu 33:20
– Enumeration of:
b At Sinai
Num 1:14; Num 1:24-25
b In the plains of Moab
Num 26:15-18
b In the reign of Jotham
1Ch 5:11-17
– Place of, in camp and march
Num 2:10; Num 2:14; Num 2:16
– Wealth of, in cattle, and spoils
Jos 22:8; Num 32:1
– Petition for their portion of land east of the Jordan
Num 32:1-5; Deu 3:12; Deu 3:16-17; Deu 29:8
– Boundaries of territory
Jos 13:24-28; 1Ch 5:11
– Aid in the conquest of the region west of the Jordan
Num 32:16-32; Jos 4:12-13; Jos 22:1-8
– Erect a monument to signify the unity of the tribes east of the Jordan with the tribes west of the river
Jos 22:10-14
– Disaffected toward Saul as king, and joined the faction under David in the wilderness of Hebron
1Ch 12:8-15; 1Ch 12:37-38
– Join the Reubenites in the war against the Hagarites
1Ch 5:10; 1Ch 5:18-22
– Smitten by the king of Syria
2Ki 10:32-33
– Carried into captivity to Assyria
1Ch 5:26
– Land of, occupied by the Ammonites, after the tribe is carried into captivity
Jer 49:1
– Reallotment of territory to, by Ezekiel
Eze 48:27; Eze 48:29
3. A prophet of David
– General references
2Sa 24:11
– Bids David leave Adullam
1Sa 22:5
– Bears the divine message to David offering choice between three evils, for his presumption in numbering Israel
2Sa 24:11-14; 1Ch 21:9-13
– Bids David build an altar on threshing floor of Ornan
2Sa 24:18-19; 1Ch 21:18-19
– Assists David in arranging temple service
2Ch 29:25
– Writings of
1Ch 29:29
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Gad
Gad (gd), good fortune (?) 1. The seventh son of Jacob, and the first-born of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid. Gen 30:11. 2. A prophet and particular friend of David, the history of whose reign he wrote. 1Ch 29:29. He came to David when the latter was in the cave of Adullam. 1Sa 22:5. He then began his career of counsellor, under divine direction, which eventually won him the title of “the king’s Beer,” 2Sa 24:11; 2Sa 24:13; 1Ch 21:9. In Hezekiah’s day he was remembered. 2Ch 29:25.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Gad
Gad, the Tribe of. The territory given to the tribe of Gad lay east of the Jordan, north of that allotted to Reuben, and south of that given to Manasseh on that side of the river. It extended from the Jordan eastward to Aroer, Jos 13:24-25, including half of Mount Gilead and half of Ammon. Deu 3:12; Jos 13:24-25. For physical features and history see Gilead. Its chief cities were Ramoth-gilead, Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Aroer. This tribe, in the wilderness, was placed with Simeon and Reuben on the south of the tabernacle; with Reuben and the half of Manasseh, it occupied the pasture grounds on the east of the Jordan. It was warlike, as is graphically stated. 1Ch 12:8. Two famous men came from GadBarzillai, 2Sa 17:27, and Elijah, 1Ki 17:1. The territory was the battle field for wars between Syria and Israel. 2Ki 10:33.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Gad
Gad. (a troop).
1. Jacob’s seventh son, the first-born of Zilpah, Leah’s maid, and whole-brother to Asher. Gen 30:11-13; Gen 46:16; Gen 46:18. (B.C. 1753-1740).
2. “The seer”, or “the king’s seer”, that is, David’s seer 1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 29:25, was a “prophet” who appears to have joined David when in the old. 1Sa 22:5. (B.C. 1061). He reappears in connection with the punishment inflicted for the numbering of the people. 2Sa 24:11-19; 1Ch 21:9-19. He wrote a book of the Acts of David, 1Ch 29:29, and also assisted in the arrangements for the musical service of the “house of God.” 2Ch 29:25.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
GAD
(1) Son of Jacob
Gen 30:11; Gen 35:26; Gen 49:19; Exo 1:4; Num 26:15; 1Ch 5:11
(2) David’s Seer
1Sa 22:5; 2Sa 24:11; 1Ch 29:29; 2Ch 29:25
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Gad
was the name of the son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah’s servant, Gen 30:9-11. Leah, Jacob’s wife, gave him also Zilpah, that by her she might have children. Zilpah brought a son, whom Leah called Gad, saying, A troop cometh. Gad had seven sons, Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli, Gen 46:16. Jacob, blessing Gad, said, A troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last,
Gen 49:19; and Moses, in his last song, mentions Gad as a lion which teareth the arm with the crown of the head, &c, Deu 33:20-21. The tribe of Gad came out of Egypt in number forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. After the defeat of the kings Og and Sihon, Gad and Reuben desired to have their lot in the conquered country, and alleged their great number of cattle. Moses granted their request, on condition that they would accompany their brethren, and assist in the conquest of the land beyond Jordan. Gad had his inheritance between Reuben south, and Manasseh north, with the mountains of Gilead east, and Jordan west.
2. GAD, a prophet, David’s friend, who followed him when persecuted by Saul. The Scripture calls him a prophet and David’s seer, 2Sa 24:11. The first time we find him with this prince is when he fled into the land of Moab, 1Sa 22:5, to secure his father and mother in the first year of Saul’s persecution. The Prophet Gad warned him to return into the land of Judah. After David had determined to number his people, the Lord sent to him the Prophet Gad, to offer him his choice of three scourges: seven years’ famine, or three months’ flight before his enemies, or three days’ pestilence. Gad also directed David to erect an altar to the Lord, in the threshing floor of Ornan or Araunah, the Jebusite, 2Sa 24:13-19; and he wrote a history of David’s life, cited in 1Ch 29:29.