GAD (-0 ; Sept. rda). 1. The son of Jacob and Zilpah, Lea'h's maid. His name is explained in the story of his birth, and the explanation is con firmed by a subsequent allusion—` Zilpah bare Jacob a son, and Leah said a troop cometh, and she called his name Gad' (Gen. xxx. it). The pas sage is rendered somewhat obscure by the fact that the Kair has 1.11, which the Sept., Vulg., and some modern commentators render 'in jdithy;' whereas the Masoretic Kerigives as the true reading, and is followed by our A. V. That the latter reading is the true one may be seen by coin paring the passage with Gen. xlix. 19, where the word -0 must bear the signification of a troop.' Of the personal history of this patriarch no details are given. His name is not once mentioned except in those lists where the sons of Jacob are all enu merated. All we know of him is that he had seven sons at the time Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt (xlvi. 16).
The materials for the hiAory of the tribe of Gad are very scanty. In Jacob's prophetic blessing there is a characteristic play upon the name, and one of the most remarkable examples of paronomasia in the Bible zpv 1)4 N1r11 1711r Ill; "0 (Gen. xlix. 19). No translation can do justice to it. Stanley's rendering approaches the force and point of the original : Gad is a troop of plunderers ; a troop of plunderers shall plunder him, but he shall plunder at the last' (S. and P., 32o). The troops destined to plunder him were the wild hordes of Arabs and Ammonites by whom his bor ders were infested, whose incursions were frequent, and whose defeat and slaughter were signal (Judg. ' x., xi.) The tribe numbered 45,65o fighting men at the time of the Exodus ; and during the wilder ness journey it decreased to 40,5oo (Num. i. 25 ; xxvi. IS). The Gadites, like their brethren of Reuben and Manasseh, had retained while in Egypt their old pastoral habits, and were very rich in cattle (xxxii. r). When the Israelites approached Canaan after the long pilgrimage through the rugged defiles of Sinai, and across the arid plains of Western Arabia, the rich pasture lands of Gilead, with its forests, strea.ms, and glorious scenery, immedi ately attracted the attention of these tribes ; and they came and spake unto Moses . . . saying . . (this) country . . . is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle ; wherefore . . . let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession' (xxxii. 2-5). Their request was granted ; and the two tribes and half settled east of Jordan. They had probably an additional object in making this choice. The country west of the river was of narrow limits. It was not so well suited for thc freedom and nomad habits of pastoral life. The Gaditcs and their brethren wished a wider range for their vast flocks than Palestine afforded; and they saw the great eastern plains open to them. At one period this tribe occupied the country as far east as Salchah (1 Chron. v. -16).
The territory which fell to the lot of the Gadites is one of the most beautiful in Syria. On the south it was bounded by the valley of lIeshbon ; on the west by the Jordan ; and on the east by the plain of Arabia (Josh. xiii. 24, sy.) Its northern
boundary is somewhat more difficult to define. Gad possessed the whole Jordan valley as far as thc sca of Galilee (xiii. 27); but among the moun tains eastward the territory extended no farther nortb 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 (Josh. xii. 1-6 ; xiii. 26, 30, 31 ; Deut. iii. 12, 13 (see Porter's Damascus, ii. 252). As seen from the west this region is a con tinuous range of purple-tinted mountains, rising abruptly from the chasm of the Jordan, intersected oy deep ravines, and partially clothed with oak forests, and jungles of evergreen shrubs. When viewed from the east the appearance is altogether different. It is a low, irregular ridge, in some places not rising more than a hundred feet above the high, bleak plateau of Arabia. The soil among the mountains and in the picturesque glens is fertile, and the pastures are more luxuriant than in any part of Syria. The territory also embraced a number of places remarkable in the sacred and civil history of the patriarchs, judges, and kings ; such as Mahanaim, Peniel, Ramoth-Mizpeh, Gal ced, Succoth, and Rabbath-Ammon.
The Gadites were a warlike race, and they bravely aided their brethren in the conquest of Canaan. Leaving their women and children in their strongholds cast of the Jordan, they crossed over armed, and with Reuben and Manasseh led the van in the long campaign under Joshua (Josh. 1V. 12, 13 ; XXII. 1-4). The position of their terri tory compelled them to keep tip their warlike spirit and training in after ages. The Ammonites, whose country they possessed, hung upon their eastern border ( Judg. x. 17) ; and the wild hordes of the Ambian desert made periodical raids upon their pastures and flocks (chaps. vii., viii.) Though often sorely pressed by these fieice plunderers, vet they nobly defended their country, and more than once bore back the tide of conquest on their as sailants. One of their greatest victories was that gained over the descendants of Ishmael, the tribes of Jetur, Nephish, and IN'oclab, from W1101111 they took enormous booty (1 Chron. v. 19-22). The Gadites were well described at that time as valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war' (ver. IS). This country too produced many eminent men. Jeplithah the Gileadite ranks high among the heroes of Israel ; and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead,' was one of the grandest characters the world ever saw. It may be that lie owed some of those qualities for which he was dis tinguished to the habits and state of his native country —his wonderful physical strength ; his powers of enduring fatigue, hunger, and thirst ; his drcss in every respect resembling that of a modern inhabitant of Gilead ; his wandering mode of life ; and his apparent dislike to the restraints of society. Gilead was a land of roving shepherds, and moving camps, and mountain castles, and wild adventure (GILEAD).