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GAD

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 382 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAD , in the See also:

Bible. 1. A See also:prophet or rather a " seer " (cp. I Sam. ix. 9), who was a See also:companion of See also:David from his See also:early days. He is first mentioned in I Sam. xxii. 5 as having warned David to take See also:refuge in See also:Judah, and appears again in 2 Sam. See also:xxiv. 11 seq. to make known Yahweh's displeasure at the numbering of the See also:people. Together with Nathan he is represented in See also:post-exilic tradition as assisting to organize the musical service of the See also:temple (2 Chron. See also:xxix. 25), and like Nathan and See also:Samuel he is said to have written an See also:account of David's deeds (1 Chron. xxix. 29); a See also:history of David in accordance with later tradition and upon the lines of later prophetic ideas is far from improbable. 2.

Son of See also:

Jacob, by Zilpah, Leah's maid; a tribe of See also:Israel (Gen. See also:xxx. II). The name is that of the See also:god of " See also:luck " Or See also:fortune, mentioned in Isa. lxv. ii (R.V. See also:ing.), and in several names of places, e.g. See also:Baal-Gad (josh. xi. 17, xii. 7), and possibly also in Dibon-Gad, Migdol-Gad and Nahal-Gad.' There is another See also:etymology in Gen. xlix. 19, where the name is played on: " Gad, a plundering See also:troop,(geds2d)shall See also:plunder him (yegudennu), but he shall plunder at their heels." There are no traditions of the See also:personal history of Gad. One of the earliest references to the name is the statement on the inscription of Mesha, See also:king of See also:Moab (about 85o B.C.), that the " men of Gad " had occupied Ataroth (E. of Dead See also:Sea) from of old, and that the king of Israel had fortified the See also:city. This is in the See also:district ascribed to See also:Reuben, with which tribe the fortunes of Gad were very closely connected. In See also:Numbers xxxii.' 34 sgq.,,the cities of Gad appear to See also:lie chiefly to the See also:south of Heshbon; in See also:Joshua xiii. 24-28 they lie almost wholly to the See also:north; while other texts See also:present discrepancies which are not easily reconciled with either passage. Possibly some cities were See also:common to both Reuben and Gad, and perhaps others more than once changed hands.

That Gad, at one See also:

time at least, held territory as far south as Pisgah and See also:Nebo would follow from Deut. xxxiii. 2I, if the rendering of the Targums be accepted, " and he looked out the first See also:part for himself, because there was the portion of the buried See also:law-giver." It is certain, however, that, at a See also:late See also:period, this tribe was localized chiefly in See also:Gilead, in the district which now goes by the name of See also:Jebel Jil`ad. The traditions encircling this district point, it would seem, to the tribe having been of Aramaean origin (see the See also:story of Jacob) ; at all events its position was extremely exposed, and its See also:population at the best must have been a mixed one. Its richness and fertility made it aprey to the marauding nomads of the See also:desert; but the allusion in the Blessing of Jacob gives the tribe a See also:character for bravery, and David's men of Gad (i Chron. xii. 8) were famous in tradition. Although rarely mentioned by name (the See also:geographical See also:term Gilead is usual), the history of Gad enters into the lives of See also:Jephthah and See also:Saul, and in the See also:wars of See also:Ammon and Moab it must have played some part. It followed ' See G. B. See also:Gray, Heb. Proper Names, pp. r34 seq., 145.See also:jeroboam in the See also:great revolt against the See also:house of David, and its later fortunes until 734 B.C. (i Chron. v. 26) would be those of the See also:northern See also:kingdom.

See, for a See also:

critical discussion of the data, H. W. See also:Hogg, Ency. Bib. Cols. 1579 sqq.; also GILEAD; See also:MANASSEH; REUBEN.

End of Article: GAD

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