GAD (Heb. Gadh “fortune”). — Son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah’s slave woman (Gen. 30:10, 11), and progenitor of the eponymous tribe. Of this personage, only his offspring are recorded (ibid. 46:16). The blessing pronounced over him (ibid. 49:19; cf. Deut. 33:20, 21) alludes more to the tribe’s warlike prowess than to the qualities of its progenitor.
The tribe of G. is mentioned for the first time in Num. 1:24, when its 45,650 men fit for war are counted. In the second census, at the end of the life
in the wilderness, 40,500 men are recorded. These figures must be interpreted according to one of the systems devised to reduce to a reasonable magnitude the total number of Israelites who entered the Promised Land.
The tribe of G., which already during the life in the wilderness appears specially united with that of Reuben (cf. Num. 2:10-16), together with the latter asks to be allowed to occupy Transjordan, which was particularly suitable for their numerous flocks. Moses, having received the assurance that they would cooperate in the conquest of all Palestine, agrees that the two tribes should divide the desired region between them (ibid. 32:1 ff.). After the first victories over the peoples of Transjordan, it is specified more precisely that the portion of Gilead between the Lake of Gennesareth and the southern shore of the Dead Sea is reserved for the Reubenites and the Gadites (Deut. 13:16, 17). Joshua then distributed the individual territories, assigning G. the central region of Transjordan, from approximately the Wádi Ḥesbán in the south to near the Nahr ez-Zerqá (= Jabbok) in the north (cf. Ios. 13:24-28). To the north its boundaries touched the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the south that of Reuben, to the east the Arabian desert, and to the west the
(from C. J. Gadd, The Jell of Kistech, London 1911)
GADD, CHRONICLE OF — A cuneiform tablet containing the events from the tenth to the seventeenth year of Nabopolassar (616-609 B.C.).
Jordan. Soon, however, suspicion spread among the people that the Transjordanian tribes, despite their participation in the war against the Canaanites, harbored isolationist sentiments (cf. Ios. 22:1 ff.). Indeed, in the time of the “judges” this isolationism manifested itself clearly (cf. Iude. 5:17); nevertheless, much of Jephthah’s activity took place in the tribe of G., he being called only galsadin (ibid. 11:1 ff.). At the beginning of the monarchy, valiant soldiers from G. came to help David (cf. I Par. 12:8-14). But in practice the tribe of G., undoubtedly already partly amalgamated with indigenous elements, gradually disappears from Jewish history. In its territory, perhaps initially occupied by the Syrians of Damascus (cf. II Reg. 10:32, 33), there subsequently appear at times the Ammonites (cf. Ier. 49:1) and at times the Moabites (cf. ibid. 48:19, 34).