Gad

GAD (Heb. Gad «Fortune»). - Son of Jacob and of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant (Gen. 30:10, 11), and ancestor of the tribe of the same name. Of this personage only his offspring are recorded (ibid. 46:16). In the blessing pronounced upon him (ibid. 49:19; cf. Deut. 33:20, 21) there is an allusion to the warlike skill of the tribe rather than to the qualities of the ancestor.

The tribe of G. is mentioned for the first time in Num. 1:24, when its 45,650 men fit for arms are counted. In the second census, at the end of the life in the desert, 40,500 men are recorded. These numbers must be interpreted by one of the systems devised to reduce to a reasonable figure the total of the Israelites who entered the Promised Land.

The tribe of G., which already in the desert life appears specially united with that of Reuben (cf. Num. 2:10-16), asks together with it to be allowed to occupy Transjordan, most suitable for their numerous flocks. Moses, having received the guarantee that they would cooperate in the conquest of all Palestine, consents that the two tribes divide the desired zone (ibid. 32:1 ff.). After the first victories over the peoples of Transjordan it is more precisely stated that the part of Gilead between the Lake of Gennesaret 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 to G. the middle zone of Transjordan, from about the Wádi Ḥesbán in the south up toward the Nahr ez-Zerqá (= Jabbok) in the north (cf. Josh. 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 Tell of Kistech, London 1911)
GADD, CHRONICLE of - 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. Josh. 22:1 ff.). And indeed in the time of the "judges" such isolationism manifested itself clearly (cf. Judg. 5:17); nevertheless for the most part the activity of Jephthah, called merely the Gileadite, took place in the tribe of G. (ibid. 11:1 ff.). At the beginning of the monarchy valiant soldiers hastened from G. to help David (cf. 1 Chron. 12:8-14). But in practice the tribe of G., undoubtedly already partly amalgamated with indigenous elements, gradually disappears from Hebrew history. In its territory, perhaps occupied at first by the Syrians of Damascus (cf. 2 Kings 10:32, 33), there subsequently appear now the Ammonites (cf. Jer. 49:1) and now the Moabites (cf. ibid. 48:19, 34).

Angelo Penna