GAD (Heb. Gadh, “fortune,” “happiness”).—A pagan divinity, [of whom the Bible speaks only in Is. 65:11; nevertheless, it appears as a component of certain theophoric names, such as Baalgad (Ios. 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) and Magdalgad (ibid. 15:37).
G. appears only in the Aramean pantheon. Temples dedicated to G. are known throughout the extensive Syrian territory, in Palmira and in Dura-Europos; it was sometimes represented as male. In the Hellenistic period it was identified with the Greek Tòzzi, which for this very reason became widely diffused in the regions formerly inhabited by the ancient Arameans. Isaiah speaks of “tables” set for G. This suggests the mensae, lectisternia, and pubinaria which, in Greco-Roman mythology, appear precisely in accounts concerning exotic divinities.