GAD (Heb. Gadh “fortune,” “happiness”). — A pagan deity, [of whom the Bible speaks only in Jn. 65, 11; yet it appears as a component of certain theophoric names, such as Baalgad (Jos. 11, 17; 12, 7; 13, 5) and Magdalgad (ibid. 15, 37).
G. appears only in the Aramean pantheon. Temples dedicated to G. are known, the deity sometimes represented as male, in the vast Syrian territory, at Palmyra, and at Dura-Europos. In the Hellenistic period it was identified with the Greek Tūyī, which precisely for this reason enjoyed great diffusion in the regions once inhabited by the ancient Arameans. In Isaiah mention is made of “tables” set for G. This suggests the mensae, lectisternia, and pukvinaria that in Greco-Roman mythology figure precisely in tales of exotic deities.