GAD găd (גָּד, H1514; LXX Γάδ, G1122, fortunate, good fortune, perhaps after the god of fortune, Gad, גָּד, H1514). A son of Jacob and his descendants, the tribe of Gad.
A. The seventh son of Jacob (Israel). The first-born of Zilpah (Gen 30:10, 11), Leah’s maid. His younger full brother was Asher. He was born to Jacob during his sojourn with Laban in Paddan-aram during the seven years he was working to pay for his second wife, Rachel. When Gad was born Leah exclaimed, “With good fortune!” (KJV “a troop cometh” following qere) whence the name “Gad” (good fortune).
Nothing is known of the life of Gad other than that which is known of the family as a whole (see Jacob). At the time when he went with Jacob and his family down to Egypt to sojourn, Gad had seven sons: Ziphion (Zephon), Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon (Ozni), Eri, Arodi (Arod), and Areli (Gen 46:16, variants from Num 26:15, 16). On his deathbed, Jacob blessed Gad, “Raiders (mg. ‘a raiding troop’; the Heb. גְּד֣וּד, ‘troop,’ ‘raiders,’ is to be considered a play on words, being similar to the word ‘Gad’) shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels” (Gen 49:19). The tribe would be subject to attacks by raiding parties (prob. the Ammonites) but Gad would return them.
B. The tribe of Gad, descendants of the son of Jacob
1. In the wilderness. At the first census (Num 1:24, 25), males twenty years old and upward fit for military service numbered 45,650. This is out of a total for Israel of 603,550 (vv. 44-46), which number did not include the tribe of Levi. At the end of their wanderings in the wilderness, the Gadites numbered 40,500, a substantial decrease (26:15-18). The number of non-Gadite Israelites during the same period increased slightly, the total (including Gad) was 601,730 (Num 26:51; see also 1 Chron 5:18).
The leader of Gad at the beginning of the wilderness wanderings was Eliasaph (Num 2:14; 10:20) the son of Deuel (2:14, Reuel). He was appointed to assist Moses in the first census (1:14). He brought the representative offering from the Gadites for the dedication of the altar (7:42-47).
In the encampment, Gad was a member company of the camp of Reuben, which camped to the S of the tent of meeting. Reuben camped next to the tent of meeting followed by Simeon with Gad on the outside (2:10-14). In the marching formation, the camp of Judah led, followed by the Gershonites and Merarites who carried the Tabernacle. Then came Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, followed by the Kohathites carrying the holy things, and then the rest of Israel (10:11-21).
When Moses sent men to spy out the land of Canaan the representative from Gad was “Geuel the son of Machi” (13:15).
2. The time of the conquest. After the defeat of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, the Gadites, along with the Reubenites, who were very rich in cattle and needed grazing land, saw that this land (Gilead, Transjordan) was good for cattle, and they requested from Moses that it be given to them as their inheritance (Num 32:1-6). This was given to them upon the promise that their fighting men accompany the children of Israel over the Jordan River, and help to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan until the task was done (32:28-32). Of this Moses later said, “He [Gad] chose the best of the land for himself, for there a commander’s portion was reserved” (Deut 33:21). The relationship of Reuben and Gad prob. stemmed from their position at the S of the Tabernacle where Gad was part of the camp of Reuben. The other member, Simeon, received his inheritance to the W of the Jordan as the southernmost of the tribes (Josh 19:1-9).
At the entrance to Canaan, just before crossing the Jordan, Joshua (after the death of Moses) reminded the two and one-half tribes that the men of war were to accompany the rest of Israel W of the Jordan (1:12-18). When the children of Israel passed over the Jordan before the conquest of Jericho, the armed forces of Reuben, Gad, and the halftribe of Manasseh who went with them, leaving their children behind, amounted to about 40,000 (4:12, 13).
After the defeat of Ai, the Israelites stood by Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal for the blessing and the curse (8:33-35), according to the words of Moses (Deut 27:11-14). Gad and Reuben were among those designated for Mount Ebal.
After the conquest, Joshua officially released the Gadites to return home (Josh 22:1-6). When they crossed back over the Jordan with the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, they built an altar of great size by the Jordan. When the rest of the Israelites heard of it they gathered together to make war with the two and one-half tribes. The explanation was that this was not an altar for worship of false gods but was a witness that these tribes belonged with the commonwealth of Israel and were always to be included in the worship of the Lord. The explanation pleased the rest of the Israelites and a civil war was prevented (Josh 22).
3. Tribal inheritance. In the wilderness, Gad had been a part of the standard of the camp of Reuben on the S side of the tent of meeting (Num 2:10, 14). This association continued when they asked Moses for an inheritance to the E of the Jordan (32:1-5). Moses granted to them (and to the half-tribe of Manasseh) the former kingdoms of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan (32:33). At this time, the land was not divided into tribes, but the Manassites settled in the N (32:39-42), and the Reubenites and Gadites settled in the S (32:34-38). The locations of the towns belonging to Gad and Reuben mentioned here show that at that time their allotments intermixed. For example, Gad “built” Dibon and Aroer (v. 34), which were near the southern border of Reuben (the Arnon River, Deut 3:12, 16) opposite from the territory later given to Gad and actually listed as cities given to Reuben (Josh 13:16, 17). Mesha (king of Moab at the time of Ahab) referred to the inhabitants of Ataroth (Num 32:34) as Gadites “from of old” (Mesha inscr., I. 10), indicating that the Gadites continued to occupy Ataroth (deep in Reubenite territory) after tribal boundaries were fixed. Moses listed the territory of Manasseh separately but that of Gad and Reuben together (Deut 3:12-18). The latter included the area E of the Jordan from Chinnereth (Galilee) to the Salt Sea.
The whole area of the two and one-half tribes is delineated a second time (Josh 12:1-6; 13:8-13). The border on the W was the Jordan; on the S, the Arnon; to the N, the border of Geshur and Maacath; and to the E, apparently the border of the Ammonites (to the Jabbok River). Joshua described the inheritance of Gad individually (13:24-28). The border in the N was from the southern tip of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward with Manasseh as a border, including Ramoth-gilead (a city of refuge, Josh 20:2). On the W was the Jordan. The border on the S was Reuben, just to the N of Heshbon (13:26), which belonged to Reuben (v. 17) but is listed as a Levite city from the tribe of Gad (Josh 21:39; 1 Chron 6:81). To the E were the Ammonites, the border being E of Aroer (Josh 13:25; near Rabbah, modern Amman; not Aroer on the Arnon, v. 16).
Israel’s possession E of the Jordan, esp. that of Gad and Manasseh, was called Gilead (q.v.), a geographical term not clearly defined. At times Gilead was used in place of the tribal name (Judg 5:17).
The cities for the Levites from the tribe of Gad were Ramoth, Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Jazer (Josh 21:8, 38, 39; 1 Chron 6:63, 80, 81). Of these, Ramoth in Gilead was a city of refuge (Deut 4:43; Josh 20:8).
4. The time of Saul and David. During the reign of Saul, when the Philistines oppressed Israel, some of the Israelites crossed the Jordan and migrated to the land of Gad (1 Sam 13:6, 7). The two and one-half tribes are tied together again in 1 Chron 5. They produced an army of 44,760 and defeated the Hagrites “because they trusted in” God (vv. 18-21). If this is the same event as v. 10, it happened during the reign of Saul, who, because of lack of trust, was losing his battles.
When David was in exile at Ziklag building up a following of trained fighting men, there came Gadites to join him, “mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles upon the mountains” (1 Chron 12:8). Earlier, Moses had said of Gad, “Gad couches like a lion, he tears the arm, and the crown of the head” (Deut 33:20). Bani the Gadite was one of David’s thirty mighty men (2 Sam 23:36). The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh are listed together as sending a contingent of 120,000 armed men to David’s coronation. (Other tribes were listed individually.) Moses had said, “...he [Gad] came to the heads of the people” (Deut 33:21). Gad is included in the numbering of the children of Israel by Joab at David’s command (2 Sam 24:5). David appointed Jerijah, chief of the Hebronites, along with his brethren, 2,700 men of ability, to the oversight of Trans-Jordan, including the Gadites, for matters “pertaining to God and for the affairs of the king” (1 Chron 26:29-32). A number of these men had been found in Jazer in Gilead (perhaps formerly from Hebron).
5. Later history. During the time of Israel’s monarchy, the Gadites are not usually referred to separately but share in the history of Gilead. When Hazael, king of Syria, defeated the Israelites, he took much of Trans-Jordan, including the territory of Gad (2 Kings 10:32, 33); Ramoth-gilead had fallen earlier (2 Chron 22). The region was prob. restored under Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23-28), but the two and one-half tribes were taken captive by Tiglath-pilneser III (744-727) and were transplanted into parts of his kingdom (1 Chron 5:26). Later, the Ammonites moved into the Gadite territory (Jer 49:1).
Gad is included in the division of the land mentioned in the restoration (Ezek 48:27) and also as the name of one of the gates of the city (48:34). Among the 144,000 Israelites sealed are 12,000 Gadites (Rev 7:5).
Bibliography N. Glueck, “Explorations in Eastern Palestine, III,” AASOR, XVIII-XIX (1939), 151-251; Id. IV, XXV-XXVIII (1951); D. Baly, The Geography of the Bible (1957), 217-231.