GILEAD gĭl’ ĭ əd (גִּלְעָ֖ד, meaning uncertain; Apoc., GALAAD).

1. A mountainous region E of the Jordan. Often mentioned in the OT, in its broadest sense it can be applied to all of Israelite Trans-Jordan (cf. Josh 22:9ff. where it is contrasted to the Land of Canaan, i.e., Cisjordan). The term was applied to the entire central section of Israelite Trans-Jordan (2 Kings 10:33). The name is also applied to a tribe known as Gileadites, parallel to Reuben and Dan and equivalent to Gad (Judg 5:17). There was also a town called Gilead (10:17), which is prob. modern Khirbet Jel’ad.

a. Location. Gilead was located in the foothills N of the Plain of Mishor. It was bounded on the W by the Jordan River, extended near the Yarmuk on the N, to the S-N branches of the Jabbok and the Arabian desert to the E, and to the Arnon on the S. Its cities included Jabesh-gilead, Mahanaim, Mizpah, Ramothgilead, and Succoth. In NT times, as a part of the kingdom of Herod the Great and his son Herod Antipas, it was known as Perea. The name is still preserved today in Jebel Jel’ad, Khirbet Jel’ad, and ’Ain Jel’ad S of the Nahr ez-Zerqā (Jabbok). The Wādi Yābis preserves the name of Jabesh in Gilead. The name Ramoth of Gilead is preserved in Tell Ramith, SW of Der’a.

Rising from the Jordan Valley on the W, 700 ft. below sea level, Gilead rises to heights of more than 3,300 ft. It is a well-watered hill country, thickly wooded (as Absalom found at the cost of his life), and is still well forested with Mediterranean pine and evergreen oak. It is also known for its grapes, olives, fruit trees, and pasture lands. It was also proverbial for the “balm of Gilead” (Jer 8:22; 46:11), an ointment with medicinal value.

b. History. The N part of Gilead was settled as early as the 23rd cent. b.c. It was occupied by the Amorites and Moabites at the time of the Israelite entrance under Moses. Sihon, the king, would not allow the Israelites to pass through his land, which resulted in warfare that ended with the land in the possession of the Israelites (Num 21). The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh did not want to cross over the Jordan with the other tribes, as the Trans-Jordan territory appealed to them. Moses agreed to give them the land after exacting a promise that they would first help the other tribes subdue the land W of the Jordan, a promise they fulfilled (Josh 22). The sons of Machir of the tribe of Manasseh were given Gilead and settled there (Num 32:39). Moses was allowed to see the land of Gilead as far as Dan from the top of Mount Nebo just before his death (Deut 34:1). Gilead seems to have been a mixture of Gadite and Josephite elements (Num 32:39f.; Josh 13:24-31). Ramoth-gilead was early designated as one of the cities of refuge (Josh 20:8).

During the period of the early settlement, the tribes E of the Jordan enjoyed a measure of security and did not even come to help their kinsmen W of the Jordan in their struggle with Sisera (Judg 5:17). During the time of the Judges, the Ammonites oppressed the people of Israel in Gilead as part of their attempt to expand their land. The people chose Jephthah, an outcast Gileadite and mighty warrior, as their leader to deliver them. He drove out the Ammonites and secured the land for the Israelites (Judg 11). However, a feud arose between the Ephraimites and the Gileadites because they were not called to participate in the struggle against the Ammonites. The Ephraimites were routed, and when they tried to flee back across the river, they found that the Gileadites had taken possession of all the fords. Anyone who attempted to cross was tested to see if he was an Ephraimite by asking him to say Shibboleth. If he said Sibboleth, they seized him and slew him (Judg 12).

The Ammonites continued to be a threat to the Gileadites in subsequent history. Saul’s first great military victory after becoming king was his rescue of the city of Jabesh-gilead, which was being threatened by Nahash, king of the Ammonites (1 Sam 11). After Saul’s defeat and death at the hands of the Philistines, Abner established Saul’s son Ish-bosheth as king over Gilead (2 Sam 2:8, 9). It was to Mahanaim in Gilead that David fled when Absalom rebelled against him (17:24), and it was in Gilead where the decisive battle was fought that resulted in the death of Absalom and the return of the kingdom to David (ch. 18). Gilead was included in the census made by David (2 Sam 24:6).

Elijah was from Gilead (1 Kings 17:1). During the ninth and eighth centuries, Damascus (Syria) was a constant threat to the Israelites. Amos condemned Syria for her extreme cruelty, particularly toward Gilead (Amos 1:3-5). He condemned the cruelty of the Ammonites toward innocent women of Gilead in time of war (Amos 1:13). Hosea said Gilead was a city of evildoers (Hos 6:8). Israel and Judah entered into an alliance to wrest Ramoth-gilead from the king of Syria (1 Kings 22:1-4), resulting in the death of Ahab on the battlefield. Jehu made some kind of protective alliance with Shalmaneser III (c. 837 b.c.), but it did not keep Hazael from seizing part of Israel, including Gilead (2 Kings 10:33). As a result of a conspiracy by Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel, Tiglathpileser III invaded the two countries in his campaign of 734-732, utterly destroying the coalition. He occupied parts of Israel, dividing the annexed territory into three provinces, named in the Assyrian lists according to their respective capitals: Megiddo (Magiddu), Dor (Du’ru), and Gilead (Gal’aza). He carried part of the population captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).

In an attempt to restore the empire of David, Josiah seized the territory of the former kingdom of Israel that had been Gilead. When Babylon overran the land, no changes were made in the provincial organization established by the Assyrians. Ezekiel 47 and 48 mention the provinces of Hamath, Damascus, Hauran, and Gilead, already known from the Assyrian period. Jeremiah looked to the time of restoration of Gilead to Israel (Jer 50:19), and Obadiah foresaw its restoration to Benjamin (Obad 19). In the postexilic period Tobiah was the Persian appointed governor of the territory of Ammon which had been joined to the province of Gilead. In 163 b.c., Judas Maccabeus with his younger brother Jonathan campaigned in Gilead (Galaad) with some success, but his power was not sufficient to hold the area permanently, so he took the Israelite population to Judea that wanted to remain members of the Jerusalem religious community (1 Macc 5:9-54). Gilead in NT times was part of Perea.

2. The son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh. Eponym of the tribe or territory known as Gilead (Num 26:29, 30; 27:1; 32:40; 36:1; Josh 17:1; Judg 5:17; 1 Chron 2:21; 7:14).

3. Father of Jephthah (Judg 11:1).

4. A Gadite tribe (1 Chron 5:14).

Bibliography M. Noth, The History of Israel (1960), 158, 274, 371; J. Gray, Archaeology and the Old Testament World (1962), 16; M. Noth, The Old Testament World (1966), 62; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (1967), 331, 354, 360.