Jos 22'*-" tells how Reuben and Gad on their return erected a great altar by the Jordan — it is not clear on which side ; how the other tribes supposed it to be a schismatic altar and prepared for war, but were appeased on learning that it had been erected as a token of the unity of Reuben and Gad with the other tribes (see Ed). The narrative as it stands is one of the latest additions to P ; but it seems to be based on JE, though it has been so entirely reconstructed by a late editor tliat we cannot recover the original story. Here again the references to ' half Manasseh' are editorial additions.
iii. The Territory op Gad.— Besides minor references, we have two main accounts of the territory : (a) Nu .32«-'" (JE) assigns to Gad Beth- haran, Betn-nimrah, Dibon, Jogbehah, Jazer, Ataroth, Atroth-shophan, and Aroer, cities scat- tered over the district between the Jabbok and
ben-Manasseh ; In Dt 3" Moses gives half Mt. Gilead to Reuben and Gad ; while in Dt 3" Reuben and Gad receive 'from Gilead.' Ap- parently in Jg 5" Gilead = Gad. In Jos 13»-" (P) G. has all the cities of Gilead, and Machir ben- Manasseh has half Gilead. In the list of Levitical cities in Jos 21'«-»» (P), 1 Ch e*"-". Heshbon, which is given to Reuben in Jos 13", is reckoned as belonging to Gad. Ramoth-gilead is given to Gad in Jos 208 (p, 21»-» (P), Dt 4- 1 Ch6»-". See Table, p. 78.
iv. History after the Conqitest. — First we may notice the general relation of Gad to the other eastern tribes. Apparently, the strength of Reuben was broken at some early date (see Reuben), and this tribe became dependent on Gad, much as Simeon on Judah. Hence the situation in JE, in which Reuben occupies a group of cities in the territory of Gad. P's arrangement in Jos 13 is prdbnbly a eonjecturnl restoration, after Reuben and Gad had disappeared, embodying the general idea that Reuben lay to the south of Gad. Further, P's idea in Jos of the close early confederation of Reuben and Gad with E. Manasseh is also late. It is doubtful whether the eastern settlement of Manos-seh was made
78
GAD
GAD
before Israel crossed the Jordan, or later by Jl.iii.issite clans, who recrossed the river from the West (cf. Manasseh). But, in any case, the interests of Gad and E. Manasseh were sciiarate and often conflicting ; and the contnulictory statements, some of wliich assign Gilead to Gad, while others make Gilead a clan of Manasseh, probablj' indicate that at an early date Gad (with its dependent Reuben) was practically Israel east of the Jordan, and that clans of Manasseh afterwards encroached upon Gad's territory and occupied part of Gilead. According to Jg 5" neither Gad nor Reuben had any share in the victory over Sisera. Gad must have been involved in tlie Ammonite invasion, the deliverance by Jephtliah, and the quarrel with Ephraim in Jg 11. 12. 'Gileadite,' used of Jephthah and his followers, may equal ' Gadite,' or be a general term for ' E. Israelite.' The genealogies, if pressed, make Jephthah a member of E. Manasseh ; Jg 12^ may perhaps suggest that his followers belonged to clans of Ephraim and Manasseh, which had migrated to the east of Jordan ; but the verse is corrupt and obscure, cf. 11^. In any case, this Ammonite war illustrates the border raids and more serious in- vasions to which Gad, in common with Reuben and E. Manasseh, was exposed throughout the
country into twelve districts, ' which provided vietuafs for the king and his liouschiild.' The description of the districts is vague and obscure, but it is clear that thej» do not coincide with tribal territories ; and it is sometimes lield that this new arrangement marks the close of the old tribal system. But Gad at any rate, having by this time absorbed Reuben, stood for S. E. Pales- tine, and continued to do so ; see below on Moabite Stone.
At the disruption Gad fell to the N. kingdom ; and Penuel, apparently Jerolxjam's capital (I K 12''^), probably lay within its territory. .Jeroboam's interest in the district would add to its prosperity, but tend to abolish distinct tribal organization, and to merge E. Palestine in the N. kingdom. Prob- ably, as the Moabite Stone speaks of cities taken from Moab by Omri, Moab recovered its inde- pendence at or soon after the disruiition. Such recovery of Moab may have been chielly at the expen.se of Reuben ; but Gad also must have sun'ered through the gains of Moab, and profited by the conquests of Omri. Elijah, and iirobably
)y tti( G.A.
Smith, Hist. Geog. p. 580) the brook Cherith,
are of Gilead, i.e. prob.ably Gad.
In the long wars between Israel and Aram, E. Palestine was the battle-ground, and the brunt
TABLE OF CITIES ASSIGNED TO GAD.
Absionkd to
BUtARES.
Gad.
Rbubes.
Moab.
Nu32 S4-36.
Jos 13
24-38.
Jos 208. -^'Jl
lCh6
60. Bl,
Nu33
Is
Jer
Stone.
Wbon . Ataroth Aroer .
Atroth-Bhophfto . Jazer . Jogbehah Beth-nimrah .
Beth-haran .
Succoth
Ramoth-^ead
Beahbon
•
• • •
•
•
V
?•
«
• b
•
?•
•
• • «
•
Jos 131" lCh58
Nu'3237 Jos 13"
152
168 16M