in the Gr. period by the Maccabees (which see); but for the further elucidation of the sub- ject we must refer the reader to such articles as Ha.sid*ans, Pharisee, Proselyte.
LiTBRATCRB, — Bertliolet's monojrraph, Die StfUung d. Jrr. u. d. Judi. zu (/. Fremiien (to which the saiiie obli;rationH are due as in ftrt. Fokeioner) ; W. It. isiiiilli, ii.b' 7j ff., Kiiuhip, tic. 42f., 2.-,9, orjC^ M-I n. ; Driver, Dent. 126. 105, 175 ; Kuincn, Rel. »r. i. 1821., ii. 2o9(. ; Schurer, UJP 11. ii. 315; Rcuss. A.T. li. 28 f. ; Ellicott on Eph 2iu ; Oremer, Bib.-Thml. Uz. t. »»».,«« ; Benziiitjer, Heh. Arch, 339f. J. \^ SKLHIK.
GERA (n"!3). — Mentioned as one of Benjamin's sons in Gn 4G-', omitted in Nu 2ti^*'. Ace. to 1 Ch 8'- '• '' G. is a son of Bela and a grandson of Benjamin. Gera was evidently a well-known Ben- jaiiiite elan, to which belonged Ehud (.)g 3'° where see Moore's note) and Shimei (2 S 1G» ly'"- '», 1 K 2"). See Genealogy.
GERAH.— See Weights and Measures.
GERAR (11,3, Vipapa). — This place, as identified on existing maps, is about 6 miles from Gaza, a little W. of S., and perhaps 25 miles from Beer sheba in a direction N. of W. Gerar is mentioned in or in the history of the time of king Asa and in that of the patriarchs. In Asa's time it was one of several cities in that region (2 Ch 14'3-'*). (In 1 Ch 4*' Gerar should iKissibly be substituted for Gedor of MT. The LXX reads I'epapa. See Gedou). In the earlier time, G. is the region where Abraham and Isaac came into contact with a king or kings named Abimelecli. The site as now identified is well within the territory properly known as the land of the Philis- tines. The region as mentioned in Ch and Gn must have extended far to the S., and far enough to the E. to cover part of « hat is elsewhere known as the Negeb, or S. countrj-.
Were the people whom Abraham and Isaac met in this region true Philistines? That is, did they belong to the same race lliat afterwards so often oppressed Israel? Their essentially pastoral char- acter is no argument in the negative, for Israel was then also a pastoral people. The region is called the land of the Philistines (Gn 21*'-*'), but that is not in itself decisive, for the writer uses the geog. terms belonging to his own time, and not necessarily to the time of Abraham. The people are called Philistines (Gn '26'- "•'*•'»• '"), but even that is not so conclusive as at first it seems, for the term may be merely jreographical, de- 8<;ribing the peoiile who, in the time of Abraham, lived in the counti-y which the writer knew as Philistine. But Abimelech seems to have been a Phil, name (Ps 34, title). Phichol, the ' captain of his host' (Gn 21-*' 26'"), is witness to the existence of military organizjition, such as cor- rcsjurnds with the genius of the later Philistines, Ahuzzath (2G'-'') is naturally explained as one of the Phil, names in tlth, like Goliath. Add these coiiliniiatory jiarticulars to those above given, and we have prool of considerable strength identifying the Philistines of Isiuic with those of later times.
G. wius a well-known place in the earlier cen- turies after Chri.^t. A monastery was loiated there. The abbot Sylvanu-s, of the 4th cent., was celebrateil ; and Marcion, bishop of G., was one of the signatories of the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451. The Talni. writings know the district as Geriirici (Euseb. ; Jerome, iinutivisl. ; So/omen, nut. Krrles. vi. 32, ix. 7 ; Sdiwarz, Pal. p. Ui9). Travellers of the present cent, have given a good deal of attention to this region, e.g. Thomson, Lind and liiHik, ii. 350; Stanley, Sin. and Put. ji. 159; Kobill^.on, Rcwnrchts. i. 189, ii. 43, 44. See als<) PKFSt, 1871. p. 84 ; 1875, pp. 10'2. 104 ; 1881, p. 38 i and Sayce, Pal. Pal. 181, 189. \V. J. BekCHEK.
158
GERASA
GERASA
GERASA (rfpaia, repaa-Qfoll—ln the RV 'Gera- Benes' takes the place of 'Gadarenes' in Mk 5', Lk 8-' ; with these excepfjnas the expression ' the country of the Gerasenes ' does not occur in the Bible. See Gadara, Gerasenes.
Jerome {nd Ohad. 1) states tliat Gilead was called in his day Gerasa, and it is possible tliat the term 'country of the Gerasenes' (or Gilead) may have extended as far as the Lake of Genne-iiaret ; "but as Gilead i.s usually supposed to have been terminated on its northern boundary by the Hieromax, it seems more probable that the 'country of the Gerasenes' (Mk 5') refers to a town of the name of Gerasa on the eastern shore of Gennesaret (see Gerasenes, and cf. Origen, 0pp. 4, p. 140). According to Ptolemy (v. 15), Gerasa was a city of Ccele-S3'na (wliich included Gilead), 35 miles from Pella ; and Pliny describes it (v. 18), Gerasa being read for Galasa, as one of the cities of the Decapolis which was built or rebuilt, colonized and endowed with privileges on the conquest of Syria by the Romans, B.C. 65 (Stephanus, Ethnic). Eusebius (Onrimast. s.v.) describes the Decapolis as tliat part of Pertea ' tliat lies about Hippos, Pella, and Gadara.' Josophus (B./ III. iii. 3) places Gerasa in the district of Peroea, east of Jordan, on the borders of the Arabian desert, and mentions it in connexion with Pella and Philadelphia {BJ I. iv. 8). Epi- phanius(^')rfy. ffcer. i. andii.) describes Decapolis as around Pella and Basanets,and speaks of the fountain of Gerasa of Arabia. Jamblicus states that it was colonized by veterans of Alexander the Great, which is not improbable from its proximity to Pella, which was probably colonized in this manner.