It is, of course, [lossible that G. is an entirely foreign name, unknown to the ancient Egyptians, anil lliat the I-XX translators were only making conjectures as to ils idcntiliiation. Of two things we may be certain, that it lay on the E. Viorder of the Delta, and furDisheU excellent pasture ; ami if
it dill not produce luxuriant harvests of corn and vegetables, like the ancient Arab, nome, we find that the Israelites dwelling there were at least plentifully supplied with 'leeks, onions, and garlic' (Nu H»). K. Ll. Griffith.
GOSPEL — Anglo-Sax. Godspell = * God story (not 'good story'),— the tr., from Anglo-Sax. times, of eiayyiXiov in NT. In Homer, in the sing., and in Attic Gr., in the pi., it signified a rewird or a thank -offering for good tidings. In later Gr. (Plutarch, in the pi., Lncian, in the sing.) it sig- nified also the good tidings itself. In LXX, 2 S 4"^, the Attic meaning and the plural occur ; in the two remaining instances (sometimes quoted for the sense good news), 2K 18---^, it is probable that the non-cla-ssical fern. sing. evayyeXia ought to be read (cf. vv. ■"• -'', where this form is certain). In NT the nent. sing, alone is found (in Lk never ; in Ac twice ; in Rev once ; in Jn — Gosp. and Epp. — never, whether subst. or vb.), and in the sense of good news only ; a sense, moreover, always specialized, in accordance apparently with tlie Deutero-Isaian ei'a-yyfX/f'o^ioi, as may "be gathered from the quotation and comment in Ro 10"- '", ' How beautiful are the feet tCip eiayytXtiofUvtav iyaBi ! But they did not all obey n^i (vayycMu.'
The content of this NT gospel had two stages. (1) In the mouth of Christ, and of those whom, while He was on earth. He sent forth to proclaim it (.Mt 10', Lk 9- W [Mk 16"]), it was the good tidings of the kingdom of God (Mk 1'*- ", Mt 4^ 9") wliich He had come to establish ; and this is called in Mk 1" 'the good tidings of God,' i.e. coming from God (cf. 1 P 4") ; in Ac 20^ ' the good tidings of the free favour of God ' ; in 1 Ti 1" ' tlie good tidings of (i.e. about) the glorj' (i.e. the manifested perfection) of the blessed God.' This good tidings about tlie kingdom Christ had also associated inseparably with His own person : Mk 8" W ' For my sake and the gospel's' : hence it is likewise called in Mk 1' 'the gospel of (i.e. about) Jesus Christ' ; and thus it enters upon the second stage in its meaning.
(2) After Christ's death and resurrection it be- came the ()ood tidings (not so much brought by, and proclaimed bj', as) about Christ (cf. Ro 1' ' The good tidings from God about [irtpi] His Son ') ; see ICo 9'^; also 'the good tidings of (about) the glory (the manifested perfection) of Christ,' 2 Co 4*; or, simply, ' the "ood tidings,' 1 Co 9". So the apostolic (chiefly Pauline) use may be defined as the good tidings, coming from God, of srilrntinn h'j ilis free favour through Christ. See Eph 1" ('of our .salvation'), Eph 0*^ ('of peace'). Probably, though not .so certainly as Weiss seems to think, the word (like our word preaching) sometimes expresses not so much the content itself as the act of proclaiming it : in this way we may perhaps explain the genitives of those who pre.'ich and those who hear in such passages as 2 Co llJ'* ' We came as far as unto you in the gospel of Christ,' 2 Co 4' ' our gospel,' \io 2" Iti-'* ' nnj gospel,' i.e. our, my, exposition of the gospel ; and Gal 2* ' I have been intrusted with the gospel (the preaching of the gospel) to the unr\rcumri.non, even as Peter with the gospel to the circum- cision'; not the content being dillerent, but the sphere and the emphasis (ef. 1 Co 15" ' Whether it be I or they, so we jireaeh, and so ye lielieved'). In each of the passages where ' my gospel ' or ' my jireaching of the gospel ' occurs, the writer apjiears, iiceiirding to the context, to 1m) laying stress on some particular i>oiiit which it lia.s been his way to expound with sjiecial fulness n.s having lieen emphalieally Inirne in upon him at the time of his prearhiug, or as closely alTerting the case o( the people to whom he is writing. Thus Chrut
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the Judge, tlie characteristic of the early mis- sionary preaching (Ac 17")f is the element on which he lays stress in the ' our gospel ' of 1 Th 1" (cf. >-v.'-'° and 2 Th l"-"). Again, in Ro 2", after his theme has been the equal responsibility of Jew and Gentile as doers of law, he recalls his proclama- tion of the fact that God will judge by Jesus Christ all men alike, not b^ their outward situations but by their inward attitudes {t4 /cpmrrd). Once more, in 2Ti 2*, in order to encourage Timothy in the midst of suffering, the writer shows how, in ' his Gospel,' he lays stress upon the glorified state of Jesus the man and Christ the King, — king by royal descent and fulfilling prophetic anticipation. (Cf. 2 Co 4* t4 fi^ayy^Xiox viiCiv, and v.* XfiKTrbr 'IiI<roCi» Kitpior, the Lordship of the raised Christ being, in fact, the sum of the Pauline preaching, Ph 2'"). In none of these passages is there a single sign that he is hinting at a specific difference in the content of the gospel preached by himself and by the Twelve.