{Ucn-fjkkch^i?
Atirf-shittira.
do.
[On Wady Sai]?
Ait,'ob.
Piptrict.
Jliijih.
Arorr.
Town.
Aireh.
Atiiroth-?hoplinn.
do.
[K. of Merj-Ekkeh] ?
Ikthbaiah (Bjtli-) any). /
Ford.
( [Opposite Beth-barali (in \ Jlanasseh)] ?
B( tli-aram, or) Itetli-haran j
Town.
Heit-IIaraii.
Mfth-nimrah.
do.
yimrin.
Hetonim.
do.
Batnch.
( I.irnon.
do.
\_Reimxin-\1
1 )cbir.
do.
See I.O-DEBAB.
(Jaleed.
Stone-heap. See Gii.ead.
Gcra?a fGei'gesa ?].
Town.
.Inash.
Gilead.
Mount.
Jcbcl Osha.
GAD
705
GAD
Holon, or Horonaim. Town. Jaazer. flo.
Jabl)ok:. lUver.
Jabe?li. Town.
Jazir. do.
[Xttr] ?
Seir.
W'adu Zurka.
Kd-Deii\ on Wady Jabes?
Se„' Jaazeh.
Jf'g:ir-?aUadutha.
Joj,'beliah.
Lo-dfljar.
Madma.
Mahanaini.
Jlizpeh.
Ninirah, or N'imrim.
PeaieliOr Peniiel.
Kamath-mizpe '
or Raraoth-G
ead Kogelim. Sihou.
Stone-heap. Si-e Gai-eed. Town. [El-Jebcibeli]?
do. iHt-Tai/ibcl.-i?
do. [Ikiherct el-ilemar] ?
do. Maluich.
do. See Ramotii.
lei.
do. do.
do.
See B:;TH-NiMBAn. [N. of Wady Zurka.]
Es-Salt.
do. [.IjZun]?
do. Sidkan.
„ ,, , [.Vt tlie Bridge S. of Wady
Succoth. do. Ajli.n]?
Zaphon. do. [S. of AVady Zurka].
The character of the tribe is tliroughout strongh' niarlvcd — fierce and warlike — " strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their fiices the f;ices of lions, and like roes upon the mountains for swiftness." Such is the graphic description given of those eleven heroes of Gad — "the least of them more than equal to a hun- dred, and the greatest to a thousand" — who joined their fortunes to David at the time of his greatest dis- credit and embarrassment (1 Chron. xii,8), undeterred by the natural difficulties of "flood and field" which stood in their way. Surrounded as the}^ were by Ammonites, jMidianites, Ilagarites, "Children of the East,"' and all the other countless tribes, animated by a common hostility to the strangers whose coming had dispossessed them of their fairest districts, the warlike propensities of the tribe must have had many opportu- nities of exercise. One of its greatest engagements is related in 1 Chron. v, 19-22. Here their opponents were the wandering Ishmaclitish tribes of Jetur, Ne- phish, and Nodab (comp. Gen. xxv, 15), nomad people, possessed of an enormous wealth in camels, sheep, and asses, to this day the characteristic possessions of their Bedouin successors. This immense booty came into the hands of the conquerors, who seem to have entered with it on t'.-ie former mode of life of their victims : probably puslied their way further into the Eastern wilderness in the "steads" of these Hagaritcs. An- other of these encounters is contained in the history of Je])lithah, but this latter story develops elements of a different nature and a higher order tlian the mere fierceness necessary to repel the attacks of the plun- derers of the desert. In the behavior of Jephthah throughout that affecting history there are traces of a spirit which we maj' almost call chivaleresque ; the high tone takin with the elders of Gilead, the noble but fruitless expostulation with the king of Amnion before the attack, the hasty vow, the overwhelming grief, and yet the persistent devotion of purpose, sure- ly in all these there are marks of a great nobilit}' of disposition, which must have been more or less char- acteristic of the Gadites in general. If to this we add the loyalty, the generosity, and the delicac}' of Bar- zillai (2 Sam. xix, 32-39), we obtain a very "high idea of the tribe at whose head \fere such men as these. Nor must wc, while enumerating the worthies of Gad, forget that in all probability Elijah the Tishbite, "who was of the inhabitants of Gilead," was one of them.
But, while exhibiting these high personal qualities. Gad appears to have been wanting in the powers nec- essary to enable him to take any active or leading part in the confederacy of the nation. The waiTiors, who rendered such assistance to David, might, when Ish- bosiieth set up his court at Mahanaim as king of Is- rael, have done much towards affirming his rights. Had Abner made choice of Shechem or Shiloh instead of llahanaim — the quick, explosive Ephraim instead of the unread}' Gad — who can doubt that the troubles of David's reign would have been immensely in- creased, perhaps the estalilishment of the northern kingdom antedated bv nearlv a century? David's III.— Y X
I presence at the same city during his flight from Absa- lom produced no effect on the tribe, and they are not mentioned as ha\'ing taken any part in the quarrels between Ephraim and Judah.
Cut off as Gad was by position and circumstances from its brethren on the west of Jordan, it still retain- ed some connection with them. We may infer that it was considered as belonging to the northern kingdom — "Know ye not," says Ahab in Samaria, "know yo not that liamoth in Gilead is oui's, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Sj'ria.'" (1 Kings xxii, 3). The territory of Gad was the battle- field on which the long and tierce struggles of S\'ria and Israel were fought out, and, as an agricultural pastoral country, it must have suffered severely in consequence (2 Kings xx, 33).
Gad was carried into captivity by Tiglath Pileser (1 Chron. v, 26), and in the time of Jeremiah the cities of the tribe seem to have been inhabited by the Am- monites. "Hatli Israel no sons.' hath he no heir.' whj- doth IMalcham (i. e. Moloch) inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities ?" (xlix, 1). See Keland, Pa- Icesf. p. 1G2 sq. ; Burckhardt, Ti'av. in Si/ria, p. 345 sq.