2. (Josephus rdcog, A7it.yn, 13, 4.) "The seer" (ITthin), or "the king's seer," i. e. David's — such ap- pears to have been his official title (1 Chron. xxix, 29 ; 2 Chron. xxix, 25; 2 Sam. xxiv, 11; 1 Chron. xxi, 9) — was a " prophet" (N'^SS), who appears to have joined David when in "the hold," and at whose advico he quitted it for the forest of Hareth (1 Sam. xxii, 5), B.C. lOGl. Whether he remained with David during his wanderings is not to be ascertained : we do not again encounter him till late in the life of the king, when he reappears in connection with the punishment inflicted for the numbering of the people (2 Sam. xxiv, 11-19 ;
I Chron. xxi, 9-19), B.C. cir. 1016. But he was evi- dently attached to the royal establishment at Jerusa- lem, for he wrote a book (see Chronicles, Book of) of the Acts of David (1 Chron. xxix, 29), and also as- sisted in settling the arrangements for the musical ser- vice of the "house of God," by which his name was handed down to times long after his own (2 Chron. xxi.x, 25). In the abruptness of his introduction Gad has been compared with Elijah (Jerome, Qa. Ilebr. on 1 Sam. xxii, 5), with whom he may have been of the same tribe, if his name can be taken as denoting his parentage, but this is unsupported by any evidence. Nor is there any apparent ground for Ewald's sugges- tion {Gesch. iii, IIG) that he was of the school of Sam- uel. If this could be made out. it would afford a nat- ural reason for his joining David. — Smitli, s. v. See David.
3. The name Gad (with the art. IJ'tl ; Sept. SaifiS- viov V. r. oaijuoi', or, according to tlic reading of Je- rome and of some MSS., tvxi]) is mentioned in Isa. Ixv,
II (.\.Y. " troop"). The word, by a comliination with the Araliic, may be legitimately taken to denote ybr- tune (see Pococke, *S'/)ec. ///s/. .iraS. p. 140). So Ge- senius, Hitzig, and Ewald have taken Gad in their respective versions of Isaiah, rendering the clause, " who spread a table to fortune." This view, which is the general one, makes fortune in this passage to be an object of idolatrous worship. There is great disa- greement, however, as to the power of nature which this name was intended to denote, and, from the scant}' data, there is little else than mere opinion on the sub- ject. The majority, among whom are some of the chief rabbinical commentators (see Buxtorf, Zf-r. Talm. col. 1034\ as well as Gesenius, Miinter, and Ewald. consider Gad to be the form under which the planet Ju- jnter was worshipped as the greater star of good fortune (see especiallj' Gesenius, CoTO?«. wie;- (7e« ■/esrtin. ad loc.). Others, among whom is Vitringa, sujipose Gad to have represented the Sun, while Huetius regards it as a rep- resentative of the Moon, and Movers, the latest writer of any eminence on Syro-Arabian idolatry, takes it to
GAD
V06
GADARA
have been the planet Venus (Die rhunicler, i, 650), See BiJ.. On the other hand, if Gad he derived from 11'\ in the sense of to 2)ress, to crotcd, it may mean a troop, a heap (to which sense there is an alhision in Gen. xlix, 19) ; and Hoheisel, as cited in Rosenmtiller's Scholiii, ad loc, as well as Deyling, in his Ohsenmt. MUcell. p. G73, have each attempted a mode by which the passage might be explained if Gad and Meni were taken in the sense of troop and number (see further Dav. Mill's diss, ad loc. in his Diss. Selectw, p. 81-132). — Kitto, s. V. See Mexi.
Some have supposed that a trace of the S3'rian wor- ship of Gad is to be found in the exclamation of Leah, when Zilpah bare a son (Gen. xxx, 11), X3, ha-gad, or, as tlie Keri has it, "IS N3, "Gad, or good fortune cometh." The Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum both give "a lucky planet com- eth," but it is most probable that this is an interpreta- tion which grew out of the astrological beliefs of a later time, and wc can infer notliing from it with respect to the idolatry of the inhabitants of Padan Aram in the age of Jacob. That tliis later belief in a deity Fortune existed, there are many things to prove. Buxtorf (Lex. Talin. s. v.) says that anciently it was a custom for each man to have in his house a splendid couch, which was not used, but was set apart for " the prince of the house," that is, for the star or constellation Foi-- tune, to render it more propitious. This couch was called the couch of Gada, or good-luck (Talm. Babl. Sanhcd. f. 20 a ; Xedarim, f. 5G ci). Again, in Bereshitk Ralha, § G5, the words ■'3N t^p^, in Gen. xxvii, 31, are explained as an invocation to Gada or Fortune. Eabbi Moses the Priest, quoted by Aben-Ezra (on Gen. xxx, 11), says "that i;b (Isa. Ixv, 11) signifies the f.t.r of luck, which points to everything that is good, for thus is the language of Kedar (Arabic) ; but he says that 'IJ Xn (Gen. xxx, 11) is not used in the same sense." Illustrations of the ancient custom of placing a banqueting table in honor of idols will be found in the table spread for the sun among the Ethiopians (Herod, iii, 17, 18), and in the feast made by the Baby- lonians for their god Bel, which is described in the apocryphal history of Bel and the Dragon (comp. also Herod, i, 181, etc.). The table in the temple of Bolus is described l)j'Diodorus Siculus (ii, 9) as being of beat- en gold, 40 feet long, 1 5 wide, and weighing 500 talents. On it were placed two drinking-cups (Kapxhaici) weigh- ing 80 talents, two censei-s of 300 talents each, and three golden goblets, that of Jupiter or Bel weighing 1200 Babylonian talents. The couch and table of the god in the temple of Zeus Tryphilius at Patara, in the island of Panchsea, are mentioned bj' Diodorus (v. 4G ; comp. also Virgil, y-En. ii, V63). In addition to the opinions M'hich have been referred to above, may be quoted that of Stephen le Moyne ( Var. Sacror. p. 3G3), who says that (iad is the goat of Mcndes, worshipped by the Egyptians as an emlilem of the sun ; and of Le Clerc (Cotnm. in Fsd.^ and Lakemacher (^Obs. Phil, i v, 18, etc.), wlio identif}' Gad with Hecate. Macrobius (Sat. i, 19) tells ns that in the later Eg3'ptian mythology Tvx>] was worshipped as one of the four deities who presided over birth, and was represented by the moon. This will perhaps tlirow some light upon the rendering of the Sept. as given by Jerome. Traces of the worship of Gad remain in the proper names Baal Cad and Gid- dencme (Plant. P(r». v, 3), tlie latter of which Geseni- us (Mon. Pkan. p. 407) renders tTOrS 15, " favoring fortune" (comp. Wirth, De Gad et A/eni Judceorum hodi- ernoi-um diis, Altorf, 1725). — Smith, s. v. See Baal.