To the remarks made under Becher should be added that the great destruction of the Benjamites recorded in Judg. XX may account for the introduction of so many new names in the later Benjamite lists of 1 Chron. vii and viii, of which several seem to be wom- en's names" (Smith). See Bexja:mix. In 1 Chron, vii, 7, UzziKL occupies the same position as Gera else- where in the genealogy. See Bei-a.
2. The father (or ancestor) of Ehud the judge (Judg. iii, 15) ; compare 1 Chron. viii, 5, 7 ; possibly identical with No. 1 above. B.C. ante 1509. See Ehld.
3. The father (or ancestor) of Shimei, which latter so grossly abused David (2 Sam. xvi, 5; xix, IG, 18 ; 1 Kings ii, 8) ; thought by some to be identical with both the foregoing. B.C. ante 1023. See Shimei.
Gerah ('T^S', gerah' , a herry or granule [compare English "barley-corn" and "grain" as measure and weight] ; Sept. o/-?o/\of, Vulgate oholus), the smallest weight, and likewise the smallest piece of money among the Hebrews, equivalent to the twentieth part of a shekel (Exod. xxx, 13; Lev. xxvii, 25; Numb, iii, 47 ; xviii, 16 ; Ezek. xlv, 12). It would therefore weigh ISj'^i Paris grains, and be worth sbout 3 cents. Tlie same Hebrew word also signifies aid, as lieing a round mass. It has been supposed by many that the gerah was so called from the fact that some kernel, as of pepper or barlej^ or perhaps the seeds of the carob- tree (woff-ior) ma}' have been originally used for this weight, but it would be equal in weight to 4 or 5 beans of the carob, and according to the Rabbins, it weighed as much as 16 grains of barley. — Gesenius. See Me- tr(>loc;y.
Gerando, Joseph Marie, Baron De, a French statesman and philosophical writer, was born at Lyons February 29, 1772, and was educated for the priest- hood. During the Revolution he served in the French army, and, under Napoleon, he tilled various high civil offices. He was made a French peer in 1837. and died at Paris November 10, 1842. He is mentioned here for his philosophical and ethical writings. Having sent an article to the French Academy in 1799, which received a prize, he enlarged it into a treatise entitled Des Signes et de I'art de penser (1800, 4 vols. 8 vo). This was followed by De la Generation des connaissances hu- maines (1802, 8vo), which was crowned by the Berlin Academy. His most important work is his Ilistoire complete des systemes de Philosophie considt-rcs relative- men! aiix principes des connaissances humaines (1803,3 vols ; 3d ed. 1847-8, 4 vols. 8vo) : — Da perfectionnement moral ou de V education de soi-meme (1824 ; 1832, 2 vols.), which received the Montyon prize from the French Academy, and was translated into Englisli and pub- lished under the title Self-Education (Boston, 1860, 12mo). De Gerando wrote many works on economical and political science. — Hoofer, Xouv. Bivgr. Gmerale, XX, 143.
Ge'rar (Heb. Gerar', ^"ij, according to Simonis a lodging-plice, according to others from the Arabic wate}-pots, but more prob. with Fiirst, a region, as be- ing the centre of a distinct Philistine kingdom ; Sept. and Josephus [ro] ripapa), a very ancient town and district on the southernmost borders of P.ilestine, in the country of the Philistines, and not far from Gaza. It was visited by Abraham after the destruction of Sodom (Gen. xx, V), and by Isaac when there was a dearth in the rest of Canaan (Gen. xxvi, 1). The in- tercourse, differences, and alliances of the Hebrew fa- thers with the king and people of Gerar form a very curious and interesting portion of patriarchal history (Tb.omson, Land and Book, ii, 350). See Isaac. In Genesis the people are spoken of as Philistines ; but their habits appear, in that early stage, more pastoral than they subsequently were. Yet they are even then warlike, since Abimelech had "a captain of the host," who appears from his fixed title, " Phichol," like that
GERARD
815
GERASA
of the king, "Abimelech," to be a permanent officer (comp. Gen. xxi, 32 ; xxvi, 26; and Psa. xxxiv, title). See Abimelech. Tlie local description, xxi, 1, "be- tween Kadesli and Sliur," is probably meant to indi- cate tlie limits within wliich tliese pastoral Philistines, whose chief scat was then Gcrar, ranged, although it would by no means follow that their territory em- braced all the interval between those cities. It must have trenched on the "south" or " south country" of later Palestine. From a comparison of xxi, 32 with xxvi, 23, 20, Beersheba would seem to be just on the verge of this territorj'-, and perhaps to be its limit to- wards the N.E. For its southern boundary, though very uncertain, none is more probable than the wadys El-Arish ("River of Egypt") and El-'Ain ; south of which the neighboring " wilderness of Paran" (xx, 15 ; xxi, 22, 34) niaj' probably be reckoned to begin. Isaac was most probably born in Gerar. The great crops which he subsequentl}' raised attest the fei'tility of the soil, which, lying in the maritime plain, still contains some of the best ground in Palestine (xxi, 2; xxvi, 12). It was still an important place in later times, as we may gather from 1 Chron. xiv, 13, 14. According to the ancient accounts, Gerar lay in or near a valley ("the valley of Gerar," Gen. xxvi, 17; comp. 1 Sam. XV, 5), which appears to be no other than the great wady Sluriuh (or one of the branches of it) that comes down from Beersheba; besides, we know that it was | in the land of the Philistines, and that it was not far from Beersheba when Isaac resided there (Gen. xxvi, 1,20,23; 20-33; comp. .xx, 1). The name continued to exist (perhaps as a matter of tradition) for several centuries after the Christian wra. Eusebius and Je- rome {Onomast. s. v. Gerar) place it twentj'-five Ro- man miles southward from Eleutheropolis ; and Sozo- men {/list. Eccles. vi, 32 ; ix, 17) reports that a large and celebrated monastery stood there, near a winter torrent. The abbot Silvanus resided there towards the end of the 4th centurj', and the name of Marcion, bishop of Gerar, appears among the signatures of the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. In the Talmudical writings the district is termed Gerarki (Schwarz, .Pal- estine^ p. 109). The name seems to have been after- wards lost, and Dr. Robinson {Researches, i, 279 ; ii, 383) was unable to discover any traces of it in the lo- cality; but he unnecessarily disparages the claims of wady El-Jeria; which runs into the wady El-Arish at Jebel el-Helal, to be regarded as a southernmost trace of the ancient kingdom (Jour. Sac. Lit. Juh', 1800, p. 309-319). It is possible that the wells mentioned bj- him as Ij'ing in tlie shallow wady El-Kusaimeh, in the same neighborhood (i, 280), may represent those digged by Abraham and reopened bj^ Isaac (Gen. xxvi, 18-22). • — Kitto, s. V. ; Smith, s. v. J. Rowlands, in travelling from Gaza to Khulassah, came after 3 hours' march to a broad, deep wady, ,Iurf el-Gerai; a little below its junction with a branch - valley from wady Sheriah. Near this junction are ruins called Khiirbet el-Gerar (Williams, Holn Cit;i, 1845, App. p. 488-492), which he identifies with Gerar. This account Van de Velde heard confirmed by the people of Gaza, with a slight modification {Narrative, ii, 183). There are no ruins j-et standing, but scattered stones which appear to have been once used in buildings ; and in the alisence of old ■wells, it would seem as if the ancient city had been supplied from some spring. Stewart's suggestion of the ruins of El-Ahdeh {T<nl ami Khan, p. 207) is out of the (piestion (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 314). In 1 Chron. iv, 39, the Sept. substitutes Gerar (Ftpopa) for Gedor (q. v.).