Gilead was a frontier land, exposed to the first at- tacks of the Syrian and Assj'rian invaders, and to the unceasing raids of the desert tribes — "Because ISIachir, the first-born of Manasseh, was a man of war, there- fore he had Bashan and Gilead" (Josh, xvii, 1). Un- der the wild and wayward Jephthah, Mizpeh of Gilead became the gathering-place of the trans-Jordanic tribes (Judg. xi, 29) ; and in subsequent times the neighbor- ing stronghold of Ramoth-Gilead appears to have been considered the key of Palestine on the east (1 Kings xxii, 3, 4, 6 ; 2 Kings viii, 28 ; ix, 1).
The name Galaad (ToKcuw) occurs several times in the history of the jMaccabees (1 Mace, v, 9 sq.), and also in Josephus, but generally with the Greek termi- nation— VciXaamTir or raXavtji'i) {Ant. xiii, 14, 2 ; War, i, 4, 3). Under the Roman dominion the countiy be- came more settled and civilized ; and the great cities of Gadara, Pella, and Gerasa, with Philadelphia on its south-eastern border, speedily rose to opulence and splendor. In one of these (Pella) the Christians of Jerusalem found a sanctuary when the armies of Titus gathered round the devoted city (Eusebius, //. E. iii, 5). Under Mohammedan rule the country has again lapsed into semi-barbarism. Some scattered villages amid the fastnesses of Jebel Ajlun, and a few fierce wandering tribes, constitute the whole population cf Gilead. They are nominally subject to the Porte, but their allegiance sits lightlj^ upon them. The inhabi- tants, like the old Gadites, are semi-nomads, whose wealth consists in flocks and herds. Like them, too, they are harassed by the desert tribes ; they are inured to arms, and they are noted for their hospitalitj'. The capital of the whole country is es-Salt (Burckhardt, Trav. in Syria, p. 270; Buckingham, Arab Tribes, p. 21 sq. ; Lord Lindsaj^'s Travels, ii, 108 sq.).
III. Description of modern Country. — The great bod}' of the rana;e of Gilead is Jura limestone, but there are occasional veins of sandstone. The oak and the tere- l)inth flourish on the former, and the pine on the lat- ter. Tiie mountains of Gilead have a real elevation of from two to three thousand feet, but their apparent elevation on the western side is much greater, owing to the depression of the Jordan valley, which averages aVjout 1000 feet. Their outline is singularly uniform, resembling a massive wall running along the horizon. From the distant cast tiie}' seem veiy low, for on that side they meet the plateau of Arabia, 2000 feet or more in height. Though the range appears bleak from the distance, yet, on ascending it, we find the scenery rich, picturesque, and in places even grand. The sum- mit is broad, almost like table-land "tossed into wild
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confusion of undulating downs" (Stanlej-, Sinai and Pal. J). 314). It is everywhere covered with luxuriant herbage. In the extreme north and south tlicre are no trees, but as we advance towards the centre they soon begin to appear, at first singly, then in groups, and at length, on each side of the Jabbok, in line for- ests, cliietly of jiriclily oak and terebinth. The rich pasture-land of Gilead presents a striking contrast to the nakedness of Western Palestine. Except among the hills of Galilee and along the heights of Carnicl, there is nothing to be compared witii it as "a place for cattle" (Numb, xxxii, 1). "In passing through the country, one can hardh' get over tlie impression that he is roaming through an English park. The graceful hills, the rich vales, the luxuriant herbage, the briglit wild flowers, the plantations of evergreen oak, pine, and arbutus; now a tangled thicket, and now a grove scattered over the gentle slope, as if in- tended to reveal its beauty; the little rivulets fringed with oleander, at one place running lazily between al- luvial banks, at another dasliing madly down rocky ravines. Such are the features of the mountains of Gilead. Here, too, we have the cooing of the wood- pigeon, the hoarse call of the partridge, the incessant hum of myriads of insects, and the cheerful chirp of grasshoppers to give life to the scene. Add to all the crumbling ruins of town, village, and fortress, cling- ing to the mountain-side or crowning its summit, and you have a picture of the country between cs-Salt and Gerasa"'(Porter, Handboolcfor 8. and P. p. 310). Such a picture, too, illustrates at once the fertility ascribed to it by Jeremiah (xxii, G; 1, li)), and the judgments pronounced against it by Amos (i, 3, 13).
Gilead anciently abounded in spices and aromatic gums, which were exported to Egypt (Gen. xx.xvii, 25 ; Jer. viii, 22 ; xlvi, 11). The balm of Gilead seems to have been valued for its medicinal properties from the earliest times. The Midianitish merchants to whom Joseph was sold were passing through the val- ley of Jezreel on their way from Gilead to Egypt (Gen. x.xxvii, 17). Josephus often mentions this balm or balsam, but generally as the product of the rich plain of Jericho, for example (^Ant. xiv, 4): "Now when Pompey had pitched his camp at Jericho (where the palm-tree grows, and that balsam which is an oint- ment of all the most precious, whicli upon any incision being made in the wood with a sharp stone distils out thence like a juice), he marched in the morning to Je- rusalem." Dr. Thomson found in the plain of Jericho some thorn-bushes called the znhum, " which is like the crab apple-tree, and bears a small nut, from which a kind of liquid iialsam is made, and sold by the monks as balm of Gilead, so famous in ancient times," and he supposes "that the balm which Jacob sent to Josepii (Gen. xlvii, 11), and that wliich Jeremiah (viii, 22) re- fers to for its medicinal qualities, were the same whicli tiie trading Ishmaelites were transporting to Egypt, and that it was some resinous extract from the forest trees of Gilead" {Land and Book, ii, 193, 194).— Smith, S. V. ; Kitto, s. V. ; Fairbairn, s. v. See below.