Heb., “luck”
1 Canaanite god of fortune (Isa 65:11). 2 The son of Jacob and Zilpah (Gen 30:9-11), and eponymous ancestor of the Israelite tribe of that name. Gad occupied territory between the Jabbok and Arnon Rivers, which it shared with the tribe of Reuben. The Jabbok served as the boundary between Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Mesha, king of Moab, ca. 830 BCE, conquered Ataroth, which “the men of Gad inhabited from of old.” Some time afterward the territory of Gad was overrun by Hazael of Damascus (2Kgs 10:32-33). The region may have been restored to Israel by Jeroboam II (2Kgs 14:25), but it was lost again to the Assyrian conqueror Tiglath-pileser, who deported its population (1Chr 5:26). 3 A prophet-seer of David (2Sam 24:11). In the Blessing of Jacob (Gen 49:19), by means of an alliterative play on the name Gad, the poet alludes to military tactics of the tribe. In the Blessing of Moses (Deut 33:20-21) Gad is described as a lioness who tears both arm and head and is praised for having performed the righteous ordinances of Yahweh. In the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:17) Gad, under the designation Gilead (Judg 12:7), is listed among those tribes that failed to participate in the war against Sisera and is chided for having remained across the Jordan.
