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People of the Bible

Gad

1752 BC – · Tribe of Gad

Family

Father
Jacob (Israel)
Mother
Zilpah
Brothers and sisters
Asher
Half-brothers and sisters
Benjamin (patriarch), Dan, Dinah, Issachar, Joseph (son of Jacob), Judah (patriarch), Levi (patriarch), Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun
Children
Areli, Arod, Eri, Haggi, Ozni, Shuni, Zephon

In the story

A dot is a moment; a bar is something that lasted, drawn to its length.

  • Birth of Gad · 1752 BC
  • Joseph sold to Egypt · 1727 BC
  • 7 years of famine · 1707 BC
  • Joseph's brothers return to Egypt · 1705 BC

Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher (Gen. 30:11-13; 46:16, 18). In the Authorized Version of 30:11 the words, “A troop cometh: and she called,” etc., should rather be rendered, “In fortune [R.V., ‘Fortunate’]: and she called,” etc., or “Fortune cometh,” etc.

The tribe of Gad during the march through the wilderness had their place with Simeon and Reuben on the south side of the tabernacle (Num. 2:14). The tribes of Reuben and Gad continued all through their history to follow the pastoral pursuits of the patriarchs (Num. 32:1-5).

The portion allotted to the tribe of Gad was on the east of Jordan, and comprehended the half of Gilead, a region of great beauty and fertility (Deut. 3:12), bounded on the east by the Arabian desert, on the west by the Jordan (Josh. 13:27), and on the north by the river Jabbok. It thus included the whole of the Jordan valley as far north as to the Sea of Galilee, where it narrowed almost to a point.

This tribe was fierce and warlike; they were “strong men of might, men of war for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, their faces the faces of lions, and like roes upon the mountains for swiftness” (1 Chr. 12:8; 5:19-22). Barzillai (2 Sam. 17:27) and Elijah (1 Kings 17:1) were of this tribe. It was carried into captivity at the same time as the other tribes of the northern kingdom by Tiglath-pileser (1 Chr. 5:26), and in the time of Jeremiah (49:1) their cities were inhabited by the Ammonites.

From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.

Named in 55 verses

Genesis
30:11, 35:26, 46:16, 49:19
Exodus
1:4
Numbers
1:14, 1:24, 1:25, 2:14, 7:42, 10:20, 13:15, 26:15, 26:18, 32:1, 32:2, 32:6, 32:25, 32:29, 32:31, 32:33, 32:34, 34:14
Deuteronomy
27:13, 33:20
Joshua
4:12, 13:24, 13:28, 18:7, 20:8, 21:7, 21:38, 22:9, 22:10, 22:11, 22:13, 22:15, 22:21, 22:25, 22:30, 22:31, 22:32, 22:33, 22:34
1 Samuel
13:7
1 Chronicles
2:2, 5:11, 6:63, 6:80, 12:14
Jeremiah
49:1
Ezekiel
48:27, 48:28, 48:34
Revelation
7:5

The family, dates and events on this page come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a work in progress, and its dates follow one reconstruction of biblical chronology among several. The dictionary article above is separately in the public domain.