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•GAAL loathing, the son of Ebed, in whom the Shechemites “placed their confidence” when they became discontented with Abimelech. He headed the revolution, and led out the men of Shechem against Abimelech; but was defeated, and fled to his own home (Judges 9:26-46). We hear no more of him after this battle.
•GAASH a shaking, a hill, on the north side of which Joshua was buried (Joshua 24:30; Judges 2:9), in the territory of Ephraim. (See TIMNATH-SERAH.)
•GABBATHA Gab Baitha, i.e., “the ridge of the house” = “the temple-mound,” on a part of which the fortress of Antonia was built. This “temple-mound” was covered with a tesselated “pavement” (Gr. lithostroton, i.e., “stone-paved”). A judgement-seat (bema) was placed on this “pavement” outside the hall of the “praetorium” (q.v.), the judgment-hall (John 18:28; 19:13).
•GABRIEL champion of God, used as a proper name to designate the angel who was sent to Daniel (8:16) to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat, and to communicate the prediction of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:21-27).
He announced also the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11), and of the Messiah (26). He describes himself in the words, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God” (1:19).
•GAD fortune; luck. (1.) Jacob’s seventh son, by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and the brother of Asher (Genesis 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 (Numbers 2:14). The tribes of Reuben and Gad continued all through their history to follow the pastoral pursuits of the patriarchs (Numbers 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 (Deuteronomy 3:12), bounded on the east by the Arabian desert, on the west by the Jordan (Joshua 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.