the son of Machir, and grandson of Manasseh, had his inheritance allotted him in the mountains of Gilead, from whence he took his name. The mountains of Gilead were part of that ridge which runs from Mount Lebanon southward, on the east of the Holy Land; gave their name to the whole country which lies on the east of the sea of Galilee, and included the mountainous region called in the New Testament Trachonitis. Jeremiah (xxii. 6) seems to say, that Gilead begins from Mount Libanus. 'Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon.' Jacob, at his return from Mesopotamia, came in six days to the mountains of Gilead (Gen. xxxi. 21, &c.) where this patriarch, with Laban his father-in-law, raised a heap of stones, in memory of their agreement and covenant, and called it Gilead, i.e., 'an heap of witnesses,' and which Laban called Jegar-sahadutha. These mountains were covered with a sort of trees abounding with gum, called the Balon of Gilead, which the Scripture commends much (Jer. viii. 21, xlvii. 11, li. 8.). The merchants who bought Joseph came from Gilead, and were carrying balm into Egypt, (Gen. xxxvii. 25.).

The Gileadites being invaded by the Ammonites, &c. chose Jephthah for their general, who vanquished all their enemies.

Balm of GILEAD. See AMYRIS, BOTANY Index.