a son of Jacob by his concubine Zilpah, and who became the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes. The Gadites were a warlike people, and at the time of the conquest of Canaan numbered 45,650 warriors. As a reward for having formed the vanguard of the army in war, they were allowed to appropriate to their exclusive use some pastoral districts beyond the Jordan. The inheritance of this tribe, called the land of God, was situated beyond the Jordan in Gilead, north of Reuben, and separated on the east from Ammon by the river Jabbok. According to 1 Chron. v. 11, the Gadites had extended their possessions on the east as far as Salkah, though the latter had been allotted by Moses to Manasseh (Deut. iii. 10, 13): a proof how difficult it is to draw a decided line of demarcation between the possessions of pastoral tribes. The territory of Gad forms a part of the present Belka (Burckhardt, Syria, ii. 598).

a Jewish prophet, the domestic seer of king David, and his adviser in all matters of importance.