Uriel, and Suriel or Raphael being the other three. His name frequently occurs in the Jewish literature of the later post—Biblical period. Thus, according to the Chaldee paraphrase of Pseudo-Jonathan, the man who showed the way to Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 15) was no other than Gabriel in human form; and in Deut. xxxiv. 6 it is aflirmed that he, along with Michael, Uriel, Jophiel, Jephephiah, and the Metatron, buried the body of Moses. In the Targum on 2 Chr. xxxii. 21 he is named as the angel who destroyed the host of Sennacherib ; and in similar writings of a still later period he is spoken of as the spirit who presides over fire, thunder, the ripening of the fruits of the earth, and similar processes. In the Koran great prominence is given to his function as the medium of divine revelation, and, according to the Mahometan interpreters, he it is who is referred to by the appellations “Holy Spirit” and “Spirit of Truth.” He is specially commemorated in the calendars of the Greek,
Coptic, and Armenian churches.GAD ('14) in Hebrew and Chaldee means “luck” ; hence, in the Phoenician and Babylonian cultus, the god of luck, who is mentioned in Isa. lxv. 11 (where for “that troop" should be read “Gad”), and whose name appears in several names of places, such as Baal-Gad (Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7); possibly also in Dibon-Gavl, Migdol-Gad, and Nahal-Gad. Gad was the name given by Leah, the wife of Jacob, to the patriarch’s seventh son, the first-born of Zilpah, her maid; see Gen. xxx. 11, where the Hebrew K’tib is WEE}, and the K’ri "L1 NE}. The former is adopted by the LXX., and rightly rendered Ev rtixy (Vulgate feliciter) ; the latter reading is adopted in the Targnms and Peshito, which translate “luck is come,” and by the Samaritan and Ven., which interpret the expression as mean- ing “ a troop (or army) is come.” This last rendering has doubtless been influenced by Gen. xlix. 19, where the name is played on as if it were "I-1'1-3, “a plundering troop”; “ Gad, a plundering troop shall plunder him, but he shall plunder at their heels.” Of the personal history of Gad nothing is related. According to Gen. xlvi. 16, he had seven sons when he went down to Egypt along with Jacob ; and in Num. xxvi. 15 these appear as seven families, one of the names, however, being changed (Ozni for Ezbon). At the Exodus the tribe numbered 45,650 fighting men (Num. i. 25) ; but they declined to 40,500 during the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness (Num. xxvi. 18). During the subsequent period the fortunes of this tribe were very closely connected with those of the tribe of Reuben. At the division of the country a portion in the trans-J orda11ie territory was, at their special request, allotted to them by Moses (Num. xxxii. 33), and this arrangement was carried out by Joshua; but considerable difliculty arises when the attempt is made to define the precise limits of the district thus assigned. It is certain that Gad never extended further west than the Jordan ; but in different passages we find its northern, eastern, and southern boundaries stretched as far as to the Sea of Galilee, Salkah in the desert, and the river Arnon respectively. In the book of Numbers (xxxii. 34) the cities of Gad appear to lie chiefly to the south of Heshbon ; in Joshua xiii. 24-28 they lie almost wholly to the north ; while other texts present discrepancies that are not easily reconciled with either passage. That Gad, at one time at least, held territory as far south as Pisgah and Nebo would follow from Dent. xxxiii. 21, if the rendering of the Targums, revived by Ewald and Diestel, were to be accepted—“ and he looked out the first part for himself, because there was the portion of the buried law- giver ;” it is certain, however, that, at a late period, this tribe was localized chiefly in Gilead, in the district which now goes by the name of J ebel J ilad. Possibly some cities were common to both Reuben and Gad, and perhaps others more than once changed hands. Both tribes were pastoral and warlike ; but the latter seems to have excelled in bravery and force of character, and indeed there are indications that the tribe of Reuben had been absorbed, or become ex- tinct, at a somewhat early date. David's men of Gad (1 Chr. xii. 8) are famous, and Jephthah and Elijah seem to have belonged to that tribe. It followed Jeroboam in the great revolt against the house of David; and a genealogy, as at the time of Jeroboam II., is given in 1 Chr. v. 11-16, where the names are in every case different from those in Numbers. The tribe was “carried into captivity ” by Tiglath Pileser in the 8th century b.c. (1 Chr. v. 26 ; comp. 2 Kings xv. 29), and at this point it wholly disappears from history.
GAD is also the name of a “prophet” or “seer,” who was probably a pupil of Samuel at Naioth, and a companion of David, to whom he early attached himself. It is not known to which tribe he belonged. He is first mentioned in 1 Sam. xxii. 5 as having joined David while he was “in the. hold;” and he afterwards became a member of his regal court, where he seems to have held an ofiicial position, being occasionally designated as “the king's seer." He assisted in organizing the musical service of the “house of. of God” (2 Chr. xxix. 25), and also wrote a “book of the. acts of Ilavid,” which is referred to in 1 Chr. xxix. 29.
GADÂMES, Ghadâmes, or Rhadâmes, the chief town of an oasis of the same name, in that part of the Sahara which belongs to the regency of Tripoli, not far from the frontier of Algeria. According to Dr Rohlfs, the last form of the word more correctly represents the Arabic pronunciation ; but the other forms are more usual in European books. The whole oasis is surrounded by a dilapidated wall varying in height from 12 to 20 feet, and it requires about an hour and a half to make the circuit of the enclosure at an ordinary walking pace. In the town proper the streets are narrow and tortuous, and they are usually covered in overhead to keep out the heat. Its public buildings comprise six mosques and seven schools ; and it is worthy of note that all the inhabitants can read and write, and that those who cannot pay for their children are allowed to send them to school free of charge. The Gadamsi merchants have been known for centuries as keen and adventurous traders, and their commercial esta- blishments are to be found in many of the more important cities of northern and central Africa,such as Kano, Katsema, Timbuctoo. Gadames itself is the centre of a large num- ber of caravan routes, and it is calculated that, on an_ average, about 30,000 laden camels enter its markets every year. At the time of Richardson's visit in 1845 the total population was estimated at 3000, of whom about 500 were slaves and strangers, and upwards of 1200 children ; but it now amounts in round numbers to 7000 or even 10,000. The natives are mainly of Berber descent, although their blood has from generation to generation been mingled with that of Negro slaves from various parts of Africa. It is evident, fron1 the remains that are still extant-, that the oasis of Gadames was formerly inhabited by people whose architecture was of Roman origin; and it is not unlikely that the Romans themselves may have been attracted to the spot by the presence of the warm springs which still rise in the heart of the town, and spread fertility in the sur- rounding gardens. An identification has been made with Cydamus, a town mentioned by Pliny. See Largeau in Bull. cle la soc. géogr. de I’arz's, 1877.
about 6 miles SE. of the Sea of Galilee, on the banks of the Ilieromax. The site, now called Um Keis, is marked by extensive ruins, which are quite in keeping with the statements of Josephus and Polybius that Gadara was the capital of Perwa, and one of the most strongly fortified
places in the country. The walls can still be traced in a