Joshua 13:28

This is the inheritance Thus, speaking roughly, the country allotted to Gad appears to have lain chiefly about the centre of the land east of the Jordan. Commencing at or about Heshbon on the south, it extended to the ancient sanctuary of Mahanaim on the north; on the east the furthest landmark was "Aroer that faces Rabbah;" while the Jordan formed the boundary on the west. The character of the tribe was throughout fierce and warlike (Genesis 49:19), "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 Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 12:8). In the finest region south of the Jabbok Gad "dwelt as a lion" (Deuteronomy 33:20), and that the civilisation attained by this tribe was of a higher order than "the mere fierceness necessary to repel the attacks of the plunderers of the desert" comes out in (a) the history of Jephthah (Judges 11:1); of (b) the eleven valiant chiefs who crossed the fords of Jordan in flood-time to join David "their faces like the faces of lions, as swift as the gazelles upon the mountains" (1 Chronicles 12:8-15); in (c) the loyalty and generosity of Barzillai (2 Samuel 19:32-39); (d) the marvellous career of Elijah "the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead" (1 Kings 17:1).