GAD
THE LIFE OF GAD
Father: Jacob
Mother: Gad
Birth: Date 12th Day, 8th Month, 3rd Year, 4th Week, 44th Jubilee
Gad born of Zilpah Leah's handmaid. Jubilees (28:20)
Death:
Sons: Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.
45,650
JACOB BLESSES GAD:
“Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph at last.”
MOSES BLESSES GAD: And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
ZILAH FOR LEAH: Genesis 30:11 (Troop)
And Leah said, "A troop cometh" and she called his name Gad.
Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them?
Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them.
And the Lord’s anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord.
And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel.
Numbers 32
TESTAMENT OF GAD
The copy of the testament of Gad
Things he spake unto his sons, in the hundred and twenty fifth year of his life, saying unto them:
Hearken, my children, I was the ninth son born to Jacob, and I was valiant in keeping the flocks.
Accordingly I guarded at night the flock; and whenever the lion came, or the wolf, or
any wild beast against the fold, I pursued it, and overtaking (it) I seized its foot with
my hand and hurled it about a stone's throw, and so killed it.
Now Joseph my brother was feeding the flock with us for upwards of thirty days, and being young, he fell sick
by reason of the heat. And he returned to Hebron to our father, who made him lie down near him, 6 because he loved him greatly.
And Joseph told our father that the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah were slaying the best of the flock and eating them against
the judgement of Reuben and Judah. For he saw that I had delivered a lamb out of the mouth of a bear, and put the bear to death;
but had slain the lamb, being grieved concerning it that it could not live, and that we had eaten it.
And regarding this matter I was wroth with Joseph until the day that he was sold, And the spirit of hatred
was in me, and I wished not either to hear of Joseph with the ears, or see him with the eyes because he rebuked us to our faces saying that
we were eating of the flock without Judah.
For whatsoever things he told our father, he believed him.
I say to you from experience, my children, that ye may drive forth hatred, which is of the devil, and cleave to 3 the love of God. Righteousness
casteth out hatred, humility destroyeth envy.
These things I learnt at last, after I had repented concerning Joseph. For true repentance after a godly sort [destroyeth
ignorance, and] driveth away the darkness, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth knowledge to the soul, and leadeth the mind to salvation.
And those things which it hath not learnt from man, it knoweth through repentance.
For God brought upon me a disease of the liver; and had not the prayers of Jacob my father succoured me, it had 10 hardly failed but my spirit had departed,
For by what things a man transgresseth,by the same also is he punished. Since, therefore, my liver was set mercilessly against Joseph, in my liver too
I suffered mercilessly, and was judged for eleven months, for so long a time as I had been angry against Joseph.
And now, my children, I exhort you, love ye each one his brother, and put away hatred from your hearts, love one another in deed, and in word, and in the
inclination of the soul hold not guile; and if he confess and repent, forgive him.
Love ye, therefore, one another from the heart; and if a man sin against thee, cast forth the poison of hate and speak peaceably to him, and in thy soul
And if he be shameless and persist in his wrong-doing, even so forgive him from the heart, and leave to God the avenging.
Put away, therefore, jealousy from your souls, and love one another with uprightness of heart.
And when he had rested for a little while,he said again; My children, obey your father, and bury me near to my fathers.
And he drew up his feet, and fell asleep in peace. And after five years they carried him up to Hebron, and laid him with his fathers.