Seventeen years later, when Jacob was about to die, he blessed his 12 sons, saying of Gad: “As for Gad, a marauder band will raid him, but he will raid the extreme rear.”​—Ge 49:1, 2, 19.

All these things were in harmony with Jacob’s blessing of Gad: “As for Gad, a marauder band will raid him, but he will raid the extreme rear.” (Ge 49:19) The tribe was not afraid to have one side (the E) of their boundary open to marauder bands. They did not choose to live on the eastern highlands just to get out of fighting for the land of Canaan. Jacob’s parting words to Gad were as a command to strike back confidently at marauders attacking him and violating his borders. Moreover, the Gadites raided the raiders, making these turn about in flight, and then the Gadites would pursue their extreme rear.