(Gaʹal) [possibly, Abhorring; Abhorred].

The son of Ebed who, along with his brothers, came to Shechem and gained the confidence of the landowners there. (Jg 9:26) These landowners had previously strengthened the hand of Abimelech to kill the sons of Jerubbaal (Gideon) and then proceeded to make him king over them. (Jg 9:1-6) Apparently Abimelech constituted Zebul as resident prince of Shechem, while he himself personally lived in Arumah. In time, a bad spirit developed between Abimelech and the landowners of Shechem. So Gaal and his brothers now incited the city to revolt against Abimelech. When Zebul heard of this, he at once sent word to Abimelech, with a recommendation on how to cope with the situation that was developing. Gaal and those with him were defeated in the ensuing battle with King Abimelech and fled back to the city. Finally Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.​—Jg 9:22-41.

(Gaʹash) [possibly, Shaking; Shaken].

The name of a hill in the mountainous region of Ephraim, S of Timnath-heres (or Timnath-serah). (Jos 24:30; Jg 2:9) The torrent valleys of Gaash, mentioned in 2 Samuel 23:30 and 1 Chronicles 11:32, apparently refer to ravines in the vicinity of that hill.

(Gab·baʹi).

A Benjamite jurisdictional district head whose name appears in a listing of those residing in Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day.​—Ne 11:3, 7, 8.

See STONE PAVEMENT.

(Gaʹbri·el) [Able-Bodied One of God].

The only holy angel other than Michael named in the Bible; the only materialized angel to give his name. Twice Gabriel appeared to Daniel: first, near the Ulai River “in the third year of the kingship of Belshazzar” to explain Daniel’s vision of the he-goat and the ram (Da 8:1, 15-26); and second, “in the first year of Darius” the Mede, to deliver the prophecy concerning the “seventy weeks.” (Da 9:1, 20-27) To Zechariah the priest, Gabriel brought the good news that he and his aging wife Elizabeth would have a son, John (the Baptizer). (Lu 1:11-20) To Mary, the virgin girl betrothed to Joseph, Gabriel declared: “Good day, highly favored one, Jehovah is with you.” He then told her that she would give birth to a son, Jesus​—he “will be called Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, . . . and there will be no end of his kingdom.”​—Lu 1:26-38.

From the Bible record it is learned that Gabriel is a high-ranking angelic creature in close association with the heavenly court, one “who stands near before God”; that he was one “sent forth” by God to deliver special messages to servants of Jehovah here on earth (Lu 1:19, 26); that his personal envisioned or materialized form was, true to the meaning of his name, “like an able-bodied man.”​—Da 8:15.

[Good Fortune].

1. Son of Jacob by Leah’s maidservant Zilpah, who also bore Gad’s younger brother Asher. At his birth in Paddan-aram about 1770 B.C.E., Leah exclaimed: “With good fortune!”; hence the name Gad. (Ge 30:9-13; 35:26) Gad accompanied his brothers on two trips to Egypt to get grain from Joseph. (Ge 42:3; 43:15) He was about 42 years old when he and his family moved to Egypt along with his father Jacob in 1728 B.C.E. (Ge 46:6, 7, 16) 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.

2. The tribe that sprang from the seven sons of Gad. The tribe’s warriors numbered 45,650 in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt. (Ge 46:16; Nu 1:1-3, 24, 25) Gad was in the three-tribe division with Reuben and Simeon. Their campsite was to the S of the tabernacle. (Nu 2:10-16) When on the march Judah’s division was first, followed by the Levites of the families of Gershon and Merari carrying the tabernacle, and after them came the division of which Gad was a part. Eliasaph son of Deuel was chieftain of their army. (Nu 10:14-20) At the end of the wilderness journey, the fighting men of Gad numbered but 40,500, a decrease of 5,150.​—Nu 26:15-18.

Territory. The men of the tribe of Gad followed the occupation of their fathers as raisers of livestock. (Ge 46:32) For this reason they requested as their allotment of territory the cattle country E of the Jordan. Moses responded by assigning this territory to Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, who also possessed much livestock. However, Moses stipulated that this