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Gilead

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Ramoth-Gilead
• Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead
Thompson Chain Reference
• Ramoth-Gilead
• Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Gilead & Gilboa
• Balm of Gilead: & Perfumes
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
• Gilead or Galeed
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth-Gilead
• Gilead
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth-Gilead
• Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead, Balm of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth Gilead
• Gilead
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth-Gilead
• Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hitchcock Bible Names
• Gilead
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Ramoth-Gilead, Ramoth in Gilead
• Jabesh, Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth in Gilead
• Ramoth Gilead
• Gilead, Mount
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• Mount Gilead
• Jabesh-Gilead
• Gilead
People's Bible Dictionary
• Gilead
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Ramoth-gilead
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Gilead
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Gilead
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Balm of Gilead
• Gilead (1)
• Gilead (2)
•   (only first 3 shown)
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Gilead
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Gilead
• Gilead, Balm of.
• Jabesh-Gilead
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Gilead
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Gilead
• Ramoth-Gilead
Lexicons
• גִּלְעָד
• יָבֵשׁ יָבֵשׁ, , יָבֵשׁ גִּלְעָד
• רָמוֹת גִּלְעָד

1. District, mountain, and city east of the Jordan. The name "Gilead" in Genesis 31:48 is explained by popular etymology to mean "heap of witness," in connection with the story of the heap of stones which Laban and Jacob piled up as a sign of their covenant. In the Old Testament "Gilead" sometimes designates a district or mountain, sometimes a city. The mountain of Gilead is found, forinstance, in Deuteronomy 3:12; Genesis 31:21 et seq.; Song of Solomon 4:1; comp. 6:5. The district of Gilead has an undetermined boundary. It often designates in general the land east of the Jordan in so far as it was inhabited by Israelites; e.g., Numbers 32:29; Joshua 22:9; 2 Samuel 2:9; Amos 1:3. Hence, in an ideal sense it includes the northernmost part of the land east of the Jordan as far as Hermon (Deuteronomy 34:1; comp. the obscure passage in 2 Kings 10:33, which is probably the result of the combination of several original variant accounts). The same explanation may be given for I Macc. 5:20 et seq., where the regions occupied by Jews north of the Yarmuk are designated as "Gilead." In other places Gilead includes only the territory between the Yarmuk and Moab (e., 'Ajlun and the northern Balḳa); thus, for example, Deuteronomy 3:10; 2 Kings 10:33. Here the land is called "all the land of Gilead," because it was divided into two parts which were separated by the Jabbok (comp. Deuteronomy 3:16; Joshua 12:2). Each of the two parts is called "the half of Gilead" (comp. Deuteronomy 3:12 et seq.), or simply "Gilead" (e.g., Joshua 12:6 and elsewhere; Numbers 32:1). Sometimes the land of Jazer in the south is explicitly distinguished from Gilead (Numbers 32:1; 2 Samuel 24:5). The inhabitants of Gilead were Reuben, Gad, and a part of Manasseh. Nevertheless, Gilead is mentioned alongside of Reuben in Judges 5:17; of Gad in 1 Samuel 14:7; of Manasseh in Judges 11:29; Psalms 60:9 (A. V. 7), 108:9 (A. V. 8). It is difficult to decide with which part of the trans-Jordanic land the name "Gilead" was originally associated. At the present day there is a Mount Jal'ad, two hours south of the Jabbok; but this offers no proof of conditions in Biblical times, and the account in Genesis 31 argues against such a location.
2. City mentioned in Hosea 6:8, and perhaps in Judges 10:17. It is now identified with the ruins Jal'ud upon the mountain mentioned above.