Gad (deity)

Gad was the name of the pan-Semitic god of fortune, usually depicted as a male but sometimes as a female,^[2] and is attested in ancient records of Aram and Arabia. Gad is also mentioned in the Bible as a deity in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 65:11 – some translations simply call him (the god of) Fortune), as having been worshipped by a number of Hebrews during the Babylonian captivity.^[3] Gad apparently differed from the god of destiny, who was known as Meni. The root verb in Gad means cut or divide, and from this comes the idea of fate being meted out.^[4]

Relief from the Temple of the Gadde, Dura-Europos depicting the god "God" of Dura (center), king Seleucus I Nicator (right) and Hairan son of Maliko son of Nasor (left).^[1]

Israelite connection

It is possible that the son of Jacob named 'Gad' is named after the god, or that Gad is a theophoric name, or a descriptive.^[5] Although the text presents a different reason, the ketiv quotation of Zilpa, Gad's mother, giving the reason for Gad's name could be understood that way.

The extent to which the cult of Gad, the deity, was widespread in Canaanite times can be inferred from the names Baal-gad, a city located at the foot of Mount Hermon, and Migdal-gad, in the territory of Judah. Compare also the proper names Gaddi and Gaddiel in the tribes of Manasseh and Zebulun (Numbers 13:10, 11). At the same time it must not be supposed that Gad was always regarded as an independent deity. The name was doubtless originally an appellative, meaning "the power that allots". Hence any of the greater gods supposed to favor men might be thought of as the giver of good fortune and be worshiped under that title. It is possible that Jupiter, the classical planet, may have been the Gad thus honoured; among the Arabs, Jupiter was called "the greater Fortune", while Venus was styled "the lesser Fortune".

Gad is the patron of a locality, a mountain (Kodashim, tractate Hullin 40a), of an idol (Genesis Rabbah, lxiv), a house, or the world (Genesis Rabbah, lxxi.). Hence "luck" may also be bad (Ecclesiastes Rabbah, vii. 26). A couch or bed for this god of fortune is referred to in the Mishnaic tractate Nedarim 56a).