GAD 
Gad not abroad at ev’ry queft and call 
Of an untrained hope or paffion ; 
To court each place or fortune that doth fall, 
Is wantonnefs in contemplation. Herbert. 
GAD, one of the twelve patriarchs of Ifrael, the fe. 
ventli fon of Jacob, and thefirft by Zilpah the handmaid 
of Leah. His defcendants were dirtinguiflied by their 
courage and warlike exploits during the conqueft of Ca. 
naan, and their fubfeqiient defence of the poireflions af- 
ficned them in tlie promifed land. The Gadites were at 
firfl: mucli expofed to the hoftile incurfions of their neigh¬ 
bours, hut by their continual watciifulnefs and bravery 
they frequently difappointed them in their hopes of plun. 
der, and by fuccefsful expeditions into their refpeftive 
countries fo fan overawed them, that at length they esi- 
joyed the portion of their inheritance in peace and fecu- 
riiy. Thefe circumflances in their luflory were predidted 
in the laft blelTing pronounced by Jacob upon his fons, 
when I'peaking of Gad he faid, “a troop fhall overcome 
him,” or invade him, “ but he (hall overcome at laft.” 
Gen. XXX. It. xlix. 19. Jo/h. xiii. 24. &c. 
GAD, a province of Paleftine, occupied by the tribe 
of that name: fituated eaftward of the river Jordan, whii h 
formed its weflern boundary ; having the half tribe of 
ManafTeh in Balkan on the north ; tlte land of the Am¬ 
monites on the eaft; and the river Arnon on the fouth, 
which feparated it from the tribe of Reuben. It con¬ 
tained within thefe limits, the land of Jazer, half the land 
of (Jilead, half the land of the Ammonites, (taken from 
them hy the Amorites. See Ammonites, vol. i.) and a 
part of the kingdom of Sihon. It contained many cities, 
fome of which tliey built foon after its conqueli:. Ramoth 
in Gilead appears to have been the cliief; it formed part 
of tlie kingdom of Ifrael after the defedlion of the ten 
tribes from the honfe of D.tvid, and was afterwards fub- 
dued by Tilgath-pilnefer, king of All'yria. Numb, xxxii. 
Deut. iv. 43. Jojh. xiii. 24, 28. i Rings xxii. 3. 
j Chron. V. 26. 
GA D, the name of a river of Paleftine, probably fitu¬ 
ated in the above province. 2 Sam. xxiv. 5. 
GAD, a Jewifli prophet, and David’s domeftic feer, 
with whom he was accuftomed to advife on affairs of im¬ 
portance. When the difpleafure of Heaven had been 
excited againft David and Ifrael, by the crime of ordering 
tlie people to be numbered, Gad was divinely commif- 
fioned to wait upon the king, and to offer him the choice 
of three evils, famine, unfuccefsful war, or a peftilence ; 
one of which was to be infliiSted as a punifliment on that 
people. When the king had cholen the peftilence, and 
its dreadful ravages had awakened the people to repen¬ 
tance, Gad was farther commiftioned to inftruct David to 
eredt an altar in the threfhing-floor of Oman the Jebu. 
fife, and to offer on it burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 
which met with a propitious acceptance. Around this 
fpot the future temple was built, as it appeared to have 
been intended for that honour by divine feledfion. Gad 
wrote a hiftory of his own times, out of which, togetlier 
with the writings of the prophets Samuel and Nathan, the 
account of the adtions of David, as given in the books of 
Samuel and Chronicles, was mod probably compiled. 
2 Sam. xxiv. ii, &c. i Chron. xxi. 9, &c. xxix. 29. 
GAD'ARA, in ancient geography, a town of the 
Peraea, or Transjordan, in the Decapolis, a very ftrong 
place. Reftored by Pompey after its demolition by the 
Jews, Jofephus. After Herod’s death it was joined to 
/ the province of Syria by Auguftus. 
GADARE'NES, or Gergesenes, country of, fituated 
in Paleftine, eaftward of the river Jordan oppofite Galilee; 
it was frequently vifited by the Saviour while upon earth ; 
here he healed the man poffefted of a legion of devils. 
It is likewise called the land of Gennefaret. Matth, xiv. 
34. viii. 28. AfarA vi. 53. Luke vxW. z6. 
GAD'DER.y. A rambler: one thatruns much abroad 
without bufinefs.—A drunken woman, and a gadder 
Vol. viii. No. 491, 
GAD 153 
abroad, caufeth great anger, and flte will not cover her 
own ftiame. Ecclef. xxvi. 8. 
GAD'DI, (Heb. my troop.] A man’s name, 
GAD'DIEL, [Heb, the army of Gad.] A man’s 
name. 
GAD'DINGLY, adv. In arambling, moving manner. 
GAD'DITE, J, A defcendant of Gad, one of the fons 
of Jacob. 
GA'DEBUSCII, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Lower Saxony, and duchy of Mecklenburg, near which 
the Swedes defeated the Danes in 1712: fixteen miles 
weft-north-weft: of Schwerin. 
GA'DEMIS, or Ga'demir, a country of Africa, weft 
of Fezzan, and lOo leagues from the Mediterranean, and 
faid to contain ninety-two villages; the capital bears the 
fame name. Lat. 31. 30. N. Ion. 11. E. Greenw'ich. 
GA'DEN, a town of Germany, in the archduchy of 
Auftria : ten miles fouth-weft of Vienna. 
GADERSLE'BEN, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of Lower Saxony, and principality of Halberftadt: twenty 
miles eaft of Halberftadt. 
GA'DES, or Gadi'ra, in ancient geography, an ifland 
in the Atlantic, on the Spanifti coaft, twenty-five miles 
from the Columns ot Hercules. It was fometimes called 
Tartejfus and Erylhia according to Pliny. Geryon, whom 
Hercules killed, fixed his refidence there. Hercules, 
furnamed Gaditanus, had there a celebrated temple in 
which all his labours were engraved with excellent vvork- 
manftiip The inhabitants are called Gaditani. 
GAD'FLY,y. [By Skinner, who makes it theorigiual 
of gad, it is called goadjly. Suppofed to be originally- 
from goad, in Sax. gab, and Jly "] A fly that fo feverely 
flings the cattle, that it makes them gad or run madly- 
about.—See the article Oestrus, and Entomology, 
vol. vi. p. 842. 
Light fly his (lumbers, if perchance a flight 
Of dingyy gadflies faften on the herd. Thomfon: 
GADIAG', a town of Ruftia, in the government of 
Tchernigov : 112 miles fouth-eaft of'Tchernigov. 
GADO'NA, or Gad'ua, a country of Africa, on the 
fouth fide of the river Senegal, containing mines of gold, 
iron, and faltpetre. Lat. 13. 30. N. Ion. 8. W. Greenwich; 
GADO'LINITE, y. in mineralogy, an earth or Hone, 
difcovered by M. Gadolin in 1794, at Ytterby, or 
Ytterley, in Sweden ; from whence it has alfb taken the 
name of Yttria.-—See the article Mineralogy. 
GA'DUS,yi the Cod-f’ish ; a genus ol the order jugu- 
lares. The generic charaffer is, peiftoral fins (lender, 
and tapering to a point. The body is long, thick, latL- 
rally compreiTed, and covered with (mail fmooth fcales 
which eafily rub off. The head is Imoorh, wedge-fhaped, 
with a broad front. The mouth large, the jaws armecl 
with little fharp teeth bending inwards; fome fpecies 
have barbies hanging from the lower jaw. The tongue 
is broad and fmooth ; but the palate is rough, being arm¬ 
ed with fmall teeth ; and there are feveral rugged bones 
about the throat. The eyes are near the top of the 
head, round, large, and covered with a membrane. The 
noftrils are double, and near the eyes. The coverts and 
opening of the gills are large; the covert confifts of three 
laminae, the under one edged with a (kin. The membrane 
of the gills'is ftrong, with feven or eight rays. The fins 
are from feven to ten; two peblorals, the fame number 
at the throat, fometimes two at the anus, the tail-fin, and 
one, two, or three, on the back; the rays of the fins are 
mo(ily covered with the common (kin. The different 
fpecies are found in the Nortli and Baltic feas, and fome 
alfo in the Mediterranean' and Weflern Ocean. They are 
all (ea fi(b, except the barbot, and do not often come into 
rivers. 
I. Three dorfal fins, and barbies at the mouth, i. Gadus 
aeglefinus, the haddock : the lateral tine black, and the 
tail bifurcated, form the fpecific character. There are 
feven rays in the membrane of the gills, nineteen in the 
R r peftoral 
