Tribe of Gad

The Tribe of Gad is one of the Israelite tribes counted for military service and assigned a defined place in the camp and its marching order. In the wilderness census it numbers 45,650 men aged twenty and older able to go to war; it camps south of the Tabernacle with the Tribe of Reuben and the Tribe of Simeon, and its division sets out second.

Census and Military Place

The census records 45,650 men of the Tribe of Gad who were twenty years old or older and able to go forth to war. The figure places Gad within the military organization of the Israelite community, where the counted population is arranged by tribe and eligible service.

Camp Arrangement and Marching Order

Gad belongs to the camp of Reuben on the south side, alongside the Tribe of Reuben and the Tribe of Simeon. The southern division totals 151,450 men and is ordered to set forth second. The Tabernacle and the Levites travel in the midst of the tribal camps, so Gad’s position forms part of an encampment organized around the sanctuary as well as a prescribed order of movement.

Tribal Offering

On the sixth day of the altar dedication, Eliasaph son of Deuel, prince of the children of Gad, presents the tribe’s offering. It includes a silver dish weighing 130 shekels and a silver basin weighing seventy, both filled with fine flour mingled with oil; a ten-shekel golden pan of incense; a young bull, a ram, and a year-old lamb for burnt offerings; a male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five year-old lambs for peace offerings. The recorded day and repeated pattern of gifts place Gad within the collective dedication led by Israel’s tribal princes.