Teaching guide
Gilead in the Bible: Location and Map
Gilead was the highland region east of the Jordan River, in what is now northwestern and west-central Jordan. It ran from the Yarmuk River in the north toward the land of Moab in the south, and the Jabbok River (today's Zarqa) cut through its middle. Moses granted it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32), whose fighting men then crossed the Jordan with the other tribes, in 1406 BC on OTIC's dating.
The setting
Reuben and Gad, who had "a very great number of livestock," saw that "the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead" was "a place for livestock" and asked Moses for it (Numbers 32:1-5). Gilead was also known for its balm (Genesis 37:25), and Jeremiah asked, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" (Jeremiah 8:22).
A note on the boundaries. The name is used in more than one sense. Moses described Gilead in two halves divided by the Jabbok. The southern half, taken from the Amorite king Sihon, went to Reuben and Gad, and the rest of Gilead, with Bashan, went to half of Manasseh (Deuteronomy 3:12-13; Joshua 12:2-5). In the later allotment Gad also held towns north of the river, such as Mahanaim and Ramoth-gilead (Joshua 21:38). Elsewhere "all the land of Gilead" reaches south to Aroer on the Arnon (2 Kings 10:33), and "the land of Gilead" can stand for the whole territory of the eastern tribes (Joshua 22:9).
What was happening around it
Gilead was frontier country, with Ammon to the east and Moab to the south. Jephthah the Gileadite answered the Ammonite king's claim to the land by pointing to Israel's 300 years there (Judges 11:26); OTIC dates that speech to 1106 BC, and scholars who date the conquest later read the 300 years as a round figure. In the ninth century BC Israel and Aram-Damascus fought over Ramoth-gilead, where King Ahab was killed in 853 BC (1 Kings 22) and Jehu was anointed king in 841 BC (2 Kings 9). In the eighth century BC the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III captured Gilead and carried people captive to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29), among them the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 5:26).
Teaching notes
- Genesis 31:21-48. Jacob flees Laban to "the hill country of Gilead," and they make a covenant heap there.
- Genesis 32:1-2, 22-32. Jacob at Mahanaim and at the ford of the Jabbok.
- Joshua 22. The eastern tribes build an altar by the Jordan as a witness.
- 1 Samuel 11; 31:11-13. Saul rescues Jabesh-gilead, and its men later bury him.
- 2 Samuel 17:24-29. David takes refuge at Mahanaim, where Shobi, Machir and Barzillai the Gileadite bring him supplies.
- 1 Kings 17:1. Elijah the Tishbite is introduced "of Tishbe in Gilead" in the ESV, following the Greek Septuagint (the NIV has "from Tishbe in Gilead"). The traditional Hebrew text reads "of the settlers of Gilead" (NASB; KJV "of the inhabitants of Gilead").
Common questions
- Where is Gilead today?
- In northwestern and west-central Jordan, east of the Jordan River, between the Yarmuk River and the region of Moab.
- Which tribes lived in Gilead?
- Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32; Deuteronomy 3:12-13).
Related pages
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