Hebrew word · H1171
בַּ֫עַל גָּד
gad
Baal-gad
Baʿal is 'lord, owner, husband' and the title of the Canaanite storm god. Gad is 'good fortune' and the name of a god of luck (Isa 65:11, where Gad is paired with Meni, 'Destiny'; compare Leah's cry 'Good fortune!' in Gen 30:11).
Appears 6 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
Baal-gad = "lord of fortune"
a city noted for Baal-worship, located at the most northern or northwestern point to which Joshua's victories extended
Another name of cher.mon (חֶרְמוֹן "(Mount )Hermon" H2768)
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Joshua 11:17
- Range of meaning
Baʿal is 'lord, owner, husband' and the title of the Canaanite storm god. Gad is 'good fortune' and the name of a god of luck (Isa 65:11, where Gad is paired with Meni, 'Destiny'; compare Leah's cry 'Good fortune!' in Gen 30:11). Together the name means 'Lord Fortune' or 'Baal of Gad/Fortune', most likely naming a shrine.
- Against the English
English leaves it as 'Baal-gad'. Readers may pick up the god Baal but not the 'Fortune' element, and they may wrongly link it to the tribe of Gad, which settled east of the Jordan, far to the south.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Joshua 11:17; 12:7; 13:5 ('Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath'). The exact site is unknown. Proposals include the area near Banias (later Caesarea Philippi), Hasbaya in the Wadi al-Taym, and sites in the southern Beqaa. The old identification with Baalbek is generally rejected as too far north.
Where it appears
Joshua · 6
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Joshua 11:17 בַּ֤עַל גָּד֙ Baal, Gad
from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.
Here: Baʿal means 'lord, owner, master'. It was also the title of the Canaanite storm god. As the first part of a place name it marks a site tied to a god or owned by one.
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Joshua 12:7 מִבַּ֤עַל גָּד֙ from Baal, Gad
And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance
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Joshua 13:5 מִבַּ֣עַל גָּ֔ד from Baal, Gad
the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.