Texts · 5 · Ahab and Jezebel
How a region became a son of Jacob
Mesha's stone calls Gad a land his people had always lived in. Genesis turns Gad into one of Jacob's twelve sons, ancestor of an Israelite tribe.
Family trees can settle border disputes.
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Gad was a contested frontier east of the Jordan. By making Gad a son of Jacob, born to a handmaid, the scribes claimed the region for Israel while acknowledging its place at the edge. Each tribe joined Israel by its own path.
Bible reference: Genesis 30:9–11
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 80–81
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