And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad! As a lion doth he dwell, and teareth the arm, even the top of the head.
Moses praises God before he describes Gad: God is the one who enlarges this tribe, and only then does Gad appear as a lion holding its ground. Behind the torn arm and scalp lies a real tribe with a real history: settlers on the far side of the Jordan, warriors by name and by record.
This chapter is Moses' last act before his death. Its blessings work on a different principle from Jacob's earlier words over his sons.
Jacob's blessings were more like history told in advance. These blessings are about relationship with God under His government. Twelve is still the number of the tribes. Simeon drops out so that two tribes from Joseph's descendants can be counted, since Joseph holds the firstborn's place as to the inheritance, instead of Reuben. Here everything goes by God's blessing, and not by the rights of nature.
The tribe's name means a troop. One writer works out the whole verse from that name. Where the ESV says "scalp," older translations read "the crown of his head."
Gad means "a troop." That points to a warrior character, and it will show most clearly in Israel when God restores them to their inheritance. God "enlarges Gad" (v.20), because those who take part in the good conflict of faith to take hold of what is theirs are the ones God enlarges. So Gad stands for Israel in the conflict of gaining their inheritance. Like a lion he "dwells," instead of running away. He tears the arm raised against him, and "the crown of his head" — clearly the enemy's crown.
Two things sit together in Gad: increase and conflict. One writer traces both back to the day Gad was named.
Gad pictures spiritual increase, and a fighting condition too. Leah's cry, "A troop is coming," holds both. In a world like this, spiritual increase rarely comes without conflict. And in David's time we find the men of Gad standing out as warriors.
Read alongside Jacob's earlier words over Gad, this blessing points to strength learned the hard way.
Put it all together, and give Jacob's original prophecy its full weight. Gad seems to stand for the strength God supplies once weakness and defeat have taught their lesson. It is His strength, found when our own has failed and broken down — a practical power of resurrection.
Gad settled for a portion outside the good land, and commentators read the blessing with that history in view. One writer sees the tribe's weakness showing through even here.
Gad's haste to get rich appears, though he shared the trials of the people.
Commentators differ over how much fault the blessing implies. Yet the lion of this verse reappears in the tribe's story: men of Gad joined David in the wilderness, and one writer notes what God was still doing among them.
They had chosen what suited themselves and their flocks, instead of the land flowing with milk and honey... So they had sunk far below the height of their calling. For that very reason it is all the more remarkable that God was still working in power among them... They were "men of might," who "separated themselves to David into the stronghold in the wilderness," "men of war fit for the battle, who could handle large shield and small shield, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains."
Moses spoke these blessings over an earthly people with an earthly inheritance. Keeping that clear does not shut today's reader out of them.
It is true — wonderfully true — that the Lord's people now can draw instruction, comfort and refreshment from the blessings spoken over Israel... The great mistake of those who profess to be Christians is to apply to the church alone what plainly belongs to God's earthly people... He need not fear at all that he will lose anything of his own special blessing by leaving to Abraham's descendants the place and the portion God assigned them by His counsels and promises.
- God enlarges. The blessing falls first on the One who makes room for Gad. God does the enlarging, not Gad.
- Enlargement costs. Gad's name means a troop, and increase in a world like this comes with conflict, never apart from it.
- Enlargement holds. The lion does not run; he settles in his place and tears the arm and crown of whoever comes against him.
- Enlargement follows defeat. Read with Jacob's earlier word, Gad pictures strength supplied after our own strength has broken down.
- Enlargement outlives a poor choice. Gad settled short of the land, yet God still raised lion-faced men from that tribe.
And he provided the first part for himself, For there was reserved the portion of the lawgiver; And he came with the heads of the people; The justice of Jehovah and his judgments Hath he executed with Israel.
Gad chose land east of the Jordan, short of the country God promised Israel. Yet Moses blesses him here for carrying out the LORD's justice beside the rest of the nation. Why does Moses praise a tribe that settled outside the land God promised? (Where the ESV says "a commander's portion," older translations read "the portion of the lawgiver." Writers quoted below sometimes use that older wording.)
Gad "chose the best of the land for himself" before Israel ever crossed the river. One writer calls that choice a plain failure:
It was a mistake, a failure, a falling short of God's mark, for Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh to choose any boundary line short of the river Jordan. Worldly, selfish thinking ruled what they did — the sight of their eyes, the pull of their own desires. They looked over "the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead," and they judged it only by their own interests, with no regard for God's judgement and will.
Another writer weighs Gad's motive and his loyalty in one line:
Gad's haste to get rich appears, though he shared the trials of the people.
Something in that land was reserved, and not by Gad. One writer reads the reserved portion as belonging to Christ:
"He provided the first part for himself" (v.21). In this he seems to be a picture of Christ, who is always the Representative of His people, though we must keep Him distinct from all others. He has the lawgiver's portion reserved for Him. This is not law in the sense Moses gave it, but the law of the New Covenant, when He writes His laws on Israel's heart (Jer. 31:31-33).
Gad's fighting men crossed the river with the rest. The verse says they carried out the LORD's justice "with Israel" — not apart from the nation. One writer notes how long they stayed:
To their credit, the fighting men of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh kept faith with the other tribes in the fight until the enemy's power was completely broken. Joshua now speaks to them and praises their obedience to Moses and to himself (v.2): they had not left their brothers through all those long days of war.
Not every writer reads that loyalty as pure gain:
It looked like a remarkable show of unselfishness and energy to leave all their loved ones behind, cross the Jordan, and fight only for their brothers. But where had they left those loved ones? They had left them short of God's mark.
One writer explains why Moses leaves the failure out here:
In our studies on the Book of Numbers, we went over certain facts about the settling of the two and a half tribes, proving that they fell below the mark of the Israel of God... But in the passage we have just quoted there is no hint of that side of the question. Moses' aim is to set before the whole nation the overflowing goodness, kindness and faithfulness of God... we can see at once how beautiful it is that such a retelling passes over the question of whether Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were wrong to stop short of the promised land.
What, then, does Gad stand for? One writer answers from the whole of Gad's story:
It seems that Gad stands for the strength God supplies once weakness and defeat have taught their lesson — the strength from God that we find when our own has failed and broken down. It is resurrection power in practice.
- Choice. Gad picked his land by sight and by self-interest, settling short of the river God had set as the boundary.
- Portion. His own choice is not the last word. A commander's portion lay reserved there — Christ's own, one writer says, tied to God's law written on the heart.
- Conflict. Gad crossed the river with the leaders of the people and stayed until the enemy's power was broken. His fault did not cancel his loyalty.
- Grace. Moses' blessing says nothing of the earlier failure, because his aim is to set God's goodness before the whole nation.
- Strength. Gad pictures the strength God gives after our own has broken down — resurrection power in practice.