Bible Person

Gilead

Meaning: the heap or mass of testimony · Male · 11 cross references

This Gilead entry refers to the son of Machir and the ancestor behind the Gileadite branch of Manasseh. He should be distinguished from the region that shares the same name. First appears in Num 26:29.1

AI summary: This Gilead matters because the cross references present him as the ancestral source of a major eastern-Manassite line. Through his descendants come important inheritance questions, clan structures, and territorial identities that shape the tribal map east of the Jordan. The name later becomes so associated with region that the person can easily disappear behind the geography, but the genealogy remains important. Taken together, the material presents this Gilead as a key clan ancestor whose line helps define Israel's eastern inheritance.1