Scenes From the Promised Land

Gilead​—Region for Courageous People

SHORTLY before Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses urged them: “Be courageous and strong. . . . Jehovah your God is the one marching with you.”​—Deuteronomy 31:6.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh were included in Moses’ exhortation. They had seen ‘that the land of Gilead was a place for livestock,’ so they had asked to be assigned to live in the region of Gilead.​—Numbers 32:1-40.

Gilead was on the other side, the east side, of the Jordan. It was essentially the entire east side, from the north end of the Dead Sea up to the Sea of Galilee. This region rose from the Jordan Valley to well-watered plateaus and rounded hills. So Gilead was a fine region for raising grain and for grazing livestock. The picture above gives you an idea of what part of Gilead was like. But why link courage with such a relatively pleasant area?

The tribes choosing to live in Gilead obviously did not do so out of fear. Recall that they agreed to cross the Jordan to fight against enemies in the Promised Land. And upon returning to Gilead, they needed more courage. Why? Well, they were on the frontier, exposed to attack from Ammonites in the southeast and Syrians in the north. And attacked they were.​—Joshua 22:9; Judges 10:7, 8; 1 Samuel 11:1; 2 Kings 8:28; 9:14; 10:32, 33.

Those attacks were specific occasions when courage was needed. For example, after Jehovah had let the Ammonites oppress Gilead, God’s people repented and turned for leadership to “a mighty, valiant man,” whose father was also named Gilead. This valiant, or courageous, man was Jephthah. He is well-known for an oath that reflected that, even though he was courageous, he sought God’s direction and support. Jephthah vowed that if God enabled him to subdue the oppressive Ammonites, the first one coming out of his house to meet him would be ‘offered as a burnt offering,’ or be sacrificed, to God.a That turned out to be Jephthah’s only child, his daughter, who later went to serve at God’s sanctuary. Yes, Jephthah and, in a different way, his daughter, showed courage.​—Judges 11:1, 4-40.

A display of courage that perhaps is not as well-known occurred during Saul’s time. To get the setting, recall that when Saul became king, the Ammonites threatened to bore out the right eye of the men of Jabesh-gilead, which town may have been situated on a wadi running down through the hills to the Jordan. Saul quickly rallied an army to strengthen Jabesh. (1 Samuel 11:1-11) With that background in mind, let us go to the end of Saul’s reign and see how courage was shown.

You may remember that Saul and three of his sons died during a war with the Philistines. Those enemies cut off Saul’s head and triumphantly hung the corpses of Saul and his sons on the wall of Beth-shan. (1 Samuel 31:1-10; to the right, you see the excavated tell of Beth-shan.) Word of this reached Jabesh, in the hills of Gilead across the Jordan. What could the Gileadites do in the face of an enemy so powerful that it could vanquish the king of Israel?

Follow on the map. “Immediately all the valiant men rose up and went all night long and took the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons off the wall of Beth-shan and came to Jabesh and burned them there.” (1 Samuel 31:12) Yes, they undertook a nighttime raid into the stronghold of the enemy. You can understand why the Bible calls them valiant, or courageous.

In time, ten tribes broke away to form the northern kingdom of Israel, and this included Gilead. Surrounding nations, first the Syrians and then the Assyrians, began to take over parts of that territory on the east side of the Jordan. So despite past instances of courage, the people of Gilead paid a price for being in a frontier location.​—1 Kings 22:1-3; 2 Kings 15:29.

[Footnotes]

[Map on page 8]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

SEA OF GALILEE

DEAD SEA

Jordan River

Beth-shan

Ramoth-gilead

Jabesh

GILEAD

[Credit Line]

Based on a map copyrighted by Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est. and Survey of Israel.

[Picture Credit Line on page 8]

Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.

[Picture Credit Line on page 9]

Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.