Gil´ead. 1. A group of mountains connected with Lebanon by means of Mount Hermon. It begins not far from the latter, and extends southward to the sources of the brooks Jabbok and Arnon, thus enclosing the whole eastern part of the land beyong the Jordan (; ). According to Michaelis, this mountain, which gave its name to the country so called, must be situated beyond the region sketched in our maps, and somewhere about the Euphrates.
2. (a) The name of a large district beyond the Jordan, continually mentioned in the Scriptures in contradistinction to, or apart from, Bashan (;;;;;; ), though, to judge from its geographical position (as given; ), it must have comprised the entire possessions of the two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and even the southern part of Manasseh (;; ). The cities Ramoth, Jabosh, and Jazer, are usually designated as lying in Gilead.
This region was distinguished for its rich pastures () and aromatic simples; from which latter different sorts of balsam were prepared—facts confirmed by modern travelers, with the addition that the whole region is covered with groups of limestone mountains, intersected by fertile valleys.
(b) The name of the whole eastern part of the Jordan (; comp.; ).
The name Gilead continued to be used, in a general and geographical sense, even after the exile.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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