Comentario sobre Génesis 49:19

גד גדוד יגודנו GAD, AN ASSAILING TROOP SHALL ASSAIL HIM — all the words in this verse which have, the letters גד are connected in meaning with the word גדוד and so also did Menachem ben Seruk classify them. Should you say, however, that גדוד has always two ד’s and these words have only one, the answer is: The word גדוד is a noun and therefore requires two ד’s, for it is the way of a biliteral root to have the second letter doubled when used as a noun; the root proper, however, consists only of two letters. Thus it says, (Proverbs 26:2) כצפור לנוד “the wandering sparrow”, (לנוד a verb, infinitive) of the same derivation as נדודים in (Job 7:4) “I am full of גדודים wanderings” (a noun); (Judges 5:27) ‘‘there he fell down (שדוד) dead”, a noun in meaning, which is of the same derivation as the verb in (Psalms 41:6) “that wasteth (ישוד) at moon-day”. So, also, יגודנו ,יגוד and גדוד have the same derivation. When, also, one uses such biliteral roots in the future tense Kal, it (the second letter) is not doubled. For example: יגוד he will troop, ינוד he will wander, ירום he will be high, ישוד he will devastate, ישוב he will come back. When, however, such a root is used in a reflexive sense (Hithpael) or in a causative-transitive sense the second letter is doubled Examples are: יתעודד ,יתרומם ,יתבולל ,יתגודד. Examples of the causative-transitive sense are: (Psalms 146:9) “He strengtheneth (יעודד) the fatherless and the widow”; (Isaiah 49:5) “To bring Jacob back (לשובב) to Him”; (Isaiah 48:12) “The restorer (משובב) of paths”. The form יגודנו which is used here has not the force that others will make him do something (i.e. it has not this causative-transitive sense with the direct accusative suffix נוּ) but it means “a troop will troop out from him”, exactly the same as (Jeremiah 10:20) בני יצאוני which means “my children have gone forth from me”, (as we might say “have left me”). (Cf. Rashi on Genesis דברו לשלום 37:4, and on תמלאמו Exodus 15:9.). גד גדוד יגודנו accordingly means, “troops will troop out of him” signifying that they (the Gadites) will cross the Jordan with their brethren, all armed, and remain with them until the land will have been conquered.

‘GAD G’DUD Y’GUDENU.’ Rashi, in accordance with Onkelos, explained it as follows: A troop will troop out of him, and that troop will troop back upon its footsteps, meaning it will return in its own track back to its territory in peace [and not one of them will be missing].²⁰¹Reference here, according to Rashi and Onkelos, is to the time when the armed Gadites will cross the Jordan with their brethren, and they will remain with them until the land will have been conquered. When they will return to their land on the east side of the Jordan not one of them will be missing.
The correct interpretation [appears to be that the word y’gudenu here] is as in the verse: When he cometh up against the people that he invadeth (‘y’gudenu’).²⁰²Habakkuk 3:16. Thus, “the troop” mentioned in the prophecy of Jacob is not a friendly troop, as Rashi and Onkelos would have it, but the enemy, as explained further. The verse is thus stating that a troop will always assail Gad, that he will have many wars, with enemy troops spreading out over his land, and that he will follow the enemy in his track and be victorious over him and pursue him, returning on the heel of those who shame them. Jacob thus praised the Gadites for their valor and for their victory over all those who enter into battle against them. This is similar to the blessing which Moses our teacher gave them, as it is said, Blessed be He that enlargeth Gad; he dwelleth as a lioness.²⁰³Deuteronomy 33:20. Since Gad inherited a very wide and large land which was across the Jordan, bands from Ammon and Moab, his evil neighbors, would always descend upon him, claiming the land and invading it. Yet Gad lurked like a lioness over its prey, fearing not their noise, nor showing any dismay at their shouting.
This fitting interpretation I learned from the Jerusalem Talmud, where in Tractate Sotah²⁰⁴8:10. they say: “Gad g’dud y’gudenu, a troop will come trooping upon him, but he shall troop upon it;” that is to say, bands will come to gather wealth and assail him, but he shall troop upon them and bring his troops into their land.
Perhaps the prophet Jacob was alluding to the war of Jephthah the Gileadite against the children of Ammon, as the children of Gad inherited all the cities of Gilead, and half of the land of the children of Ammon. The children of Ammon were always warring against the men of Gilead, and Jephthah scarcely passed over them and he smote them and their cities [with] a very great slaughter.²⁰⁵Judges 11:33. This event was indeed a great miracle, and so the prophet Jacob mentioned it, even as he mentioned the matter of Samson.

גד גדוד, the troops of the entire nation of Israel will follow Gad who is the vanguard in the wars of conquest as we know from Deuteronomy 3,18 where Moses charged them with this task. On the return from battle, this tribe, instead of being in the vanguard, will be the rearguard, again the most exposed to enemy action. They will thus form a buffer for the Jewish armies at all times.