Ed

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

( Joshua 22:34), i.e. witness (compare  Joshua 24:27). It is remarkable that not one of the famous towns of Palestine owes its originate Israel. The rock cut cemeteries, and ancient cultivation, are almost the only Israelite remains in the country. The great altar of Ed also was an Israelite work, founded by Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, to be a witness of their having a share in the national covenant and sanctuary of Jehovah. In  Joshua 22:11 the Hebrew expresses, "Reuben, ... Gad, and ... half Manasseh built an altar at the boundary of (literally, in the fore part of, not as KJV over against) Canaan, by the Gelilot (circles, i.e. the portion of the Ghor on the W. side of Jordan) of Jordan, at the passage of ... Israel," namely, where Reuben, etc., crossed Jordan to return to their eastern possessions; not the ford near Jericho, but the Damieh ford the highway from the eastern uplands to central Palestine (identified with the "city Adam"), opposite to the opening of the broad wady Far'ah, the route from Shiloh the national sanctuary to Gilead and Bashan.

The altar was erected on the W. side of and above (so Hebrew for "by,"  Joshua 22:10) Jordan, the pledge that the two and a half tribes held possession still with the remaining tribes on the W. The altar was "a great altar to see to," i.e. visible from afar. Gelilot is transled in the Vulgate as "mounds," probably the round islands with flat tops, formed by broad water channels and salt springs on the level of the Ghor or upper plain. The high cone of Kurn Surtabeh realizes the description of the altar of witness; it crowns an almost isolated block of hill, closing in the broader part of the Jordan valley on the N. The ancient road, cut in steps, arrives at the summit on the S., but on every side the valleys are deep, and the only natural ascent is from the N., by which the watershed is reached and followed along its winding course to the summit. The cone has sides sloping at 35 degrees, and 270 ft. high on the W. where it joins a narrow plateau.

On the other sides the slope is sheer to the mountain's base. Human skill evidently has in part given the cone its peculiar shape. On it is an oblong area, 30 yards by 100 yards, enclosed by a ruined wall of fine hewn blocks; within this is a platform, 18 ft. high, consisting of ten courses of beautifully cut stones, each three or four feet long, with a broad marginal draft. The stones were brought probably from caves in the S.E. side of the hill. An aqueduct runs round the whole mountain block. The cone stands above the Damieh ford, on the W. side of Jordan, and beside the direct route to the ford from Seilun, or Shiloh. It is conspicuous from afar. The Gelilot or insulated mounds of the upper plain lie at the foot of the hill.

The monument on the top is such as the Bible describes the altar to have been. On the N. side lies a valley, Tal'at abu 'Ayd, "the ascent of the father of 'Ayd," i.e. the going up which leads to Ayd equates to Ed (Conder, Palestine Exploration). The altar of Ed was 11 miles from the national sanctuary at Shiloh, and separated from it by a range of mountains. It was not in sight of Phinehas when addressing the leaders of the two and a half tribes on mount Gilead. In the phrase, "in the fore part," or "front of Canaan," the Ghor or sunken land along the Jordan on its W. side may be meant by "Canaan," as the Arabs there still call themselves Ghawarni (Conder). Or else "Canaan" may be used of the whole country of the nine and a half tribes, the Jordan valley being excepted; the altar Ed being in front of the country of the nine and a half tribes (Keil and Delitzsch).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ED . In the Hebrew (and also in the Greek) text of   Joshua 22:34 the name given by the two and a half tribes to the altar erected by them on the east bank of the Jordan has dropped out. Our English translators have filled the gap by inserting Ed as the name of the altar in question. For this they have the authority of a few MSS.

The location of this altar on the east bank of the Jordan is required by the whole tenor of the narrative. The west bank is suggested by   Joshua 22:10 in its present form, and maintained also by RV [Note: Revised Version.] in   Joshua 22:11 , by a translation of doubtful admissibility, ‘in the forefront of the land of Canaan, on the side that pertaineth to the children of Israel .’

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ed. (Witness). A word inserted, in the Authorized Version of  Joshua 22:34, apparently on the authority of a few manuscripts, and also of the Syriac and Arabic versions, but not existing in the generally received Hebrew text.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This word, signifying 'witness,' is added in the A.V. in  Joshua 22:34 . Instead of 'called the altar Ed,' it has been translated 'gave a name to the altar.' The word 'Ed' is in some Hebrew MSS, and in the Syriac and Arabic versions, but not in the LXX.

King James Dictionary

EAD,ED, in names, is a Saxon word signifying happy, fortunate as in Edward, happy preserver Edgar, happy power Edwin,happy conqueror Eadulph, happy assistance like Macarius and Eupolemus in Greek and Fausta, Fortunatus, Felicianus, in Latin.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 22:34 Joshua 22:1-6

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 22:34

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Alt. of Gedd

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(עד , ‛ēdh , "witness"): The name of the altar erected by the trans-Jordanic tribes upon finally taking possession of Gilead ( Joshua 22:10 ,  Joshua 22:11 ,  Joshua 22:34 ); probably east of the Jordan opposite Jericho. But neither the Massoretic Text nor the Septuagint contained the word. Both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American), however, insert the word on the authority of a few manuscripts. It has been suggested that it is the final ה , ‛ēdh in Gal‛ēdh , the name given by Laban and Jacob to the memorial heap of stones erected by them in the vicinity ( Genesis 31:47 ,  Genesis 31:48 ). According to the Massoretic Text, the name of the altar is the entire sentence: "It is a witness between us that Yahweh is God." The opposition of the ten tribes to the erection of this altar was on the score that it was built after the pattern of the great altar of burnt offering ( Joshua 22:11 ,  Joshua 22:29 ), which was a horned altar forbidden in ordinary lay sacrifice. There is in it, therefore, no indication of a general opposition to lay sacrifices on altars of earth or unhewn stone (see Wiener, EPC , 198).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

i.e., "witness" (for Hebrews id. עֵד ), supplied (apparently on the authority of a few MSS. and also of the Syr. and the Arab. versions) in the A.V. as the name of the altar erected by the three tribes east of Jordan in commemoration of their adhesion to the others ( Joshua 22:34). The commonly received Hebrews text is literally as follows: "And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar [ וִיַּקְרְאוּ לִמַּזְבֵּחִ , Sept. Ἐπωνόμασαν Καὶ Εϊ v Παν , Vulg. vocaverunt]; for a witness is this [ בַּי עֵד הוּא , Sept. Ὅτι Μαρτύριόν , Vulg. Testimonium ]," etc., or as it may be rendered ( קָרָא being sometimes used absolutely thus), "gave a name to the altar, [saying]," etc. The gloss is unnecessary (see Maurer, Comment. in loc.), for the latter clause furnishes both the name and the explanation (Keil, Comment. in loc.), i.e., "they named the altar (as follows), that 'This is a witness,'" etc. (See Oreb).