Gammadim

Is used in the English Bible, Eze 27:11, as the name of a people; but it rather means simply the brave, the warlike.\par

Gam’madim. This word occurs only in Eze 27:11. A variety of explanations of the term have been offered.

1. One class renders it "pygmies".

2. A second treats it as a geographical or local term.

3. A third gives a more general sense to the word "brave warriors". Hitzig suggests "deserters". After all, the rendering in the Septuagint (LXX) -- "guards" -- furnishes the simplest explanation.

(Heb. Gammadim’, גִּמָּדים; Sept. φύλακες, Vulg. Pygmaei, A.V. "Gammadims") is the name of a class of men mentioned in Eze 27:11, as defenders of the towers of Tyre in connection with the mercenaries from Arad. SEE TYRE. A variety of explanations of the term have been offered.

(1.) Some (e.g. Forster, Dict. Ebr. Nov. s.v.) suppose a connection with גֹּמֶד, go’med, a cubit, q.d. cubit-high men, whence the Vulg. has pigmies (so Rashi, Kimchi, and others). Michaelis (Supplem. page 326) thinks that the apparent height alone is referred to, with the intention of conveying an idea of the great height of the towers. Spencer (De Leg. Heb. Rit. 2, cap. 24) explains it of small images of the tutelar gods, like the Lares of the Romans (see also his Dissert. de Gammadim, in Ugolini Thesaur. 23:18). This view seems to be refuted by Anthing, Dissertat. de sublesta τῶς גִּמָּדיםper Pymaeos interpretatione (Vitemb. 1710).

(2.) Others (e.g. Pfeiffer, Dub. Vex. page 783; Ludolf, Comment. hist. AEthiop. pages 73, 74) treat it as a geographical or local term; Grotius holds Gamad to be a Hebraized form (ἄγκων for גֹּמֶד) of the name Ancon, a Phoenician town; the Chaldee paraphrase has Cappadocians, as though reading גְּפָדִים; Fuller (Miscell. 6:698) identifies them as the inhabitants of Gamala (Plin. 5:14); and again the word has been broken up into מָדיםגִּם=also the Medes. Rosenmuller (Schol. ad loc.) thinks it the name of some obscure Phoenician town, not elsewhere mentioned. But these conjectures are equally without foundation (see Harduin, ad loc.; Reland, Palaest. page 784).

(3.) Most later interpreters give a more general military sense to the word. Gesenius (Thesaur. page 292) connects it with גֹּמֶד, a bough, whence the sense of brave warriors. Lee reiders short-swordsmen, from the same Arabie root. Havernick (ad loc.) understands daring ones, from an Aramaean root. Hitzig (ad loc.) suggests deserters (Ueberläufer), and draws attention to the preposition in as favoring this sense: he inclines, however, to the opinion that the pro’phet had in view Son 4:4, and that the word גּבּוריםin that passage has been successively corrupted into שֹׁמְרים, as read by the Sept., which gives φύλακες and

גִּמָּדִים, as in the present text. The Syr. and Arabian interpreters agree with the Sept., rendering watchmen (so Luther, "Wachter"). Fürst (Heb. Lex. s.v.) refers the word to an obsolete גֶּמִדto place or make stand (akin with the above Arabic gamad, to be firm), and translates garrison (Besatzung), a view that seems to agree with the context. The following words of the verse — “They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about" — are illustrated by one of the bas-reliefs found at Kouyunjik (Layard, Nineveh, 2:296). — Smith, s.v.

A Hebrew word, the definite meaning of which is not known. By the connection ("the Gammadims were in thy towers") it appears to refer to the ’guards,’ as translated in the LXX. Eze 27:11. The margin of the R.V. has ’valorous men.’

GAMMADIM.—A term of very doubtful meaning, occurring in Eze 27:11 ‘The Gammadim (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] -ims) were in thy towers.’ No place of the name of Gammad is known, but a proper name is what the context seems to demand. RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘valorous men’ has not commended itself to the majority of scholars.

gam´a-dim (גּמּדים, gammādhı̄m): The word occurs only in Eze 27:11, in the King James Version in form “Gammadims,” in the English Revised Version “Gammadim.” In the American Standard Revised Version, as also in the English Revised Version, margin, it is rendered “valorous men.” Some think a proper name is required, but identification is not possible, and the meaning remains doubtful.