•The eldest son of Japheth, (Genesis 10:2,3) the progenitor of the early Cimmerians, of the later
Cimbri and the other branches of the Celtic family, and of the modern Gael and Cymri.
•The wife of Hosea. (Hosea 1:3)
Gomorrah
(submersion), one of the five “cities of the plain” or “vale of Siddim” that under the irrespective
kings joined battle there with Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14:2-8) and his allies by whom they were
discomfited till Abraham came to the rescue. Four out of the five were afterwards destroyed by the
Lord with fire from heaven. (Genesis 19:23-29) One of them only, Zoar (or Bela; which was its
original name), was spared at the request of Lot, in order that he might take refuge there. The
geographical position of these cities is discussed under Sodom.
Gopher
(pitch) wood. Only once mentioned— (Genesis 6:14) Two principal conjectures have been
proposed—
•That the “trees of gopher” are any trees of the resinous kind, such as pine, fir, etc.
•That Gopher is cypress.
Goshen
The name of a part of Egypt where the Israelites dwelt during the whole period of their sojourn
in that country. It was probably situated on the eastern border of the Nile, extending from the
•
Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It contained the treasure-cities of Rameses and Pittim. It was a
pasture land, especially suited to a shepherd people, and sufficient for the Israelites, who there
prospered, and were separate from the main body of the Egyptians.
•A district in southern Palestine conquered by Joshua. (Joshua 10:41) It lay between Gaza and
Gibeon.
•A town in the mountains of Judah, probably in a part of the country of Goshen.
Gospels
The name Gospel (from god and spell, Ang. Sax. good message or news, which is a translation
of the Greek euaggelion) is applied to the four inspired histories of the life and teaching of Christ
contained in the New Testament, of which separate accounts are given in their place. They were
all composed during the latter half of the first century: those of St. Matthew and St. Mark some
years before the destruction of Jerusalem; that of St. Luke probably about A.D. 64; and that of St.
John towards the close of the century. Before the end of the second century, there is abundant
evidence that the four Gospels, as one collection, were generally used and accepted. As a matter
of literary history, nothing can be better established than the genuineness of the Gospels. On
comparing these four books one with another, a peculiar difficulty claims attention, which has had
much to do with the controversy as to their genuineness. In the fourth Gospel the narrative coincided
with that of the other three in a few passages only. The received explanation is the only satisfactory
one namely, that John, writing last, at the close of the first century had seen the other Gospels, and
purposely abstained from writing anew what they had sufficiently recorded. In the other three
Gospels there is a great amount of agreement. If we suppose the history that they contain to be
divided into 89 sections, in 42 of these all the three narratives coincide, 12 more are given by
Matthew and Mark only, 5 by Mark and Luke only, and 14 by Matthew and Luke. To these must
be added 5 peculiar to Matthew, 2 to Mark and 9 to Luke, and the enumeration is complete. But
this applies only to general coincidence as to the facts narrated: the amount of verbal coincidence,
that is, the passages either verbally the same or coinciding in the use of many of the same words,