gershom Summary and Overview

expulsion. (1.) The eldest son of Levi (1 Chr. 6:16, 17, 20, 43, 62, 71; 15:7)=GERSHON (q.v.). (2.) The elder of the two sons of Moses born to him in Midian (Ex. 2:22; 18:3). On his way to Egypt with his family, in obedience to the command of the Lord, Moses was attacked by a sudden and dangerous illness (4:24-26), which Zipporah his wife believed to have been sent because he had neglected to circumcise his son. She accordingly took a "sharp stone" and circumcised her son Gershom, saying, "Surely a bloody husband art thou to me", i.e., by the blood of her child she had, as it were, purchased her husband, had won him back again. (3.) A descendant of Phinehas who returned with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:2). (4.) The son of Manasseh (Judg. 18:30), in R.V. "of Moses."

(a stranger or exile). 1. The first-born son of Moses and Zipporah. #Ex 2:22; 18:3| (B.C. 1530.) 2. The form under which the name GERSHON--the eldest son of Levi--is given in several passages of Chronicles, viz., #1Ch 6:16,17,20,43,62,71; 15:7| 3. The representative of the priestly family of Phinehas, among those who accompanied Ezra from Babylon. #Ezr 8:2| (B.C. 536.)

GER'SHOM (expulsion). 1. The first-born son of Moses and Zipporah. Ex 2:22; Ex 18:3. 2. A corruption of Gershon. 1 Chr 6:16-17; 1 Chr 15:7. 3. A priest with Ezra. Ezr 8:2.

Gershon. 1 Chronicles 6:1; 1 Chronicles 6:16. Firstborn of Moses and Zipporah "a sojourner in a foreign land" (geer)," sojourner," is common to Hebrew and Egyptian; shom is not from Hebrew sham "there," as margin, but shem, Coptic, "a strange land"); alluding to Moses' sojourn in Midian "for, he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land" (Exodus 2:22; Exodus 18:3). (See CIRCUMCISION and Exodus 4:25.) Gershom was founder of a family, of which was "Jonathan, son (descendant) of Gershom," the "young man the Levite," who became Micah's priest to the image (Judges 17:7; Judges 18:18-30), and subsequently the Danites' priest. His descendants held this priesthood until the taking of the ark by the Philistines, which is called "the day of the captivity of the land." Gershom in the Hebrew text (kethib) is called "son of Moses." The name is altered into Manasseh with a hanging 'n' (raised above the line to show it might either be inserted or omitted) in the Masoretic keri, or margin Hebrew "He did the deeds of idolatrous Manasseh," says the Talmud (Baba bathra, 109 b.), "therefore Scripture assigns him to the family of Manasseh." Rabbabar bar Channa says "it would have been ignominious to Moses to have had an ungodly son; he was the son of Manasseh in impiety, of Moses in descent." But other of Moses' descendants through Gershom reflected the piety of "the man of God." Shebuel Gershom's descendant was "ruler of the treasures" dedicated in the sanctuary under David (1 Chronicles 23:15-17; 1 Chronicles 26:24-28). One accompanied Ezra from Babylon (Ezra 8:2).