Gershom

GERSHOM gur'-shom (gereshom, from garash, "to cast out"; explained, however, in Exodus 2:22 and 18:3 as from gur, "For he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"):

(1) Firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The only details of his life contained in the Pentateuch are the account of his circumcision (Exodus 4:25), and his remaining under the care of Jethro, while Moses was in Egypt leading the Exodus. His descendants were numbered among the tribes of Levi (1 Chronicles 23:14). One of them apparently was the Jonathan who officiated as priest of the idolatrous sanctuary at Dan, and whose descendants held the office until the captivity. The Massoretic Text inserts a suspended nun, "n," in the name of Moses (mosheh), causing it to be lead Manasseh, for the purpose, according to tradition, of disguising the name out of respect for the revered Lawgiver. Another descendant described as a "son" was Shebuel, a ruler over the treasuries of David.

(2) A son of Levi, so called in 1 Chronicles 6:16,17,20,43,12,71 (Hebrew 1,2,5,28,47,56); 15:7; elsewhere GERSHON (which see).

(3) A descendant of Phinehas, the head of a father's house, who journeyed with Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem in the reign of Artaxerxes (Ezra 8:2).

Ella Davis Isaacs

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'GERSHOM'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.