Gershom

Two persons by this name is mentioned in the Old Testament.

1. The more famous person of this name is the elder son of Moses by Zipporah (Exo 2:22). The name in Hebrew (ger + sham) means "an alien there," a reminder to Moses of his failure as a self-imposed exile in the Midian wilderness after his flight from Egypt.

The Hebrew text of Judges tell of the tragic story of one line of the Gershom's family (the LXX and Vulgate has Manasseh instead of Moses) who lent themselves as priests to the service of the Danites in their idolatrous sect until they were exiled under the Assyrians (Judg 18:30). Happily, members of the other lines came into service under King David as Levites and one of them as "the chief officer in charge of the treasuries" (1 Chr 26:24).

2. A descendant of Phinehas, Gershom who returned to Judea from the Babylonian exile along with Ezra, is mentioned only once in Ezr 8:2; nothing else is known about him. His position in the first place in the list, and esp., as it comes before the descendants of Judah's royal line in the same verse, has attracted some debate regarding its significance, but no conclusion has been reached. As a descendent of Phinehas, this Gershom would be kinsman of Ezra himself (Ezr 7:5).