GERSHOM gûr’ shəm (גֵרְשֹׁ֖ום, prob. a foreign name of unknown meaning; perhaps unusual form from gä’räs’, to drive out, meaning fugitive, Exod 2:22; 18:3 are better taken as deliberate puns than as popular etymologies). 1. Variant of Gershon (e.g 1 Chron 6:16ff.).

2. The leader of the clan of Phinehas (i.e. “sons of Phinehas”) in Ezra’s return from Babylon (Ezra 8:2).

3. Moses’ oldest son and a clan name for some of Moses’ descendants. Of Moses’ son the Bible offers only genealogical data and, prob., the account of his circumcision (Exod 4:24-26).

Turning to Gershom’s descendants Judges (18:30) tells of the family of Jonathan, the son (i.e. descendant) of Gershom, the son of Moses (variant text from KJV “Manasseh”) which served illegally—as priests for Dan until the Captivity.

In David’s bureaucracy the Gershomites appear along with the sons of Eliezer, Moses’ other son (1 Chron 23:15-17). Of these, Shebuel was “the chief” (i.e. leading family?) of the Gershomites and Rehabiah was the chief of the Eliezerites.

Jehdeiah is listed as an officer of the “sons of Shubael” (variant of Shebuel; ?), and Isshiah for the “sons of Rehabiah” (1 Chron 20; 21). Comparison with ch. 23 indicates that these are variant designations for the Gershomites and the Eliezerites respectively. That is, in 1 Chronicles 24 the two clans are designated by their “chief” or leading families rather than by their ancestral names.

Shebuel, an individual contemporary with David, of the Gershomites was David’s chief treasurer. The designation of the Eliezerites as “his brethren, from Eliezer” may indicate that the Gershomites were the dominant of the two clans (1 Chron 26:24, 25).