GESHEM ( Nehemiah 2:18; Nehemiah 6:1-2; in Nehemiah 6:6 the form Gashmu occurs). An Arabian who is named, along with Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite, as an opponent of Nehemiah during the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem ( Nehemiah 2:16; Nehemiah 6:1 ff.). He may have belonged to an Arab community which, as we learn from the monuments, was settled by Sargon in Samaria c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 715 this would explain his close connexion with the Samaritans; or he may have been the chief of an Arab tribe dwelling in the S. of Judah, in which case his presence would point to a coalition of all the neighbouring peoples against Jerusalem.