(Heb. Gershon', גֵּרִשׁם [in Chron. ussually גֵּרִשׁוֹם ], expulsion (See GERSHON), an etymology alluded to in Exodus 2:22, where there is a play upon the word, as if written גֵּר שָׁם, or Ger-Sham, q.d. a sojourner there; in which passage the Sept. preserves the form Γηρσάμ [comp. Josepheus, Γηρσός = διάλεκτος, Ant. 2:13, 1], but elsewhere Graecizes Γηρσώμ or Γηρσών), the name of three or four Levites.
1. Thu oldest son of Levi (1 Chronicles 6:16-17; 1 Chronicles 6:20; 1 Chronicles 6:43 [in the Hebrews], :62, 71; 15:7), elsewhere distinctively written GERSHON (See GERSHON) (q.v.)
2. The elder of the two sons (the second being Eliezer) who were born to Moses in the land of Midian by Zipporalm (Exodus 2:22; Exodus 18:4). B.C. 1698. These sons of the great lawgiver held no other rank than that of simple Levites, will the sons of their uncle Aaron enjoyed all the privileges of the priesthood (1 Chronicles 23:1; 1 Chronicles 23:5; 1 Chronicles 23:16; 1 Chronicles 26:24), a proof of the rare disinterestedness of Moses. Shebuel, one of his descendants, emas appointed ruler (נָגִיר ) of the treasury under David (1 Chronicles 26:24-28).
3. The son of one Manasseh (according to the text) and father of Jonathan, which last acted as priest to the Danites who captured Laish (Judges 18:30); but, according to a more correct reading, he is not different from the son of Moses. (See JONATHAN). The Talmud explains the substitution of "Manasseha" for "Moses" in the text by asserting that Jonathan did the works of Manasseh, and was therefore reckoned in his family (Baba Bathra, fol. 109, b). (See MANASSEH).
4. A descendant of Phinehas, and chief of his house, who returned from Babylon with Ezra (Ezra 8:2), B.C. 459.