Gershom Summary
STEPBible TIPNR
Gershom was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah, and his descendant Jonathan served as a priest for the idolatrous Danites.
Moses' first son (EXO 2:22)
Lineage: God › Adam › Seth › Enos › Cainan › Mahalaleel › Jared › Enoch › Methuselah › Lamech › Noah › Shem › Arphaxad › Cainan › Salah › Eber › Peleg › Reu › Serug › Nahor › Terah › Abraham › Isaac › Jacob › Levi › Kohath › Amram › Moses › Gershom
Names
-
en
Gershom
a stranger here
-
en
Gershom
· Also called · H1647 · EXO 2:22 temporary resident there
-
he
גֵּרְשֹׁ֑ם
gerəshom · H1647 · EXO 2:22 temporary resident there
- he גֵּרְשֹׁם · H1647G
- el Γηρσαμ Gērsam · EXO 2:22
- bg Гирсам
Mentioned in (6)
SDA Books
Awaiting permission to publishLinked through an explicitly cited Bible passage
Loading book references…
Dates and sources (1)
Absolute years are conditional chronological estimates. A biblical passage may state an age or event, but does not by itself establish a BCE year. Different calendar systems are preserved separately.
-
Birth Theographic Rejected assertionTheographic signed year:
-1302· Calendar interpretation is unverified; the raw value is shown.Person mentions; these are not evidence for this date: 5
This estimate puts Gershom more than 140 years after his father Moses dies; Gershom is born before Moses returns to Egypt.
EXO 2:21-22EXO 4:20DEU 34:7Source record and calculation
gershom_1302·birthYeartheographic/People.csv· record 976SHA-256:e28658d9d12ecc6cd3f82535f7a624994ac0d9d58ee25da5d6e75c30efa6a089
Conditional birth estimate
Conditional birth bounds under generation assumptions; not attested parental ages, biological limits or a lifespan.
The anchors give incompatible conditional intervals. This calculation establishes no birth year.
Below are relatives with a selected birth year, the generations separating them, and the interval allowed by each anchor. Each relative’s page shows available dates and sources. The overall estimate uses the intersection of the allowed intervals.
| Relative / anchor year | Generations | Conditional interval |
|---|---|---|
| Moses · 1570 BC Ancestor |
1 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1550 BC – 1525 BC |
| Amram · 1688 BC Ancestor |
2 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1648 BC – 1598 BC |
| Kohath · 1705 BC Ancestor |
3 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1645 BC – 1570 BC |
| Levi · 1748 BC Ancestor |
3 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1688 BC – 1613 BC |
| Jacob · 1835 BC Ancestor |
4 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1755 BC – 1655 BC |
| Isaac · 1895 BC Ancestor |
5 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1795 BC – 1670 BC |
| Rebekah · 1876 BC Ancestor |
5 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1776 BC – 1651 BC |
| Abraham · 1995 BC Ancestor |
6 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1875 BC – 1725 BC |
| Sarah · 1985 BC Ancestor |
6 20–45 years per generation |
c. 1865 BC – 1715 BC |
| Terah · 2125 BC Ancestor |
7 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1950 BC – 1215 BC |
| Nahor · 2156 BC Ancestor |
8 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1956 BC – 1116 BC |
| Haran · 2056 BC Ancestor |
8 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1856 BC – 1016 BC |
| Serug · 2186 BC Ancestor |
9 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1961 BC – 1016 BC |
| Reu · 2218 BC Ancestor |
10 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1968 BC – 918 BC |
| Peleg · 2248 BC Ancestor |
11 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1973 BC – 818 BC |
| Eber · 2282 BC Ancestor |
12 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1982 BC – 722 BC |
| Salah · 2312 BC Ancestor |
13 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1987 BC – 622 BC |
| Arphaxad · 2347 BC Ancestor |
15 25–130 years per generation |
c. 1972 BC – 397 BC |
| Shem · 2447 BC Ancestor |
16 25–130 years per generation |
c. 2047 BC – 367 BC |
| Noah · 2948 BC Ancestor |
17 25–130 years per generation |
c. 2523 BC – 738 BC |
| Lamech · 3130 BC Ancestor |
18 25–130 years per generation |
c. 2680 BC – 790 BC |
| Methuselah · 3317 BC Ancestor |
19 25–130 years per generation |
c. 2842 BC – 847 BC |
| Enoch · 3382 BC Ancestor |
20 25–130 years per generation |
c. 2882 BC – 782 BC |
| Jared · 3544 BC Ancestor |
21 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3019 BC – 814 BC |
| Mahalaleel · 3609 BC Ancestor |
22 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3059 BC – 749 BC |
| Cainan · 3679 BC Ancestor |
23 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3104 BC – 689 BC |
| Cain · 4004 BC Ancestor |
23 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3429 BC – 1014 BC |
| Enos · 3769 BC Ancestor |
24 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3169 BC – 649 BC |
| Adam · 4004 BC Ancestor |
24 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3404 BC – 884 BC |
| Eve · 4005 BC Ancestor |
24 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3405 BC – 885 BC |
| Seth · 3874 BC Ancestor |
25 25–130 years per generation |
c. 3249 BC – 624 BC |
One-parent family
- Son: Shubael
Gershom Article
STEPBible TIPNR
Gershom was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah, born during Moses' exile in Midian (Exo 2:22). His name, which means "a stranger there," reflects Moses' feelings of being a foreigner in a strange land. Later, when Moses returned to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery, Gershom and his brother Eliezer were reunited with their father (Exo 18:3-4). As a descendant of Levi, Gershom and his descendants were counted among the Levites and assigned duties in the tabernacle and temple service (1Ch.23.15-16; 26.24). However, one of Gershom's descendants, Jonathan, became involved in idolatrous worship. According to Jdg 18:30, Jonathan and his sons served as priests for the tribe of Dan, who had set up a graven image and a shrine. This incident highlights the spiritual decline among some of the Levites and the Israelites during the period of the judges. Despite this unfaithful descendant, Gershom's lineage remained significant within the Levitical priesthood, as evidenced by the mention of his descendants in the genealogies of Chronicles.
Gershom 2 Dictionary
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
The elder of the two sons of Moses born to him in Midian (Ex. 2:22; 18:3). On his way to Egypt with his family, in obedience to the command of the Lord, Moses was attacked by a sudden and dangerous illness (4:24-26), which Zipporah his wife believed to have been sent because he had neglected to circumcise his son. She accordingly took a “sharp stone” and circumcised her son Gershom, saying, “Surely a bloody husband art thou to me”, i.e., by the blood of her child she had, as it were, purchased her husband, had won him back again.
Sources: BibleData (CC BY 4.0, Gershom_1) · STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0, Gershom@Exo.2.22-1Ch) · Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0, gershom_1302)