GERSON. - The firstborn son of Moses (Ex. 2:22 and 18:3), whose name is explained there: "A stranger (gër) am I in a foreign land" (hypothetically, the Arabic gulgul, "bell," is thought of).

1 Chron. 26:24 mentions Shebuel, son of G., son of Moses. Judg. 18:30 relates that the Danites set up an image and that Jonathan, son of G., son of Manasseh (read, however: Moses), and his sons were priests of this forbidden cult until the time of the captivity of the land (A. Parenti, Giudici, in La Sacra Bibbia edited by the Pont. ist. bibl., II, Florence 1947, pp. 140, 184 note).

G. is also the name of the firstborn of Levi (Gen. 46:11 etc.). This G. is the ancestor of the Levitical family of the Gershonites, assigned to the service of the Tabernacle during the desert period (Num. 3:21 ff.; 4:21 ff.; 7:7) and who later take part in the possession of the cities of the Levites (Josh. 21:6, 27).

Bibliography

BIBL.: Besides the commentaries on Exodus and Judges, M. Noth, Die Israelit. Personennamen im Rahmen der gemeinern. Nomengebung, Stuttgart 1928, p. 223.

Eugenio Zolli

@incollection{ec6_gerson, author = {Zolli, Eugenio}, title = {Gerson}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {185}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gerson} }

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