According to the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

, Gershon ( ''Gērǝšôn'') was the eldest of the sons of

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

, and the patriarchal founder of the

Gershonites The Gershonites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in Biblical times. The Bible claims that the Gershonites were all descended from the eponymous ''Gershon'' a son of Levi (not to be confused with Moses' son Gershom), although so ...

, one of the four main divisions among the

Levites Levites ( ; ) or Levi are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew definite article "" ''Ha-' ...

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

times. The Gershonites were charged with the care of the outer

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

including components such as the tent and its covering, screens, doors, and hangings.

Biblical scholars Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse academic discipline, disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the Biblical canon#Jewish canons, canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Judais ...

regard the name as being essentially the same as "

Gershom According to the Bible, Gershom ( ''Gēršōm'', "a sojourner there"; ) was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew, ( ''ger sham''), which the text argues was a reference to Moses' flight from Egypt. ...

" ( ''Gēršōm''), which appears to mean "a sojourner there" (גר שם), and it is Gershom rather than Gershon who is sometimes listed in the

Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Heb ...

as a founder of one of the principal Levite factions. The Torah names Gershon's sons as Libni and

Shimei Shimei ( ''Šīmʿī'') is the name of a number of persons referenced in the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinical literature. *The second son of Gershon and grandson of Levi (; ; ). The family of the Shimeites, as a branch of the tribe of Levi, is ment ...

. Textual scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a religiopolitical group similar to that behind the

Priestly source The Priestly source (or simply P) is perhaps the most widely recognized of the sources underlying the Torah, both stylistically and theologically distinct from other material in it. It is considered by most scholars as the latest of all sources, a ...

, and at a similar date. According to some biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants is actually reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the Levites — the Gershonites, the

Kohathites The Kohathites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in biblical times, the other three being the Gershonites, the Merarites, and the Aaronites (more commonly known as Kohanim). The Bible claims that the Kohathites were all desce ...

, the

Merarites The Merarites were one of the four main divisions among the Levites in Biblical times. The Bible claims that the Merarites were all descended from the eponymous Merari, a son of Levi, although some biblical scholars regard this as a postdictional ...

, and the Aaronids.

Family tree

Jochebed According to the Bible, Jochebed (; , lit. ' YHWH is glory') was a daughter of Levi and the mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend ...

's position in the family tree of Gershon is uncertain. Some manuscripts of the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

version of the Torah state that Jochebed was Kohath's cousin, but the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

states that she was Kohath's sister''

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary. In the Catholic Church it is the only translation approved ...

'', footnote to Exodus 6:20—Amram's aunt—although Jochebed's relationship to Levi is not explicitly stated. Thus, according to the Septuagint, Gershon's family tree would be as follows: while according to the Masoretic Text, Gershon's family tree would be as follows:

References

{{reflist Levites Book of Numbers people Tribe of Levi