Gershon

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This page is about the Old Testament son of Levi. For the firstborn son of Moses, see Gershom. For other uses of Gershon, see Gershon (disambiguation).

Gershon was the oldest of the three sons of Levi; his brothers were Kohath and Merari (Genesis 46:11; Numbers 3:17), and his sons were Libni and Shimei (Exodus 6:17). Gershon was founder of the family called the Gershonites (Numbers 26:57), one of the three main divisions of the Levitical priesthood. Gershon was apparently born to Levi before Jacob's family moved to Egypt to escape a famine (Exodus 6:16). Although Gershon was the oldest of Levi's sons, it was through the line of his younger brother Kohath that the priestly line of Aaron sprang years later after the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt.