We don’t hear much about the family of Moses, probably because most of his life is spent sending plagues to Egypt, parting waters, going up on mountains, and dealing with millions of Israelites complaining about food and water. Its an exhausting life.
It’s not really until Jethro comes to see Moses in Exodus 18 that we get a clearer picture of his home life. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law hears about what God has done and decides to give respect to Moses and pay homage to God.
Along with him, he brings Moses’ two sons: Gershom and Eliezer. These two boys were named after special events in Moses’ life. Gershom was named for the fact that Moses had been “a stranger in a foreign land,” while Eliezer represents God’s deliverance from that strange land: “The God of my father was my help and saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
It’s a touching moment, but one that seems wildly out of place chronologically speaking. After all, we first meet one of those children in Exodus 4 when Zipporah violently circumcises Moses’ sons. It would be at least a few years between that moment and the reunion in Exodus 18, so why would his sons names mention deliverance that hadn’t happened yet?
There are two possible explanations for their names, each one of them equally valid. The first is to assume that Moses simply renamed his children after the Exodus. This isn’t a foreign concept; several people have had name changes in the Bible so far (Abram, Jacob, Sarai, as a few examples).
The other possibility is that the “deliverance” in Eliezer doesn’t represent the Exodus at all, but rather Moses’ initial departure from Egypt when he was forty. In Exodus 2, Moses kills the Egyptian then flees to Midian because he fears the retribution of Pharaoh. That’s when he meets Zipporah and has Gershom (Exodus 2:22). It’s likely Eliezer wasn’t far behind.
As famous as Moses is, it’s impossible to think that his children wouldn’t have been equally revered after his death, possibly representing a challenge to Joshua’s authority. And yet, we hear almost nothing about them in Scripture. Jewish tradition has their own stories and people, but their next appearance isn’t until 1 Chronicles 26 when King David honors the lineage of Moses through Gershom.
This raises a few eyebrows when you consider that many believe the line of Gershom fell into idolatry. According to some interpretations, the lineage of Gershom worshipped idols alongside the tribe of Dan. There’s some translation issues that make that conclusion far from a slam dunk, but the thought is there at least.
Scripture doesn’t tell us what ever happened to Gershom and Eliezer, but if those negative interpretations are true, that’s probably for the best.
