Exodus 18:3 (KJV)

What does Exodus 18:3 mean?

Exodus 18:3 explains that Moses had two sons, and the name of one was Gershom, which means "a stranger there," because Moses said he had been an alien in a foreign land. The verse highlights Moses’s sense of being an outsider during his time away from his people.

Moses is speaking about his family while he was living in Midian, far from Egypt and his own people, the Israelites. Naming his son Gershom reflects Moses’s personal experience of living as a foreigner, which shaped his identity and outlook during those years.

The Hebrew behind Exodus 18:3

• גֵּרְשֹׁם (Gershom, transliterated "Gershom") means "a stranger there" or "sojourner." The name itself is a play on the Hebrew word for "alien" or "sojourner," tying Moses’s personal story to his son’s name.
• גֵּר (ger, H1616, transliterated "ger") means "alien" or "sojourner." This word emphasizes Moses’s status as someone living outside his homeland, which is central to the meaning of the name Gershom.
• נָכְרִיָּה (nokhriyyah, H5237, transliterated "nokhriyyah") means "strange" or "foreign." This word underlines the foreignness of the land where Moses lived, reinforcing the sense of displacement.

Why Exodus 18:3 matters

• The verse shows how personal experiences, like Moses’s time as a foreigner, influenced the names he gave his children and the way he saw his life’s journey.
• It connects Moses’s story to the larger theme of the Israelites being strangers in Egypt, setting up the narrative of deliverance and belonging.
• The verse helps readers understand Moses’s mindset and the emotional weight he carried as a leader who once lived as an outsider.