Endnote 3 – The Lowdown on the Riffraff

This message is subtly anticipated in the etymology provided twice for Gershom, the firstborn son of Moses in Midian, whose name incorporates the Hebrew term geµr. Gershom, we are told, is so named because Moses was a “stranger in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:22, 18:3). The Bible does not specify whether in Egypt or Midian, but in the biblical law codes, the foreign land is always Egypt.