Gershon
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(banishment) — the names of three men mentioned in Holy Scripture: a) (Gen. 46:11) firstborn of Levi, son of the patriarch Jacob, born before the migration of Jacob and his sons into Egypt. His descendants, numbering 7,000 men (Num. 3:22), among them 2,630 men fit for service (4:40), were appointed by Moses to carry, during the wandering in the wilderness, the curtains and coverings of the Tabernacle of Testimony (4:24–26). They were assigned 13 cities to dwell in (Josh. 21:6), two of which were cities of refuge (v. 27).
Under David, the sons of Gershon were appointed, together with the rest of the sons of Levi, to praise the Lord in the customary services of the Church (1 Chron. 23:5–7) upon musical instruments. The well-known singer Asaph was one of their number (6:43–49); b) (Judg. 18:30) son of Manasseh, father of Jonathan the Levite, who set up the idol made by Micah at Dan, while the house of God remained at Shiloh; c) (Ezra 8:2; 2 Esdras 8:29) a person who accompanied Ezra together with others upon his return from Babylon, of the descendants of Phinehas.