Exodus 2:22
“She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.””
What does Exodus 2:22 mean?
Moses names his firstborn son Gershom, which means "a stranger there" or "sojourner," capturing something raw about his own experience. At this point in his life, Moses has fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian guard, and he's living in exile in Midian, far from home with no clear way back. The name he chooses reflects his deepest feeling: displacement, alienation, not truly belonging anywhere. There's something both painful and human about marking your child with a name that says "we don't fit here." But there's also honesty in it—Moses isn't pretending everything is fine or that he's settled. He's acknowledging his loss and his longing. For anyone who's felt like an outsider, moved far from home, or lost their place in the world, this moment speaks to how real those feelings are.