When Jethro came to visit Moses, he did not come alone. Jethro’s daughter Zipporah (Moses’ wife) and Moses’ two sons came along with him. Now the Bible gives us their names and explains why their names were chosen:
“Along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom; for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land,” and the name of the other, Eliezer; for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” (Exodus 18:3-5)
Explanations of names are very common in the Hebrew Bible and they provide us with further information (biblical events, promises, prophecies and so forth). The problem is that the translation (in all languages) kept the original Hebrew names but translates the explanation as we just witnessed in the passage above.
In the English translation we cannot see the connection between: ‘for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”‘ and the Hebrew name “Gershom”, and the same goes with:’ for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”‘ to the Hebrew name “Eliezer”.
In the original Hebrew it is written: “Kee Ger Ha’yitee Be-erertz nocheria” {כי גר הייתי בארץ נוכריה}(Hebrew for I have been a sojourner in a foreign land) and the concept of “foreign land” was replaced simply with the word “Sham”{שם} – which means ‘there’. And that is how we got the name Gershom {גרשם} – “Ger”{גר}= sojourner and “Sham”{שם} = there/ foreign land.
In the case of Eliezer, it is written: “Kee El-o-hey Avi Be-ezeri…”{כי אלוהי אבי בעזרי} (Hebrew for the God of my father was my help) and that is how we got the name Eliezer {אליעזר} – “Eli” {אלי} (my God or simply God) “Ezer” {עזר} (help or helped me).