What Does Exodus 6:17 Mean?

The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. The brief notation of Gershon's sons (Libni and Shimei) fills in the Levitical genealogical record without elaboration. Gershon's clan will later be assigned responsibility for the curtains, coverings, and screens of the tabernacle (Numbers 3:25-26). The genealogical record of verse 17 is the foundation on which the wilderness institutional records are built: the clans identified here by name become the organizational units of Israel's worship infrastructure. The genealogy and the later tabernacle service chapters of Numbers are connected at these names.

The "by their clans" notation at the end of each genealogical unit is a formulaic marker that signals official genealogical register language. The Levitical genealogy of Exodus 6 uses the register language of official tribal records, the same type of records that were maintained to determine clan membership and associated responsibilities. The genealogy is not a private family memory but an institutional document that has organizational consequences for how Israel's worship life was structured in the wilderness and beyond.

Gershon as the firstborn of Levi receives the abbreviated treatment that first-born sons sometimes receive in genealogies when the narrative purpose of the genealogy is the later-born line: just as Reuben and Simeon receive brief treatment because the genealogy's goal is Levi, Gershon receives brief treatment because the genealogy's goal is the Kohathite line from which Moses and Aaron descend. The Kohathites had the most sacred responsibilities in the wilderness (carrying the ark, the table, the lampstand, and the altars), and it is from this clan that the highest priestly offices will come.