Gershon, Kohath, and Merari were all born before Levi went into Egypt (Genesis 46:8; Genesis 46:11; Genesis 46:27), which was when he was about forty or fifty years of age. It is not unlikely that they were at that time all grown up. If Levi lived to be “an hundred thirty and seven years” old, he would probably before he died have seen his descendants of the fifth generation. Attempts have been made to show that the present genealogy is complete, and that Moses was Levi’s great-grandson. But in Joshua’s case there were ten generations (at least) between him and Jacob (1 Chronicles 7:23-27); so that three generations only between Jacob and Moses are scarcely possible. The Israelites were in the habit of constructing their genealogies by omitting some of the links, as we see plainly in the genealogy of Ezra (Ezra 7:1-5) and in St. Matthew’s genealogy of our Lord (Matthew 1:8). In this present genealogy four or five (perhaps more) names are probably omitted between Amram, the son of Kohath. and Amram, the father of Moses, as will appear if we model the genealogy of Moses upon that of Joshua.
(17) The sons of Gershon. — From this point the genealogy is no longer a recapitulation, but an original historical document of first-rate importance, which is confirmed by Numbers (Numbers 3:18-33) and Chronicles (1 Chronicles 6:17-19). It is remarkable that Gershon had but two sons, Kohath but four, and Merari but two. Yet the Levites in the year after the Exodus numbered 22,300 males (Numbers 3:22; Numbers 3:28; Numbers 3:34). This increase could only have taken place, at the rate indicated, in the course of some ten or eleven generations.