Gershom and Eliezer, an inseparable pair

Certain pairs are inseparable. Most of us know married couples who have been together so long that they are seen as a single unit. Adam and Eve are forever etched into the Judeo-Christian lists of pairs. Pat and my contemporaries include Bob and Judy, Joe and Pat, Tony and Judy, Bob and Rayanna, inseparable pairs. Our parents, Otto and Annie, Roy and Martha, are one, forever inseparable in our memories.

The theme of a pop song from the 50's captures a pairing now quaint in our culture’s marketplace. “Love and Marriage,” by Sammy Cahn, Jimmy VanHeusen, was popularized by Frank Sinatra.
Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can't have one without the other

Love and marriage, love and marriage
It's an institute you can't disparage
Ask the local gentry
And they will say it's elementary

Try, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try, and you will only come
To this conclusion

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like the horse and carriage
Dad was told by mother
You can't have one, you can't have none,
You can't have one without the other!
Some people, things and experiences simply must be paired. In marketing Abercrombie and Fitch comes to mind. Hardware stores sell nuts and bolts. In comedy Abbot is forever associated with Costello and Lewis is inseparable from Martin. Old timers cannot unhitch “Amos” from “Andy.” Broadway’s famous “Beauty” is forever linked with “The Beast.” For ice cream lovers “Ben and Jerry” is one.

Moses had two sons. “One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become an alien in a foreign land”; and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.” (Genesis 18:3-4) “Eliezer, “God my helper,” is irrevocably tied to “Gershom, I am an alien.” The discomforts of being Pharaoh’s antagonist alienated Moses from the masses of his countrymen. Lonely self-examination and feelings of inferiority were necessary to Moses’ development. Without unwanted contests in an Egyptian palace, Moses would have never been able to dance with Miriam and Aaron singing –
“I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:1-4)
The sobering truth is, we want to know “God our helper” without allowing Him to lead us into uncomfortable surroundings, requiring us to take on assignments too difficult for any sane and thoughtful person, and endure the grumbling of those God allows to surround us. But “Gershom” is the necessary prerequisite to “Eliezer,” just like love and marriage! You can’t have one without the other.