Gashmu

Gashmu is a variant form of the name Geshem, the Arabian who joins Sanballat and Tobiah in opposing Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall. The two forms appear in the same chapter — Geshem at the head of the conspiracy, Gashmu inside the rumor that Sanballat plants in his open letter.

Geshem and Gashmu in the Wall Conspiracy

When the wall is finished except for the gates, Nehemiah's adversaries take notice: "Now it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates)," (Ne 6:1). Sanballat then sends a fifth open letter accusing Nehemiah of plotting kingship, and the gossip is sourced to the same Arabian under the variant form of his name: "in which was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause you are building the wall: and you would be their king, according to these words." (Ne 6:6).