Goshen

Perhaps so called from Goshen, rain, or the dew of heaven in blessings. For this place being nearer to the Mediterranean sea than Upper Egypt, had plentiful showers to make it fertile. Here it was Jacob and his children dwelt, when brought down into Egypt. (Gen. xl7: 1 - 6.) Perhaps there might have been even in those days, a remote idea to the times of the gospel in the name of Goshen; for even now in the present hour, that is truly a land of Goshen where Christ is truly known, and where heaven hath shed and is shedding itsblessed influences, in the showers of his Holy Spirit; while all the earth is as Egypt in the dryness, where no rains are known, and where the gospel of Christ is not.

This was the most fertile pasture ground in the whole of Lower Egypt; thence called Goshen, from gush, in Arabic, signifying “a heart,” or whatsoever is choice or precious. There was also a Goshen in the territory of the tribe of Judah, so called for the same reason, Jos 10:41.

Hence Joseph recommended it to his family as “the best of the land,”

Gen 47:11, and “the fat of the land.” Gen 45:18. The land of Goshen lay along the most easterly branch of the Nile, and on the east side of it; for it is evident that, at the time of the exode, the Israelites did not cross the Nile. In ancient times, the fertile land was considerably more extensive, both in length and breadth, than at present, in consequence of the general failure of the eastern branches of the Nile; the main body of the river verging more and more to the west continually, and deepening the channels on that side.

Go´shen, a province or district of Egypt in which Jacob and his family settled through the instrumentality of his son Joseph, and in which they and their descendants remained for a period of 430 years (Gen 45:10; Gen 46:28; Gen 47:27; Gen 50:8; Exo 8:22; Exo 9:26). The Bible does not present any definite information as to the precise locality of Goshen, and of course later authorities possess only an inferior value. There are, however, incidental expressions, allusions, and implications in the Scriptures, which afford aid in determining the spot. That Goshen lay on the eastern side of the Nile may be justifiably inferred from the fact that Jacob is not reported to have crossed that river; nor does it appear that the Israelites did so in their flight out of Egypt. With this inference all the language employed (see the passages as given above), to say the least, agrees, if it does not afford an indirect evidence in its favor. By comparing Exo 13:17 and the Septuagint translation of Gen 45:10 (which calls Goshen, Goshen near Arabia), it appears that Goshen bordered on Arabia as well as Palestine, and the passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shows that the land was not far removed from the Red Sea. It appears probable that we may fix the locality of Goshen in Lower Egypt, on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, in the district around Hierapolis.

This district was suitable for a nomadic people, who would have been misplaced in the narrow limits of the valley of the Nile. Children of the desert, or at least used as they were to wander freely from one fertile plain to another with their flocks and herds, the sons of Jacob required a spot where the advantages of an advanced civilization could be united with unrestricted freedom, and abundance be secured without the forfeiture of early and cherished habits. The several opinions entertained on this point substantially agree in referring Goshen to the country intervening between the desert of Arabia and Palestine on the one side, and the Pelusiac arm of the Nile on the other, with the Mediterranean at the base. The district assigned to Jacob and his family was chosen for its superiority (Gen 47:6), ’In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, in the land of Goshen let them dwell;’ and the subsequent increase of the Israelites themselves, as well as the multiplication of their cattle, shows that the territory was one of extraordinary fertility. Time and circumstances have doubtless had their effect on the fertility of country in which the desert is ever ready to make encroachments as soon as the repelling hand of man is relaxed or withdrawn. But Laborde represents the vicinity of Heliopolis as still covered with palm-trees, and as having an enclosure, comprehending a considerable space of ground, which is covered every year by the inundation of the Nile to the height of five feet. We are not, however, to expect evidences of luxuriant fertility. The country was chosen for its pre-eminent fitness for shepherds. If a nomadic tribe had wide space and good pasture-grounds, they would have ’the best (for themselves) of the land,’ and these advantages the district in which we have placed Goshen abundantly supplied in ancient times, when the waters of the Nile were more liberally dispensed than at present to the eastern side of the country. Nothing is needed but water to make the desert fertile. ’The water of the Nile soaks through the earth for some distance under the sandy tract (the neighborhood of Heliopolis), and is everywhere found on digging wells eighteen or twenty feet deep. Such wells are very frequent in parts which the inundation does not reach. The water is raised from them by wheels turned by oxen and applied to the irrigation of the fields. Whenever this takes place the desert is turned into a fruitful field. In passing to Heliopolis we saw several such fields in the different stages of being reclaimed from the desert; some just laid out, others already fertile. In returning by another way more eastward, we passed a succession of beautiful plantations wholly dependent on this mode of irrigation’ (Robinson’s Palestine, vol. 1, p. 36).

1. The name of the tract of country in Egypt which was inhabited by the Israelites from the time of Jacob to that of Moses. It was probably the tract lying east of the Pelusian arm of the Nile, towards Arabia. See EGYPT. It appears to have reached to the Nile, Exo 1:22 2:3, since the Jews ate fish in abundance, Num 11:5, and "practiced artificial irrigation", Deu 11:10 . It was near Heliopolis and Rameses, and not far from the capital of Egypt, Gen 45:10 47:11 Exo 8:1-12:51. It was a part of "the best of the land," at least for the pastoral Hebrews, Gen 46:34, and was evidently better watered and more fertile than at present. Here they greatly multiplied and prospered, Gen 47:27, and here they were sorely afflicted, and yet not forgotten of God, Exo 8:22 9:26. Many Egyptians dwelt among and around them.\par 2. A city and the adjacent territory in the mountains of Judah, Jos 10:41 11:16 15:51.\par

Goshen.

1. The name of a part of Egypt where the Israelites dwelt, during the whole period of their sojourn in that country. It was probably situated on the eastern border of the Nile, extending from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

It contained the treasure-cities of Rameses and Pittim. It was a pasture land, especially suited to a shepherd people, and sufficient for the Israelites, who there prospered, and were separate from the main body of the Egyptians.

2. A district in southern Palestine, conquered by Joshua. Jos 10:41. It lay between Gaza and Gibeon.

3. A town in the mountains of Judah, probably in a part of the country of Goshen.

1. Three Egyptian homes in the Delta, and extending over part of Goshen, bore a name beginning with ka or ga, "a bull," namely, Mnevis, worshipped at On, representing Turn the unknown source of all existence. N.E. of Lower Egypt, having the Mediterranean on N., the desert on E., the Delta and the Tanitic branch of the Nile on W. (hence called the field of Zoan or Tanis, Psa 78:12; Psa 78:43), extending S. to the head of the Red Sea and nearly to Memphis. Also called the land of Rameses, in which Israel built (i.e. fortified anew) for Pharaoh Raamses and Pithom as treasure cities (Gen 47:11; Exo 1:11). Joseph naturally placed his family on the border land between Egypt and Palestine, the promised land, and at the same time near himself at Tunis or else Memphis the capital of Egypt. Goshen corresponded to Wady-’t-Tumeylat.

The fresh water canal runs through it from the Nile to Ismailia. From El Wady to the head of the gulf of Suez is three days’ journey, the distance assigned in Exodus. The answer of Joseph’s brethren to Pharaoh (Gen 46:28; Gen 46:34), "thy servants have been herdsmen from our youth," (Joseph so instructing them "that ye may dwell in ... Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians,") proves that Goshen was regarded by Egyptians as scarcely Egypt proper, though having many Egyptians in it, as is recorded during the ten plagues; also foreigners. (See BERIAH.) The names of sonic places in Goshen are Semitic, as Migdol and Baal-zephon. Joseph lived under the 12th or 13th dynasty, a native not a shepherd dynasty (as Gen 46:34 proves).

Pharaoh calls Goshen "the best of the land" (Gen 47:5-11), namely, for a pastoral people as Israel; for in tillage the parts of Egypt next the Nile are more fertile than Goshen. In Goshen Pharaoh implies he kept some of his cattle, over which he proposes to set Israelites as rulers of herdsmen. The separation of Israel from the plagues marks the distinctness of the land. Israel setting out from Rameses in Goshen in two days reached the edge of the Wilderness, and in one day more the Red Sea, i.e. from Rameses (on the old canal from the Tanitic arm of the Nile to lake Timsah) 30 miles direct to the ancient western shore. The Septuagint call Goshen "Gesen of Arabia;" and Pliny "the Arabic nome" from its bordering on Arabia. Now Esh-Shurkiyeh, well intersected by canals; Egypt’s best province, yielding the largest revenue.

2. A district in S. Palestine, between Gaza and Gibeon (Jos 10:41; Jos 11:16), and a city (Jos 15:51); between the S. country (the Negeb) and the shephelah (the low hills between the mountain and plain, not as KJV "the valley ") of Judah. Doubtless named in remembrance of Israel’s original place of sojourn in Egypt.

(Heb. id. גּשֶׁן prob. of Egyptian origin, but unknown signif.), the name of at least two places.

1. (Sept. usually Γεσέν or Γεσέμ) A province or district of Egypt in which Jacob and his family settied through thee instrumentality of his son Joseph, and in which they and their descendants remained for a long period (Gen 45:10; Gen 46:28-29; Gen 46:34; Gen 47:1; Gen 47:4; Gen 47:6; Gen 47:27; Genesis 1, 8; Exo 8:22; Exo 9:26). (B.C 1874-1658.) his usually called the "land of Goshen" (אֶרֶוֹ גּשֶׁן, "country of Goshen," Gen 47:27), but also "Goshen" simply (Gen 45:28, first clause, 29). It appears to have borne another name, "the land of Rameses" (אֶרֶוֹ רִעְמְסֵס) Gen 47:11), unless this be the name of a district of Goshen. (See below.) That Goshen lay on the eastern side of the Nile. may be justifiably inferred from the fact that Jacob is not reported to have crossed that river; nor does it appear that the Israelites did so in their flight out of Egypt. The various opinions that have been held on the subject may be found classified and considered by Bellermann in his Handb. der Bibl. Lit. 4:191-220. Lakemachebr (Obs., Philippians 6:297 sq.) locates Goshen in the vicinity of Bubastis, not far from Tanis; but this is too far from Palestine. Bryant (Obs. upon the ancient Hist. of Egypt, page 75 sq.) prefers the Saitic nome, which likewise is too far west (camp. Eichhorn, Bibl. 6:854 sq.). Jablonsky (De terra Gosen, Freft. a.V. 1756; also in his Opusc. 2:73) holds it to be the Heracleotic nome; but this lay even west of thee Nile (Michaelis, Suppl. 1:379 sq.). By comparing Exo 13:17 and 1Ch 7:21, it appears, that Goshen bordered on Arabia (see Gen 14:10, Sept. Γεσέμ Α᾿ραβίας) as well as Palestine, and-the passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shows that the land was not far removed from the Red Sea. It appears probable that we may fix the locality of Goshen in Lower Egypt, on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, in the district around Herodpolis. The Sept. renders the words "land of Goshen" (Gen 46:28), καθ᾿ ῾Ηρώων πόλιν, εἰς γῆν ῾Ραμεσσῆ, thus identifying Goshen with Rameses, or the district of Pithom or Heroopolis. SEE RAMESES.

This would make Goshen correspond with one of the divisions of what was anciently termed the Praefectura Arabica, Ti-Arabia, the eastern district, lying, that is, on the eastern or Arabian side of the Nile. This division was that of Heliopolis or On, Matariyeb, or Ain-Shems. An attempt has been made to define it accurately so as to identify Gosheen (Rosenmuller, Alterthune. 3:246) with the Nomos Arabime (Ptol. 4:5), or the country of Esh-shar Kijah (the eastern land), which stretches south from Pelusium as far as Belbeis (northeast from Cairo), and to the northeast borders of the desert El-Jefar. Traces are found here, it is thought, of the residence of thee Israelites, in large heaps of ruins, a few hours’ journey to the northeast of Cairo, which the Arabs call Tell el Jehutd (Jews’ hills), or Turbeh el- Jehud (Jews’ gravesa) (Nielauh, 1:100; comp. Seetzen, in Zach’s Corresp. 20:460; Hartmann, Erdbeschr. d. Aeg. page 880 sq.). Robinson (Researches, 1:37) makes light of the evidence supposed to be supplied by "the mounds of the Jews" just mentioned. He says, "If there is any historical foundation for this name, which is doubtful, these mounds can. only be referred back to the period of the Ptolemies, in the centuries immediately before the Christian aera, when great numbers of Jews resorted to Egypt and erected a temple at Leontopolis." This opinion, however, appears to us somewhat arbitrary. Whatever the actual origin of these mounds, ’the ordinary account’ of them may be the transmission or echo of a very ancient tradition. Robinson, however, does not deny that Goshen is to be found about where thee best authorities ordinarily place it (Researches, 1:76).

The district east of the Pelusiac Nile was suitabbe for a nomadic people, who would have been misplaced in the narrow limits of the valley of the Nile (Hackett’s Illust. of Script. page 27). "The water of the Nile soaks through the earth for some distance under the sandy tract (the neighborhood of Heliopolis), and is everywhere found on digging wells eighteen or twenty feet deep. ’Such wells’ are very frequent in parts which the inundation does not reach. The water is raised from them by wheels turned by oxen, and applied to the irrigation of the fields. ’Whenever this takes place the desert is turned into a fruitful field. In passing to Heliopolis we saw several. such fields in the different stages of being reclaimed from the desert; somejust laid out, others already fertile. In returning by another way more eastward, we passed a successon of "beautiful plantations wholly dependent on this mode. of irrigation" (Robinson, Researches, 1:36). J.D. Michaelis was of opinion (Spicit. page 371) that Goshes extended from Palestine along the Mediterranean as far as the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, and thence inland! up to Heliopolis, embracing a sweep of country so as to take in a part of Arabia bordering on Egypt. According to Bois Aymac (Descrip. de l’Egypte, 8:111), Goshen was the valley Sabal-yar, which begins in thevicinity of Belbeis, and embraces the district of Heropolis. Laborde (Arabia Petraea, page 58) fixes Goshens in the country around Belbeis, on the eastern side of the Nile. M. Quatremeare has endeavored to define the locality, and, by comparing several passages collected from different writers, he infers that the wady Tumilat (wady Tomlate in Laborde), in which the canal of Cairo terminates, is the land of Goshen: such, at least, seems to have been the opinion of Saadias aenld Abu Said, the authors of the earliest Arabic versions of the Old Testament — the one for the use of the Jews, and the other for that of the Samaritans (Mem. Geogr. sur l’Egypte, 1:61). This position is confirmed by theBiblical notices. The first mention of Goshensis ins Joseph’s message to his father (Gen 14:10), which shows that the territory was near the usual royal residencea or the residence of Joseph’s Pharaoh. The dynasty to which this king belonged appears to have resided part of the year at Memphis, and part of the year, at harvest-time, at Avaris, on the Bubastite or Pelusiac branch of the Nile: this, Manetho tells us, was the custom of the first Shepherd: king (Josephus,. c. Rev 1:14). From the account of the arrival of Jacob, (Gen 46:28-29) it is evident that Goshen was between Joseph’s residence at the time and the frontier of Palestine, and apparently the extreme province towards that frontier. The advice that Joseph gave his; brethren as to their conduct to Pharaoh further characterizes the territory as a grazing one (Gen 46:33-34). (It is remarkable that in Coptic shos signifies both "a shepherd" and "disgrace," and the like, Rossellini Monument 1 Storici. 1:177.)

This passage shows that Goshen was scarcely regarded as a part of Egypt Proper, and was not peopled by Egyptians — characteristics that would positively indicate a frontier province. But it is not to be inferred that Goshen had no Egyptian inhabitants at this period: at the time of the ten plagues such are distinctly mentioned. That there was, moreover, a foreign population besides the Israelites seems evident from the account of the calamity of Ephraim’s house (1Ch 7:20-30) SEE BERIAH, and the mention of the "mixed multitude" (עֵרֶב רִב) who went out at the Exodus (Exo 12:38), notices referring to the earlier ands the later period of the sojousn. The name Goshen may possibly be Hebrew, or Shemitic although we do not venture with Jerome to derive it from גָּשִׁםfor it also occurs as the name of a district and of a town in the south of Palestine (see below, No. 2), where we could scarcely expect an appellation of Egyptian origin unless givens after the Exodus, which in this case does not seem likely. This also noticeable that some of the names of places in Goshen or its neighborhood, as certainly Migdol and Baal-zephe (q.v.), are Shemitic, the only positive exceptions being the cities. Pithom and Rameses, built during the oppression. The next mention of Goshen confirms the previous, inference that its position was between Canaan and the Delta (Gen 47:1). The nature of the country is indicated still more clearly than in the passage last quoted in the answer of Pharaoh to the request of. Joseph’s brethren, ands in the account of their settling (Gen 47:5-6; Gen 47:11). Goshen was thus a pastoral country where some of Pharaoh’s cattle were kept. The expression "in the best of the land" (בְּמֵיטִב הָאָרֶוֹ) must, we think, be relative, the best of the land for a pastoral people (although we do not accept Michaelis’s’ reading "pastures" by comparison with the Arabic, Suppl. page 1072; see Gesen. Thes. s.v. מיטב), for in the matter of fertility the richest parts of Egypt are those nearest to the Nile, a position which, as has been seen, we cannot assign to Goshen. The sufficieicy of this tract for the Israelites, their prosperity there, and their virtual separation, as is evident from the account of the plagues, from the great body of the Egyptians, must also be, borne in mind. The clearest indications of the exact position of Goshen are those afforded by the narrative of the Exodus. The Israelites set out from the towns of Ramneses, in the land of Goshen, made two days’ journey to the "edge of the wilderness," and in one day more reached the Red Sea. At the startingpoint two routes lay before them, "the way of the land of the Philistines... that [was] near," and "the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea" (Exo 13:17-18). It is also represented, in conformity with this position, at the last great struggle, as comparatively near to Palestine, by the route that lay through the land of the Philistines (Exo 13:17). Then, while the Israelites do not appear to have had any considerable settlements on the further side of the Nile, yet it is clear they were in a position that admitted of ready access to it: it was on the river (whether the main stream or one of the branches) that the infant Moses was exposed; in connection with it also that several of the miracles wrought by Moses were performed; and the fish of which they had been wont to partake, and the modes of irrigation with which they were familiar, bespoke a residence somewhere in its neighborhood (Exo 2:5; Exo 7:19; Exo 8:5; Num 6:5; Deu 11:10). Yet the locality occupied by the Israelites could not have been very near the Nile, since three days were sufficient for their going into the wilderness to keep a feast to the Lord (Exo 5:3). From these indications we infer that the land of Goshen must in part have been near the eastern side of the ancient Delta, Rameses lying within the valley now called the wady et-Tumeylat, about thirty miles in a direct course from the ancient western shore of the Arabian Gulf, SEE EXODE.

The superficial extent of this wady, if we include the whole cultivable part of the natural valley, which may somewhat exceed that of the tract bearing this appellation, is probably under sixty square geographical miles. If we Iuppose the entire Israelitish population at the time of the Exodus to have been 1,800,000, and the whole ipopulation, including Egyptians and foreigners other than the Israelites, about 2,000,000, this would give no less than between 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants to the square mile, which would be half as dense as the ordinary population of an Eastern city. It must be remembered, however, that we need not suppose the Israelites to have been limited to the valley for pastture, but, like the Arabs, to have led their flocks into fertile tracts of the deserts around, and that we have taken for our estimate an extreme sum, that of the people at the Exodus. For the greater part of the sojourn their numbers must have been far lower, and before the Exodus they seem to have been partly spread about the territory of the oppressor, although collected at Rameses at the time of their departure. One very large place, like the Shepherd stronghold of Avaril, which Manetho relates to have had at the first a garrison of 240,000 men, would also greatly diminish the’ disproportion of population to superficies. The very small superficial extent of Egypt in relation to the population necessary to the construction of the vast monuments, and the maintenance of the great armies of the Pharaohs, requires a different proportion to that of other countries — a condition fully explained by the extraordinary fertility of the soil. Even now, when the population is almost at the lowest point it has reached in history, when villages have replaced towns, and hamlets villages, it is still denser than that of many parts of England. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that during the whole period of the sojourn in Egypt the Israelites continued to dwell altogether within the same region: as they multiplied in number, and in process of, time began to devote themselves to other occupations, they would naturally extend their settlements, and, at various points, become more intermingled with the population of Egypt. It is quite possible that certain of their number crossed the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, and acquired dwellings or possessions in the tract lying between it and the Tanitic (Robinson, Researches, 1:76; Hengstenberg, Egypt and Books of Moses, page 45). Particular families may have also shot out in other directions; and: in this way would naturally arise that freer intercourse between them and the families of Egypt which appears to be implied in some of the later notices (Exo 11:2; Exo 12:12-23). Still, what we have indicated above as the land of Goshen, the district in which the original settlers from Canaan were assigned a home, continued to the last the head-quarters of the covenant people (see Geiger, De regno Ebraeorum in AEgypto, Marb. 1759). From the field of Zoan being mentioned in connection with the wonders of Moses (Psa 78:12; Psa 78:43), some have supposed that the town of that name, situated in the Tanitic nome, must have bep the capital of Pharaoh at the time. Bocharta. Hengstenberg, among others, have advocated this view, and said nearly all that is possible for it, but they have not been able to establish the point altogether satisfactorily; and it is quite probable that Zoan, in the passage referred to, is used in a general sense, as a kind of representative city in the land of Egypt. for the land itself (see Kurtz, Hist. of Old Cov. § 41: Naville, Goshen [4th. Memoir of "Eg. Explor. Fund"], Lond. 1887, 4to). SEE EGYPT.

2. (Sept. Γοσόμ; Vulg. Gessen, Gozen), the "land" or the "country [both אֶרֶוֹ] of Goshen," twice named as a district in southern Palestine, included in the conquests of Joshua (Jos 10:41; Jos 11:16). From the first of these it would seem to have lain between Gaza and Gibeon, and therefore to be some part of the maritime plain of Judah; but in the latter passage that plain, the Shefelah, is expressly specified (here with the article) in addition to Goshen. In this place, too, the situation of Goshen — if the order of the statement be any indication — would seem to be between the "south" and the Shefelah (A.V. "valley"). If Goshen was any portion of this rich plain, is it not possible that its fertility may have suggested the name to the Israelites? On the other hand, the name may be far older, and may retain a trace of early intercourse between Egypt and the south of the promised land. For such intercourse comp. 1Ch 7:21. The name may even have been extended from No. 3 below (see Keil, On Joshua page 280).

3. (Sept. Γόσομ, Vulg. Gosen.) A town of the same name is once mentioned (between Anim and Holon) in company with Debir, Socoh, and others, as in the mountains of Judah (Jos 15:51), in the group on the south-western part of the hills (see Keil, Joshua page 384). It is probably the origin of the application to an adjacent region (No. 2,. above), for it is not likely that two entirely different places would be called by the same name, both in the southern quarter of Judah. From the mention of Gaza (Jos 10:41) and the route of Joshua (Jos 10:10), the locality in question would seem to be situated in the gore of Judah, running up between the territories of Benjamin and Dan, now occupied by the Beni- Malik, south of Kirjath-Jearim (comp. Robinson’s Researches, 2:337). SEE JUDAH, TRIBE OF.

Goshen (gô’shen). 1. The portion of Egypt assigned to Israel. Gen 45:5; Gen 45:10; Gen 46:28; Gen 47:27; Gen 50:8. It probably bordered on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, hence called Zoan or Tanis, Psa 78:12, and reached from the Mediterranean to the Red sea. It was suited to shepherds, and abounded in vegetables. It contained the treasure-cities Rameses and Pithom. Goshen was near the royal capital, Gen 47:27 compared with 48:1, 2; Exo 5:20; appears to have been the starting-place of the Israelites in their journey to the land of promise. Exo 12:37; Exo 38:2. A district in Palestine, perhaps between Gibeon and Gaza. Jos 10:41; Jos 11:16. 3. A city in the hill-country of Judah, Jos 15:51.

[Go’shen]

1. The part of Egypt in which the Israelites were located. It is often called ’the land of Goshen,’ and is also termed ’the land of Rameses.’ Pharaoh bade Joseph place his father and his brethren in the best of the land. It is generally supposed that Goshen was situated on the east of the ancient Delta of the Nile. Gen 45:10; Gen 46:28-29; Gen 46:34; Gen 47:1; Gen 47:4; Gen 47:6; Gen 47:11; Gen 47:27; Gen 50:8; Exo 8:22; Exo 9:26.

2. Land or district in the southern part of Palestine. Jos 10:41; Jos 11:16. Not identified.

3. Town in the highlands of Judah. Jos 15:51. Not identified.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, W. Max Muller

Region of Egypt which the Israelites inhabited during their sojourn in that country. It is described as situated on the eastern frontier of Lower Egypt (Gen. xlvi. 28, 29; Ex. xiii. 17; I Chron. vii. 21), forming an outpost of it (Gen. xlvi. 34); apparently not at all (or scantily) inhabited by Egyptians (ib.), but, in the estimation of shepherds, evidently "the best of the land" (ib. xlvii. 6,11), since Pharaoh's cattle grazed there (6). According to verse 11 "the land of Rameses" (P?) is synonymous with "the land of Goshen." "Goshen" alone (without the addition "land of") is used only in xlvi. 28, 29. In these two verses it may designate a city, as the LXX. understands it, which here renders "Goshen" by "Heroonpolis," adding in verse 28 to "unto Goshen" the words "into the land of Ramesses"; in xlv. 10 the LXX. transliterates "Gesem of Arabia." This name "Arabia" means, in Egyptian usage, either, generally, all land east of the Nile or, as a special district, the "nome Arabia," the 20th of Lower Egypt. Heroonpolis or Heropolis (according to the excavations of Naville, modern Tell al-Mas-Khuṭa) was, however, the capital of the 8th or Heroopolitan nome, east of the Arabian. Nevertheless, the name "Arabia" seems to be used by the LXX. in the special sense, for in the reign of Ptolemy II. the Greek administration seems to have treated the neighboring 8th and 20th nomes as one district (comp. the "Revenue Laws of Ptolemy Philadelphus," ed. Grenfell, 1896, p. l.). Later, the two districts seem to have been separated again (comp., e.g., Ptolemy, "Geographia," iv. 5, 53).

The name "Goshen" (Egyptian, "Ḳsm," sometimes abbreviated into "Ḳs"), occurring first in a papyrus of dynasty 12 (Griffith, "Kahun Papyri," 2, 14), designated, however, the 8th or so-called "Arabian" nome, i.e., the land west of the Bubastide nome, between the Pelusiac branch of the Nile and the canal now branching off at Belbeis. It touched the entrance to the desert valley, now called Wadi al-Ṭumilat, where a fortification, erected in dynasty 12, protected the easiest entrance to Egypt. It is likely that the capital P(er)-sopd(u) (Pisaptu of the Assyrians), situated near modern Safṭ al-Ḥannah, had as profane name the same name as the region, because the classical writers speak of a city Phacus(s)a on that spot (Ptolemy, l.c.; less distinct are Stephen of Byzantium, the "Tabula Peutingerina," Geographus Ravennatu, and Strabo, who may have confounded with Goshen a city with a similar name, modern Faḳus, northeast of Bubastus). If so, the Biblical pronunciation of the name is authenticated as against the "Ges(s)em" of the LXX. and the dependent versions.

"Land of Rameses."

The synonymous designation, "land of Rameses," has not yet been found on the monuments, but seems to refer to the region bordering eastward on the land of Goshen, the 8th or Hero(on)politan nome, which is known to have been colonized by the famous pharaoh Rameses II. The LXX. certainly errs in identifying Heroonpolis with Goshen, but is otherwise correct in seeking the Israelitish settlements in that region (which contained the towns of Pithom and Succoth Ex. i, 11, xii. 37, etc.), the narrow valley Wadi al-Ṭumilat of modern time, between the Crocodile Lake and the old land of Goshen. This part of the country answers perfectly to the description of Goshen in the Bible. It was reached only irregularly by the yearly inundation of the Nile, and therefore was less suited for agriculture. It is necessary only to assume that with the Semites or in popular Egyptian usage the name of "Ḳosem" (Goshen) was extended beyond the limits of the old country and its frontier fortifications. Unfortunately, little is known of the whole region before Rameses II. It might also be assumed that the Israelites settled, in Joseph's time, in the old land of Goshen, and spread in the subsequent period overthe newly colonized district; but this agrees less with the Biblical data. No Egyptian etymology for the name "Goshen" (Ḳosem) has been found, which seems to be of Semitic origin; this would indicate Semitic settlers already c. 2000 or earlier. In Judith i. 9 ("the land of Gesem [R. V. "Goshen"] until thou comest above Tanis and Memphis") the name seems to be used without precise knowledge as to the location of the place.

Bibliography:

The fullest discussion of the Egyptian data will be found in Naville. The Shrine of Saft el-Henneh and the Land of Goshen, in the 5th Memoir of the Egypt Explor. Fund, 1885, p. 74;

comp. also his Pithom (1st Memoir). Ebers, Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1872. is antiquated, like the theories pronounced repeatedly by Brugsch (L'Exode et les Monuments, etc.).

GOSHEN.—1. An unknown city in Judah (Jos 15:51) 2. An unknown territory in S. Palestine, probably the environs of No. 1 (Jos 10:41). 3. A division of Egypt in which the children of Israel were settled between Jacob’s entry and the Exodus. It was a place of good pasture, on or near the frontier of Palestine, and plentiful in vegetables and fish (Num 11:5). It cannot with exactness be defined. Jdt 1:9-10 is probably wrong in including the nomes of Tanis and Memphis in Goshen. The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] reads ‘Gesem of Arabia’ in Gen 45:10; Gen 46:34, elsewhere ‘Gesem.’ Now Arabia is defined by Ptolemy, the geographer, as an Egyptian nome on the East border of the Delta of the Nile, and this seems to be the locality most probably contemplated by the narrator. It runs eastwards from opposite the modern Zagazig (Bubastis) to the Bitter Lakes. There seems to be no Egyptian origin for the name, unless it represented Kesem, the Egyptian equivalent of Phacussa (the chief town of the nome of Arabia according to Ptolemy). It may be of Semitic origin, as is suggested by the occurrence of the name, as noticed above, outside Egyptian territory.

R. A. S. Macalister.

gō´shen (גּשׁן, gōshen; Γεσέμ, Gesém):

1. Meaning of Name

The region where the Hebrews dwelt in Egypt. If the Septuagint reading Gesem be correct, the word, which in its Hebrew form has no known meaning, may mean “cultivated” - comparing the Arabic root jashima, “to labor.” Egyptologists have suggested a connection with the Egyptian word ḳās, meaning “inundated land” because Goshen was apparently the same region, called by the Greeks the “Arabian nome,” which had its capital at Phakousa representing the Egyptian Pa-ḳas (Brugsch, Geog., I, 298), the name of a town, with the determinative for “pouring forth.” Van der Hardt, indeed, more than a century ago (see Sayce, Higher Criticism, 235), supposed the two words to be connected. Dr. Naville in 1887 found the word as denoting the vicinity of Pi-sopt (now Saft el Henneh), 6 miles East of Zagazig - in the form Ḳ-s-m. He concludes that this was the site of Phakousa, but the latter is usually placed at Tell el Faḳûs, about 15 miles South of ZOAN (which see), and this appears to be the situation of the “City of Arabia” which Silvia, about 385 ad, identifies with Gesse or Goshen; for she reached it in her journey from Heroöpolis, through Goshen to Tathnis or Taphnis (Daphnai), and to Pelusium.

2. Situation

It is generally agreed that Goshen was the region East of the Bubastic branch of the Nile; and in Psa 78:12, Psa 78:43, it seems to be clearly identified with the “field (or pastoral plain) of Zoan,” which was probably also the “land of Rameses” mentioned (Gen 47:11) as possessed by Jacob’s family (see RAAMSES; ZOAN). Where first mentioned (Gen 45:10), Goshen is promised by Joseph to Jacob as a land fit for flocks, and the Septuagint here reads, “Gesem of Arabia,” probably referring to the Arabian nome which took its name from the “desert” which defended the East border of Egypt. In the second notice (Gen 46:28 f), the boundary of the land of Goshen, where Joseph met his father, is called in the Septuagint Hērōō‛n’-polis, and also (Gen 46:28) “the land of Ramesse(s)”; so that in the 3rd century bc Goshen seems to have been identified with the whole region of the Arabian nome, as far South as Heroöpolis which (see PITHOM) lay in Wâdy Tumeilât. Goshen included pastoral lands (Gen 46:34; Gen 47:1, Gen 47:4, Gen 47:6, Gen 47:27; Gen 50:8) and was still inhabited by the Hebrews at the time of the Exodus (Exo 8:22; Exo 9:26), after which it is unnoticed in the Old Testament. The name, however, applied to other places which were probably “cultivated” lands, including a region in the South of Palestine (Jos 10:41; Jos 11:16), “all the country of Goshen (Septuagint Gosóm), even unto Gibeon,” and a city of Judah (Jos 15:51) in the mountains near Beersheba. These notices seem to show that the word is not of Egyptian origin.

3. Description

The region thus very clearly indicated was not of any great extent, having an area of only about 900 square miles, including two very different districts. The western half, immediately East of the Bubastic branch of the Nile, stretches from Zoan to Bubastis (at both of which cities records of the Hyksos ruler Apepi have been found), or a distance of about 35 miles North and South. This region is an irrigated plain which is still considered to include some of the best land in Egypt. The description of the land of Rameses (see RAAMSES), in the 14th century bc, shows its fertility; and Silvia says that the land of Goshen was 16 miles from Heroöpolis, and that she traveled for two days in it “through vineyards, and balsam plantations, and orchards, and tilled fields, and gardens.” The region narrows from about 15 miles near the seashore to about 10 miles between Zagazig and Tell el Kebı̂r on the Southeast of this, a sandy and gravelly desert lies between the Nile plain and the Suez Canal, broadening southward from near Daphnai (Tell Defeneh) to Wâdy Tumeilât, where it is 40 miles across East and West. South of this valley an equally waterless desert stretches to Suez, and from the Bitter Lakes on the East to the vicinity of Heliopolis (Southeast of Cairo) on the West. Thus, Wâdy Tumeilât, which is fertilized by the Nile waters (see PI-HAHIROTH), and contains villages and corn fields, is the only natural route for a people driving with their flocks and herds by which the vicinity of the Red Sea can be reached, the road leading from the South end of the “field of Zoan” near Bubastis, and 40 miles eastward to the “edge of the wilderness” (see ETHAM) and the head of the Bitter Lakes. This physical conformation is important in relation to the route of the Israelites (see EXODUS); and Wâdy Tumeilât may very possibly be intended to be included in Goshen, as the Septuagint translators supposed.

Goshen was the territory where the family of Jacob settled in Egypt. It was in the East Nile Delta and was suitable for raising flocks and herds (Gen 47:1-6). The descendants of Jacob lived there for about four hundred years, and during that time they multiplied enormously. The royal city of Rameses, which the Egyptians forced the Israelites to build by slave labour, was in Goshen (Gen 47:6; Gen 47:11; Gen 47:27; Exo 1:11; Exo 12:37). Goshen was largely protected from the plagues that fell on other parts of Egypt during the time of Moses’ conflict with Pharaoh (Exo 8:22; Exo 9:26). (See also EGYPT.)