Goshen

VIEW:37 DATA:01-04-2020

approaching; drawing near
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


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.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

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.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

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.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

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.)
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

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).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Goshen
(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.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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