More on Goshen, Egyptian Home of Israelites For 400 Years

 Nadene Goldfoot

Of all our history, I'm fascinated and want to know more about our ancestors being in Goshen for 400 years.  What was it like?  Prof. Yoel Elitzur has done a lot of research on the subject that I have below and will comment on.  

                                                     Prof.Yoel Elitzur:  

Born in November 1949. of Hebrew University of Jerusalem

hi%h #chool. !tu"ie" &or one year in po#t$hi%h #chool ye#hiva at 'erem Beyavne.(ilitary #ervice 19)*$19+1.

 

Goshen: The fertile district of Egypt allotted by Pharaoh to Joseph's family (Gen.47:6, 11)  It is thought to have been situated East of the Nile delta.  

 

2.    The land of Goshen in the summaries of Joshua’s conquests is a vast region, mentioned alongside the hill country, the Shephelah, the Arabah, the Negeb and the slopes. The “hill country” refers to the mountainous region of Israel, the Shephelah is what is known today as the “inner Shephelah,” the Arabah is the Jordan Rift Valley and the Dead Sea, the Negeb refers to the northern Negeb region, and “the slopes” are the steep, rocky slopes of the east. The only region remaining in the land where the land of Goshen can possibly be placed is the western hillside region between the mountains and the Shephelah, which, as the verse specifies, extends to Gibeon at its northern end.

                                                  

3.    An important linguistic consideration, discerned by John Gray in 1967, is the use of the definite article in Joshua 11:16 – “the whole land of the Goshen (Eretz Ha-Goshen).” As a rule in Biblical Hebrew, and to a great extent in modern Hebrew as well, the regions of the land are referred to using the definite article: the Negeb (Ha-Negev); the Sharon plain (Ha-Sharon); the Galilee (Ha-Galil); the valley of the Lebanon (Ha-Levanon); the Carmel region (Ha-Karmel); the Bashan (Ha-Bashan); the Gilead (Ha-Gil’ad). What we see from this is that Goshen belongs to this same family of names, and like the other items on this list, it too is apparently an ancient Semitic name for a large geographical area. It has a three-letter root, and it is formed from a common nominal pattern. Although we do not have the slightest idea how to understand the meaning of this root (suggestions proposed by scholars connecting Goshen to the root G-W-Š or to the name Geshuri are unlikely), it can be estimated that it expresses something connected to the topographic scenery or to the agriculture of the region, or perhaps to the manner in which animals were raised. Apparently, the same geographical characterization existed in the eastern Nile Delta as well.

 

Hebrew Names in Egypt?

 

            It should come as no surprise that a Hebrew-Canaanite name existed in the eastern part of Lower Egypt. In the main part of Egypt, the place names are always Egyptian (examples mentioned in Tanakh include No-Amon, Tahpanhes, On, Moph and Syene). However, in northeast Egypt we find a number of Hebrew or Canaanite names, including Succoth, Migdol, Baal-zephon and apparently Etham, and in the desert that serves as Egypt’s eastern border we find the Semitic names Marah and Elim. In the same vein, the oldest known record of the Hebrew alphabet (from the Middle Bronze age) was found in the site Serabit el-Khadim in the western Sinai Peninsula. Apparently, the Hebrews and the Canaanites left their mark – even from ancient times – on the local place names in this region. Roads originating in this region lead directly to the land of Canaan, which the book of Genesis (referring to at least part of the land) calls “the land of the Hebrews” (40:15).  This is when Joseph was first speaking with the Chamberlain of the Cupbearers who had had a dream, and Joseph told him that he was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for them to have put me in the pit." 

        The strip of land where the people of Israel resided in Egypt had two names, one Egyptian – Ramesses, and one Hebrew – Goshen. This was certainly a result of the region’s location: between the center of Lower Egypt and the eastern border between Lower Egypt and the Semitic lands.

 

            There is a symbolic message in the language of the verse, “The Israelites journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth” (12:37). Ramesses is a very Egyptian name, meaning “child of the god Ra,” the sun god. Succoth, on the other hand, is a very Hebrew name. The first step of the journey from Egypt undertaken by the people of Israel symbolized the transition from the Egyptian experience to the Israelite experience: “For the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again” (Exodus 14:13). From now on – from a linguistic perspective as well – you are in a Hebrew world, the first step on the path to “when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain” (3:12).

Therefore, what we read in the 5 books of Moses often has double meanings:  Very cleverly stated.  

                                      Nile Delta or Goshen

            What is known, from a linguistic perspective, about the name “Goshen”? Attempts to ascribe Egyptian or Semitic etymological roots to the name have not been fruitful. However, it is worth noting that the name Goshen appears in a non-Egyptian context three times in the book of Joshua – as locations in the land of Israel. The description of Judah's (the tribe) Territory goes from 15:1-61, I'd say.  48 says "And in the mountain....51 Goshen, Holon, Giloh---11 cities and their villages.  The territory takes up 1/3 of the book of Joshua.  Joshua details the inheritance of each tribe and thus the exact borders of the Land of Israel, which must be known precisely since certain mitzvos can be performed only in the land.  Of course it's now important to state the borders of each country.  9 of 38 cities were mentioned within their borders by 15:32. Judah retained 29 of these cities.  

    The Exodus leaving from Rameses (Raamses) in Goshen.  This is where Jacob and his family settled (Gen.47:11,27)Their descendants were compelled to build storehouses for the Egyptian king.  Rameses was the point of departure for the Exodus (Exod.12:37).  Formerly it was thought to be the city of Pelusion on the Delta border, modern scholars identify it with another side further south.  Notice that Pithom is the 2nd place where the Hebrews built storage cities for Pharaoh during the Egyptian bondage. (Exod.1:11).  

 Apparently, there were two different Goshens in the land of Israel at the time, both located in Judea. One was a city and the other was a “land,” more accurately a region, similar to the “land” of Goshen in Egypt. The city of Goshen is enumerated in the southwestern group of cities in the region of southern Mount Hebron, along with Jattir, Debir, Anab, Eshtemoh and Anim (Joshua 15:48-51). In contrast, the land of Goshen – also referred to as the land of the Goshen – is the name of a region in the land of Israel. That's the area I'm interested in as that's where the Israelites were told to live.   In the summary of Joshua’s conquests in the southern part of the Land, we read: “Thus Joshua conquered the whole country: the hill country, the Negeb, the Shephelah, and the slopes… Joshua conquered them from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, all the land of Goshen, and up to Gibeon” (10:40-41). Later, in the general summary, we read: “Joshua conquered the whole of this region: the hill country [of Judah], the Negeb, the whole land of the Goshen, the Shephelah, the Arabah, and the hill country and coastal plain of Israel” (11:16).

I find that G-d told Israelites they were to live in Goshen.  Then I read where the Pharaoh presents Goshen to the Israelites and has cattle there, so he asked  Jacob to watch over them for him as long as they're living there.  So long ago, this is the land that G-d wanted them to live in the first place--part of the great plan.  

 

            R. Yisrael Ariel, in his atlas of the borders of the land of Israel (following the commentary of Da’at Zekenim Mi-ba’alei Ha-Tosafot on Genesis 46:29, and a derash cited critically by Radak in his commentary on Joshua 11:16) includes the Egyptian Goshen within the borders of the land of Israel, stretching the territory of the tribe of Judah to the point where it reaches the Nile Delta! This detail is possibly the most extreme of his generally maximalist positions regarding the borders of the Land. "Joshua took this entire land:  the mountain and the entire South and the entire land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and Mount Israel (which was named for Jacob (Israel) who had lived there." I believe that this kind of view is patently impossible. The idea that Joshua could have conquered land in the eastern Nile Delta from the Canaanites is perplexing. As we will explain in our discussion on Parashat Mishpatim, the borders of the tribal territories fall within the smaller version of the Land’s borders. These borders reach in the southwest to the “wadi of Egypt,” whose identification with modern-day Wadi el-Arish is reasonable and accepted. 

            

Most modern commentators and scholars of Biblical geography maintain that the land of Goshen mentioned in Joshua 10-11 (During the conquest of the South-when Joshua and the warriors had gone up from Gilgal and a fight took place.  There was a hailstorm that hit Israel's enemies.  More died from the hailstorm than from Israel's swords.  This  refers to the territorial area of the city of Goshen mentioned in chapter 15. However, this view does not make sense for a number of reasons:

 

1.    The city of Goshen was a small city, mentioned only once in Tanakh, and its territorial area certainly did not exceed a few square miles. In its vicinity lay the well-known cities of Debir, Anab and Eshtemoh. The area of southern Mount Hebron was certainly named for these cities rather than for Goshen.

Resource:

https://etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/studies-tanakh/core-studies-tanakh/bo-land-goshen