Goshen

Goshen was the region in Egypt where Jacob and his family settled during the time of Joseph, and where the Israelites lived and prospered until the Exodus (Genesis 45:10; 46:28-29, 34; 47:1, 4, 6, 27; 50:8; Exodus 8:22; 9:26).

Goshen was a fertile region in the eastern Nile Delta of Egypt, where Israel (or 'Jacob') and his family settled during the time of Joseph. When Joseph, as a high official in Egypt, invited his father and brothers to come to Egypt due to the famine in Canaan, he suggested that they settle in Goshen (Genesis 45:10). Jacob sent Judah ahead to meet Joseph and be directed to Goshen (Genesis 46:28-29). The Israelites presented themselves to Pharaoh and requested to settle in Goshen as shepherds (Genesis 46:34; 47:1, 4). Pharaoh granted their request and allowed them to live in the best part of the land of Goshen (Genesis 47:6). The Israelites prospered and multiplied greatly in Goshen (Genesis 47:27). During the plagues that God sent upon Egypt, Goshen was spared from the swarms of flies and the plague of hail (Exodus 8:22; 9:26). At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites left Egypt from the region of Goshen (Genesis 50:8). The exact location of Goshen is not specified in the Bible, but it is believed to be in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, possibly in the Wadi Tumilat area.

A district in Egypt where Jacob and his family settled, and in which they remained till the Exodus (Gen. 45:10; 46:28, 29, 31, etc.). It is called “the land of Goshen” (47:27), and also simply “Goshen” (46:28), and “the land of Rameses” (47:11; Ex. 12:37), for the towns Pithom and Rameses lay within its borders; also Zoan or Tanis (Ps. 78:12). It lay on the east of the Nile, and apparently not far from the royal residence. It was “the best of the land” (Gen. 47:6, 11), but is now a desert. It is first mentioned in Joseph’s message to his father. It has been identified with the modern Wady Tumilat, lying between the eastern part of the Delta and the west border of Palestine. It was a pastoral district, where some of the king’s cattle were kept (Gen. 47:6). The inhabitants were not exclusively Israelites (Ex. 3:22; 11:2; 12:35, 36).