Torah Talk for 5781 Gen 44:18-47:27

Gen. 45:10 You will dwell in the region of Goshen [LXX: Gesem of Arabia], where you will be near me—you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that is yours.

Gen. 46:28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to , to point the way before him to Goshen. So when they came to the region of Goshen [LXX: Heroonpolis in the land of Ramesses], 29 Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while. 30 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.” Gen. 46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell the news to , and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they have always been breeders of livestock, and they have brought with them their flocks and herds and all that is theirs.’ 33 So when Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall answer, ‘Your servants have been breeders of livestock from the start until now, both we and our fathers’—so that you may stay in the region of Goshen [LXX: Gesem]. For all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians.” Gen. 47:1 Then Joseph came and reported to Pharaoh, saying, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that is theirs, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the region of Goshen.” 2 And selecting a few of his brothers, he presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They answered Pharaoh, “We your servants are shepherds, as were also our fathers. 4 We have come,” they told Pharaoh, “to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the famine being severe in the land of Canaan. Pray, then, let your servants stay in the region of Goshen.” 5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “As regards your father and your brothers who have come to you, 6 the land of Egypt is open before you: settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them stay in the region of Goshen. And if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

Gen. 47:27 Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.

Josh. 10:41 conquered [the whole country of Canaan] from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, all the land of Goshen [LXX: Gosom], and up to Gibeon.

Josh. 11:16 Joshua conquered the whole of this region: the hill country [of Judah], the Negeb, the whole land of Goshen, the Shephelah, the Arabah, and the hill country and coastal plain of Israel—

Josh. 15:48 And in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, 49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah—that is, Debir— 50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh: 11 towns, with their villages.

e-mail: [email protected] iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/torah-talk/id291683417 web: http://mcarasik.wordpress.com/category/podcast/ contribute: https://www.paypal.me/mcarasik Commentators’ Bible: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/jps/9780827609426/ Biblical Hebrew: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/biblical-hebrew-learning-a-sacred-language.html © 2020 by Michael Carasik, except for translations from Tanakh, by permission of the Jewish Publication Society.

William A. Ward, “Goshen” (Anchor Bible Dictionary) Region in the eastern Egyptian Delta where the Hebrews .[גּ ֹ ֶשׁן GOSHEN (PLACE) [Heb gošen lived during their stay in Egypt. Though some authorities argue otherwise (e.g., North 1967: 83), this is a place distinct from (1) Goshen on the S border of the land said to have been occupied by Joshua (Josh 10:41) and (2) Goshen in the hill country of Judah (Josh 15:5). In both latter cases, the LXX renders the spelling Gosom, suggesting that this tradition considered them to be localities other than the Goshen in Egypt.

Pinhas Artzi, “Goshen,” Encyclopedia Judaica a grazing area in the N.E. of , east of the delta … It is ,(גּ ֹ ֶשׁן .GOSHEN (Heb ,i.e., compact , שוג currently assumed that the name is derived from the Semitic root solid, and fertile land, suitable for grazing and certain types of cultivation … The Septuagint (Gen. 46:28) renders Goshen as Heroonpolis (i.e., * , Ex. 1:11), and once (Gen. 46:34) as "the Arab land of Gesem." Therefore it is generally assumed that Goshen is to be located in Wādi Tumeilāt, which stretches from the eastern arm of the Nile to the Great Bitter Lake and is known to be excellent pasture land. Support for this identification is found in a papyrus (Pritchard, Texts, 259) from the end of the 13th century B.C.E. which describes how nomadic shepherds moved from the land of Edom, past the Merneptah fortress in Teku to the wells of Pithom in order to keep themselves and their cattle alive (cf. Gen. 45:10; 47:4). Teku is Wādi Tumeilāt. The rulers of Egypt would therefore seem to have permitted nomadic Semitic tribes to come to Goshen and graze there.

William H. C. Propp, Exodus (Anchor Bible) 8:18. Goshen. see APPENDIX B, vol. II. APPENDIX B — THE HISTORICITY OF FROM EGYPT I consider it a waste of time to consider in great detail the route of the Exodus (on which see Davis 1990). Here’s why: 1. We are unsure of the readings of two geographical names: Goshen (LXX Gesem), where the Hebrews had settled (Gen 45:10; 46:28), and Pi-hahiroth by which they passed (see TEXTUAL NOTE to Exod 14:12). Neither spot can be identified with an ancient name or located precisely. … 5. The whole thing may never have happened.

James P. Allen, “A Report of Bedouin” (Papyrus Anastasi VI), COS 3:16-17 (4.13) Another information for my lord that we have just let the Shasu tribes of Edom2 pass the Fortress of Merneptah-hetephermaat,3 LPH, of Tjeku, to the pool of Pithoma of Merneptah- hetephermaat,b of Tjeku,c in order to revive them-selves and revive their flocksd from the great life force of Pharaoh, LPH, the perfect Sun of every land, in Regnal Year 8, third epagomenal day, the birth of Seth.4 a Exod 1:11 b Josh 15:9; 18:15(?) c Exod 12:37 (?) d Gen 47:4

This model letter is one of four unique scribal exercises compiled in a single papyrus, now in the British Museum (EA 10245). The opening protocol of the papyrus is dated to the reign of Seti II, but the regnal year mentioned in the letter translated here is probably that of his predecessor, Merneptah. The letter refers to the arrival of Bedouin and their flocks from the northern Sinai desert at one of the Egyptian border fortresses erected during the Ramesside period. As such it reflects the careful control that Egypt exercised during this period on traffic in and out of the eastern Delta. e-mail: [email protected] iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/torah-talk/id291683417 web: http://mcarasik.wordpress.com/category/podcast/ contribute: https://www.paypal.me/mcarasik Commentators’ Bible: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/jps/9780827609426/ Biblical Hebrew: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/biblical-hebrew-learning-a-sacred-language.html © 2020 by Michael Carasik, except for translations from Tanakh, by permission of the Jewish Publication Society.