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Goshen the Land Where Israel Became a Nation* Deborah Hurn

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Goshen the Land Where Israel Became a Nation* Deborah Hurn 258 The Testimony, June 2004 point of difference in this type is the fact that anguish to the mercy of the Most High God. Just Samson betrayed his vows. The Lord Jesus kept as his shame is written for all to see, so is his his allegiance to God, even to the end. Like the faith, in his naming in the roll of honour in He- Lord, Samson was tortured, humiliated and brews 11. We do not remember David for his taunted by his enemies. sin, but for his faith. Let us accord the same The spiritual quality of Samson shines bright- honour to Samson. est, not when he is at the zenith of his power, but Pat Wilson when he is at his lowest, for he saw past the Nottingham Goshen The land where Israel became a nation* Deborah Hurn OSHEN, OR THE land of Rameses, was Crops, flocks and herds the district in which the descendants of While in Egypt, the Israelites lived in houses GJacob settled upon their migration to with lintels and doorposts (Ex 12:22,23), indicat- Egypt (Gen. 45:10; 47:11). From the description ing that they were now permanent residents and of Jacob and Joseph’s reunion it is clear that not nomads. They also practised agriculture in Goshen lay between Egypt and southern Ca- addition to their flock- and herd-rearing herit- naan along the nomads’ route, the Way of Shur. age (Num. 11:5; Deut. 11:10). Sheep may be ad- As Jacob approached Egypt from Beersheva equately grazed on wilderness pastures, but (46:5), Joseph went out to him from the palace, cattle are kept close to agricultural settlements and they met each other in Goshen (v. 29). Go- as there is generally not enough pasture in semi- shen also lay at the end of the Way of the Wil- arid regions. The primary use of cattle was the derness of the Red Sea, from Sinai and Arabia cultivation of the land: ploughing, sowing and (Ex. 13:18). The region is sometimes described as transportation. They were indispensable to an- though it was separate from Egypt proper, as, cient agricultural societies and were much in for example, with the last seven plagues, which evidence throughout the Nile delta, as they are did not affect the habitations or possessions of today. the Hebrews. Generally, each farm or household would have The land of Goshen must, however, have bor- had an ox or two to work the crops, and Pharaoh dered on the Egyptian royal precincts of that era owned large herds (Gen. 47:6). As crops, sheep (Gen. 45:10). Regular contact between the Israel- and cattle require quite different conditions, land ites and the Egyptians is recorded from the time suitable for all these uses could only be found of Joseph, indicating a convenient proximity. at the interface of the fertile region and the wil- During the oppression, Moses’ mother placed derness. the baby’s ark in the river at the place where To the Egyptians every shepherd was an Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe, and returned “abomination”, as Joseph warned his brethren home (a short distance) leaving Miriam to keep (46:34). The Egyptians owned flocks (47:17; Ex. watch (Ex. 2:4,5). When Moses decided to visit 9:3), so it was evidently not sheep they abhorred, his brethren and witness their toil, he came on but rather the work of the shepherd. This was a successive days (vv. 11,13). During the time of form of cultural elitism, and has varied accord- the plagues, Moses went back and forth between ing to the material development of societies in the Hebrew district and Pharaoh’s palace at short all eras. Whereas the nomadic Semites consid- notice. When the last great plague had obtained ered that possession of, and dependence upon, their release, the Israelites had Egyptian neigh- bours (other than the mixed multitude) from whom they ‘borrowed’ valuable items (12:35). * Quotations from the RSV unless stated otherwise. The Testimony, June 2004 259 flocks was honourable, the Egyptians (Hamites) summer monsoon rains in the mountains of saw such a lifestyle as foreign and less civilised Ethiopia and the southern Sudan cause the an- than farming, preferring to leave the work of nual inundation, though the ancient Egyptians raising sheep to slaves or their poorer citizens.1 never understood the reason. Most of the land in Israel’s Egyptian neighbours in Goshen may have the Nile valley and the delta remained under been of this sort, and, as the lower class in Egyp- water for some ten weeks between August and tian society, had the most to gain by joining November, and each year a fresh deposit of sedi- Israel in the flight from Egypt as the “mixed ment rich in organic matter was left behind.3 multitude” (12:38). The years when there was a satisfactory inunda- Moses, raised with Egyptian values, may have tion of the Nile were ‘good years’, while a poor had to adjust his outlook on shepherding when inundation, or none at all, meant famine or ‘bad he kept the flocks of Jethro, a Semitic Kenite. years’. Among the modern Bedouin, whose main occu- Hence, for reasons of subsistence and secu- pation has always been stock rearing, the task of rity, the people generally clung to the heart of shepherding is now regarded as very lowly, and the delta, where there were “rivers . canals women and children usually attend the flocks. ponds, and . pools of water” (Ex. 7:19). This may be related to the fact that Bedouin now Except for border fortresses that were built along drive pick-up trucks, mount solar hot-water tanks the routes, we may assume that the frontier re- by their tents and watch pay-TV. Values also gion of Goshen was not intensively inhabited changed for the ancient Hebrews as their society prior to the Israelite immigration. settled and developed. By the time of the Israel- The Egyptians were very security conscious, ite kingdom, David’s role as the family’s shep- for they had much to protect. The perennial fer- herd showed that he was the least among his tility of the Nile gave them the wealth and the brothers (1 Sam. 17:28; 1 Chron. 17:7). free time necessary to develop their culture to a very high level. Other nations admired and cov- Security concerns eted their power and self-sufficiency. Thus Jo- Goshen was also, perhaps surprisingly, described seph was acting very true to the type of Egyptian as “the best of the land” (Gen. 45:18; 47:6,11), officials when he accused his brothers of being implying a reliable source of water and fertile spies (Gen. 42:9,14), and the men rightly trem- soil. It might be asked why the best of the land bled with fear over the unpredictable nature of was not already filled with Egyptians, and was his apparent paranoia. both Pharaoh’s and Joseph’s choice for settle- Much later, when the nation of Israel had ment by nomadic people (47:5,6). From a geo- multiplied and spread throughout the land of graphical point of view it is helpful to remember Goshen, the great fear of the Egyptian populace that deserts surround Egypt on all sides. The was that the Hebrews might join with Egypt’s borders were difficult to penetrate except for enemies and fight against them. Consequently one natural, convenient opening, which formed they were “in dread of the people of Israel” (Ex. the gateway to the countries to the east. 1:8-12). The ordinary Egyptians truly suffered The Egyptians avoided settling in proximity from the devastating plagues and, when Phar- to Canaan for fear of war, and preferred to live aoh finally relented, they sent the Israelites “out in relative safety ‘behind’ their royal palace, army of the land in haste; for they said, ‘We are all base, store cities 2 and administration centre. In dead men’” (12:33). The unthinkable had finally this early period, these were all situated along happened, and mighty Egypt was ruined (10:7). the ancient Pelusiac branch of the Nile, which After the Hyksos invaded the delta,4 the Egyp- formed the eastern border of the delta. No one tian capital was transferred to Thebes in Upper wanted to be caught by an invading army be- Egypt (in the south) for fear of further conquests yond the centre of population and defensible borders. Moreover, the great majority of Egyp- tians were farmers, as the economy was com- 1. The Sinai Journeys, Har-El, M., 1983, p. 306. pletely based upon agriculture. 2. The enslaved Israelites built two store cities for Phar- aoh, Raamses and Pithom (Ex. 1:11). There is no other country in the world quite 3. In the Shadow of the Pyramids: Egypt During the Old like Egypt, in that its whole existence is depend- Kingdom, Malek, J., 1986, pp. 14-15. ent on one physical feature—the river. Without 4. This is on the basis of the revised chronology put the Nile the nation of Egypt could not exist. The forward by Immanuel Velikovsky in Ages in Chaos. 260 The Testimony, June 2004 The function of the an- Mouths of the river Sebennyt cient stream has been re- Bolbitine Bucolic placed by the Ismailia Canal that lies between one and Canobic Mendesian five kilometres to the north of the stream bed (see pic- Tanite Pelusian ture opposite). With this ‘sweet water’ the region to the west of Ismailia is now irrigated, and supports ag- ricultural villages, unlike Ismailia the other city districts of Zagazig Zoan? L.
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