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 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 and ’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 , 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 delta, as they are did not affect the habitations or possessions of today. the Hebrews. Generally, each farm or household would have The must, however, have bor- had an ox or two to work the crops, and 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, ’ 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 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 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 (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. Timsah Canal the , which are Bitter deserts. , how- Succoth Lakes ever, has been a salt-water lake since 1862, when water from the Mediterranean Sea filled the Canal, then con- structed as far as Ismailia. In ancient times the val- ley served as a major transit Map of the region, showing the Wadi Tumilat where the route into Egypt from the land of Goshen was situated. eastern deserts, providing fresh water and pasture a by strangers, and the royal “field of Zoan” (Ps. full seventy kilometres before the delta was 78:12,43, AV) lay desolate for many years.5 reached. It also served as the main eastern gate- way to Egypt for nomads wishing to obtain pro- A river valley tection from the kings of Egypt in order to keep In the view of most major scholars, the land of themselves and their stock alive.7 Lush agricul- Goshen is centred in the Wadi Tumilat (meaning ture and abundant fresh water must have been a ‘water’), a narrow fertile valley lying fifty-six welcome sight to desert-weary tribes fleeing kilometres (thirty-five miles) to the north of the drought conditions. The Bedouin of Sinai still latitude of Cairo. It stretches from the edge of use Wadi Tumilat whenever they come and go the Nile Delta, near the town of Zagazig, to the from the delta region.8 eastern frontier of Egypt as far as the Suez Isth- That the most ancient Egyptian capital lay at mus, a distance of about sixty-five kilometres the end of the nomads’ route to Egypt through a (forty miles). Wadi Tumilat, about three kilome- fertile valley is found in a ‘lost’ Biblical reference tres (two miles) wide and with a cultivable area to Zoan. The Jordan Valley of Abraham’s time is about one-hundredth the size of the delta,6 con- described as “well watered every where, before tains the only lateral stream of the Nile. That is, the LORD [Yahweh] destroyed Sodom and Go- it separates out from the other generally north- morrah, even as the garden of the LORD [Yahweh], flowing branches of the Nile Delta, and flows like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar” east towards the Suez depression. (Gen. 13:10, AV). Zoar was the name of a city At the far end of Wadi Tumilat, in the line associated with Sodom, but the structure of the of the Suez Canal, lies Lake Timsah (meaning sentence here indicates that an Egyptian city is ‘crocodile’), with the large, modern city of Ismailia on its northwestern shore. A contempo- rary road and railway run parallel to the wadi, 5. Biblical Archaeology, Wright, G. E., 1962, pp. 58-59, traversing the length of ‘Goshen’. Paved and cited by Har-El, op. cit., p. 305. constructed between 1848 and 1863 by Abbas I 6. Har-El, op. cit., p. 208. 7. As detailed in Papyrus Anastasi V, Ancient Near East- and Sa’id Pasha, they reach from the Zagazig ern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, Pritchard, J. B., region on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile east- 1954, p. 259, cited by Har-El, op. cit., p. 307. ward to Ismailia, continuing thence southward 8. Van Seters, J., Correspondence, Biblical Archaeology to Suez. Review, Jan./Feb. 1982, p. 12. The Testimony, June 2004 261

The Ismailia Canal near Tel Maskhuta, the Succoth of Exodus 12:37. intended. Thus ‘Zoar’ should probably read to Lake Timsah, and possibly also ocean varie- ‘Zoan’, the Hebrew letters resh and nun (in final ties found in the Bitter Lakes extension of the form) being easily confused. To illustrate the Suez Gulf.9 Despite their enslavement, the peo- legendary original fertility of the Jordan Valley, ple of Israel thrived throughout the Egyptian Moses compares it with the approach through period, “and grew, and multiplied exceedingly” his native Goshen (Wadi Tumilat) to the lush (Gen. 47:27, AV; cf. Ex. 1:7). “field of Zoan” (Ps. 78:12) in Egypt (cf. Num. Another advantage to the Israelites was the 13:22). proximity of Goshen to the eastern lakes, where there was fresh pasture throughout the year for “The best of the land” both sheep and cattle. Only in this district were Further support for the location of Goshen in the conditions suitable (that is, dry enough) for sheep Wadi Tumilat lies in its description as “the best farming. The tribes of Israel were possibly strung of the land” (Gen. 45:18; 47:6,11). The quality of along the length of the valley, with Levi and the alluvial soils eroded from the Nile at high Judah close to the delta and the royal residence, tide and deposited on the banks of the wadi and Reuben, Gad and Manasseh further east sustained its fertility. The valley has comfort- where they maintained large flocks and herds able climatic conditions relative to the zones in (Num. 32:1; Deut. 3:12,19). Fertile soil and reli- the south of the delta, and very few swamps due able water, as well as perfect conditions nearby to its narrowness and slope towards the depres- for their livestock and ready access to all the sion of the eastern lakes. Hence the Israelites news from the eastern countries, meant, in short, were able to cultivate not only irrigated plants— that the people of Israel had it all . . . except their cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic freedom. (Num. 11:5)—but cereal crops, from which came the straw for brick-making. Besides all this, they 9. “Badgers’ [dugong, NIV] skins” (AV) and the scarlet had an abundance of ‘free’ fish available to them dye of the murex mollusc are both ocean products (v. 5), freshwater Nile species that had migrated used in the construction of the tabernacle (Ex. 25:5).