GOSHEN (go'shen), (Hcb. go' then).
1. A province or district of Egypt in which Ja cob and his family settled through the instru mentality of his son Joseph, and in which they and their descendants remained for a period of 43o years (Gen. xlv :io; xlvi :28; xlvii :27; 1:8; Exod. viii :22; ix: 26). The Bible does not pre sent any definite information as to the precise locality of Goshen, and of course later authori ties possess only an inferior value. There are, however, incidental expressions, allusions, and implications in the scriptures, which afford aid in determining the spot. That Goshen lay on the eastern side of the Nile may be justifiably in ferred from the fact that Jacob is not reported to have crossed that river ; nor does it appear that the Israelites did so in their flight out of Egypt. With this inference all the language em ployed (see the passages as given above), to say the least, agrees, if it does not afford an indirect evidence in its favor. It would appear from Exod. xiii :17, 18, that Goshen bordered on Arabia (see Gen. xlv:io, Sept. realix 'Apaftlar, Goshen of Arabia) as well as Palestine, and the passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shows that the land was not far removed from the Red Sea. It appears probable that we may fix the locality of Goshen in Lower Egypt. on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile. in the district around Heroopolis. (Bellermann, Ilandb. d. Bibl. Lit. iv. tor-22o; Jablonsky, Dissert, viii. de Tcrra Gosen.) This district was suitable for a nomadic people, who would have been misplaced in the narrow limits of the valley of the Nile. We are not. however, to expect evidences of luxuriant fer tility. The country was chosen for its pre-emi
nent fitness for shepherds. lf a nomadic tribe had wide space and good pasture-grounds, they would have 'the best (for themselves) of the land.'and these advantages this district abundantly supplied in ancient times, when the waters of the Nile were more liberally dispensed than at pres ent in the eastern side of the country. Nothing is needed hut water to make the desert fertile. 'The water of the Nile soaks through thc earth for some distance under the sandy tract (the neighborhood of Heliopolis), and is everywhere found on digging wells eighteen or twenty feet deep. Such wells are very frequent in parts which the inundation does not reach. The water is raised from them by wheels turned by oxen and applied to the irrigation of the fields. Whenever this takes place the desert is turned into a fruit ful field. In passing to Heliopolis we saw sev eral such fields in the different stages of being reclaimed from the desert ; some just laid out, others already fertile. In returning by another way more eastward, we passed a succession of beautiful plantations wholly dependent on this mode of irrigation' (Robinson's Palestine, vol 1. Q. 36).
2. A district in Southern Palestine (Josh. x:47; xi :16). According to the first passage it was be tween Gaza and Gibeon, and therefore in the low country ; in the second passage the low country is mentioned in addition to Goshen. Exact situation is unknown.
3. A. city and the territory around it in the mountains of Judah (Josh. xv :57). Exact site unknown.