GOSHEN qt.?) ; Sept. Pargp, Purgg), a province or district of Egypt in which Jacob and his family settled through the instrumentality of his son Joseph, and in which they and their descendants remained for a period of 430 years (Gen. xlv. ; xlvi. 28 ; xlvii. 27 ; 1. 8 ; Exod. Viii. 22 ; iX. 26). The Bible does not present any definite informa tion as to the precise locality of Goshen, and of course later authorities 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 justi fiably inferred from the fact that Jacob is not re ported 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 employed (see the passages as given above), to say the least, agrees, if it does not afford an indirect evidence in its favour. By comparing Exod. xiii. 17 and Chron. vii. 21, it appears that Goshen bordered on Arabia (see Gen. xlv. 10, Sept. Perrgu, 'ApaPlas) as well as Palestine, and the passage of the Israelites out of Egypt shews 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 Heroo polls. The Septuagint renders the words ilrIN land of Goshen' (Gen. xlvi. 28), KaO"Hpthcov 71-62uv, cis -yip, `Pap.cyrail, thus identifying Goshen with Rameses, or the district of Pithom or Heroo polis. (See map, No. 3, in Knight's Illuminated Atlas.) This would make Goshen correspond with one of the divisions of what was anciently termed the Prmfectura Arabica, Ti-Arabia, the eastern dis trict, lying, that is, on the eastern or Arabian side of the Nile. This division was that of Heliopolis or On, Matariyeh, or Ain-Shcms. An attempt has been made to define it accurately, so as to identify Goshen (Rosenm. Altera:um., iii. 246) with the Nomos Arabim (Ptol. iv. 5), or the coun try of Esch-schar Kijah (the eastern land), which stretches south from Pelusium as far as Belbeis (north-east from Cairo), and to , the north-east borders of the desert El Dschefar. Traces are found here, it is thought, of the residence of the Israelites, in large heaps of ruins, a few hours' journey to the north-east of Cairo, which the Arabs call Tell el Ihud (Jews' hills), or Turbeh el yhua' (Jews' graves) (Niebuhr, i. too). According to Bois Ayme (Descrip. de l'Egypte, viii. i) Goshen was the valley of Sabal-yar, which begins in the vicinity of Belbeis, and embraces the district of Heroopolis. Robinson (Palestine, i. 37) makes light of, the evidence supposed to be supplied by the mounds of the Jews,' just mentioned. He says, If there is any historical foundation for this name, which is doubtful, these mounds can only be referred back to the period of the Ptolemies, in the centuries immediately before the Christian era, when great numbers of Jews resorted to Egypt and erected a temple at Leontopolis.' This opinion,
however, appears to us somewhat arbitrary. And whatever the actual origin of these mounds, the ordinary account of them may be the transmission or echo of a very ancient tradition. Robinson, hovvever, does not deny that Goshen is to be found about where the best authorities ordinarily place it, as will appear from the following quota tion ; we regret that the wish here spoken of was not fulfilled: 'It had been our wish to take a more circuitous route from Suez to Cairo, descending the eastern branch or canal of the Nile beyond Belbeis, as far as to the province of Shur-kiyeh, and thence along the valley of the ancient canal to the head of the gulf of Suez. Our object in taking this route would have been to make inquiries and observations personally in relation to the land of Goshen and the Exodus of the Israelites' (i. 54). The following passage, however, will serve to prove that even the desert is not unsuited to pas toral purposes :—` The desert which we were now crossing is not sandy, but its surface, for the most part, is a hard gravel, often strewed with pebbles. Numerous wadys, or shallow water-courses, inter sect its surface. In all these wadys there are usu ally to be found scattered tufts of herbs or shrubs, on which the cameTh browse as they pass along, and which serve likewise as their pasturage when turned loose at night. ailing the rainy season and afterwards, the inhabitants of Belbeis and the Shur-kiyeh, as probably did the Israelites of old, still drive their mingled flocks of sheep and goats for pasturage to this quarter of the desert.' Laborde (Arabia Petra.a, p. 58) fixes Goshen in the country around Belbeis, on the eastern side of the Nile. Speaking of his journey from Cairo by Belbeis to Suez, lie says, This plain is the pro vince of Goshen, where the children of Egypt settled and multiplied : it was here that the meet ing occurred between Jacob, the patriarch, and Joseph, the minister and master of Egypt.' La borde passed the banks of the canal which formerly united the Nile with the Red Sea, and which, lae says, Bonaparte was the first in modern times to observe. M. Quatremere has endeavoured to de fine the locality, and by comparing several pas sages collected from different writers, he infers that the Wady Tumilat (Wady Tomlate in Laborde), in which the canal of Cairo terminates, is the land of Goshen : such at least seems to have been the opinion of Saadias and Abu Said, the authors of the earliest Arabic Versions of the O. T.—the one for the use of the Jews, and the other for that of the Samaritans (111i:m. Geogr. sur l' Egypte). J. D. Michaelis was of opinion (Spicii. p. 371) that Go shen extended from Palestine along the Mediter ranean as far as the Tanitic mouth of the Nile, and thence inland up to Heliopolis, embracing a sweep of country so as to take in a part of Arabia, bor dering on Egypt. The various opinions that have been held on the subject may be found classified and considered by Bellermann in his Hand& d. Bibl. Lit. iv . 191-22o (see also Jablonsky, Dissen'. viii. de Ten-a Cosen).