Genesis 45:10

The land of Goshen] This was a fertile district of N. Egypt, lying to the E. of the Nile between Zagazig and Tel-el Kebir, 40m. NE. of Cairo. The railway from Alexandria to Suez now runs through it. There have been discovered in this neighbourhood the remains of a town, called on its monuments Gesem. The land of Goshen was probably the same as the 'field of Zoan' (Psalms 78:12) and the 'land of Rameses' (Genesis 47:11). 18, 19. The district of Goshen was well suited. to the pastoral habits of the Hebrews. There is a papyrus of the time of the Pharaoh Merenptah, some centuries later than the present events, which refers to permission given to some tribes of nomad Asiatics (Shasu) to 'pass the fortress Etham in the land of Succoth near the town Pithom to pasture their cattle in that territory.' All these places were in the land of Goshen.