Messianic Education Trust
		Living in Exile     Vayigash   (Gen 44:18 - 47:27)

B'resheet/Genesis 45:10   And you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me: you and your sons and the sons of your sons, and your flocks and your herds and everything that is yours.

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

These words come from the mouth of Yosef, speaking to his eleven brothers just after he has revealed his identity to them. They form part of the pent-up rush of emotion and instruction as he discloses to the amazed brothers that the Grand Vizier of Egypt, before whom they have been bowing and quaking, is none other that their long-lost brother Yosef, whom they sold into slavery over twenty years before. Yosef served Potiphar for ten or eleven years, spent two or more years in prison and has been Grand Vizier for nine years: seven of plenty and two of famine. Nevertheless, despite the emotion of Yosef's outburst, his words show that he has been thinking and planning carefully about how he is going to provide for his father and brothers: in their coming down to Egypt, their place of residence and in their preservation as a family and a soon-to-be-nation.

Goshen lies in the north-east corner of Egypt, in the eastern arm of the Nile delta, between the Nile and what is now the Suez Canal. This is the area today known as Wadi Tumilat, between the modern Port Said and Suez; it is an area or a region rather than a specific place. Nahum Sarna reports that "Egyptian texts confirm the presence of Semites and other Asians in the northeastern part of the country both at the end of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2250 BCE) and about 1700 BCE in the wake of the Hyksos invasion." The biblical record confirms that Goshen was blessed with excellent grazing and it is known that the Nile Delta was a centre of cattle breeding. Goshen sits squarely on the trade route from Egypt to Asia and was probably not too distant from the Egyptian frontier. That said, the name Goshen is not an Egyptian word; it is probably a Semitic loan word, possibly coming either from the Hebrew noun גוּשׁ>, goosh, a clod of soil, or another Hebrew noun גֶשֶׁם, geshem, rain.

The word 'Goshen' appears only 14 times in Tanakh; the last three are name places in Israel in the book of Joshua. Two are used in Shemot to name the place where the Israelites live where - during the plagues with which The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem struck Egypt - there are no swarms of flies (Shemot 8:22) and there is no hail (9:26). Although not mentioned by name again, neither is it subjected to the three days of darkness: "all the people of Israel had light where they lived" (10:23, NJPS). Nine of the references come in B'resheet chapters 46 and 47 when Ya'akov's family come to and settle in Egypt culminating with the statement that "Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly" (B'resheet 47:27, NJPS). The final reference occurs during Ya'akov's funeral procession to the Machpelah cave in Hebron, where the narrator records that while Yosef and the elders of his family went to bury the patriarch in Canaan, "their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen" (50:8, NJPS).

But why Goshen? The Who Is ...

Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Girondi or Nachmanides (born in Gerona, 1194; died in Israel 1270), Spanish rabbi, author and physician; defended Judaism in the Christian debates in Barcelona before making aliyah
Ramban simply says that "Yosef knew that his father would not want to stay in the heartland of Egypt, where the royal capital was. So he immediately sent the message that he would settle them in Goshen." Who Is ...

Nechama Leibowitz: (1905-1997 CE), born in Riga, graduate of the University of Berlin, made aliyah in 1931; professor at Tel Aviv University; taught Torah for over 50 years
Nechama Leibowitz proposes that Yosef was being far more intentional and refers to Goshen as "the ghetto of choice" and sets up a conversation between two Jewish commentators to explain. Starting with Who Is ...

Isaac Arama: Rabbi Isaac ben Moshe Arama (c. 1420-1494 CE); Spanish rabbi and author; at first the principal of a rabbinic academy, then a community rabbi and preacher, finally head of a Talmudic academy. He left Spain in the explusion of 1492 and settled in Naples until his death. Author of "Akedat Yitzkhak", a lengthy philosophical commentary on the Torah, and other commentaries
Isaac Arama's comment, "The idea was to segregate them from the Egyptians; the shepherds were an abomination to them. This would lead to their being settled in Goshen ... Yosef would prompt the Egyptians to have them segregated, the choice of Goshen being accidental", Leibowitz explains that "Arama, one of the refugees from the Spanish Expulsion knew only too well the intrigues and tensions of court life and corruptions of office and regarded the divorcement from this as Yosef's aim."

Calling then on the Who Is ...

The Netziv: Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1816-1893), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin; born in Mir, Russia; rabbi, and dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva (Russia, now Belarus) during its most prestigious years (1849-92); his Torah commentary is known as Ha'amek Davar.
Netziv's commentary - "Yosef contrived matters to achieve the goal that they would dwell apart, though it involved degrading his family in the eyes of Pharaoh. Everything was worth sacrificing in order to ensure the preservation of Israel's sanctity" (Ha'amek Davar) - Leibovitz concludes that: "Even in those places where he acknowledges our universalistic mission to be a light to the nations, his fight against the desire to assimilate amidst the surrounding peoples finds its expression in his insistence that such a mission can only be realised if the Jewish people dwells in its own land." This supposes that Yosef knew that his family, as the Jewish people, would be given and accept HaShem's commission to be a light to the nations - "I the L-RD, in My grace, have summoned you, and I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you a covenant people, a light of nations" (Isaiah 42:6, NJPS) - and was able to intuit that such a witness needed to be a national, corporate witness. Making that commission explicit, HaShem tells the Jewish people, "You are My witnesses ... and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He ... you are My witnesses ... and I am G-d" (Isaiah 43:10,12, NJPS). This is and remains a critical part of the relationship between HaShem and the Jewish people; the people of Israel are still corporate witnesses of G-d's existence and enduring faithfulness.

Israel's exiles may have been in a territory or region on its own, separated from the other nations. This clearly happened in Egypt and the Babylonian exile when the Judahites were settled in an area to the south-east of Babylon. The location Tel-Abib, "the hill of spring" from the Akkadian "the hill of the flood" was sited on the Kebar Canal in what is now Iraq - mentioned in the 5^th century BCE Murashu archives as a complex network of irrigation and transport canals. Whether in the land of Israel or in exile as a distinct people group, that enabled Israel to perform its unique corporate witness to the nations as mandated in the Torah: "Observe [the Torah] faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing of all these laws will say, 'Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people'" (D'varim 4:6, NJPS), leading to the recognition of HaShem as the G-d who gave the Torah.

But that is not the way the witness of Yeshua's disciples is supposed to operate. Although we too are in exile, we are scattered throughout the nations of the world, witnessing as individuals, families and congregations, to the faithfulness of G-d and sharing the good news of His kingdom with the people among whom we are placed. Initially, Yeshua's own witness was limited to the people of Israel - "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24, ESV) - although there were a few notable exceptions such as the centurion and the Syro-Phoenician woman. Before the crucifixion and resurrection He restricted the disciples in the same way - "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (10:5-6, ESV) - although again there were exceptions such as the Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem for Pesach and asked Philip if they could see Yeshua (John 12:20-21). The disciples operated as an extension of Yeshua's own ministry, within the Land and subject to the same constraints as Him.

After the resurrection, although Yeshua has hinted at several points during His teaching that there will be outreach to and inclusion from the Gentile nations, the focus shifts. No longer are the disciples limited to the Jewish people in the Land. Now Yeshua tells them that "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [My] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47, ESV) and assigns the role of witness to them: "You are witnesses of these things" (v. 48, ESV). Matthew's version - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ..." (Matthew 28:19, ESV) - takes the form of an explicit command and, repeating the key word 'witnesses', Yeshua in Acts says, "you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8, ESV), outlining the way in which the witness will happen, like ripples on the surface of a pond. Peter demonstrates that he and the twelve understood their role as witnesses both to a Jewish - "This Yeshua G-d raised up, and of that we all are witnesses" (2:32, ESV) - and a Gentile, "we are witnesses of all that [Yeshua] did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem" (10:39, ESV), audience. They are telling the story and sharing the news, inviting those who hear to respond and join G-d's kingdom.

In fact, the narrative throughout the book of Acts now portrays the witness - whether by Peter, Rav Sha'ul or Barnabas - as being given by individuals or little travelling groups of disciples. This is the pattern for all following generations of disciples: we are not a nation, we are called out of the nations - including Israel - to be witnesses and ambassadors, carrying the message of the gospel beyond the physical borders of any one land and sharing from a position of being "in exile" rather than "at home". Yeshua warns His disciples of coming persecution, but encourages them that "this will be your opportunity to bear witness" (Luke 21:13, ESV). Exiles always risk the wrath of their temporary host culture, when it will not accept them or their message: that challenges accepted social mores and behaviour where it differs - as natural human practice always will - from G-d's righteous ways, declared in the Torah and demonstrated by Yeshua.

Disciples who live in the West might be tempted to think that they live in a modern day land of Goshen: plenty of food, technology and entertainment, protected by a welfare state and little to do except earn money and buy stuff. Nothing could be further from the truth, as those who have been compelled by the Spirit to speak out in the recent arguments about gender and sexuality, the state of Israel, the roles of men and women, abortion and race, have quickly discovered. Notwithstanding the fury poured on their heads, they are witnesses, set apart from the world, an abomination to today's Egyptians, protected not by a state or a legal system, but by the Spirit of G-d and the name of Yeshua. They are exiles in their own countries, among their own families and all too often from those they thought were their fellow believers in Yeshua. Degraded in the eyes of the world, every sacrifice is worth it to preserve the name of Yeshua and the truth of His word. The fight against assimilation and absorption is a daily struggle as we live out our role as shepherds and witnesses.

Further Study: Isaiah 44:6-8; Acts 10:39-43; Philippians 1:12-14

Application: The prophet Amos told the priest of Bethel, "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was an herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the L-RD took me from following the flock, and the L-RD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel'" (Amos 7:14-15, ESV). We walk in his footsteps as shepherds and witnesses, proclaiming Yeshua to our world and suffering the slings and arrows of outraged people who are offended by G-d's challenge to their dissolute lives of consumption. In these days we must speak louder to be heard above the noise!

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© Jonathan Allen, 2024

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