28. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph. Because Goshen (181) had been selected by Joseph as the abode of his father and his brethren, Jacob now desires, that, on his coming, he may find the place prepared for him: for the expression which Moses uses, implies, not that he requires a house to be built and furnished for him, but only that he may be permitted there to pitch his tent without molestation. For it was necessary that some unoccupied place should be assigned him; lest, by taking possession of the pastures or fields of the inhabitants, he might give them an occasion for exciting a tumult.
In the meeting of Jacob with his son Joseph, Moses describes their vehement feeling of joy, to show that the holy Fathers were not destitute of natural affection. It must, however, be remembered that, although the affections spring from good principles, yet they always contract some evil, from the corrupt propensity of the flesh; and have chiefly this fault, that they always exceed their bounds: whence it follows, that they do not need to be eradicated, but to be kept within due bounds.
(181) Though Moses does not describe in express ferms the position of the land of Goshen; yet the incidental allusions contained in the narrative, are sufficient to fix its locality; and the fact that those allusions are such as could only be made by a writer conversant with its peculairities, affords decisive evidence of the veracity of Moses as a writer of history.
The land of Goshen appears as the eastern border-land of Egypt; for on this side Jacob’s family entered, see Genesis 46:28.
It appears as lying near the chief city of Egypt, (see Genesis 45:10.) What that city was, may be inferred from Numbers 13:22, which points to Zoan or Tanis. This implies, that Zoan was one of the oldest cities of Egypt, and that it held the first rank. God is said to have performed his “wonders in the field of Zoan,” (Psalms 78:12,) alluding to the plagues of Egypt.
The land of Goshen is described as pasture land, and, As one of the most fruitful regions of Egypt.
“All these circumstances harmonize, and the different points, discrepant as they may seem, find their application, when we fix upon the land of Goshen as the region east of the Tanitic arm of the Nile, as far as the isthmus of Suez, or the border of the Arabian desert.” — See Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 43-45. — Ed.