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which they were located, is to this day considered the richest province of Egypt, and
could, evennow, easily support a million more inhabitants than it numbers.
Goshen extended between the most eastern of the ancient seven mouths of the Nile
and Palestine.The borderland was probably occupied by the more nomadic branches
of the family of Israel, towhose flocks its wide tracts would afford excellent pasturage;
while the rich banks along the Nileand its canals were the chosen residence of those
who pursued agriculture. Most likely such wouldalso soon swarm across to the
western banks of the Nile, where we find traces of them in variouscities (Exodus 12)
of the land. There they would acquire a knowledge of the arts and industries ofthe
Egyptians. It seems quite natural that, in a country which held out such inducements
for it, themajority of the Israelites should have forsaken their original pursuits of
shepherds, and becomeagriculturists. To this day a similar change has been noticed in
the nomads who settle in Egypt. Norwas their new life entirely foreign to their history.
Their ancestor, Isaac, had, during his stay amongthe Philistines, sowed and reaped.
(Genesis 26:12) Besides, at their settlement in Egypt, the grant ofland - and that the
best in the country - had been made to them "for a possession," a term implyingfixed
and hereditary proprietorship. (Genesis 47:11, 27) Their later reminiscences of Egypt
accordwith this view. In the wilderness they looked back with sinful longing to the
time when they had casttheir nets into the Nile, and drawn them in weighted with fish;
and when their gardens and fields bythe waterside had yielded rich crops -"the
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions,and the garlic." (Numbers
11:5)
And afterwards, when Moses described to them the land which they were to inherit, he
contrastedits cultivation with their past experience of Egypt, "where thou sowedst thy
seed, and wateredst itwith thy foot, as a garden of herbs." (Deuteronomy 11:10) As
further evidence of this change frompastoral to agricultural pursuits, it has also been
remarked that, whereas the patriarchs hadpossessed camels, no allusion is made to
them in the narrative of their descendants. No doubt thischange of occupation served a
higher purpose. For settlement and agriculture imply civilization, suchas was needed
to prepare Israel for becoming a nation.
In point of fact, we have evidence that they had acquired most of the arts and
industries of ancientEgypt. The preparation of the various materials for the
Tabernacle, as well as its construction, implythis. Again, we have such direct
statements, as, for example, that some of the families of Judah were"carpenters" (1
Chronicles 4:14), "weavers of fine Egyptian linen" (ver. 21), and "potters" (ver.
23).These must, of course, be regarded as only instances of the various trades learned
in Egypt. Norwas the separation between Israel and the Egyptians such as to amount
to isolation. Goshen would,of course, be chiefly, but not exclusively, inhabited by
Israelites. These would mingle even in theagricultural districts, but, naturally, much
(^)