Where in Egypt Did the Israelites Live/2

Where in Egypt Did the Israelites Live?

Exegetical Approaches

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Throughout Egypt

The Israelites were not confined to Goshen and settled throughout Egypt.

Sources:PhiloOn the Life of Moses I XXVI:143-146About Philo, Ibn EzraShemot Short Commentary 1:7Shemot Short Commentary 8:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra,¹ R. Eliezer AshkenaziMa'asei Hashem Ma'asei Avot 42Ma'asei Hashem Ma'asei Mitzraim 4Ma'asei Hashem Ma'asei Mitzraim 12About R. Eliezer Ashkenazi (Ma'asei Hashem), MalbimBereshit 45:10Bereshit 47:27Shemot 1:7About R. Meir Leibush Weiser, NetzivBereshit 45:10Bereshit 46:34Bereshit 47:27Shemot 1:7About R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin

Original settlement in Goshen

• According to R"E Ashkenazi, Malbim, and Netziv the Israelites originally settled in Goshen so as to prevent assimilation and preserve their national identity.  Since the region was isolated from the Egyptians, it was easy to avoid mingling with Egyptians and being influenced by their idolatrous ways.  However, this original plan did not last.
• Alternatively, this position could suggest that the nation settled in Goshen for more practical reasons, either due to the economic benefits of Goshen's grazing land, or its proximity to Yosef.  With the passage of time, though, both of these advantages might have become irrelevant.  See Why Live in Goshen? for more.

"וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ אֹתָם"

• Egyptian cities – Most of these sources understand the word "הָאָרֶץ" to refer to Egypt as a whole and maintain that this verse describes the spread of the Israelites out of Goshen into other Egyptian cities. 
• Fields – Maasei Hashem, in contrast, does not think that the term refers to Egypt proper, but rather more literally to fields.²  The nation multiplied, and without sufficient housing, sprawled out to live in the fields surrounding Goshen and on the Nile.

Why move out? These sources offer several possible reasons for the people's moving out of Goshen:

• Proliferation – Malbim and R"E Ashkenazi assume that, due to the nation's great proliferation, Goshen could no longer contain them.  According to R"E Asheknazi, however, they did not on their own buy houses amidst the Egyptians.  It was Paroh who built urban housing for them so that the midwives would arrive in time for the delivery of their babies, enabling his plan of genocide.³  For more, see ויעש להם בתים.
• Desire for integration – Netziv asserts, in contrast, that the move was voluntary and related to the Israelites' desire to mingle with Egyptian society.  They disregarded Yaakov's wish that they be "a nation that lives alone" and preferred to acculturate.
• Goshen lost its advantages – Alternatively if the original settlement was motivated by the presence of Yosef nearby, when he died, the location was no longer particularly desirable. Similarly, with the passage of time it is possible that the Israelites broadened their occupations beyond shepherding, and no longer looked only for good grazing land.

Assimilation of Israelites – Netziv emphasizes how the move promoted the assimilation of the nation, leading them to worship idolatry like their neighbors and forego circumcision.  This, he claims, was one of the causes of the enslavement.⁴  For elaboration, see both Religious Identity in Egypt and Purposes of the Egyptian Bondage.

Borrowing from Egyptian neighbors – R. Ashkenazi points to this as evidence that the nation lived in Egypt proper.  He claims that the neighbors cannot refer to Egyptians living in Goshen since the region was too small to house a significant enough number of them⁵ so as to enable the enrichment of the Israelites.⁶  Moreover, the phrase "וַיְנַצְּלוּ אֶת מִצְרָיִם" suggests that the Israelites exploited those in Egypt itself.

Skipping over doorposts – R. Ashkenazi points out that the need to "skip" over Israelite homes only makes sense if they were spread out among the Egyptian dwellings.  Since Hashem says אֲנִי יוֹצֵא" בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם", it sounds like both groups were in Egypt proper and not Goshen.

"רַק בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר שָׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" – This verse and the similar one in Shemot 8:18 would seem to suggest that Goshen, rather than Egypt at large, was where the Israelites lived.  This position could explain that the verses simply emphasize that it was an Israelite rather than Egyptian neighborhood,⁷ or that it was where the majority (but not all) of the Israelite nation lived.

Separation during the Plagues – By the plagues of ערוב  and ברד, the verses state that Hashem separated between the regions of Egypt and Goshen, suggesting that one was home to the Egyptians and one to the Israelites.

• Philo asserts that in reality the plagues differentiated based on ethnicity rather than geography, and would likely explain that these verses are simply generalizing according to the majority in each place.⁸
• Alternatively there really was only a geographic distinction in these plagues, and those Israelites living outside Goshen suffered along with the Egyptians. If it was this part of the nation that had assimilated, maybe they needed to learn the lessons of the plagues firsthand just like their neighbors.⁹

Slaves to individuals or the State

Shtetel or Ghetto

Only in Goshen

The Nation of Israel lived in the region of Goshen and never spread throughout the rest of the country.  This position subdivides regarding whether or not any Egyptians lived in Goshen with them:

Segregated from Egyptians

Goshen was reserved for the Israelites and no Egyptians dwelt  there.

Sources:perhaps ShadalShemot 1:7Shemot 1:15About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto, one opinion in RDZH

shtetl or ghetto

Integrated with Egyptians

Egyptians lived alongside the Israelites in Goshen.

Sources:Lekach TovShemot 1:21Shemot 12:13About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, Ibn EzraShemot Long Commentary 1:7Shemot Long Commentary 2:3Shemot Long Commentary 3:22Shemot Long Commentary 12:27About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, RalbagBereshit Beur HaMilot 46:34Beur HaMilot Shemot 1:7Beur HaMilot Shemot 8:19Beur HaMilot Shemot 10:23About R. Levi b. Gershom, HaKetav VeHaKabbalahShemot 10:23About R. Yaakov Mecklenburg,  R. David Zvi Hoffmann #2Shemot 1:7Shemot 3:21, fn. 123Shemot 10:23Shemot 11:2About R. David Zvi Hoffmann¹⁰

Original Settlement in Goshen – According to Ralbag, the Israelites initially settled in Goshen both because of its rich grazing lands and because it was mostly uninhabited by Egyptians.  This allowed the nation to remain united and not easily hurt by anti-Semitic acts or influenced by Egyptian culture and beliefs.

"וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ אֹתָם" – These sources maintain that the land spoken of in this verse is Goshen rather than Egypt.  As they multiplied, the nation filled the entire region.

Egyptians in Goshen

• Always a presence – According to R. D"Z Hoffmann, when Yosef settled the nation in Goshen, he had not emptied it of its original inhabitants and from the very beginning the Israelites lived alongside Egyptians.¹¹
• Arrived later – According to Lekach Tov, in the aftermath of Paroh's decree to kill male babies, he relocated Egyptians to houses amidst the Israelite population to spy and enforce the law.¹² 

Borrowing from Egyptian neighbors – Ibn Ezra and Ralbag point to this as evidence that Egyptians must have lived near the Israelites.

¹ This is Ibn Ezra's opinion in his short commentary.  In his long commentary, in contrast, he posits that they stayed in Goshen.

² "הָאָרֶץ" literally means the land, not an entire country or specific region.

³ He also asserts that these housing complexes enabled the Egyptians to better carry out his decree of throwing the babies into the Nile.  Paroh did not expect the Egyptians to enter every Israelite home in search of babies, but rather told them that if they see any of their neighbors with a baby who had been born before the arrival of the midwives, they should take it.

⁴ According to him Paroh's decrees served as Hashem's vehicle to prevent further assimilation.

⁵ According to him and Netziv, Yosef's policy of population displacement had emptied Goshen of Egyptians in advance of the Israelite settlement there so even if some had moved in later, they would still be a very small group.

⁶ He suggests that the amount they would have been give would never amount to the "רְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל" that they were promised.

⁷ In other words, even though Israelite lived both in and out of Goshen, no (or very few) Egyptians lived in Goshen.

⁸ Netziv points out that by מכת ערוב, after mentioning the geographic distinction, the verse adds "וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ" to include the Israelites who did not live in Goshen.

⁹ Alternatively, this was due to the fact that each was inhabited by a majority of either Israelites or Egyptians and though Hashem separated between the two, He did so via more natural means, which meant that there was collateral damage/ salvation. See Whom and Where Did the Plagues Strike? for a full discussion of the various possibilities.

¹⁰ See above that he also raises the possibility that the nation was totally segregated from the Egyptians. 

¹¹ Ralbag raises the possibility that these Egyptians were those who were more sympathetic to the Israelites and thus not viewed as a threat by Yosef.  However, he prefers the possibility that Goshen was basically empty and not built up when the Israelites arrived andwould probably suggest that only over time did several Egyptian families move in.  Being a minority, they did not present a real danger to the Israelite population.

¹² This is how Lekach Tov understands the phrase, "וַיַּעַשׂ לָהֶם בָּתִּים".  For details, see ויעש להם בתים.  Cf. R. D"Z Hoffmann who also suggests that even if the Children of Isarel were mainly segregated from Egyptians, of necessity, there would have been some Egyptian administrators dispersed among them.