Where in Egypt Did the Israelites Live/2

Where in Egypt Did the Israelites Live?

Exegetical Approaches

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Throughout Egypt

The Israelites were not confined to Goshen, but rather 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, Yaakov's family 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 the Egyptians and being influenced by their idolatrous ways.²
• 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.³  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 they maintain that this verse describes the spreading of the Israelites into other Egyptian areas.
• Fields – The Ma'asei Hashem, in contrast, does not think that the term refers to Egypt proper, but rather (more literally) to fields.⁴  The Israelites multiplied, and the resulting housing shortage caused them to sprawl out to live in the fields surrounding Goshen and on the Nile.

What prompted the move out of Goshen? These sources offer several possible reasons for the Israelite expansion:

• Involuntary move
• 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, thereby enabling his plan of genocide.⁵  For more on his approach, see ויעש להם בתים.
• Slavery – RambanShemot 1:11About R. Moshe b. Nachman posits that the Israelites were not just slaves to Paroh, but also to individual Egyptians.  If so, it is possible that a portion of the Israelites were forced to live as house servants in Egypt proper.
• Voluntary move
• Desire for integration – Netziv asserts that the move was voluntary and related to the Israelites' desire to mingle with Egyptian society.  Disregarding Yaakov's wish that they be "a nation that lives alone", they preferred to acculturate.  For elaboration, see Purposes of the Egyptian Bondage.
• 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 good grazing land was no longer a necessity.

Assimilation of the Children of Israel – 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.⁶  For elaboration, see both Religious Identity in Egypt and Purposes of the Egyptian Bondage.

Borrowing from Egyptian neighbors – R"E Ashkenazi points to this as evidence that the nation lived in Egypt proper.  He claims that "מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ" ("from her neighbor") cannot refer to Egyptians living in Goshen, since the region was too small to house a significant enough number of Egyptians⁷ so as to enable the enrichment of the Israelites.⁸  Moreover, the phrase "וַיְנַצְּלוּ אֶת מִצְרָיִם" (Shemot 12:36) suggests that the Israelites received items from people throughout Egypt proper.

Skipping over doorposts – R"E Ashkenazi points out that Hashem's need to "skip" over Israelite homes during the Plague of the Firstborn makes sense only if they were spread out among the Egyptians.  And since Hashem says: "אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם", it appears that both Israelites and Egyptians lived in Egypt proper and not just Goshen.

"רַק בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר שָׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" – Both this verse and the similar one in Shemot 8:18 would appear to suggest that the Israelites lived in Goshen, rather than the rest of Egypt.  Thus, this position would need to explain that the verses are simply emphasizing that Goshen (as opposed to the rest of Egypt) was an entirely Israelite neighborhood,⁹ or that it was where the majority (but not all) of the Israelite nation lived.

Separation during the Plagues – The geographic distinction between Goshen and Egypt mentioned regarding the plagues of ערוב and hail also poses a difficulty for this position, as it suggests that the Egyptians and Israelites lived in different regions.

• Ethnic distinction – Philo asserts that, in reality, the plagues differentiated based on ethnicity rather than geography, as it seems from Shemot 9:4.¹⁰  He would likely explain that the verses which distinguish between Goshen and Egypt are simply speaking in general terms and referring to the majority of the inhabitants in each location (דבר הכתוב בהווה).‎¹¹
• Geographic split – Alternatively,¹² there really was only a geographic distinction in these plagues, and those Israelites living outside Goshen suffered along with the Egyptians. If this part of the nation had assimilated, perhaps they needed to learn the lessons of the plagues firsthand just like their neighbors.¹³  See Whom and Where Did the Plagues Strike and Purpose of the Plagues for a full discussion of the various possibilities.

Slaves to the state or to individual Egyptians? This approach could suggest that there was both state sponsored slavery in Egypt and also individual slave-owners.  Thus, some Israelites might have lived with their masters, and worked around the clock, while others returned to their private homes every evening after their work detail.

Only in Goshen

The Children of Israel inhabited only the region of Goshen and never spread throughout the rest of Egypt.  This position subdivides regarding whether there were any Egyptians who also lived in Goshen:

Integrated with the 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,¹⁴ R. Yosef ibn KaspiShemot 3:22Shemot 10:23About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi, 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 #1Shemot 1:7Shemot 3:21, fn. 123Shemot 10:23Shemot 11:2About R. David Zvi Hoffmann¹⁵

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 protected from both anti-Semitism and the detrimental influence of Egyptian culture and beliefs.¹⁶

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

Egyptians in Goshen

• Always a presence – According to R. D"Z Hoffmann, when Yosef settled the nation in Goshen, he did not empty it of its original inhabitants, and thus from the very beginning there were some Egyptians living alongside the Israelites.¹⁷
• Arrived later – According to the Lekach Tov, in contrast, it was only later that Egyptians moved in, and they did so at the behest of Paroh.  In the aftermath of Paroh's decree to kill male babies, he relocated Egyptians to live among the Israelite population to spy and enforce the law.¹⁸  Alternatively, it is possible that, at some point, the Egyptians on their own moved into Goshen.

Hiding Moshe – Ibn Ezra suggests that it is likely that Yocheved could no longer keep Moshe at home because their Egyptian neighbors in Goshen heard his crying.

Borrowing from Egyptian neighbors – Ibn Ezra, Ralbag, and R. D"Z Hoffmann point to this verse as evidence that Egyptians must have lived near the Israelites.  Ibn Ezra and Ibn Kaspi add that the term "וּמִגָּרַת בֵּיתָהּ" proves that in some cases the Egyptians had even moved into the Israelite homes.  This is more likely in Goshen, where the Israelites had a stronghold ("אֲחֻזָּה")‎¹⁹ and owned most of the houses,²⁰ than in Egypt proper where those looking for housing could have moved in with other Egyptians or bought their own dwelling.

"רַק בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר שָׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" – This verse supports the position that Goshen was the abode of the Israelites.

Skipping over doorposts – The need to mark the Israelite doors is further evidence that Egyptian homes bordered on those of the Israelites.²¹  These sources could suggest that "וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם" in the introduction to the Plague does not limit the killing of the firstborn to Egypt proper, but is rather a general description which includes both the main cities as well as Goshen.

Separation during the Plagues – If the Egyptians lived together with the Israelites in Goshen, the geographic distinction mentioned regarding the plagues of ערוב, hail, and darkness is difficult to understand.  This difficulty can be addressed in two ways:

• Ethnic component – Ralbag explains that by ערוב the verse adds also the words "וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ" in order to limit the salvation afforded by Goshen.²²  Despite Goshen as a whole being spared, the Egyptians living there were nonetheless affected. Similarly, by the Plague of Darkness, the verse states "וּלְכׇל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָיָה אוֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָם", to teach that there was light only in Israelite houses, not Goshen as a whole.²³
• Geographic split – In contrast, Ibn Kaspi suggests that in reality the plagues did differentiate only geographically, and any Israelite who happened to be working in Egypt proper found himself endangered.²⁴ Since Israelites did not live outside of Goshen, however, only a minority would have been harmed.²⁵ This assumes that Hashem differentiated in a more natural manner, which allowed for both collateral damage and salvation.

Nature of the Egyptian Bondage – According to this position, slavery in Egypt was only state sponsored, and individual Egyptians did not take Hebrews as house servants. Thus, the Israelites lived in their own homes in Goshen, and they traveled to work for Paroh.  They had their own possessions and might have even had Egyptian tenants.

Segregated from the Egyptians

Goshen was reserved for the Israelites, and no Egyptians resided there.

Sources:R. David Zvi Hoffmann #2Shemot 1:7Shemot 10:23Shemot 11:2About R. David Zvi Hoffmann²⁶

Settlement in Goshen – This position could suggest that the original move to Goshen was motivated by a desire to live apart from the Egyptians so as to best prevent acculturation into Egyptian society.

Why no Egyptians? It is possible that while the Children of Israel had looked to create a sheltered shtetl, eventually the region became a ghetto. Egyptians, viewing shepherds as an "abomination", had no desire to move into the area, and likewise prohibited the Israelites from moving out to live in Egypt proper.  When the Israelites were further degraded with the enslavement, their desire for segregation intensified.  R. Chananelcited by R. Bachya Shemot 3:9About R. Chananel b. Chushiel, in fact, understands the phrase "רָאִיתִי אֶת הַלַּחַץ אֲשֶׁר מִצְרַיִם לֹחֲצִים אֹתָם" to mean that the Egyptians pressed the nation to remain in Goshen, despite their proliferation.

"וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ אֹתָם" – R. D"Z Hoffmann asserts that this refers to filling the land of Goshen, not Egypt as a whole.  Alternatively, the phrase is simply a metaphoric way of describing the nation's proliferation and does not refer to any specific region.

"רַק בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר שָׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל" – This verse (and Shemot 8:18) support the idea Goshen was home to the Israelites and not the Egyptians.

Separation during the Plagues – According to this position, which posits total segregation between the two groups, the explicitly mentioned differentiation between Goshen and Egypt is readily understood.  As such, the geographic distinction mentioned in some of the verses is equivalent to the ethnic one mentioned regarding other plagues.²⁷

Hiding Moshe – This position might assert, as do RashbamShemot 2:2About R. Shemuel b. Meir and R"Y Behor Shor, that the Egyptians actively sent people to check the homes of women who had been pregnant.  Yocheved did not fear that the baby's cries would be overheard (since there were no neighboring Egyptians), but was concerned about the anticipated visit of these officials.²⁸

"וְשָׁאֲלָה אִשָּׁה מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ וּמִגָּרַת בֵּיתָהּ" – This position might suggest that the word "מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ" need not refer to a neighbor living in close proximity, but rather to anyone  in the larger vicinity.  The phrase would then be equivalent to the term "וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ מֵאֵת רֵעֵהוּ" in the parallel verse in Shemot 11:2.  The term "וּמִגָּרַת בֵּיתָהּ" is more difficult to explain, but could perhaps refer to slave-masters with whom the Israelites might have lived at times.²⁹

Skipping over doorposts – This approach could suggest that the word "פָסַחְתִּי" means "I will protect or have mercy" rather than skip over,³⁰ and that the verse does even not speak about differentiating one home from another.  The purpose of the blood smearing, too, was unrelated to marking the homes as "Israelite" and might have related instead to the sacrificial nature of the Pesach ritual, or perhaps served as a demonstrative act of faith in Hashem which was necessary for their salvation.  See Purpose of the Pesach for elaboration on these understandings of the ritual.

¹ This is Ibn Ezra's opinion in his Short Commentary.  In his Long Commentary, he seems to suggest that they were confined to Goshen.

² See below that this original plan did not last.

³ See below that with the passage of time, both of these advantages may have become less relevant.

⁴ "הָאָרֶץ" literally means the land, not an entire country or specific region.

⁵ 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 action.

⁶ According to him, Paroh's decrees served as Hashem's vehicle of preventing further assimilation.

⁷ According to R"E Ashkenazi and Netziv, Yosef's policy of population displacement had emptied Goshen of Egyptians in advance of the Israelite settlement there, so that even if some had later moved back in, they were still a very small minority.

⁸ He suggests that the despoiling of these Egyptians alone would not have amounted to the "רְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל" which Avraham had been promised.

⁹ In other words, even though Israelites lived both in and outside of Goshen, no (or very few) Egyptians lived in Goshen.

¹⁰ Ibn Ezra and Netziv point out that by the Plague of ערוב, after mentioning the geographic distinction, the verse adds "וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ" to clarify that the Israelites who did not live in Goshen were also spared.

¹¹ Goshen and Egypt thus substitute for the terms Israelite and Egyptian.

¹² Cf. Ibn Kaspi below.

¹³ 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 only did so via more natural means.

¹⁴ This is what emerges from his Long Commentary to Shemot 1:7.  In his Short Commentary to the verse, however, he posits that they spread throughout the country.  His other comments all assume that there was an integrated society but do not specify if this was in Goshen or in Egypt at large.

¹⁵ See below that he also raises the possibility that the nation was totally segregated from the Egyptians. See also R. Saadia GaonTafsir Shemot 1:7Commentary Shemot 1:7About R. Saadia Gaon, R. Yonah ibn JanachSefer HaRikmah Sha’ar 28About R. Yonah ibn Janach, ShadalShemot 1:7Shemot 1:15About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto, and R. S"R HirschShemot 1:7Shemot 11:2-3About R. Samson Raphael Hirsch who all assert that the Israelites remained in Goshen, but do not elaborate whether or not Egyptians lived amongst them.

¹⁶ See also R. Hirsch who similarly highlights the Israelite need to distance themselves from the Egyptians, given the radical differences between their mentalities and occupations.

¹⁷ 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, and he would probably suggest that only over time did some Egyptian families move in.  Being a minority, they did not present a real danger to the Israelite population.

¹⁸ 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 Israel were mainly segregated from the Egyptians, of necessity, there would have been some Egyptian administrators dispersed among them.

¹⁹ See Bereshit 47:27: "וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן וַיֵּאָחֲזוּ בָהּ".

²⁰ One might wonder why Egyptians would want to live surrounded by Israelites, but if Goshen was really "מֵיטַב הָאָרֶץ" ("the best of the land", Bereshit 47:11) and the influx took place before the enslavement, when the Israelites were still held in high esteem, this choice is understandable.

²¹ The verse alone, however, can not be used to prove that this integration was in Goshen rather than in Egypt at large.

²² Cf. Ibn Ezra (short commentary) and Netziv in the note above who suggest the inverse, that the phrase expands the deliverance to include Israelites also outside of Goshen.

²³ Thus "מוֹשְׁבֹתָם" means their dwellings, not the city that they inhabited.  See R. D"Z Hoffmann as well.

²⁴ For a broader discussion of his approach, see Whom and Where Did the Plagues Strike?

²⁵ Though he does not say so explicitly, presumably any Egyptian living in Goshen would likewise be saved.

²⁶ This is a second possibility raised by R. D"Z Hoffmann.  He also develops the idea that the nations were integrated.

²⁷ This position might explain that the Torah uses the different formulations only for purposes of literary variation.

²⁸ According to this understanding, it is possible that when Yocheved hid Moshe in the reeds, she had not planned that anyone would find him, but rather intended to retrieve him after the danger had passed and the officials left.

²⁹ From its context, however, the word "בֵּיתָהּ" would seem to refer to the Israelite home.

³⁰ See Yeshayahu 31:5 where the word is parallel to "יָגֵן" and "וְהִצִּיל".