Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

The land of Biblical “Goshen” in the Patriarchal narratives can, in my 
opinion, be identified linguistically.  It is mentioned 10 times in Genesis.  
Hebrew G$N or G%-N would have the following Egyptian equivalents.  Hebrew 
gimel is usually either Egyptian Q or Egyptian K [or Kh], though it might be 
the rare Egyptian G.  The vowel sounds in both languages are unknown, but 
based on the Septuagint, we might guess E or I.  Hebrew sin or shin is likely 
S in Egyptian.  There will be no -N in Egyptian, because that’s a west 
Semitic suffix meaning “place”.  However, there may be a vowel sound at the 
end of the word in Egyptian.
 
So G%-N in Hebrew has as its Egyptian equivalent Qesy or Qis or Kis or Khis 
or Gesa in Egyptian.  That’s a perfect linguistic match to nome #14, in 
central Egypt, as shown at the following websites [scroll down to nome 14 in 
Upper Egypt, which is the second set of nomes/Egyptian administrative 
districts, and remember that the much later Greek name was Cusae]:
 
(1)   http://www.toutankharton.com/Nomes 
(2)  http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nomes.htm 
(3)  http://egypttravelsearch.info/Cities/Asyut.html
 
In my controversial view, Jacob did not sojourn in the eastern delta in 
Egypt.  No, based on the linguistic evidence (and not relying on the 
questionable single reference in the text to “Land of Ramses”, which is 
anachronistic and may have been added to the text centuries later), Israel 
sojourned in central Egypt.  The land of G%-N in the Patriarchal narratives 
is, in my opinion, the nome of Qis/Kis in central Egypt.  The linguistic 
match is perfect. 
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois