Israelite Exodus from Egypt Along the Nile Delta

Our Egypt Bible tours include the main sights along the Nile Delta where the Israelites lived for many years and from where the Exodus most likely began.

Most Christian Biblical tours of Egypt do not include the main sights in the Nile Delta where the Israelites lived for many years and from where the Exodus most likely began. First, the Egyptians do not use the name Goshen. Goshen is a Semitic name that refers to a certain kind of soil. The Bible tells us that Joseph himself selected the best piece of land for his family to grow food.

“So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.” – Genesis 47:11

In Egypt Goshen is known as Pi-Ramses and the area of Tanis. It is here that the Hyksos inhabited Egypt from 1783 to 1550BC. Hyksos means “ruler of foreign countries” or “Shepherd Kings” and they were originally from Southern Palestine. A number of Hyksos also departed with the future Israelites at the time of the Exodus. We will hear from our Egyptologist how the area was suddenly abandoned in around 1550BC – the most probable date of the Exodus.

Most Christian trips do not include an opportunity to see Tell ed-Dab’a which means “mound of the Jews. We will also see the massive storehouses that the Israelites built.

“So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.” – Exodus 1:11

The area of Tanis and Goshen is quite beautiful with its towering palm trees, distant oasis and pools of water from the Nile Delta.

“He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.” – Psalm 78:12

The remnants of Zoan is near Tanis today . Zoan is said to be the origination point of the Exodus.

Finally, we will see the gates of Pharaoh Shishak (Shoshenk) who plundered Jerusalem after Solomon’s death. It is here that Pharaoh Shishak would have brought the treasures from the temple of Jerusalem.

“When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.” – 2 Chronicles 12:9 

Join us on our upcoming Egypt tours to witness this historically significant area – the Land of Goshen.