Genesis 45:9-11

"Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not; and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: there will I nourish thee; for there are yet five years of famine; lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast."

"Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen ..." We may not suppose that Joseph had not already conferred with Pharaoh in the matter of the settlement of his father's house in Egypt, thus anticipating the proving of his brothers. Goshen was a district of "some 900 square miles,"[12] about the size of the average county in west Texas, like Callahan or Taylor, each comprising an area 30 miles by 30 miles in size. Willis has information regarding the area:

"Goshen is that region of northeastern Egypt between Port Said and Suez known in modern times as the Wadi Tumilat. It is called `the land of Rameses' (Genesis 47:11), possibly because Rameses was the leading city of the area.[13]

"It is still spoken of as the best pasture land in Egypt."[14]

"Thus saith thy son Joseph ..." We are thankful for Willis' perceptive comment on this expression:

"This was a customary way of sending a message orally. Jacob used it in the message to Esau (Genesis 33:3,4); Ben Hadad, king of Syria (1 Kings 20:2,5), and Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:19,29), used this formula. In the light of this practice, it was natural for O.T. prophets and other spokesmen for God to introduce their oral messages from the Lord with the words, `Thus saith the Lord.'"[15]