Goshen
Goshen is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Dahriya. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Goshen in Judea is a distinct location from the more famous land of Goshen in Egypt, representing a lesser-known settlement in the hill country of southern Judah. This Goshen appears in Joshua 10:41 and 11:16, where it is mentioned as part of the territory conquered by Joshua during his sweeping military campaigns through Canaan. The text describes Joshua striking the land "from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen, even to Gibeon," indicating it served as a geographic marker for the extent of Israelite conquest in the south. In Joshua 15:51, Goshen is listed among the cities of the hill country allotted to the tribe of Judah. This town thus held a place in defining the boundaries of tribal inheritance and the fulfillment of God's promise to give Israel the land. Its inclusion in the territorial descriptions underscores the thoroughness of the conquest narrative and God's faithfulness in delivering the land promised to Abraham's descendants.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The site is tentatively identified with Dahriya (also spelled Dhahiriya), a town located in the southern Hebron hills of modern Israel. The ancient tell at this location preserves evidence of Iron Age occupation consistent with the period of Israelite settlement described in Joshua. Survey work in the region has uncovered pottery sherds spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages, suggesting continuous habitation over many centuries. The Hebron hill country in which Dahriya sits is rich in ancient remains, though systematic excavation of this particular site has been limited. The town's modern Arabic name may preserve an echo of earlier Semitic settlement patterns in the area.
Verse Appearances (1)
Josh
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]