This city was also called “Zoan`s field” (Psalm 78:12; Psalm 78:43) and “the city of Rameses” (see below) because the oppressor rebuilt and embellished it, probably through the forced labor of the Hebrews, and made it his northern capital. Zoan, as described by G. J. Chester (Mem. Survey West Palestine, Special Papers, 1881, 92-96), is now a small hamlet of mud huts in a sandy desert, west of the vast hills of its ancient temple; but next to the black granite Sphinx and other statues of the Hyksos period, a red sandstone figure of Ramses II and granite obelisks have been excavated, one of which represents this king worshipping the gods; while the names of Amen, Tum and Mut appear as those of the revered deities, in a beautiful temple chapel carved in red sandstone and belonging to the same age of prosperity in Zoan. The city is mentioned only once in the Pentateuch (Numbers 13:22), because it was built seven years after Hebron, which existed at the time of Abraham. Zoan was certainly a very ancient city, as monuments of the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty have been found at this site. Zoar on the border with Egypt (Genesis 13:10) was considered a clerical error for Zoan, but reading the Septuagint (Zogora) does not favor this view, and the intended location is probably the fortress of Tsar or Zor, often mentioned in Egyptian texts as being on the eastern border of the delta. Zoan is mentioned in the prophets (Isaiah 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezekiel 30:14) and his “princes” are of course mentioned by Isaiah, since the capital of the XXIII Egyptian dynasty (about 800 to 700 BC) was in this city. In Psalm 78:12-43, the “field (or pastoral plan) of Zoan” is mentioned as equivalent to the land of GOSHEN (who sees).
The Hyksos age coincides chronologically with that of the 1st dynasty of Babylon and thus with the age of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham and Jacob – a time when the power of Babylon in Syria and Palestine was paramount. It is therefore very natural that these patriarchs, like other Semitic tribes even earlier, were welcomed in the delta by the Hyksos pharaohs, and just as natural that Aahmes, the founder of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, took the city of Avaris and expelled the Asians, would also have oppressed the Hebrews, and that this should be intentional when we read (Exodus 1:8), that “a new king arose upon Egypt who did not know Joseph.” According to Old Testament dates, the Exodus took place during the Eighteenth Dynasty (see EXODUS), when Israel left Goshen. The later date, given by some scholars during the reign of Menepthah XIX. The dynasty barely coincides with the monumental note on Edomite immigration to the delta during his reign, which was mentioned above; and in its time Egypt was invaded by tribes from northern Asia. In addition to the name Pepi of the Vl. Dynasty, found by Burton in Zoan, and numerous texts from the Twelfth Dynasty, a cartouche of Apepi (one of the Hyksos kings) of Mariette was found on the arm of a statue apparently of older origin, and a sphinx also bears the name of Khian, who is said to have been one of the early Hyksos rulers. The Hyksos type, with large cheekbones and a prominent nose, contrary to the characteristics of the indigenous Egyptians, was developed by Virchow and Sir W. The flower is considered Turanian in both Zoan and Bubastis; which is consistent with the fact that Apepi did not worship the Egyptian gods, but only Set (or Sutekh), who was also worshipped by the Syrian Mongols (see HITTITES). In Bubastis, this deity is called “Ensemble of Ramses”, which could indicate Zoan`s identity with the city of Ramses. Therefore, it was probably called Zoan by this luminaire; because that is what we find it called in Macrobius. (starting point), an ancient city in Lower Egypt, called Tanis by the Greeks. It was located on the eastern bank of the tanite arm of the Nile.
Its name indicates a place of departure of a land, and therefore it has been identified with Avaris (Tanis, the modern San), the capital of the pastoral dynasty in Egypt, built seven years after Hebron and existing before the time of Abraham. It was captured by the shepherd kings during their invasion of Egypt and rebuilt by them and, according to Manetho, occupied by 240,000 men. This quote is mentioned in relation to plagues in a way that leaves no doubt that this is the city of which the Exodus account speaks, where Pharaoh dwelt (Psalm 78:42, Psalm 78:43) and where Moses performed his miracles in the field of Zoan, a rich plain stretching thirty miles to the east. Tanis gave his name to the twenty-first and twenty-third dynasties and hence his mention in Isaiah. (Isaiah 19:13; 30:4) (Today`s “Zoan Field” is a barren desert, very sparsely populated. “One of the capitals of the pharaoh is now the colony of fishermen who are refuges of wild animals and infested with reptiles and vicious fever.” A large number of monuments have been discovered here, shedding light on biblical history.
