Crossword Genius

Goshen evacuated and the Nile laid waste to give spiritual insight (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

enlighten

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'goshen evacuated' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'the nile laid waste to give spiritual insight' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
an anagram of 'the' is 'hte' which is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'nile' is 'enli' which is within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for enlighten that I've seen before include "Explain" , "Illuminate" , "Educate, inform" , "Brief" , "free from superstition" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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