ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 
 
 OR 
 
 THE BOOKS OF GENESIS AND EXODUS. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 BY EXISTING MONUMENTS. 
 
 
 FLEET STREET, AND HANOVER STREET, 
 LONDON : MDCCCLIV. 
 
<o v*> ^ ' 
 
 .'5 
 
 L. SEELEY, PRINTER, THAMES DITTON. 
 
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 z: 
 
 > 
 % 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The present work has a definite end in view. The 
 
 discovery by Champollion of the mode of reading 
 
 the inscriptions that cover the remains of Ancient 
 
 Egypt, was first brought under the Author's notice 
 
 han thirty years ago. It at once struck him, 
 
 this discovery be real, and if the Bible be a 
 
 li ,ent of facts, the one must of necessity illus 
 
 crate the other. Under this conviction he has since 
 
 devoted his life to the pursuit of it, — wisely or not, 
 
 is no part of the question now in discussion. 
 
 There is yet another conviction which has aided 
 him in making this somewhat costly sacrifice : — he 
 writes thus, because such is the fact. He has always 
 held it for certain, that the history narrated in the 
 Bible must be true, strictly true, a record of things 
 as they were, and of facts as they did occur, if its 
 doctrines are from God, and therefore worthy to be 
 received as religious teaching. If it be not true in 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 this exact sense, — if the men, for example, named 
 therein be nations, not individuals, if its positive 
 dates be vague numbers, if its miracles be mere 
 metaphors, then is the Bible a lie ! " and every lie, 
 that men would believe it. is at best but a whited 
 sepulchre/' * However fair such a structure may be 
 externally, it contains nothing but dead men's 
 bones, and all uncleanness, and therefore nothing 
 can issue from it but that which is noisome and 
 pestilential. The reality of the Bible history is a 
 condition indispensable to the genuineness of its 
 moral teaching. This proposition, which appears to 
 him very clear and self-evident, renders it absolutely 
 necessary, that the truth of the history should be 
 fully established. In the ensuing pages, the reader 
 will find an attempt to establish its truth in this 
 strict sense, by the collateral evidence of the monu- 
 ments of Ancient Egypt. 
 
 The author is well aware, that this necessity is 
 denied, and in quarters whence all opinions come 
 forth with the authority and influence of oracles. 
 He knows that, by one of the great schools of modern 
 thinkers, all such enquiries are denounced as " idle 
 attempts to collect evidence ; " -f" and that from 
 another class, his work will bring upon him the 
 
 Archdeacon Hare's Life of Sterling, p. ccxxxi. 
 f Froude's Remains. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 charge of maintaining " ignorant, uncritical, base- 
 less assumptions concerning literal inspiration/' * 
 
 He deeply regrets this antagonism, but it is not 
 in his power to modify at all the conviction he has 
 expressed. 
 
 * Archdeacon Hare, u. s. cxxx. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 P^GE 
 
 Introduction ..... xi 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Preliminary 1 
 
 II. Joseph in Egypt .... 21 
 
 III. The Famine 129 
 
 IV. Egypt during the Sojourn . . 176 
 V. The King that knew not Joseph . 238 
 
 VI. Moses in Midian .... 284 
 
 VII. The Plagues of Egypt ... 309 
 
 VIII. The Exodus 383 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The mode of reading the hieroglyphics (that is, the 
 writings inscribed on all the remains of ancient 
 Egypt) has been recovered. How this recovery was 
 effected, is an oft-told tale ; but, nevertheless, it 
 must be here repeated, for with the exception of 
 one or two students, the subject is altogether neg- 
 lected in England. 
 
 Apiece of granite was found near Rosetta, on the 
 western mouth of the Nile, in digging the founda- 
 tion of a fort, by the French army, in 1798. On 
 this stone was a long inscription in hieroglyphics, 
 with a Greek translation, which explained that it 
 was a decree appointing divine honors to Ptolemy 
 Epiphanes, who began to reign over Egypt 204 b. c. 
 This stone is now in the British Museum. 
 
 A small obelise was brought to England by Mr. 
 Banks, from the island of Philse, which lies on the 
 extreme southern borders of Egypt. This has a 
 hieroglyphic inscription on the shaft, and at the 
 base a Greek one, which tells us that it was dedi- 
 
 a 2 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cated to the gods of Philae by Ptolemy Physcon, 
 the second successor of Epiphanes, and by Cleopatra 
 his wife. They began to reign 146 b. c. 
 
 The following group of characters (I below) is of fre- 
 quent occurrence on both these monuments. This 
 had been conjectured to be the transcription in hie- 
 roglyphics of the name of Ptolemy, before the arrival 
 of Mr. Bankes's obelise in England. On this last 
 monument (II.) was another group which (assuming 
 the former conjecture to be correct) was in all proba- 
 bility the name Cleopatra. The complete proof of 
 both resulted from the analysis of M. Champollion, 
 who had long diligently studied the antiquities of 
 Egypt. It was as follows : 
 I II 
 
 
 
 
 12 3 4 5 6 7 
 
 PTOXeMEuS 
 
 pj 
 
 
 ?% 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1234567 89 
 
 KLEOPATRA 
 
 The first letter in Ptolemeus and the 5th in Cleo- 
 patra are both P. The first character in the ring 
 supposed to be Ptolemy, and the fifth in that con- 
 jectured to be Cleopatra are both a square block, 
 or rather package of linen. [§|| This character there- 
 fore was assumed to be p. 
 
 The third letter in Ptolemy and the fourth in 
 Cleopatra, are both 0. The corresponding charac- 
 ters in the two rings are also both the same, — a 
 
ESTBODUCTIOIJ. Xlll 
 
 knotted cord ^ , which was accordingly set down 
 
 The fourth in Ptolemy and the second in Cleo- 
 patra, are both L. The corresponding characters are 
 again the same in both rings. The lion was there- 
 fore put down for /, 
 
 The sixth and ninth letters in Cleopatra are both 
 A. The sixth and ninth characters in the ring, 
 assumed to be Cleopatra, are both a sparrowhawk. 
 which we thenceforth write a. 
 
 The first letter in Cleopatra is not in Ptolemy. 
 neither is the first character in the ring of Cleopa- 
 tra to be found in that of Ptolemy. The triangular 
 block was therefore added to the hieroglyphic alpha- 
 bet : cl Q- or the Greek K kappa. 
 
 The third character in Cleopatra's ring is one 
 blade of a Nile reed L ; the corresponding letter is 
 a short e. The last character but one in Ptolemy's 
 ring is two such blades. This the discoverer rightly 
 assumed from this analogy to be the long e. which 
 is the last letter but two in Ptolemy's name. From 
 this approximation he was able to solve the diffi- 
 culty which the comparison of the ring of Ptolemy 
 with his name presents. There are nine letters in 
 the name, but only seven characters in the ring. 
 The intermediate vowels were often omitted in the 
 ancient Egyptian writings, as in the Hebrew and 
 other oriental languages. Long study of the Coptic. 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (which is the ancient Egyptian written with Greek 
 characters) had rendered Champollion perfectly 
 familiar with this fact. He therefore put down the 
 fifth character in Ptolemy's name, a boat-stand ^=J 
 for m, and the seventh, a crotchet or yoke, p for 5. 
 Both were soon verified from other names, and the 
 hieroglyphic transcription of the name Ptolem^us 
 w r as read Ptolmes. 
 
 The penultimate letter in Cleopatra is R, which 
 does not occur in Ptolemy. The last character but 
 one in the ring is not found in the hieroglyphic 
 transcription of Ptolemy. It is a human mouth, 
 < ^» which we put down from hence, r. 
 
 One step only was now required to complete the 
 analysis of both rings : but here again was a diffi- 
 culty. The second letter in Ptolemy and the seventh 
 in Cleopatra are both T, but the corresponding cha- 
 racters are altogether different. In Ptolemy it is 
 represented by a small stone shaped like the seg- 
 ment of a sphere, and used for polishing, c\ ; but in 
 Cleopatra's ring a human hand iJgSl has the power 
 of t This comparison suggested that the same 
 sound had many representatives in hieroglyphics — 
 the system of homophons, as its discoverer well 
 named it. 
 
 The key to the reading of these mysterious writings 
 was now evidently recovered. There is no occasion 
 to proceed further with its history. Its results will 
 be far more likely to interest the reader. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAD BEEN SOVEREIGNS IN 
 EGYPT. 
 
 These are always written in frames or cartouches. 
 
 ROMAN EMPERORS. 
 
 Augustus Caesar, ^-^^-^ Tiberius Cassar, 
 
 (from Esneh.) 
 autkrtr 
 ksaars. 
 
 fi=£\ 
 
 (from Philse.) 
 tibris 
 kesrs. 
 
 3ga 
 
 THE PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM IN EGYPT. 
 
 Phili P ^ Alexander ^^ Queen 
 
 Arsinoe. 
 
 the Great. 
 (Karnak.) 
 alksantrs. 
 
 £z\ 
 
 arsn. 
 
 of 
 Macedon. 
 plipos. 
 
 For Ptolemy and Cleopatra see p. xii, 
 
 PERSIAN KINGDOM IN EGYPT. 
 
 ££ 
 
 Cambyses. 
 kmbat 
 
 Darius. 
 triush. 
 
 Xerxes. 
 shaershu. 
 
 fE2h 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF THE NATIVE PHARAOHS. 
 
 The 26th Dynasty, about 600 b. c. 
 The royal names at this period are all written in 
 two rings. The second ring contains the name, and 
 that only we translate. 
 
 Psammetichus. 
 psmtk. 
 
 Pharaoh 
 
 Hophra. 
 
 ht-haa-phra. 
 
 Pharaoh 
 
 Necho. 
 
 nku. 
 
XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The 25th Dynasty about 700 b. c. 
 These kings came from Ethiopia. They are called 
 Ethiops in the Bible. 
 
 Sabacho. 
 shvk. 
 
 Tirhakah. 
 tiharka. 
 
 The 22nd Dynasty, about 800 b. c. 
 Shishak. This was the Pharaoh who invaded 
 
 4 
 
 fiS\ Judah in the days of Rehoboam, 
 the son of Solomon. The picture 
 of his triumph afterwards, yet re- 
 mains on the north external wall 
 of the palace of Karnak in eastern 
 Thebes. 
 The 20th Dynasty, about the time of the Exodus. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Sesonchis. 
 shshnk. 
 
 Sethos II. 
 
 stei. 
 
 The Pharaoh 
 
 who perished in 
 
 the Red Sea. 
 
 
 (Si 
 
 Ramerri 
 
 his son, 
 
 who perished 
 
 with the 
 
 first born. 
 
 
 
 Queen Thouoris. tliavrus. The daughter of 
 the king that knew not Joseph, the patroness 
 of Moses. iMi 
 
 The 19th Dynasty, about the time of Moses. 
 
 Ramses II. the final expeller of the rp\f 
 Shepherds from the Delta : the king 
 that knew not Joseph, ra-rnss. \ 
 
 From this time the royal names, are often written 
 in one ring only. 
 
 m 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV11 
 
 The 15th Dynasty, Canaanite Shepherds 
 (so called.) 
 Aphophis the 
 
 patron of Joseph. 
 aphaph. 
 
 □ □ 
 
 His capital was Heliopolis? 
 at the head of the Delta. 
 
 UK, 
 
 The 3rd and 4th Dynasty, the builders of the 
 
 Pyramids. 
 Suphis the Soris the first king of the 
 
 builder of the f^J 4th Dynasty, shure. The 
 great pyramid. Kj builder of the middle py- 
 
 shafu. " ramid of Abusir. 
 
 /fnj\ Sephuris of the 3rd Dynasty, sanfru. The earli- 
 er est of the kings of Egypt of whom any cotem- 
 \V porary monument has been found. 
 The 1st Dynasty. 
 Menes, the His name as king of Egypt oc- 
 
 protomonarch r-, \ curs in that of a prince of the 
 of Egypt. mnm*rr* court of Suphis, whose tomb is 
 (Hieroglyphic UL> at Ghizeh. Josephus says that 
 genealogies.) Menes reigned many years be- 
 
 fore the times of Abraham. 
 The subjoined alphabet is strictly artificial. It 
 gives the characters employed in the foregoing table 
 of kings, arranged under their proper sounds, and no 
 other. 
 
 aeiou iiUUB 
 
 hb Tr$. uor h |d h J b 1 h 
 
 dt ^3,^. 
 
XV111 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 
 f 
 
 •Vjfi- 
 
 
 
 lr 
 
 £z&.?=^. 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 fea'Jjrx 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 Awv\I 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 s 
 sh 
 
 
 
 cli (gut 
 
 tural 
 ring 
 
 )• 
 
 
 The 
 
 or frame ^ 
 
 1 w 
 
 "1 which incloses these 
 names is the ground plot of a cattle-pen made of 
 " hurdles/' ggg . The first king of . Egyp t, th e 
 founder of Memphis, was named Menes. C^JQ 
 mn-ei, which means " hurdle-maker. v He first 
 enclosed his name thus as an indication of its 
 meaning. All the kings of Egypt after him were, 
 or professed to be, his descendants, and they also 
 assumed it in token of this consanguinity. So strong 
 was the feeling under the native Pharaohs that 
 every king of Egypt must of necessity be of the race 
 of Menes, that the priests pretended that Cambyses 
 was the natural son of Amasis II, whom he con- 
 quered, and Alexander the Great, of Nectanebo, the 
 last native king of Egypt. 
 
 We have found the meaning of these characters 
 by taking the names to pieces. In order to show 
 how the system was invented, we must put it to- 
 gether again. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 All the letters or characters in this mode of 
 writing, are pictures. It is generally supposed that 
 the Egyptian system differs in this particular from 
 other writings of the same antiquity. Such how- 
 ever is not the fact. They also were constructed 
 throughout upon the same principle. All the letters 
 in them were at first pictures of objects. 
 
 Three modes of writing only are known of an 
 antiquity at all approaching that of the inscribed 
 remains of Egypt. These are : 
 
 1. Hebrew. The language of the entire eastern 
 coast of the Mediterranean. It was used with very 
 little dialectic variation by all the Shemites and 
 Hamites that first peopled the district. The oldest 
 known monuments of it are coins of some of the 
 later kings of Judah, 8 to 900 b. c. 
 
 2. Greek. The language of Javan, (Ion) the son 
 of Japhet, (Gen. x. 9.) It was spoken by the first 
 settlers on the north coast of the Mediterranean, 
 both on the continent and in the islands. Inscrip- 
 tions in it on stones and metal are very numerous, 
 and some of them nearly as old as the earliest re- 
 mains of Hebrew. 
 
 These two languages were at first written with 
 the same alphabet. 
 
 3. Assyrian, or Nmevite. The wedge-shaped 
 characters on the ruins in the valley of the Tigris 
 and Euphrates, where once stood Nineveh and 
 
XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Babylon. These likewise are degradations of the 
 same alphabet, suggested by the hard glassy material 
 in the neighbourhood, imperfect tools, and want of 
 skill in engraving. The system seems to have been 
 written in two or three different ways. It is the 
 original whence were derived the Sanskrit, the 
 Thibetan, and the rest of the square-lettered alpha- 
 bets of Asia. 
 
 Of these three modes of writing, the Hebrew and 
 Greek have both been perpetuated by means of their 
 alphabets : so that the names and powers of the 
 letters, the meanings of the words, and the structure 
 of the languages in which the inscriptions were 
 written, are well known. The Ninevite inscriptions, 
 on the other hand, represent the sounds of lost lan- 
 guages. A few characters only have yet been de- 
 ciphered, and a few proper names read in them. 
 This circumstance, together with the fact that the 
 system itself is a mere degradation, altogether ex- 
 cludes it from our present enquiry : even though 
 some of the inscriptions in it may possibly be as old 
 as the oldest known forms of the other two systems. 
 
 The following collation of the oldest forms of the 
 Hebrew and Greek alphabets very clearly shews, 
 that both were the same at first, that all the letters 
 were pictures, and that the names of the letters 
 were also those of the objects represented by the 
 pictures. 
 
HAMS. MOST AXCIE3JT FORMS 
 
 Hebrew. Greek. Hebrew. Greek- 
 
 Aleph S Alpha A a f<( X^> A A. 
 
 PICTVRES. 
 
 HXAZriHG OF PRONTJKCIA- 
 KAM£S. TIOV. 
 
 A 
 A, 
 
 
 Beth ^ Beta B 3 
 Giraei ^ Gamma r 7 
 
 Daleth T Delta A 5 
 
 He H [rough 
 breathing] 
 
 Vau ^ [smooth . 
 breathing] 
 
 Zain f {.see Tzade] £ 
 
 Chethn EtaHT] ^{=| Y\S 
 Teth tO Theta ® e C£} O 
 
 Yod 1 Iota I t fffll 
 
 Caph 2 Kappa K K ^ / 
 Lamed 7 Lamda A A / 
 
 Mem ft Mu M /* ijj 41 
 Xun 2 Nu N V ^ 
 
 Samech O Sigma 2 0" j 
 
 Ain ^OmisronO Q A 
 
 Ph £Ph * ^ 
 
 Tzade ^ Zeta Z f NAM 
 
 Koph p p^j 
 
 Resh -> Ropp 04 
 
 Shin W 4"* /SAA - 
 
 Thau H Tau T T VH" 
 
 AM 
 3PT 
 
 •^ 
 
 an ox a 
 
 tent. dwel-\ ^ 
 
 ling J 
 
 camel g 
 
 door d 
 
 window- ■» Yi 
 lattice J 
 
 hook, peg v, (smooth 1 
 breathing) J 
 
 club, sword z 
 
 hurdle 
 
xxu 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The correspondence of the oldest forms with the 
 original pictures is very traceable. But in the later 
 forms they were lost, save in the names of the let- 
 ters. The convenience of the writer, and a certain 
 uniformity and neatness in the appearance of a 
 written text, soon altered their shapes, so that they 
 became arbitrary marks representing sounds only. 
 
 The principle upon which the form and the sound 
 have been associated likewise appears from this 
 table. The form is made to stand for the first sound 
 in the name of the thing ; like a, ape ; b, bull ; 
 c, cat, in a modern horn-book. 
 
 The Mizraites who colonized the valley of the 
 Nile, constructed their system of writing upon the 
 same principle. Their first alphabet was this : 
 
 Form. 
 3j 
 
 Thing. Name in Power. 
 Coptic. 
 
 reed ake a, e, o 
 
 quail ov/mt f , v u 
 
 w KinHeb. b 
 
 thread 
 rope 
 
 metal 
 
 koph 
 
 cup 
 mouth ro 
 
 hurdle movae 
 
 h 
 k 
 1, * 
 
 inter- 
 change 
 
 Form. Thing. 
 
 vase for 
 offering 
 water 
 
 Name in Power. 
 Coptic. 
 
 nu 
 
 water 
 
 _— cleft sub- 
 
 9 l JjM stance bound 
 
 ^ together 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 i 
 
 13 1 
 
 crotchet 
 or yoke 
 
 looped 
 cord 
 
 polisher 
 
 plate 
 paten 
 
 pah 
 
 to cleave 
 
 part 
 
 touot 
 to tie 
 
 t pro- 
 noun 
 
 taate t medial 
 to polish & final 
 
 shei 
 
 sh 
 ch 
 
INTRODUCTION. XX111 
 
 The principle upon which the forms and sounds 
 are associated is the same here as in the other two 
 alphabets. The form stands for the first articula- 
 tion in the name of the thing. It also exactly cor- 
 responds with them in one or two characters. These 
 are : — 5 koph " the drinking cup " h This is very 
 evident. The Egyptian form of it was a metal dish 
 with a loose ring ; convenient both for hanging on 
 a peg in the tent, and for packing on the journey. 
 8 nu " water/'' n. The Egyptians made the word 
 for water Q\ nu, instead of "ȣ mu, or D^ft mem, 
 that it might coincide with the name of Noah the 
 Patriarch whom they worshipped as the god of 
 water. ^^O^f nuc ^' m3, ^e picture of water 
 therefore stood for n in their alphabet, instead of m 
 as in the other alphabets. They retained however 
 in their language the primitive word for water. 
 The original picture of it also " the wave/' #m^ 
 was very early adopted by them as another form 
 of n. In some exceedingly ancient inscriptions it 
 is interpreted by the earthen vase thus Jf .* In 
 the other alphabets this picture represents m. (jnem 
 or mu. See table.) But in the Mizraite dialect of 
 the primitive language, the sounds m and n inter- 
 changed, or rather the one was inherent in the 
 other. 9 p bears in some ancient transcriptions 
 considerable resemblance to two rows of teeth, g 
 
 * Tomb, No. 17, Saquara, &c. &c. 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It may therefore have been Phe or Pi, adopted from 
 the primitive alphabet, (See table.) 
 
 Thus plain is it that the framers of this Egyptian 
 alphabet must have known the original whence the 
 other alphabets were derived, and been familiar 
 with the principle of its construction. 
 
 These thirteen letters are the foundation of the 
 whole written system of Ancient Egypt. In the most 
 ancient texts of it they are placed, either immediately 
 before or after other characters denoting the same 
 sounds, to interpret them. In later texts these 
 characters are not so interpreted. Their powers 
 had become perfectly well known, so that they no 
 longer need' interpretation. 
 
 The following are examples, ^j- ab " flesh/' is so 
 written in texts of all ages except the oldest, where 
 it stands thus, J^ J . The syllable hi or hr is like- 
 wise written ^ in all later texts ; but in the most 
 ancient tombs it is always written thus, jjjg^ . By 
 thus comparing together the ancient with the more 
 recent texts, we obtain the following alphabet : 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a, e, is interpreted by Jj 
 
 XXV 
 
 'h 
 
 k 
 
 n 
 
 t 
 sh 
 
 ?? ?? 
 
 J? 3? 
 
 5? 3? 
 
 3? 3? 
 
 33 3? 
 
 33 33 
 
 33 33 
 
 i 
 
 ^~ *> 
 
 
 
 rnTn 
 
 12 3 
 
 4 -5 
 
 t 
 
 6 7 8 9 10 
 11 12 13 
 
 I.U.I 
 
 14 15 16 
 17 18 
 
 act 
 
 19 20 21 
 
 !«. 
 
 22 23 24 
 25 26 
 
 1 Tomb of Nahrai, Benihassan Ins, c. 104. 2 id. c. 152. 
 
 3 id. c. 115. 4 Name of Usercheres, Ghizeh, &c. 
 
 5 Tomb at El Bersheh, Leps. II, 184. 
 
 7 Tomb of Amenemes, Benihassan. 
 
 9 Nahrai c. 157. 
 
 11 Tomb 20. Saquara. 
 
 13 id. et passim. 
 
 15 Nahr. c. 174, &c. 
 
 17 Nah. c. 18 &c. &c. 
 
 19 Ghiz. 26. 
 
 21 Nah. c. 206. 
 
 23 Amenemes. 
 
 25 Nah. c. 194. 
 
 Tomb 91. Ghizeh. 
 8 Tablet, 567. Brit. Mus. 
 J0 Nahrai pass. 
 12 idem. 
 14 id. 17 Saq. 
 16 Amenemes. 
 18 Nah. c. 211, &c. &c. 
 20 id. c. 171 &c. &c. 
 22 Nab. passhn. 
 24 Nah. passim. 
 26 Ghiz. 49 &c. 
 
XXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 All these additional characters are written, inter- 
 preted in the ancient, and uninterpreted in the 
 later texts. The pronunciation of most of them 
 had before been ascertained by modern students, 
 from their occurrence in proper names and else- 
 where. 
 
 This comparison of texts of different ages makes 
 it very clear that the thirteen letters of our alpha- 
 bet were the best known in the primitive times, and 
 had therefore been the first invented. 
 
 The writing of Ancient Egypt then was alpha- 
 betic ; that is, its characters represented sounds, in 
 exactly the same manner as the other two systems 
 with which we have compared it. It differs from 
 them however in a remarkable particular. Its in- 
 ventors determined that its letters should always 
 retain their first forms without degrading into mere 
 arbitrary signs. They wanted them to be decorative 
 as well as illustrative : so that their inscriptions 
 might adorn the objects on which they were written 
 as well as explain them. 
 
 The twelve sounds denoted by these thirteen let- 
 ters were not enough to write the primitive lan- 
 guage intelligibly in any of its dialects. They ex- 
 press the elementary articulations of the human 
 voice only. But these may be uttered in many 
 ways, and the sense of words often varies according 
 to the mode of their pronunciation : so that a sepa- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV11 
 
 rate letter is required for each difference. Hence 
 it was that the Hebrew alphabet came to have 
 twenty -two letters, and the Greek twenty-four ; and 
 also, that so many of the letters in both alphabets 
 are closely allied to each other in sound. 
 
 This necessity likewise contributed to the in- 
 crease of the Egyptian alphabet. Many of the new 
 letters were retained in the system to express modi- 
 fications in the sounds of the primitive letters that 
 at first interpreted them. 
 
 But the circumstance that every letter in this 
 mode of writing remained a picture, supplied another 
 and still stronger motive for the multiplication of 
 the number of characters in it, and to an extent 
 very far beyond that of either of the other systems. 
 Such a writing requires, and of necessity, that the 
 meanings of the words as well as the sounds should 
 be suggested by the pictures of which it is com- 
 posed ; it could not be read without a help of this 
 kind. This is so clear that it might have been 
 known beforehand. It was found out by experience 
 in Egypt. The most ancient texts are altogether 
 alphabetic or nearly so : i. e. every character in them 
 denotes a sound. They are likewise scarcely to be 
 understood ! This obscurity however was soon 
 perceived, and two devices were framed to render 
 them somewhat more perspicuous. These are just 
 
 b2 
 
XXV111 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as simple and child-like as that by which the radi- 
 cal letters were formed. 
 
 A. Initials. 
 
 This device is merely an extension of the principle 
 of the radical or first alphabet. The medial and 
 final sounds of a word written with the letters al- 
 ready invented, were added to the picture of the 
 thing it denoted, which was made the initial (or 
 first) letter. In the earliest times this initial was 
 accompanied by the radical letter, the sound of 
 which it represented ; but afterwards, through long 
 use, the form and sound became sufficiently asso- 
 ciated, and the interpreting or index letter was no 
 longer needed. Thus the word hotp " a shew table 
 of offering/' was written |^fg in the oldest texts. 
 The second character $£=* is a picture of the table 
 itself, as set forth before the images of the gods. 
 The cord | that precedes it shows that it is to be 
 pronounced h. But the pronunciation of this fre- 
 quently used group soon became sufficiently known 
 without the index letter : so that nearly every- 
 where it is written thus £rB • In the same manner 
 sha, " a joint or cut consisting of the ribs of an 
 ox/' was at first written thus 9'S^I\ :* but very 
 soon afterwards the power of the initial picture be- 
 came familiar to men's minds, and in all later texts 
 
 * Tomb, No. 17 Ghizeh. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXIX 
 
 it is inscribed thus : -S^j) . So also nh, the name of 
 the black vulture, or turkey- buzzard, was at first 
 written \j[,* but ever after \$ , without the 
 wave, because it was then well known that the 
 picture was to be pronounced n. 
 
 These index letters generally go before the picture 
 they interpret. They sometimes follow it. In one 
 or two instances other signs are even interposed 
 between them. So little were system and perspi- 
 cuity understood in remote times. 
 
 This initial writing was very rigidly confined to 
 a single class of thoughts or ideas. Words so 
 written never meant the thing depicted, but some 
 quality or abstraction not to be represented in a 
 picture, of which it was suggestive. The group 
 ^a htp did not mean " a shew table/' but " union, 
 combination," and from thence ic peace, harmony/' 
 and many kindred ideas, because meats and drinks 
 of different kinds were set forth together on these 
 tables. The language exactly conforms to this 
 group. The word in the Coptic texts denotes " a 
 collective offering/' and has also the sense of 
 " union/' " marriage/' and many similar meanings. 
 The group M^\ never meant " the ribs of an ox/' 
 but " weighed in the balance/' and thence " tried, 
 approved," because the ribs of all animals are equal 
 on both sides, in number and length. The con- 
 
 * Tomb at Benihassan, &c. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 formity of the language to the group is equally- 
 striking in the present instance. The Coptic word 
 signifies " to divide, to multiply by division/' and 
 a crowd of words derived from it signify " equal/' 
 " a balance/' " to weigh/' " to adjust &c." In the 
 same way the name of the turkey-buzzard written 
 initially meant " black/' because that was its 
 colour, and not the bird itself. Such is likewise the 
 case with every other group so written throughout 
 the language. There is no known exception. 
 
 B. Determinatives. 
 
 In its primitive mode of use this is the most in- 
 fantile device possible. A picture of the thing in- 
 tended followed the letters that spelt its name : 
 thus !) | eh, Coptic ehe " a cow/' was followed by ^^ 
 No further exemplification is required of this mode, 
 which may be called " the determinative of the 
 thing." 
 
 Another application of this device displays more 
 thought and ingenuity, though just as simple. 
 "Words denoting animals were followed by the pre- 
 pared hide of an ox, 1^1 . The names of all flying 
 creatures were determined by the picture of a goose, 
 ^ . Violent actions of the arm are signified by 
 an arm grasping a club sclu gentler actions of the 
 arm by a hand soothing, <&*& . Rapid motions 
 were denoted by two legs running J\. Slower 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 motions by a leg walking, £ . Words implying 
 speech were determined by the picture of a man 
 with his hand to his mouth, Jj> . These characters 
 may be called " determinatives of kind/' i. e. of the 
 class of things or actions to which the word belongs. 
 Their invention is by far the most profound and 
 abstract thought that appears in the whole system. 
 
 In late texts both initials and determinatives 
 are often used alone, as abbreviations of the groups 
 to which they belong : but it cannot be too plainly 
 stated that they always signify the word and never 
 the idea. There was no ideography (strictly speak- 
 ing) in the writing of Ancient Egypt. 
 
 Thus was the hieroglyphic system constructed 
 upon thirteen letters. It was as strictly alphabetic 
 as the Greek or Hebrew writings. The initials and 
 determinatives were mere expedients, suggested by 
 its necessities and defects. 
 
S.R.Ha»sc*s L.tm. Leco 
 
ISEAEL IN EGYPT, 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 " MARVELLOUS THINGS DID HE IN THE SIGHT OF THEIR 
 FATHERS, IN THE "LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE FIELD OF 
 
 zoan/' Psalm lxxviii. 12. 
 
 There is a perfect consistency in God's dealings in 
 all things. He lias one measure towards one people ; 
 he administers to the same locality, according to 
 the same laws, at all times. Towards the people of 
 Israel, his dispensations of mercy and of wrath both 
 come strictly within one category, "he hath not 
 dealt so with any other nation/' His mercies to- 
 wards Israel of old were without parallel ; equally 
 unexampled are the present judgments of Israel ; 
 scattered among all nations, yet separate among 
 them, with all the miseries of an extinct nationality : 
 Yet, for eighteen centuries that extinction which 
 terminates the sufferings of every other dispersed 
 people in a very few generations, has not yet befallen 
 
2 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 him. Israel gasps in his last agonies ; yet not to 
 die, but to struggle and to moan — a living death. 
 Truly " he hath not dealt so with any other nation/' 
 
 In the same locality we may likewise often trace 
 this consistency of administration at all times. In 
 no country more remarkably than in the one whose 
 history blends with that of Israel throughout so long 
 a period; — Egypt, to which Abram went down imme- 
 diately after his call from Ur of the Chaldees, and 
 whence God long afterwards called his son. Through- 
 out the wide interval that separates these two 
 events, the histories of Israel and Egypt run parallel. 
 Egypt, according to our quotation, was the land of 
 wonders from the first* Egypt is also the land of 
 wonders to this day ; and the stranger who now 
 visits the valley of the Nile will have to acknow- 
 ledge, that in " his sight," as well as in that of the 
 fathers of old, God " does marvellous things in the 
 land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan/' 
 
 Egypt is situated on the driest zone of the world, 
 on both sides the equator. It is just to the north- 
 ward of the tropical rains. They never extend 
 beyond the Astaboras and the southern limits of 
 Upper Nubia. On its other border, the more uncer- 
 tain mutations of the weather which fertilize the 
 temperate zone, die away on the coast of Egypt. It 
 is only in the depth of winter, that the clouds which 
 career over the stormy Mediterranean, reach her 
 
PRELIMINARY. 3 
 
 coasts, and sometimes discharge their rains at Alex- 
 andria or Rosetta. With this exception, rain is a 
 phenomenon in Egypt, contributing in no apprecia- 
 ble degree to her fertility, and forming no element 
 whatever in the calculations of the husbandman. 
 Egypt is, moreover, very near the centre of by far 
 the driest portion of the whole surface of the earth. 
 The arid, unproductive sand-plains of the Sahara, 
 commence at her western border, and stretch away 
 from thence to the westward, for more than 4000 
 miles to the Atlantic. To the eastward are the sun- 
 bleached, sterile mountains of the eastern desert, of 
 the Sinaitic peninsula, and of Arabia Petrsea ; and 
 beyond them, the salt, dusty, dry tracts of Persia 
 and Beloochistan, for at least an equal distance ; so 
 that Egypt is a narrow strip of fertility, reclaimed in 
 the midst of 8000 miles of desert by the waters of a 
 vast tropical river. The rest of the earth's surface 
 presents no parallel to this. 
 
 The phenomena strictly peculiar to Egypt arise 
 out of these circumstances. 
 
 The annual overflow of the Nile is the result of 
 the tropical rains on the mountains of Abyssinia and 
 South Ethiopia. It first appears at Memphis, about 
 the summer solstice. It reaches its height about the 
 autumnal equinox. It has entirely subsided at the 
 winter solstice. The diffusion of this fertile flood, 
 over the arid surface of the desert, requires the 
 
 B 2 
 
4 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 mind and the labour of man to an extent unknown 
 in any other country. The digging of canals, of 
 overflow and recession, the close observation of the 
 right moment when the waters are to be admitted 
 through the flood-gates, and when, the flood-gates 
 being closed, the sluices which allow them to return 
 to the bed of the river must be opened, are niceties 
 upon which the success of the husbandman entirely 
 depends, and which keep both his mental and bodily 
 faculties in constant exercise. A day's mistake in 
 either, is fatal to his hopes. Then, by means of 
 irrigation during the low Nile, the fertile loam of 
 Egypt will produce yet another crop : and the gover- 
 nors of Egypt have never been slow or gentle in 
 their exactions from the wretched slaves that till 
 the soil ; so that the creak of the water-wheel and 
 of the shadoof, or balance-bucket, never ceases. And 
 " the land of Egypt is still the house of bondage " 
 to the human race. 
 
 One other peculiarity of Egypt will also require 
 some notice. The extreme dryness of the atmos- 
 phere tends to the preservation of all remains of 
 ancient constructions and of every other monument 
 of human labour, to an extent without example in 
 any other country. From the granite of Syene, 
 down to the coat of Nile mud, stuccoed, and inscribed 
 with hieroglyphics in colours, nothing appears to 
 have undergone any change from atmospheric causes 
 
PRELIMINARY. O 
 
 since the day it was finished. Bread, fruit, flowers, 
 bakemeats, corn, seeds, linen in quantities incredible, 
 wooden figures of most delicate execution are found 
 in the tombs of Egypt, as little changed by the 
 4000 years wherein they have lain there, as the gems 
 in the metal rings that accompany them. From the 
 first king that sat upon the throne of Egypt, down 
 to Caracalla and Septimius Severus the Roman 
 emperors, whatever memorial the hand of man has 
 spared, the tooth of time has in no degree injured. 
 
 In addition to the preservation of the monu- 
 ments of Egypt, their number also far surpasses 
 those of any other ancient nation. Every city, 
 town and village, of ancient Egypt, had its temple 
 and its cemetery. There was not a pillar or a stone 
 in the temple which was not covered with reliefs 
 and inscriptions. There was not a tomb, or sarco- 
 phagus, or mummy-case in the cemetery which 
 was not similarly decorated. All these inscriptions 
 were, in a sense, historical. Those on the temples 
 related the exploits in war, or the acts of devotion 
 in peace, of the king who had constructed them. On 
 the remains in the tombs are inscribed the names of 
 the deceased persons whose property they had been, 
 and whose mummies were deposited in them ; — so 
 that in a sense, there is scarcely a monument of 
 ancient Egypt that does not throw light upon her 
 history, and from the days she first became a king- 
 
b ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 dom until now, it would be hard to say that any 
 one memorial had perished through the lapse of 
 time. 
 
 These inscriptions are written in very remarkable 
 characters (called hieroglyphics, by the Greeks), the 
 mode of reading which is now, as we have seen, to 
 a great extent, recovered. 
 
 These monuments, however would be unavail- 
 able as history, were it not that the Greeks in 
 the times that followed those of Alexander of 
 Macedon, had very great curiosity in all that related 
 to Egypt, and translated the histories on the walls 
 of the temples. Little remains to us of these trans- 
 lations, save mere lists of royal names ; but these 
 are of great value, because they can be identified 
 with the hieroglyphic originals, and by their help 
 we can place the names of the kings we read on the 
 temples in the order of their succession. 
 
 So that the climate of Egypt itself has combined 
 with the curiosity of the Greeks regarding its early 
 history, to preserve to us a far more copious and 
 connected series of memorials of its ancient great- 
 ness, than of any other kingdom that ever existed on 
 the earth. 
 
 That the history of Egypt bears some close and 
 intimate relation to the inspired history of Israel, is 
 a very obvious truth. So plainly is the Bible, the 
 book which of all others belongs to, and requires 
 
PRELIMINARY. 7 
 
 the history of Egypt, that the connection between 
 the two has been always acknowledged, both by 
 Jews and Christians. Josephus the Jew has pre- 
 served to us portions of the lists and histories of the 
 Greeks to which we have already alluded, in his 
 works on the Old Testament ; the remaining frag- 
 ments of these lost works we owe altogether to the 
 scriptural comments and illustrations of Eusebius, 
 Syncellus and other early Christian writers. The 
 same connection and necessity were perceived by 
 the Christian scholars of the more modern era of the 
 Reformation : and many learned and laborious 
 efforts were embodied in ponderous folios, all directed 
 to the illustration of Scripture from what was then 
 known regarding Egypt. These all failed, for lack 
 of knowledge of the subject, and of the means of 
 acquiring it. That they were made, however, suffici- 
 ently proves the existence in their day, of the con- 
 viction we have explained. These details will suf- 
 fice to show, that when we claim Egypt and her 
 ancient history, as especially a Bible subject, an'd 
 illustrative of, and illustrated by, the Bible far more 
 than any other book, we are making no fanatical or 
 bigotted appropriation, but are merely stating a fact 
 which has at all times been acknowledged, and to 
 the consciousness of which we owe the preservation 
 of the Greek illustrative records by the early Jewish 
 and Christian writers. 
 
8 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 It is the object of the present work to show that 
 the recovery of the mode of reading the inscriptions 
 which cover the monuments of Egypt now in exis- 
 tence, has by no means disappointed these expecta- 
 tions ; and that the principal purpose which the 
 facts thereby elicited will subserve, is that of 
 scriptural illustration. 
 
 The notices of Egypt in the Bible are to the full as 
 remarkable, and as distinct from those which allude 
 to any other ancient nation, as the natural and his- 
 torical phenomena we have already explained. The 
 name of Egypt in the Old Testament, was that of 
 the third son of the patriarch Ham, so that the 
 fact that Egypt was first colonized by him, rests on 
 exactly the same evidence as that Assyria was 
 colonized by Ashur, or Canaan by the patriarch's 
 first-born. The names of Ashur and Canaan have 
 been long forgotten ; but the name of Egypt in the 
 east, to this day, is that of Mizraim, the third son 
 of Ham. The same fact, moreover, though not for- 
 mally stated, flows as a clear inevitable inference 
 from the tenor of the inspired narrative. In the 
 tenth chapter of Genesis, the name of Mizraim 
 occurs in the enumeration of the sons of Ham, 
 verses 6, 13. In the eleventh chapter is the narra- 
 tive of the dispersion of Babel. In the twelfth 
 chapter, the event that immediately follows the call 
 of Abram, is his emigration into the land of Miz- 
 
PRELIMINARY. y 
 
 raim ; and that at this remote epoch, this epithet 
 had the same meaning as at all subsequent times, 
 is demonstrated by the context, where the king of 
 Mizraim is called Pharaoh ; which, we need scarcely 
 explain, is a title common to all the kings of Egypt 
 and peculiar to them. Verses 10, 15. 
 
 This is by no means the only inference regarding 
 Egypt that flow r s from this portion of the inspired 
 narrative. Egypt was a monarchy settled upon a 
 basis very similar to that which obtained long after- 
 wards at the time of the call of Abram. Pharaoh 
 was surrounded by his princes when the patriarch 
 sojourned in Egypt, and therefore ruled as a king 
 over a considerable territory. This was not the 
 case with any other ancient monarchy at this remote 
 period. "We find in the course of the same narra- 
 tive, that Shinar, afterwards Babylon, Elam, after- 
 wards Persia, (Gen. xiv. 1.) Damascus, afterwards 
 Syria, (xv. 2.) were then small independent cities, 
 each under its Melek* or petty king. 
 
 All these specialties regarding Egypt in its con- 
 nexion with the Old Testament, are equally to be 
 noted in the subsequent periods of that history. 
 The interpretation of the hieroglyphics has greatly 
 increased both the number and importance of them. 
 It has been a slow and tedious process, but many in- 
 
 * The word melek abbreviated mek is the name of the hereditary ruler 
 of a town or village, to this day, in East Africa. 
 
10 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 teresting, and, to the verification of the Bible, highly 
 important results, have already been realized. It is 
 to these results and not to the process, it is to the 
 general reader and not to the student of hierogly- 
 phics that we exclusively address ourselves. 
 
 We hope to show, first of all, that the anticipa- 
 tions so long entertained by believers in Revelation, 
 of ample light upon its concise narrative from the 
 records of Ancient Egypt, have been abundantly 
 verified ; and then that from this new, and by many 
 altogether unsuspected quarter, we have large ad- 
 ditional evidence that the Bible is true. 
 
 The two heads under which the illustrations we 
 have to submit in the present introductory chapter 
 arrange themselves, are the first colonization of 
 Egypt, and the state of Egypt at the time of the 
 visit of Abram. 
 
 § 1. the first colonization of egypt. 
 
 The Scripture narrative has already presented to 
 us Mizraim the son of Ham, with his posterity, as a 
 clan or sept in the tribe of his father on the plains 
 of Shinar, before the dispersion ; and after that 
 event, as having given his name to the valley of the 
 Nile, in which his descendants had settled. It 
 clearly follows that, on its occurrence, the clan of 
 Mizraim emigrated to Egypt. Now the only direct 
 route from Shinar to Egypt is across the isthmus of 
 
FIRST COLONIZATION IN EGYPT. 11 
 
 Suez ; and it is perfectly obvious in itself, as well 
 as a fact with which all history makes us familiar, 
 that large bodies of men emigrating under circum- 
 stances of misfortune, invariably plant themselves 
 on the first convenient and safe locality at which 
 they arrive, and afterwards extend gradually from 
 thence in other directions. Under this view, the 
 geographical position of the remains of Ancient 
 Egypt, relatively to their antiquity, becomes a ques- 
 tion of the deepest and most vital importance to the 
 inquiry before us. The present author was the first 
 to point out the facts that bear upon this question 
 many years ago ; and subsequent researches in 
 Egypt have now established them beyond all possi- 
 bility of contradiction. The remains of the most 
 ancient kings all lie immediately opposite to the 
 isthmus and to the ancient city of Heliopolis, at the 
 crown of the Delta, just at the spot where the weary 
 immigrant, after crossing the sands of the desert, 
 and being entangled in the swamps of the Delta., 
 would first find rest for the sole of his foot. Not 
 only is this fact remarkably in accordance with the 
 Scripture narratives : it is equally in harmony with 
 the Greek tradition regarding the origin of the 
 Egyptian monarchy, according to which the first king 
 of Egypt was the first to cross the river and found 
 the city of Memphis. The ruins of Memphis are 
 part of the locality we have indicated. That this is 
 
12 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the spot where Egypt was first settled, is further de- 
 monstrated by the circumstance, that immediately 
 to the southward of it are found the names of the 
 kings that, in the Greek lists, come next in anti- 
 quity ; and this graduated order obtains for the 
 whole valley, as to the great mass of the monu- 
 ments ; so that the Greek lists of kings and the 
 geographical position of the kings' names in Egypt 
 are in exact agreement, and the gradual progress of 
 the first immigrants, and their occupation of each 
 location in the valley in succession yet remain me- 
 morialized on the rocks that hem it in. 
 
 Another very unexpected identification has still 
 more securely clenched the proof that Egypt 
 was first colonized by the immediate descend- 
 ants of Noah. The primitive idolatry of Egypt 
 was a hero-worship, and its most ancient gods were 
 merely the patriarchs of the Bible deified. The god 
 of Heliopolis, for example, was Athom, or Adam. 
 The tutelary of Memphis was Ptah ; that is, Phut the 
 brother of Mizraim. No, or Noh, was the god of 
 the annual overflow, and a deification of the patri- 
 arch Noah. Mizraim was also made the local god 
 of a city of the eastern Delta, under his primitive 
 name of Osiris, that is nsv, Iozar, " the potter/' 
 The patriarch Ham, in like manner, took the form 
 of Ammon. The demonstration of all this belongs 
 
AT THE TIME OF ABRAM. 13 
 
 to the history of Egypt : I have there fully worked 
 it out, and have now merely to refer to it.* 
 
 The monuments found in the Delta (the district 
 immediately to the northward of Memphis and He- 
 liopolis) all belong to a much later period of the 
 history of Egypt. An interval of many centuries 
 separates the two. This circumstance also we shall 
 find to harmonize with beautiful exactitude with that 
 which is inferred in the inspired history. 
 
 § 2. THE STATE OF EGYPT AT THE TIME OF THE VISIT 
 OF ABRAM. 
 
 The events that immediately followed the call of 
 Abram from Ur of the Chaldees are thus related 
 in the concise narrative of them embodied in the 
 Bible. 
 
 " And Abram passed through the land unto the 
 place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the 
 Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord 
 appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will 
 I give this land ; and there builded he an altar unto 
 the Lord who appeared unto him. And he removed 
 from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, 
 and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and 
 Hai on the east : and there he builded an altar unto 
 the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. 
 
 * The Monumental History of Egypt. (Binns and Goodwin.) 
 
14 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the 
 south/' Gen. xii. 6 — 9. 
 
 This is the history of the period that elapsed be- 
 tween the call of Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, 
 and his going down into Egypt. It presents to us 
 Abram as the chief or head of a nomade tribe, 
 pitching his tent in the places most favourable for 
 the pasturage of his many cattle, and for this reason 
 often changing his place. We infer from these con- 
 siderations, that but a brief period is comprehended 
 in this portion of the narrative. Tt proceeds thus: — 
 " And there was a famine in the land : and Abram 
 went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine 
 was grievous in the land. And it came to pass 
 when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he 
 said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that 
 thou art a fair woman to look upon : therefore it 
 shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see 
 thee, that they shall say, This is his wife ; and they 
 will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray 
 thee, that thou art my sister, that it may be well with 
 me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because 
 of thee. And it came to pass, that when Abram 
 came into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman 
 that she was very fair. The princes also of Pha- 
 raoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh : 
 and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 
 And he entreated Abram well for her sake : and he 
 
AT THE TIME OF ABRAM. 15 
 
 had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-ser- 
 vants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels. 
 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house, with 
 great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And 
 Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this thou 
 hast done to me ? Why didst thou not tell me she 
 was thy wife ? Why saidst thou, She is my sister ? 
 so I might have taken her to me to wife : now 
 therefore behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. 
 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him : 
 and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that 
 he had. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, 
 and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, 
 into the south [of Canaan]. And Abram was very 
 rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold/' Gen. xii. xiii. 
 This passage, like those we have already quoted, 
 receives large and important illustration from the 
 recovery of the mode of reading the inscriptions 
 that cover the remains of Ancient Egypt. The re- 
 markable circumstances arising out of it, we take to 
 be, the settlement of a monarchy in Egypt at so 
 early a period, and the migration thither. The 
 question of the existence of a kingdom so early has 
 already been mentioned. We only state here that 
 the monuments, when compared with the lists of 
 kings, distinctly elicit the fact, that at the time of 
 Abram' s visit, the Egyptian monarchy had existed 
 for some centuries. 
 
16 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 In regard of Abram's migration into Egypt, a 
 difficulty seems to arise from another passage in the 
 same inspired book, which declares that " every 
 shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians/' (xlvi. 
 34.) Yet not only does Abram go down into Egypt, 
 following the exclusive occupation of a shepherd or 
 cattle-feeder, without scruple, when the famine be- 
 fals the land of Canaan, but he sojourns there ; and 
 with his family is received at the court of Pharaoh. 
 The political condition of Egypt, and especially of 
 the Delta, the northernmost portion of the valley 
 into which Abram must have emigrated, which the 
 reading of the hieroglyphics has disclosed, obviates 
 this difficulty. 
 
 The narratives which the Greeks had copied from 
 the temples of Egypt relate, that at a remote period 
 of her history, shepherds of Canaan invaded the 
 country, drove the reigning native Pharaoh from 
 Memphis, and retained possession of that capital, 
 and of the rest of Egypt for a long period. They 
 proceed with long accounts of the destruction of 
 temples, the massacre of the Egyptians, their sale as 
 slaves, and other indignities, and barbarities com- 
 mitted by the Shepherds upon the aborigines. The 
 monuments however, tell altogether a different story. 
 According to them, there were at this period two 
 dynasties of kings reigning in Egypt at the same 
 time, each pretending to be kings of all Egypt. Both 
 
AT THE TIME OF ABRAM. 17 
 
 were the lineal descendants of Menes, the first king, 
 who also first crossed the Nile and built the city of 
 Memphis, on the western bank, overcoming the chil- 
 dren of Phut who were settled in that locality. He 
 then married the daughter of the Phutite king whom 
 he had conquered, and ruled over his kingdom which 
 he added to Egypt. He still further benefited his 
 country by diverting the course of the Nile, causing 
 it to flow more to the eastward than heretofore. By 
 this work he greatly increased the fertility, not of 
 the land around his new city of Memphis only, but 
 also of Heliopolis, and one or two other localities on 
 the eastern border of the Delta, where cities were at 
 this time also in process of being founded by the 
 Migraites. Menes was the son of the founder and 
 petty king of one of these rising cities, Tanis, the 
 Zoan of our quotation. Such was the reputation 
 which Menes acquired by these good works among 
 his tribe and kindred, both for himself and his 
 family, that he was unanimously elected king of Up- 
 per Egypt, or Egypt on the left bank of the Nile, and 
 his father or brother king of Lower Egypt, or Egypt 
 on the right bank. This division of the kingdom 
 and these two co-regent families of kings, both of 
 the race of Menes, continued actually up to the 
 period of the Exodus, and formally up to the extinc- 
 tion of the monarchy. Both lines pretended to the 
 whole kingdom, and never waived this pretension, 
 
 c 
 
18 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 even when there was peace between them. It was 
 in these strange political circumstances that the fable 
 of the shepherd invasion originated. The dominions 
 of the Lower Egyptian Pharaohs had, at the time of 
 it, been for more than two centuries circumscribed 
 within the limits of a province or two, on the ex- 
 treme eastern border of the Delta, by the successes 
 of the rival pretension. They were compelled by 
 this their position, to seek the alliance of the Ca- 
 naanites, who, as shepherds or merchants, ranged 
 the desert of Suez. Abram's visit to Egypt took 
 place at this period. The Pharaoh with whom he 
 had intercourse was a Lower Egyptian king, one of 
 the 10th dynasty of the lists. Sebennytus in the 
 eastern Delta was his chief city.* This explanation, 
 for which we are altogether indebted to the monu- 
 ments, converts our seeming difficulty into a high 
 probability. 
 
 The alliances with Canaan of these Sebennyte 
 Pharaohs, enabled them about a century afterwards, 
 with the help of their auxiliaries, to become once 
 more the aggressors upon the dominions of the 
 Upper Egyptian Pharaohs. They retook Memphis, 
 
 * It is called Heracleopolis in the lists of Manetho, who was a native 
 of it, because Hercules was its local god, and because Manetho did not 
 care to expose what he felt to be a disgrace to his native city — viz. that it 
 had been the capital of a race of shepherd-kings. Sebennytus is the 
 n^D Seveneh of the Bible, Ezek. xxix. 10, where it is translated by 
 mistake, Syene. 
 
AT THE TIME OF ABRAM, 19 
 
 and expelled the rival pretension from the whole of 
 Egypt. The history of this war was written by the 
 partizans of the defeated faction. They therefore 
 named the Lower Egyptians, foreigners ; and the 
 Sebennyte Pharaohs, shepherd-kings, in reproach 
 and derision. The monarchs thus designated were 
 nevertheless natives of Egypt, and the lineal de- 
 scendants of Menes. The monuments declare this 
 fact clearly and unequivocally. It cannot be too 
 early or too plainly stated. 
 
 The circumstance that " every shepherd was an 
 abomination to the Egyptians/' was a far older 
 rivalry than this. It began with Cain and Abel. 
 It was that between the husbandman and the herds- 
 man. Egypt was especially the land of the former, 
 and therefore the latter was unclean in it ; and re- 
 mained so, even to the end of the monarchy. 
 
 These, and many more such facts, have appeared 
 from the reading of the writings on the ruins of 
 Egypt. They are highly interesting and important ; 
 needful to be known, not by the Biblical critic only, 
 but also by every reader of the Bible. Yet do they 
 remain to this day absolutely inaccessible to either 
 class of students. The knowledge of them is strictly 
 confined to the few who have devoted themselves to 
 a most laborious and uninviting subject, and they 
 ~are themselves altogether the issue of their long- 
 continued and unnoticed labours. It is the prac- 
 
 C 2 
 
20 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 tical results of those labours in the illustration and 
 verification of the portions of Holy Writ which dis- 
 course of Israel in Egypt, that we purpose to lay 
 before the general reader ; omitting the processes 
 and analyses whereby they have been worked out, 
 as not essential to the matter in hand. We do not 
 fear to state that, as we proceed with the history of 
 Israel in Egypt, we shall find the illustration thrown 
 upon the inspired narrative by the monuments of 
 the latter, progressively increasing in value and im- 
 portance, so as triumphantly to establish the validity 
 of the anticipations of great light upon the Bible 
 from Ancient Egypt, and also to afford a proof of 
 the Divine purpose in the wondrous preservation of 
 her monuments. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 An interval of 215 years elapses after the sojourn 
 of Abram in Egypt, and then the valley of the Nile 
 becomes once more the scene of the inspired nar- 
 rative : — 
 
 " And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father 
 was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are 
 the generations of Jacob. Joseph being seventeen 
 years old, was feeding his flock with his brethren ; 
 and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with 
 the sons of Zilpah his father's wives. And Joseph 
 brought unto his father their evil report. Now 
 Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, be- 
 cause he was the son of his old age ; and he made 
 him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren 
 saw that their father loved him more than all his 
 brethren, they hated him, and could not speak 
 peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, 
 
22 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet 
 the more. . . . 
 
 " And his brethren envied him, but his father ob- 
 served the saying. 
 
 " And his brethren went to feed their father's flock 
 in Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy 
 brethren depasturein Shechem? come, and I will send 
 thee unto them. And he said unto him, Here am 
 T. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether 
 it be well with thy brethren, and well with the 
 flocks ; and bring me word again. So he sent him 
 out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 
 
 And a certain man found him, and behold he 
 was wandering in the fields ; and the man asked him, 
 saying, What seekest thou ? And he said, I seek 
 my brethren ; tell me, I pray thee, where they de- 
 pasture ? And the man said, They are departed 
 hence, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. 
 And Joseph went after his brethren and found them 
 in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even 
 before he came near unto them, they conspired 
 against him to slay him. And they said one to 
 another, Behold this dreamer cometh. Come now? 
 therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into 
 some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath de- 
 voured him ; and we shall see what will become of 
 his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered 
 him out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 23 
 
 him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, 
 but cast him into the pit that is in the wilderness, 
 and lay no hand upon him ; that he might rid him 
 out of their hands to deliver him to his father again. 
 
 " And it came to pass when Joseph was come unto 
 his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, 
 his coat of colours that was on him. And they took 
 him and cast him into a pit : and the pit was 
 empty : there was no water in it. And they sate 
 down to eat bread : and they lifted up their eves, 
 and behold a company of Ishmaelites came from 
 Grilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm 
 and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And 
 Judah said unto his brethren, What profit to slay 
 our brother and conceal his blood ? Gome, let us 
 sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be 
 upon him, for he is our brother, and our flesh. And 
 his brethren were content. Then there passed by 
 Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted 
 up Joseph from the pit, and sold Joseph to the 
 Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver ; and they 
 brought Joseph into Egypt. . . . 
 
 (c And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto 
 Potiphar, a prince (saris) of Pharaoh, and sar 
 hattabachim. Gen. xxxvii. 1—5, 11 — 28, 86. 
 
 So familiar are the words of this narrative be- 
 come through frequent use, that we often overlook 
 the truthful touches with which it abounds, and 
 
24 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 which show out into bold relief and reality, the 
 lives and the thoughts, and the habits of those 
 primitive rangers of the Sinaitic desert. This how- 
 ever, is not the object with which we quote it on 
 the present occasion. Joseph is gone down into 
 Egypt, and we hasten to follow him thither. 
 
 The merchants or traders to whom Joseph was 
 sold were Ishmaelites by descent, and Midianites by 
 nation. Midian was the portion of the Sinaitic desert 
 which lay immediately adjacent to the eastern fron- 
 tier of Egypt. At the time now under consideration 
 (that of the so-called shepherd-kingdom) Midian was 
 apparently common ground to Egypt and Canaan. 
 In the days of Moses, when the shepherds had been 
 expelled, the limits of Egypt were better defined, 
 and we shall find that then Midian was out of her 
 jurisdiction. No monument has been found in this 
 part of the desert whence it could be inferred that 
 Egypt ever pretended to it : though somewhat to 
 the southward, the minerals of the Wady Meghara 
 had in the days of Joseph been the object of con- 
 tention between the Pharaohs and Canaan for some 
 centuries. The records of their strife remain written 
 on the rocks at this day. But Midian was a country 
 presenting no attractions whatever to the Egyptian 
 colonists. Its sterile plains and dreary precipitous 
 valleys afforded no home to those who had dwelt in 
 cities on the banks of the fruitful Nile. The scanty 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 25 
 
 innutritive herbage called forth by the thin rills of 
 brackish water that here and there showed them- 
 selves, scarcely sufficed to keep alive the lean herds 
 with which the hardy sons of Ishmael depastured 
 it in their periodical wanderings over this dreary 
 waste. By profession they were merchants. They 
 carried to Canaan the corn, the wine, the oil, the 
 linen of Egypt. They returned to Egypt with the 
 spicery, the balm, the myrrh, the precious woods, 
 the minerals of Canaan. Spicery only is mentioned 
 in the inspired narrative before us. The clan to 
 which Joseph was sold traded in this article alone. 
 The demand for it in Egypt was enormous. The 
 careful examination of the mummies of different 
 epochs establishes the fact that at these remote 
 periods it was used in the embalmment both of men 
 and sacred animals, to an extent which was not 
 practicable in after times, through the failure of 
 the supply. 
 
 The twenty pieces or rings of silver, which these 
 merchants paid the hardened profligates, as the 
 price of their brother, was, at this age of the world, 
 by no means the small amount that it sounds in 
 modern ears. Silver always takes the precedence of 
 gold, when both are enumerated in the earlier por- 
 tions of the inspired narrative. The same is the 
 case in the hieroglyphic texts ; silver is always men- 
 tioned before gold, as the more precious metal, both 
 
26 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 on account of its comparative rarity, and because of 
 its more extensive use in the adornment and utensils 
 of the temples on account of its colour. Whiteness 
 and purity were inseparably connected in the Egyp- 
 tian mythology. 
 
 That these desert merchants brought into Egypt 
 Canaanite slaves amongst other commodities, is a 
 fact which is abundantly confirmed and amply illus- 
 trated by cotemporary remains of the times of Joseph 
 and of those that immediately preceded him. As 
 early as the epoch of the Pyramids, three centuries 
 before Joseph, Canaanite men and women perform 
 as posturers, tumblers, and jugglers, before the princes 
 of Egypt as they sate and banquetted.* About 150 
 years afterwards, hundreds of Canaanite slaves are 
 depicted wrestling and fighting as gladiators before 
 Chetei, a prince of the court of Osortasen I., of the 
 12th dynasty. The tomb of this prince is at Beni- 
 hassan. In the same locality is a still more re- 
 markable proof of the traffic in slaves with Canaan, 
 and of a period approaching still nearer to that of 
 Joseph. It is the picture of the ceremonies that 
 took place on the delivery of thirty-seven makers 
 (or pounders) of stibium (or powdered antimony for 
 the eye), which were purchased by Noh-hotp II., one 
 of the excavators of the tomb, of a chief or petty 
 king of the Jebusites. The chief, his clan, and his 
 
 * e. g. the tomb of Imai 5 one of the princes of Suphis. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 27 
 
 presents are represented in the picture, but not the 
 slaves. The picture is well known in England ; for 
 since the publication of it twenty years ago, by 
 Rosellini,* it has been frequently copied into English 
 books, and many conjectures have been hazarded as 
 to its import, The hieroglyphics that accompany it 
 explain very clearly what it means. It is " the de- 
 livery of the stibium-makers which the great chief 
 of the Jebusites hath brought, even thirty-seven 
 captives of his club/' The transaction took place in 
 the sixth year of Osortasen II., the second successor 
 of the former monarch (as we shall presently see), 
 scarcely a century before the times of Joseph. It is 
 impossible therefore for any fact to rest on a firmer 
 basis of monumental evidence, than that the Ca- 
 naanite traders to Egypt were in the constant habit 
 of bringing thither for sale slaves from among their 
 own countrymen, whether enslaved as prisoners of 
 war or by other circumstances. To a rightly consti- 
 tuted mind, evidence like this to the truth of a nar- 
 rative is the most valuable of all. 
 
 The meaning of the name Potiphar is, " he who 
 belongs (is devoted to) the sun/' the local god of On 
 or Heliopolis, at the head of the Delta. This is a 
 point of great importance for the locality in which 
 Potiphar was a resident. 
 
 The title rightly translated " prince" is of constant 
 
 * M. R. Part 26, seq, 
 
28 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 occurrence in the tombs of the magnates of Egypt 
 of the period before us : and, wonderful to tell, the 
 inspired penman has copied it almost letter for letter 
 from the hieroglyphic original — srsh. This title 
 was highly honourable, and always heads the enu- 
 meration of the honours of those to whom it is 
 ascribed. 
 
 The office borne by Potiphar is also one peculiar 
 to Egypt, and described by two Egyptian words, 
 which at a very late period have been assimilated 
 to two later Hebrew words. We believe Potiphar to 
 have been sar toje, i. e. " prefect (inspector) of the 
 plantations/' This is a common office with the 
 princes in the tombs of Ghizeh. 
 
 The Pharaoh to whose court Potiphar was at- 
 tached, and who afterwards became the patron of 
 Joseph, was the king Phiops or Aphophis. All the 
 ancient authorities who have mentioned the subject 
 agree in this with such perfect unanimity, that to 
 reject their testimony is simply to throw overboard 
 all antiquity. Aphophis was one of the Memphite 
 Pharaohs. 
 
 The history of Egypt in the interval that has 
 elapsed since it was last the scene of the inspired 
 narrative, will now require our attention. 
 
 Josephus, the Jewish historian, relates that when 
 Abram first came into Egypt the Egyptians were 
 engaged in a civil war, arising out of differences in 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 29 
 
 religion ; but by the good offices of the patriarch, 
 the two belligerent parties were reconciled, and he 
 left Egypt at peace. The only parts of this story of 
 the slightest historical value are the statements that 
 there was a religious civil war in Egypt when Abram 
 came thither, and that it had ceased when he de- 
 parted thence. Had such not been the fact, Apion 
 and the keepers of the temple-records, with whom 
 Josephus was in controversy, would haye been too 
 happy to haye pointed out the error. The rest of 
 the story they would treat as a mere korwpology, as 
 it was called, that is, a boast for the purpose of mag- 
 nifying his own nation, and for which his own books 
 furnished him with the authority. This was the 
 universal mode of writing history in those days. 
 Now it is the fact that shortly before the times of 
 Abraham a great religious feud arose in Egypt. The 
 cotemporary monuments are the unerring witnesses 
 to this fact. An imperfect hint at such an event- 
 may be detected in the account of Egypt in Hero- 
 dotus the Greek historian ; but without their inter- 
 pretation no human sagacity could have eliminated 
 the truth from his legend. He however visited 
 Egypt in utter ignorance of the language, and was 
 therefore altogether at the mercy of the mendacious 
 priesthood, and of his far from honest interpreter. 
 According to the legend in question, the names and 
 memories of Cheops and Cephrenes, the builders of 
 
SO JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 the two great pyramids at Grhizeh, a part of the 
 cemetery of Memphis, were held in great detestation, 
 whereas Mencheres, the monarch who constructed 
 the third and smaller pyramid in their immediate 
 vicinity, was honoured as one of the most eminent 
 of the benefactors of Egypt. The closing of temples 
 was one of the atrocities ascribed to the two delin- 
 quent Pharaohs. Their re-construction was one of 
 the blessings conferred upon Egypt by Mencheres. 
 
 Such is the legend ; and the present condition of the 
 three pyramids certainly sanctions the assumption, 
 that it is not altogether without some foundation in 
 fact. The external casing of granite that once 
 covered the pyramids of Cheops and Cephrenes, had 
 been removed in the days of Herodotus, B.C. 450 : 
 their appearance at this day is exactly that which 
 he describes. But their bases are encumbered with 
 chips and splinters of this material, worked off by 
 the sculptor's chisel, to an extent and depth of 
 which no one who has not actually visited them can 
 form any conception. These pyramids, after their 
 desecration, have evidently served for ages as the 
 quarry whence the adjacent cities drew their supply 
 of this (in Lower Egypt) precious and costly mate- 
 rial. But of the neighbouring pyramid of Mencheres, 
 more than one half of the granite casing now re- 
 mains, and of the rest, many huge blocks, untouched, 
 lie strewn about its base, bearing all the marks of 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. ol 
 
 comparatively recent removal. Visibly it was not 
 until the final extinction of the Egyptian idolatry, 
 and for the construction of churches and mosques, 
 that the dilapidation of the pyramid of Mencheres 
 was begun. Yet, if we examine the tombs of the 
 princes, the nobles, and warriors of these three 
 monarchs that surround their pyramids, in numbers 
 incredible, we shall find that for the reclaiming of 
 waste lands, and for the conquest of foreign ene- 
 mies, Cheops and Cephrenes were far greater bene- 
 factors to Egypt than Mencheres. The comparison 
 of the monuments of the three bring out neverthe- 
 less a difference which solves the difficulty. It is in 
 the religious tenets of the two epochs, and may be 
 thus explained. In the days of Cheops and Ceph- 
 renes, every king of Egypt became a god on his 
 decease, and was worshipped in his pyramid, and 
 associated in divine honours with the dead patri- 
 archs of their original pantheon. But in the days 
 of Mencheres (about a century afterwards, accord- 
 ing to the monuments,)* this king-worship ceases 
 altogether, and the dead patriarchs are the only 
 gods. Osiris also, who is Mizraim, the tutelary of 
 Abydos, and who is never once mentioned on the 
 tombs of the former epoch, first assumes on the 
 monuments of Mencheres the office of king of the 
 dead, which he ever afterwards retained in the 
 
 * The Greek lists are not to be relied upon. 
 
32 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 Egyptian mythology. The motive for this elevation 
 is a perfectly obvious and natural one, according to 
 the modes of thought that prevailed in the ancient 
 world. The deceased patriarch who founded the 
 Egyptian monarchy was jure divino, the king of all 
 dead Egyptians. Mencheres merely gave him his 
 rights. 
 
 A civil war in Egypt was the consequence of the 
 changes in religion effected by Mencheres. The 
 monuments and the lists combine in their indication 
 of trouble and confusion in the times that follow 
 his. Now, if Abranij (according to the uncontra- 
 dicted tradition of Josephus), came into Egypt while 
 this civil war was raging, and if it ceased before his 
 departure, the time of this cessation corresponds, of 
 course, with that of Abram's visit. We know the 
 time in the history of Egypt, when this peace was 
 concluded. It was at the commencement of the 
 12th dynasty of kings, as it is called in the lists. 
 We know it by this : the lists then come once more 
 into perfect harmony with the monuments ; whereas, 
 for the five preceding dynasties, nothing can be made 
 of the lists when compared with the monuments. 
 They tell of hundreds of kings, mostly nameless ; 
 whereas the monuments interpose five kings only 
 between the last monarch of the sixth dynasty, and 
 the first of the 12th, and of those five, four are found 
 nowhere but in genealogies. The conclusion regarding 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 33 
 
 the lists which this comparison suggests, is fully es- 
 tablished by the recurrence of the same confusion in 
 every other period of anarchy throughout the history 
 of the monarchy. Advantage was afterwards taken 
 by the priesthood, of such times, to insert in their 
 lists dynasties of nameless kings reigning through 
 fabulous centuries, for the purpose of exaggerating 
 thereby the antiquity of Egypt. 
 
 The inspired narrative very satisfactorily confirms 
 this our assumed date for the visit of Abram to 
 Egypt. The commencement of the 12th dynasty 
 precedes the times of Phiops or Aphophis by about 
 two centuries : — which is also the proximate inter- 
 val between the epochs of Abram and Joseph. 
 
 A time of great prosperity, lasting for upwards of 
 a century, is the combined indication of the monu- 
 ments and the lists, as the consequence of this paci- 
 fication. The adherents of Mencheres were clearly 
 in the ascendant, and were the unquestioned rulers 
 of all Egypt. They extended the bounds of Egypt 
 far to the southward. The greater part of Nubia 
 was added by them to the monarchy, and it is in 
 this quarter only that their monuments shew their 
 territorial acquisitions to have been made. Their 
 northern frontier must in the nature of things have 
 been comparatively neglected : — for at this earlier 
 period it is not possible that their forces would be 
 sufficient adequately to maintain both frontiers. 
 
 D 
 
34 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 We have said that the religious tenets prevalent were 
 those of Mencheres. This sufficiently appears by 
 their writing their names in two rings ; a practice 
 which commences with the immediate successors of 
 Mencheres. 
 
 That the adherents of the old religion would be 
 exceedingly depressed, and probably persecuted dur- 
 ing this period, we may readily suppose ; but at the 
 same time it is not at all likely that the schism 
 should have been healed. We therefore find, with- 
 out any surprise, that the shepherd-kings have left 
 us the evidence that they still received the old reli- 
 gion, by writing their names in one ring only. 
 Nothing is more likely, than that their co-religionists 
 in Egypt proper, would flee from the persecution of 
 the opposite party, to the strongholds which the 
 shepherds had built in the swamps of the Delta, and 
 that thereby the shepherds would receive a consider- 
 able accession of force. The attention of the native 
 Pharaohs was so centred upon the Southern frontier 
 of the kingdom, that they would scarcely perceive 
 the danger that threatened it from the North. These 
 considerations render natural and probable the event 
 that actually followed. During the reign of the 
 seventh monarch of the 12th dynasty, who is called 
 in the lists Ammenemes, in a fragment of their tem- 
 ple histories preserved by Josephus,* Amun Timceus, 
 
 * Against Apion. Vol. I. c. 14. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 35 
 
 and on the monuments Timceus Amenemes, the 
 Shepherds or Lower Egyptians, under a king named 
 Saites, made a sudden incursion into Middle Egypt, 
 defeated Amun Timoeus, and obtained possession of 
 Memphis, which they made their ecclesiastical capi- 
 tal during six successive reigns, and for a period of 
 somewhat more than a century. 
 
 The conquests of the Shepherds or Lower Egypt- 
 ians extended far to the southwards. There is 
 monumental evidence that they were at Essiout, 
 which is near Abydos, on the southern frontier 
 of Middle Egypt. Amun Timoeus seems to have 
 fled before them. The later monuments of his 
 long reign, and those of his few obscure successors, 
 are all found very far in Ethiopia. These, however, 
 are matters which belong to the history of Egypt. 
 We return to the Delta and the Lower Egyptian 
 kingdom : Aphophis, or Phiops, was the third or 
 fourth successor of Saites. His political capital 
 was Heliopolis. The proof of this, which is per- 
 fectly irrefragable, we shall consider hereafter. 
 
 Joseph, then, is at On, or Heliopolis, at the crown 
 of the Delta, a magnificent city, famous in after 
 ages for the number, magnitude and beauty of its 
 temples, all dedicated to Re Athom, — i. e, to the 
 sun as the father of the gods, impersonate in Adam 
 the father of mankind. The obelisks with which 
 ancient Rome was adorned, and which still remain 
 
 D 2 
 
36 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 in modern Rome, were all brought from the ruined 
 temples of Heliopolis. This is the united testimony 
 of their inscriptions, and of the classic authors. One 
 obelisk remains upright to this day, amid its sand- 
 covered ruins. It is of a more ancient date than any 
 in Rome, of the times of Osortasen I. of the 12th 
 dynasty. When Joseph arrived at Heliopolis, it had 
 stood where it now stands, for more than a century. 
 
 The Hebrew boy has been sold to Potiphar, one 
 of the princes of Pharaoh Aphophis, and the in- 
 spector of the royal plantations. 
 
 " And Joseph was brought down into Egypt ; and 
 Potiphar, a prince of Pharaoh, and inspector of the 
 plantations, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands 
 of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down 
 thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he 
 was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of 
 his master the Egyptian. 
 
 " And his master saw that the Lord was with 
 him, and that the Lord made all that he did to 
 prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in 
 his sight, and he served him ; and he set him over 
 all his house, and all that he had he put into his 
 hand. And it came to pass, from the time that he 
 had set him over all his house and over all that he 
 had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for 
 Joseph's sake ; and the blessing of the Lord was 
 upon all that he had in the house and in the field. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 37 
 
 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and 
 knew not ought he had, save the bread which he 
 did eat/' Gen. xxxix. 1 — 6. 
 
 An expression is used in this portion of the in- 
 spired narrative, of a very remarkable character. 
 "We are told that Potiphar was an Egyptian. This 
 would appear, at first sight, to be a very needless 
 piece of information regarding a prince of Egypt 
 residing in his native city ; yet is the expression 
 thrice repeated. In this very concise narrative, 
 wherein no words are wasted and nothing is written 
 in vain, we cannot doubt that the peculiar circum- 
 stances of Egypt at the time of Joseph's deportation 
 thither, have suggested this expression. In ordi- 
 nary cases it would have been a mere pleonasm to 
 write that a prince of Egypt residing at Thebes, or 
 any other city of Egypt, was himself an Egyptian : 
 that would follow as a matter of course. But, at 
 Heliopolis, in the days of Aphophis, when there 
 were Canaanites both in the court and camp of 
 Pharaoh, the case was very different ; and it was 
 of the last importance to the descendants of Joseph, 
 in after times, to know that their progenitor had 
 been a bond-slave in the house, not of one of the 
 accursed and devoted race of Canaan, but of a prince 
 of Egypt, a lineal descendant from Mizraim, and the 
 first settlers, — having his estate at Heliopolis, and 
 named hereditarily after the local god of his native 
 
38 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 city. In these circumstances have originated the 
 triple repetition of the fact that Potiphar was an 
 Egyptian. 
 
 The office held by Joseph in the house of Poti- 
 phar, is frequently represented in the paintings on 
 the tombs of this epoch. Their testimony also 
 amply confirms that of the inspired narrative. All 
 the servants in the houses of the princes of Egypt 
 were bond-slaves. 
 
 " And Joseph was a goodly person and well- 
 favoured. And it came to pass after these things, 
 that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph ; 
 and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and 
 said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wot- 
 teth not what is with me in the house, and he hath 
 committed all that he hath into my hand ; there is 
 none greater in his house than I ; neither hath he 
 kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou 
 art his wife. How then can I do this great wick- 
 edness, and sin against God ? 
 
 " And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph 
 went into the house to do his business ; and there 
 was none of the men of the house there within. 
 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie 
 with me ; and he left his garment in her hand, and 
 fled, and gat him out. 
 
 " And it came to pass, when she saw that he had 
 left his garment in her hand and was fled forth, 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 89 
 
 that she called unto the men of her house, and she 
 spake unto them, saying. See. he hath brought in 
 an Hebrew unto us to mock us ; he came in to lie 
 with me and I cried with a loud voice. And it 
 came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my 
 voice and cried, that he left his garment with me 
 and fled, and gat him out. And she laid up his 
 garment until his lord came home. 
 
 " And she spake unto him according to these 
 words, saving, The Hebrew slave which thou hast 
 brought unto me, came in unto me to mock me ; and 
 it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried, 
 that he left his garment with me and fled out." 
 Gen. xxxix. 9 — ]S. 
 
 For any illustration of the barefaced profligacy 
 of this scene we shall search the tombs of Egypt in 
 vain. They are exclusively devoted to the praises 
 of their inmates, and in no country that ever ex- 
 isted were sins of this character more rigorously 
 prohibited, or visited with severer punishment ; but 
 we shall find there that which renders our narrative 
 in the highest degree probable, in the ample details 
 of the lives of luxury and ease and self-indulgence 
 which were led by the haughty dames of Ancient 
 Egypt. Scores of the princesses and noble ladies of 
 these times have left on the walls of their tombs the 
 imperishable records of the state and magnificence 
 in the midst of which thev lived. The luxurv of 
 
40 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 their couches, the long trains of attendants that made 
 their sumptuous toilettes, the stibium-boxes, the 
 metal mirrors, the numberless little appliances con- 
 nected therewith, buried with their owners as their 
 most valued property, and remaining to this day 
 the visible tangible witnesses of their luxury ; 
 their rings and jewels, their robes in endless va- 
 riety, of all these likewise we can produce the yet 
 existing testimonies ; while we learn from the re- 
 liefs in the tombs where they were found, the 
 sumptuous banquets of most elaborate cookery that 
 were spread before them, and the soft music that 
 played, and the lascivious dances that were per- 
 formed by male and female slaves in attendance, 
 while they partook of them. Ocular demonstration 
 of " the pride, the fulness of bread, and the abun- 
 dance of idleness/' of the ladies of Egypt would 
 thus be laid before the reader, and all of the precise 
 time now before us. These pictures, we repeat it, 
 would form the most instructive and perfect com- 
 ment upon the passage now under consideration 
 that could be imagined. 
 
 " And it came to pass when his master heard the 
 words of his wife, that his wrath was kindled. And 
 Joseph's master took him and put him into the 
 prison, a place where the king's prisoners were 
 bound : and he was there in the prison." Gen. 
 xxxix. 19, 20. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 41 
 
 The " king's prisoners" in Egypt were prisoners 
 of war. They were incarcerated in cells built of 
 brick, around the precincts of the temples and 
 palaces during the night; in the day-time they were 
 employed in making bricks and other drudgery 
 connected with the building, which apparently was 
 never considered to be finished, For the fact that 
 delinquent slaves belonging to the households of 
 Pharaoh and his princes were associated with the 
 prisoners of war, we are altogether indebted to this 
 narrative. The arrangement was a highly probable 
 one. 
 
 " But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him 
 mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the 
 keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison 
 committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that 
 were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, 
 he was the director of it. The keeper of the prison 
 looked not to any thing that was under his hand, 
 because the Lord was with him, and that which he 
 did, the Lord made it to prosper/' Gen. xxxix. 
 21—23. 
 
 Joseph was the officer or task-master over the 
 prisoners. His duties coincided exactly with those 
 of the task-masters over his descendants long 
 afterwards. A fixed amount of labour was required 
 of the jailor, and his superiors never enquired into 
 the means whereby it was exacted. The skill and 
 
42 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 tact of Joseph in obtaining this, recommended him to 
 his keeper. These prisons were apparently regarded 
 as an indispensable appendage to every great con- 
 struction in Egypt. The reliefs upon the walls of 
 the temples give fearful indications of the cruelties 
 exercised upon their unhappy inmates. Yet the 
 Divine blessing can send prosperity even into such 
 a den of misery ! This is a consolatory reflection 
 to those who believe the Bible. 
 
 " And it came to pass after these things, that the 
 eellarman, [keeper of the drinks] of the king of 
 Egypt, and his cook, had offended their lord the 
 king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wroth against 
 two of his princes [saris,] against the sar of his vine- 
 yards, and against the sar of his cooks/' 
 
 These princes were equal, probably superior in 
 rank to Potiphar. Their offices were of the highest 
 possible consideration. In all pictures of banquets, 
 the eldest son hands the viands and the cup to the 
 father of the family, the eldest daughter to the 
 mother. This is especially the case with Pharaoh, 
 so that in all probability these were princes of the 
 blood ^3EI • I* * s ver y important that this 
 should be understood, as otherwise the force of the 
 succeeding narrative is greatly weakened. 
 
 The very ample illustration of which both these 
 offices are susceptible, from the paintings on tombs 
 contemporary with the epoch before us, again sug- 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 43 
 
 gests the regret we have already expressed, at the 
 want of interest in the question, that withholds all 
 public encouragement from its pursuit, and renders 
 such illustration impossible. 
 
 It will be perceived that the principle of the law 
 of Egypt we have before explained, is also in force 
 in the present instance. The superior alone is held 
 responsible for the whole of the acts of his subor- 
 dinates. Both the departments here in question 
 were of an extent and importance in Ancient Egypt, 
 of which our modern notions will receive but a 
 faint impression. Even in the establishments of the 
 princes and nobles, hundreds of men were employed 
 in gathering the grapes and pressing and storing 
 the wine, and also in the preparation of the viands, 
 for a single banquet of frequent periodical recur- 
 rence. There were more than a hundred dishes 
 served in the tri-monthly festivals in honour of the 
 dead, held in the tomb of Nahrai at Benihassan. 
 The bill of fare yet remains. This is also the case 
 with many other tombs. The offence with which 
 those two princes were charged must have been of 
 a very grave character, connected in all probability 
 with some attempt to administer poison. They 
 would not otherwise have been committed to the 
 slave prison. 
 
 {i And they (the captive princes) dreamed a dream 
 both of them, each man his dream in one night, 
 
44 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 each man according to the interpretation of his 
 dream, the vintner and the house-steward of the 
 king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. 
 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning and 
 looked at them, and behold they were sad. And he 
 asked Pharaoh's princes that were with him in the 
 prison, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to-day ? 
 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, 
 and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said 
 unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God ? 
 Tell me them, I pray you. And he that was over 
 the vineyards told his dream to Joseph, and said 
 unto him, In my dream behold a vine was before 
 me. And in the vine were three branches ; and it 
 was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot 
 forth ; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe 
 grapes. And Pharaoh's cup w r as in my hand, and I 
 took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup ; 
 and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph 
 said unto him, This is the interpretation of it : the 
 three branches are three days. Yet within three 
 days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head and restore 
 thee unto thy place ; and thou shalt deliver Pha- 
 raoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner 
 when thou wast his vintner." Exod. xl. 5 — 13. 
 
 This passage clearly indicates the office held by 
 the functionary in the court of Pharaoh. He had 
 the oversight both of the king's vineyards and the 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 45 
 
 king's cellars, as well as the function of cup-bearer 
 to Pharaoh. The office was highly esteemed in An- 
 cient Egypt. Many of the princes of the courts of 
 Suphis and Sephres have inscribed it in the long 
 catalogue of their titles. The peculiarities of the 
 climate and soil of Egypt are especially suited to the 
 culture of the vine, and of these days of old scarcely 
 a tomb remains in which the entire process of the 
 vintner's art, from the planting and watering of the 
 vine-stocks up to the pouring of the expressed juice 
 from vessel to vessel, and storing it in earthen jars ; 
 is not most carefully and elaborately depicted. That 
 the oversight of the royal vineyards was also asso- 
 ciated with the function of cup-bearer to the king is 
 highly probable, though for the formal statement of 
 the fact we are indebted altogether to the passage 
 before us. It was once imagined that the vine did 
 not grow in Egypt in ancient times, because Hero- 
 dotus and the Greek authors do not mention it. We 
 believe one of the infidel objections of the last cen- 
 tury to the passage before us was founded upon 
 this circumstance. The tombs, however, have a voice 
 to answer it. 
 
 " But think on me when it shall be well with 
 thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me ; and 
 make mention of me unto Phoraoh, and bring me 
 out of this house. For indeed, I was stolen away 
 out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have 
 
46 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 I done nothing, that they should put me into the 
 dungeon/' 
 
 "And it came to pass the third day, even Pharaoh's 
 birthday, that he made a banquet for all his court 
 (entourage), — and he restored the prince of the vine- 
 yards to his office again, and he gave the cup into 
 Pharaoh's hand/'. . . . 
 
 " Yet did not the prince of the vineyards remem- 
 ber Joseph, but forgat him." Gren. xl. 14, 15, 20, 
 21, 23. 
 
 For the elucidation of this passage, there is no 
 occasion to dig among the burning sands of Egypt. 
 It is human nature, and every man's experience will 
 amply illustrate it. Happy they who are taught by 
 a trial somewhat less severe, than that undergone 
 by the poor Hebrew boy in the dungeon, that " it is 
 better to trust in the Lord, than to put any confi- 
 dence in princes." Psalm cxlvi. 3. 
 
 " And when the prince, the high steward. (of the 
 cooks, litt), saw that the interpretation was good, he 
 said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and be- 
 hold I had three baskets of white (probably pure) 
 meats upon my head. And in the uppermost basket 
 was all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh ; and the 
 birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." 
 Gen. xl. 16, 17. 
 
 The illustration of this passage to be found in 
 the cotemporary tombs of Egypt, is to the full as 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 47 
 
 important and interesting as those we have already 
 considered. The entire process from the slaughter- 
 ing and flaying of the oxen, the capture and pluck- 
 ing of the birds, and the netting of the fish, up to 
 the serving of the bakemeats upon the guest-tables, 
 are all minutely and elaborately commemorated in 
 these wondrous records of times and customs that 
 have so long past away. The most trifling particular 
 in the passage finds its illustration there. 
 
 When the sons and daughters of the princes of 
 Egypt ^served their parents at table, they carried 
 upon their heads three baskets, one piled upon the 
 other, and in the uppermost are the bakemeats. 
 
 That in crossing the hypsethral courts of the 
 palaces of Egypt, the viands would be exposed to the 
 birds, is a trait of every-day life in hot countries, 
 receiving such familiar illustration in our own pos- 
 sessions in India, that we only notice it for the pur- 
 pose of reminding the reader, that in ancient Egypt 
 the vulture, the eagle, the ibis, and other carnivo- 
 rous birds were held sacred, and to destroy one of 
 them was to incur the penalty of murder. Flights 
 of these voracious creatures haunted the cities of 
 Egypt, and occasioned no little inconvenience to the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 a And Joseph answered and said, This is the inter- 
 pretation thereof. The three baskets are three days. 
 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head 
 
48 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree ; and 
 the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it 
 came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's 
 birthday, that he made a banquet for all his court : 
 and he hanged the high steward, as Joseph had 
 interpreted." Gen. xl. 18, 19, 20, 22. 
 
 The birthday of the reigning king of Egypt was a 
 high festival at all periods of its history. One of 
 the objects of the Rosetta inscription is, to decree 
 the observances to take place on the birthday of 
 Ptolemy Epiphanes.* Many similar decrees of ear- 
 lier periods are also extant, f That it would also 
 be a day for the exercise of justice in a jail delivery, 
 is highly probable, and in accordance with ancient 
 custom : — though here again our text illustrates 
 ancient Egypt, instead of receiving illustration 
 from it. 
 
 The tombs of Egypt contain no records of crimes. 
 It is to the text therefore that we are once more in- 
 debted. Capital punishment was by decapitation in 
 ancient as in modern Egypt at this day. After the 
 execution, the bodies of the criminals of Egypt were 
 hung on trees, to be devoured by the gods of Egypt. 
 Our text alone affords us this information likewise. 
 
 " And it came to pass at the end of two full years, 
 that Pharaoh dreamed a dream, and behold he stood 
 
 * Hieroglyphics, line 10. Greek line 46. 
 f At Medinat Abou, Luxor, &c. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 49 
 
 by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the 
 river seven well-favoured kine and fat-fleshed ; and 
 they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other 
 kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favoured, 
 and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon 
 the brink of the river. And the ill-favoured and 
 lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favoured 
 and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. 
 
 And he slept and dreamed the second time : and, 
 behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, 
 rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and 
 blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. 
 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank 
 and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it 
 was a dream/' Gen. xli. 1 — 7. 
 
 We have already explained, that the Pharaoh of 
 whom this history is related, was the shepherd king 
 Aphophis. This Greek transcription of his name is 
 an opprobrious epithet, as is also the case with all 
 the other names of the shepherd-kings in the Greek 
 lists. His real name was Phiops, or Apappus. He 
 was, as we have seen, a native Pharaoh. His monu- 
 ments are all found at El Birsheh, Souade, and 
 other localities in the south of Middle Egypt, on the 
 eastern bank of the Nile. His capital, as we have 
 already stated, was Heliopolis. Notwithstanding 
 the ill odour in which all the shepherds stood in 
 the fables of the Egyptian priesthood, Aphophis is 
 
50 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 admitted by them to have been a great benefactor 
 to Egypt. 
 
 How completely the dreams of Pharaoh are Egyp- 
 tian, how every peculiarity connected with the pro- 
 ductiveness of Egypt is introduced in them, how 
 the river and its overflow are clearly pointed out as 
 the only causes both of the plenty and the famine, 
 are points with which all readers of the Bible have 
 long been familiar. Again, the point is susceptible 
 of ample and most satisfactory illustration, from the 
 tombs of princes cotemporary with the epoch. The 
 great cattle of Egypt and their diseases are frequent 
 subjects of the reliefs that cover their walls. From 
 them we learn how large a part of the wealth of 
 the princes of Egypt consisted, in these remote times, 
 of their herds. 
 
 " And it came to pass in the morning that his 
 spirit was troubled ; and he sent and called for all 
 the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof; 
 and Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was 
 none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh/' 
 Gen. xli. 8. 
 
 Not much is known as yet of the etymology of 
 the words translated " magicians " and " wise men." 
 We can however explain generally that wisdom in 
 ancient times was connected with the ideas of 
 secrecy and of hidden things. The u magicians w 
 were literally " the whisperers/* and " the wise 
 men/' " they who hide." 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 51 
 
 The Egyptian priesthood was noted at ail epochs 
 for its pretensions to oneirocriticism. Papyri of the 
 Greek and Roman periods, containing the dreams of 
 the professional dreamers of the Serapoeum at Mem- 
 phis and of other temples, are not uncommon in the 
 collections of Europe. 
 
 The divine agency was directly interposed in the 
 present instance, or the oracles of Egypt would not 
 have been dumb on such an occasion. 
 
 " Then spake the overseer of the vineyards unto 
 Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day : 
 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me 
 in ward, even me and the overseer of the cooks. 
 And we dreamed a dream in one night, — I and he ; 
 we dreamed each man according to the interpreta- 
 tion of his dream. And there was with us a youth, 
 a Hebrew, slave to the overseer of the plantations, 
 
 and he interpreted to us our dreams And it 
 
 came to pass, as he interpreted, so it was ; me he 
 restored unto mine office, and him he hanged/' 
 Gen. xli. 9—13. 
 
 This passage is quite conclusive as to the high 
 rank of the overseer of the vineyards. No mere 
 menial would in this manner have been admitted 
 into the councils of Pharaoh and allowed to advise 
 upon the emergency. This is a point of much im- 
 portance to the full intelligence of the entire nar- 
 rative. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 u And Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they 
 brought him hastily out of the dungeon : and he 
 shaved and changed his raiment, and came in unto 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed 
 a dream, and there is none that can interpret it : 
 And I have heard say of thee, that thou canst un- 
 derstand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph 
 answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me : God 
 shall send Pharaoh an answer of peace. And Pha- 
 raoh said unto Joseph, &c And Joseph said 
 
 unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one : God 
 hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The 
 seven good kine are seven years ; and the seven 
 good ears are seven years : the dream is one. And 
 the seven thin ill-favoured kine that came up after 
 them are seven years ; and the seven empty ears 
 blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of 
 famine. This is the thing which I have spoken 
 unto Pharaoh : What God is about to do he sheweth 
 unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of 
 great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt : and 
 there shall arise after them seven years of famine ; 
 and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of 
 Egypt ; and the famine shall consume the land ; 
 and the plenty shall not be known in the land of 
 Egypt by reason of the famine following ; for it 
 shall be very grievous." Gen. xli. 14 — 31. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 53 
 
 The Xile, the waters, and the loam thereof, are 
 the only agents whereby a single blade of grass 
 springs up, or a single corn-blossom expands through- 
 out the land of Egypt. This most patent and un- 
 answerable fact is as fully acknowledged in all the 
 different versions, both of the prediction and the 
 fulfilment of this remarkable narrative, as its im- 
 portance demands. Such being undeniably the 
 case, we have no difficulty in saying what would 
 be the causes of the events predicted. Both the 
 plenty and the famine would originate in some 
 great and marked disturbance of the course and 
 measure of the annual overflow. No such events 
 have since taken place ; and the circumstances are 
 altogether of so extraordinary a character, that we 
 may fairly look for some traces of such a disturb- 
 ance remaining to this day in a land where nothing 
 alters. This point we shall consider hereafter. 
 
 " And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh 
 and in the eyes of all his court. And Pharaoh said 
 unto his courtiers, Can we find such an one as this, 
 a man in whom is the spirit of God ? And Pharaoh 
 said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as Grod hath shewed 
 thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as 
 thou art/' Gen.xli. 37, 38. 
 
 This full acknowledgment of the Divine Being 
 who had imparted such wisdom to the Hebrew 
 slave, comports but ill with our notions of an 
 
54 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 Egyptian idolater; but, nevertheless, we find in 
 the inspired narrative of these very remote periods, 
 many similar proofs that, however mixed up with 
 fable, a conviction of the existence and power of the 
 true God had by no means entirely departed from 
 among men, as at later periods of the history of 
 idolatry. See Gren. xii. 17, 18, &c. 
 
 " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as 
 Grod hath showed thee all this, there is none so dis- 
 creet and wise as thou art. Thou shall be over my 
 house ; and according unto thy word shall all my 
 people be ruled ; only in the throne will I be greater 
 than thou/' Gren. xli. 39, 40. 
 
 The office of Joseph is a not uncommon one among 
 the princes of Egypt. !^^n I* corresponds to 
 the mayor or prefect of the palace of the old 
 French court. 
 
 " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set 
 thee over all'the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took 
 off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph, 
 and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put 
 a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to 
 ride in the second chariot that he had ; and they 
 cried before him ab rech, and he made him ruler 
 over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto 
 Joseph, I, Pharaoh, declare, that without thee shall 
 no man lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt/' 
 Gren. xli. 41 — 44. 
 
JOSEPH m EGYPT. 55 
 
 The princes of Egypt gloried in a long array of 
 titles. Two more titles are here conferred upon 
 Joseph. That of ah rech fj *@* i. e., a pontifical 
 prince, or " pure prince/' This is a common title in 
 the ancient tombs. The other title is also often read 
 there, £3 ££3 " the overseer, steward of the land/' 
 The ceremonies that attended his inauguration ad- 
 mit of pictorial illustration from the temples of 
 Egypt, of those somewhat later periods when royal 
 monuments first appear. Of these remote times, all, 
 save the pyramids, that remains, is of individual 
 princes. 
 
 " And Pharaoh called Joseph's name tsaphnath 
 paaneah, and he gave unto him to wife Asenath the 
 daughter of Potipherah the priest of On. And 
 Joseph went forth (from Pharaoh) a prefect over the 
 land of Egypt." Gen. xli. 45. 
 
 All these words are confessedly Egyptian. They 
 have never been otherwise interpreted. This cir- 
 cumstance justifies our search, in the cotemporary 
 remains of ancient Egypt, for the other names and 
 titles which have already occurred to us. The at- 
 tempts that have been made to interpret tsaphnath 
 paaneah, began with the Greek translators of the 
 Septuagint version of the Bible, which was made in 
 Egypt about 240 b. c, when all tradition had past 
 away, and before the faculty of critical examination 
 had been imparted to men. They are mere para- 
 
56 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 nomastic guesses, only proving the persuasion of 
 those who made them that the words are Egyptian. 
 The names of offices with which we have already 
 dealt, were at a somewhat earlier period (in the 
 times of Ezra) assimilated to other words from other 
 languages, their original Egyptian meanings being 
 also entirely lost. Thus the office ^3EI saris was 
 then made identical with a Persian word of some- 
 what similar sound, but meaning " eunuch : " a gloss 
 which throws into intolerable confusion both the 
 inspired narrative, and, with some writers, the his- 
 tory of Egypt also. The word sar underwent the 
 same fate. Its root is common, both to the Hebrew 
 and the Egyptian languages, but with widely differ- 
 ent modifications. The Hebrew *itp sar means a 
 " prince : " the Egyptian word sar means a " mayor," 
 or "prefect" only. The former meaning was ap- 
 plied to the Egyptian word at this time also, with 
 much confusion to the narrative. The cotemporary 
 monuments of ancient Egypt have restored both to us. 
 Tsaphnath Paaneah will now require our atten- 
 tion. It is evidently two words. Similar examples 
 of names of princes consisting of two words might 
 be cited from the cotemporary monuments. The 
 first of these words has not yet been found in the 
 name of any prince of the epoch of Joseph. But if 
 we assume that it must have embodied some allu- 
 sion to the qualities in Joseph, on account of which 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 57 
 
 it was conferred on him, it presents but little diffi- 
 culty. It was probably *Zb)^ ^ tseph-nath, " he who 
 receiveth Neith" i. e., the inventrix of the art of 
 weaving, and the goddess of wisdom. With the 
 other name we have still less difficulty. It actually 
 occurs in a tomb at Sacchara, as the name of one 
 of the princes of Usercheres, about 150 years before 
 Joseph's time, b a¥lj V ^ 1 noech. Its import also 
 corresponds exactly with the occasion on which it 
 was given. It means, " he who flees from (avoids) 
 pollution/' especially " adultery/' So that the first 
 name conferred by Pharaoh upon Joseph, commem- 
 orated the divine wisdom to which he owed his ex- 
 altation ; and the second, his innocence of the crime 
 for which he had so long suffered imprisonment. It 
 is not easy to conceive of a more perfectly satisfac- 
 tory identification than this, when we consider that 
 in these times all names, especially new ones, were 
 directly significant allusions to the circumstances to 
 commemorate which they were conferred. So Abra- 
 ham, Gen. xvii. 5 ; Israel, Gen. xxxii. 28 &c. 
 
 The names of Joseph's wife and father-in-law 
 were long ago identified by Champollion. Asenath 
 i s IPNtJ asnth " she who sees Neith," and Poti- 
 pherah is s ^ ^ petephre " one devoted to the sun." 
 Both the names are compounded with those of the 
 tutelary idols of On, or Heliopolis. The formal 
 mention of the circumstance that Potipherah was 
 
58 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 priest of On, reduces to certainty the strong indica- 
 tion embodied in the names o'f these tutelaries. 
 The scene of the narrative before us was the city 
 of Re-Athom, called On, by the Canaanites. 
 To make this demonstration appear to the general 
 reader, it is needful to explain that whenever 
 the proper name of an Egyptian was a com- 
 pound of that of an idol, it was the tutelary of 
 the city of which the individual was an inhabi- 
 tant. There is absolutely no exception to this rule, 
 in the remote times now before us. One other cir- 
 cumstance corroborates the same fact, which 
 scarcely needs such confirmation. His nuptial 
 ceremonies were a part of the honors conferred 
 upon Joseph by Pharaoh on the first interview. 
 This is the clear import of the narrative, and it is 
 moreover strictly in accordance with the customs of 
 the east, both then and at the present day. Such 
 being the case, it must have been in the native city 
 of Asenath that the interview took place : any 
 other supposition for a citizen of these remote times 
 is extravagant. Thus strong is the proof that the 
 scene we are contemplating took place in On, or 
 Heliopolis. 
 
 " And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood 
 before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went 
 out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through- 
 out all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plen- 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 59 
 
 teous years, the earth brought forth by handfuls. 
 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years 
 which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the 
 food in the cities : the food of the field which was 
 round about every city, laid he up in the same. 
 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, 
 very much, until he left numbering, for it was with- 
 out number. And unto Joseph were born two sons 
 before the years of famine came, which Asenath, 
 the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto 
 him. . . . 
 
 " And the seven years of plenteousness that was 
 in the land of Egypt were ended. And the seven 
 years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph 
 had said : and the dearth was in all lands ; but in 
 all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when 
 all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried 
 to Pharaoh for bread ; and Pharaoh said unto all 
 the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph : what he saith unto 
 you, do. And the famine was over all the face of 
 the earth : and Joseph opened all the storehouses, 
 and sold unto the Egyptians ; and the famine waxed 
 sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came 
 into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn ; because that 
 the famine was sore in all lands/' Gen. xli. 46 — 
 50, 53—57. 
 
 It would appear upon the face of the narrative, 
 that Joseph had been thirteen years in Egypt at ths 
 
60 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 time of his exaltation, (see xxxvii. 2). By this 
 long course of trial and adversity his whole char- 
 acter would be ripened for the high office to which 
 God had destined him, and for the great work he 
 had to do. He would also have perfectly acquired 
 the language and the customs of the house of his 
 bondage. 
 
 The plenty and the famine appeared exactly as he 
 had been inspired to foretel them. We have already 
 remarked upon the extraordinary disturbance which 
 the natural phenomena of Egypt must have sus- 
 tained at this time. The nature of them we have 
 now to consider. It may be safely stated that in 
 Egypt and the adjacent countries one natural cause, 
 and one only, could possibly have given rise to 
 either of the visitations in question ; and that cause 
 was rain. The abundance of it made the plenty ; the 
 want of it made the famine. This is perfectly, un- 
 answerably certain. 
 
 There is a point in the history before us which 
 has not been noticed. The plenty was confined to 
 Egypt. The famine was in all lands. We have 
 now to describe another of these strange things 
 whereby Egypt in the present day still vindicates 
 her claim to the title of " the land of wonders/' 
 When Dr. Lepsius visited the upper portions of the 
 valley of the Nile in 1843, he found engraven upon 
 a cliff rising perpendicularly from the water's edge, 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 61 
 
 at Samneh, which is far in Upper Nubia, an inscrip- 
 tion dated in the 23rd year of Amun-Timseus, pur- 
 porting to register the height of the overflow that 
 year. Other registers are also written on the same 
 rock in the reigns of his two immediate successors. 
 With trifling variations they all give about the 
 same height for the overflow, which averages 30 
 feet above the highest point ever reached by the 
 water in the present day. Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
 went over the same ground three years afterwards, 
 and pursued the investigation still further. He 
 found above the point in question vast plateaux of 
 Nile mud on both banks, but many miles away 
 from the present course of the river, and as barren 
 as the sand that drifted over them, except when 
 they are cultivated by hand irrigation. He traced 
 the same visible proofs of the far greater elevation 
 of the waters in former times downwards to the bar 
 of red sandstone rock that crosses the Nile at Djebel 
 Silsili,in Upper Egypt, where they ceased altogether.* 
 Many important conclusions may be arrived at 
 from these premises. The tradition of the Egyptian 
 priesthood preserved by many of the Greek authors, 
 that the Nile had its source in the ocean, and 
 flowed into the ocean again, -f- doubtless originated 
 in the circumstance that when the first settlers 
 
 * Trans. Roy. Soc. Let. Vol. iv. p. 93, seq. 
 f Herodotus, lib. 2. e. 21, 23, 28, &c. &c. 
 
62 JOSEPH m EGYPT. 
 
 in Egypt explored the valley, the waters of the 
 Nile expanded themselves into a vast lake over 
 what are at this day the plains of Darfur. 
 
 The bursting of this lake took place at a period 
 concerning which we are able, on monumental evi- 
 dence, distinctly to say that it was after the reign 
 of Sukophthis II. — the second successor of Amun 
 Timseus ; and as the register of this year is the last 
 of many entries, the probabilities are highly in 
 favor of its occurrence but a little time afterwards. 
 But Amun-Timseus was the Pharaoh whom Salatis 
 expelled from Memphis, and afterwards they both 
 reigned cotemporaneously : Amun-Timaeus and his 
 successors in Upper Egypt and Ethiopia, and Salatis 
 and his successors in the Delta and Middle Egypt. 
 But again, Aphophis also was the second or third 
 successor of Salatis. The times of Sukophthis II. 
 and of Aphophis must, therefore, have closely ap- 
 proximated. 
 
 Let us now consider the mode in which the dis- 
 ruption of this barrier must have occurred. 
 
 It certainly was not occasioned by the cleavage 
 of the rock by an earthquake, or by any other great 
 accident which would have set the entire body of 
 water at liberty at once. Had this been the case, the 
 rush of such a tide would have swept every thing 
 before it, and the valley would have been depopu- 
 lated : an event which we know did not take place. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 60 
 
 There is but one other mode possible, and that is, 
 the unusual prevalence of rains in the tropical 
 mountains wherein are the sources of the river. 
 The effect of them would be to elevate the waters 
 of this lake, so that they would come into contact 
 with and undermine some mud-bank, not ordinarily 
 within reach of the inundation. This would allow 
 the escape, not only of the superfluous waters of the 
 flood, but also of some portion of those of the lake. 
 Such an increase as this of the yearly overflow 
 would be highly disastrous at the present day, when 
 all the artificial means for irrigation (both the 
 dykes and the mounds) have been for so many years 
 adjusted to one scarcely varying measure ; but at 
 the remote period, now under consideration, we 
 apprehend the case would be very different. The 
 valley was, of necessity, but imperfectly cultivated 
 any where, and it would only be in those narrow 
 portions of it where the culture had already reached 
 the mountains, that any mischief would be done. 
 In the Delta (of which alone the inspired narrative 
 seems to speak), where the cultivated surface is 
 bounded on both sides by mere plains of sand, the 
 only effect of this assumed disruption would have 
 been, the diffusion of the teeming flood over a sur- 
 face vastly more extended than in ordinary years. 
 Of this circumstance the prescience of Joseph would 
 direct him to take the utmost possible advantage. 
 
64 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 Labourers would be sent everywhere to construct, 
 for these new lands, sluices of recession and other 
 necessary works for their productiveness, and the 
 corn that was afterwards gathered by handfuls 
 would now be sown by handfuls. This is God's in- 
 variable rule in all things. 
 
 The ordinary issues of the lake in Ethiopia would 
 soon relieve the broken bank from the pressure of 
 the overflow, and the Nile would subside to its 
 wonted volume : but a large portion of the waters 
 of the low or blue Nile would still flow through the 
 vast crevasse formed by the disruption^ and the sur- 
 face of the lake would be lowered several feet. The 
 effect of this is well known in engineering. The 
 softer portions of the bank which retained the lake, 
 and which were quite equal to sustain the inert 
 pressure of the whole, would be worn away by the 
 attrition of the currents that would now flow over 
 them ; and even in the low Nile the lake would go 
 on decreasing. After eight months of incessant sun 
 and dry sand-winds, cracking and parching the por- 
 tions of this bank that had hitherto been under 
 water, the Nile would rise again. We have now no 
 occasion to assume another excess of rain in the 
 mountains of Ethiopia. The ordinary flood would 
 all but certainly be more than the bank thus in- 
 jured could sustain, and another disruption would 
 still further lower the surface of the lake in Ethio- 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 65 
 
 pia, and originate the second year of plenty in the 
 Delta. 
 
 By the repetition of this process, it is, we contend, 
 no unreasonable supposition, that it would take 
 seven successive annual floods to wash away entirely 
 the embankments that sustained the lake of Ethio- 
 pia, and to bring down the Nile to its present level, 
 and that in this increase of the ordinary measure 
 of the overflow, consisted the cause of the seven 
 plenteous years in the Delta. 
 
 We have now to consider the seven years of 
 famine that followed them. The same phenomena 
 will, we apprehend, go far to account for them also. 
 On the first year, after the final subsidence of the 
 lake, the annual overflow (supposing it to have been 
 an ordinary one) an first reaching what was formerly 
 the head of the lake, would enter an endless tissue 
 of devious and intricate channels among rocks and 
 mud-banks ; and through this labyrinth it would 
 have to work and wind its way for hundreds of 
 miles. At the same point, only in the year pre- 
 ceding, the annual flood joined a vast body of 
 water, and the wave of its first impulse would con- 
 vey the commencement of the inundation to the 
 outlet with the speed of gravitation. The far longer 
 time required for threading the mazes of its new 
 channel, would materially delay the appearance of 
 the inundation in Egypt. Another effect would 
 
 F 
 
66 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 follow from the same cause. The quantity of water 
 would be greatly diminished by this longer exposure 
 to the burning sun of Ethiopia. This is the case at 
 all seasons of the year. The Nile at the Barash, 
 which is at the bifurcation of its two mouths, is a 
 much less river than the Nile at Thebes or Philae, 
 at the present day. The vast flats of Nile mud, 
 covering thousands of square miles which, before 
 the inundation of the previous year, had been the 
 bottom of the lake, would also tend, in the year we 
 are supposing, yet further to diminish the annual 
 overflow. They had been for many months exposed 
 to the sun and wind, and must have warped and 
 cracked in a manner utterly inconceivable to those 
 who have not actually witnessed the phenomenon. 
 The mud has risen into huge blisters. It has sunk 
 into deep hollows : it has cracked into yawning 
 crevasses. "We exactly describe the present appear- 
 ance of the plain of Darfur, the locality in question. 
 So much of the water of the inundation would be ab- 
 sorbed by these hollows, that we may safely assume 
 that in an ordinary year, scarcely any of it would 
 pass the foot of the lake ; and, assuredly, after such 
 a disturbance, it would be many years before the 
 river would have so worked out the channels of its 
 new course, that any thing like the usual overflow 
 would reach Egypt. We are assuming here, that 
 there should be no failure in the rains on the 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 67 
 
 mountains : but in the seven years of famine there 
 is every probability that such was not the case. 
 li The famine was sore in all lands/' and the want 
 of rain which occasioned it, would extend to the 
 mountains of Ethiopia : for modern observation has 
 clearly established the fact that, as to its leading 
 features, the weather spans the earth in great quad- 
 rants. In these circumstances, therefore, we sub- 
 mit, will be found a very satisfactory solution of 
 the natural difficulties connected with the seven 
 years of plenty and of famine. The geological evi- 
 dence of the actual occurrence of a great disturb- 
 ance of the annual overflow, and the monumental 
 evidence that the time of its occurrence closely 
 approximated to that of the reign of Aphophis, the 
 patron of Joseph, we also present as collateral proofs 
 of the verity of the inspired narrative, of no light 
 or unimportant character. 
 
 We may perhaps here be permitted to answer an 
 objection to such researches, which is often urged 
 by excellent persons of devotional habits and con- 
 templative and confiding temperaments. We want 
 no confirmation to our own faith. We firmly believe 
 that God is able to give seven years of plenty and 
 of famine to Egypt, by a simple exercise of his own 
 volition, and without the employment of natural 
 phenomena at all. What good end is accomplished 
 
 by such discoveries as these ? The answer is not far 
 
 F 2 
 
68 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 to seek. The faith of these persons is not the faith 
 which God demands of his people. It is a mere 
 ignorant unreasoning assent to the dogma that God 
 can do all things, leaving out the all-important 
 limitation which the Bible applies to it : " He can- 
 not deny himself." There is nothing more needful 
 for man to know, than that these marvellous works 
 in the days of old, were all subordinated to one rule 
 or canon. There was no needless interference with 
 the ordinary laws of nature. They were merely put 
 into action at times before specified, in order that 
 men might see God's mastery over them. We shall 
 find this to be especially the case with all the 
 supernatural interferences recorded in the history 
 we have now to illustrate ; and therefore it much 
 concerns the consistency of the Divine procedure to 
 discover, that the seven years of plenty ancl famine 
 were likewise of the same character. There may 
 in effect have been nothing supernatural in the 
 entire transaction, beyond the prediction, and the 
 divine wisdom imparted to Joseph in taking ad- 
 vantage of them. Yet is this no Neology, but Divi- 
 nity in its best and loftiest sense. 
 
 " Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in 
 Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look 
 one upon another ? And he said, Behold ! I have 
 heard that there is corn in Egypt ; get you down 
 thither and buy for us from thence, that we may 
 live and not die. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 69 
 
 " And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy 
 corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, 
 Jacob sent not with his brethren ; for he said, Lest 
 peradventure mischief befal him. And the sons of 
 Israel came to buy corn among those that came ; 
 for the famine was in the land of Canaan/' Gen. 
 xlii. 1—5. 
 
 The scene depicted in this concise narrative is a 
 very animated one. The sandy paths across the 
 desert of Suez are crowded with caravans of the 
 inhabitants of Canaan, and their beasts of burden, 
 laden with the valuable products of their country, 
 and with silver and gold in rings, and all intent 
 upon the purchase of corn. It was thus that the 
 riches of Canaan flowed into Egypt. We are now 
 in the first year of the famine only, and already the 
 current has set in. 
 
 " And Joseph was ruling (exercising kingly power) 
 over the land ; and he it was that sold to all the 
 people of the land : and Joseph's brethren came 
 and bowed themselves down before him with their 
 faces to the earth. . . . And Joseph remembered 
 the dreams that he had dreamed of them." ver. 6, 9. 
 
 Twenty-one years had elapsed since the last inter- 
 view of Joseph with his brethren. Then the hard 
 features of the reckless hunters of the desert frowned 
 fiercely upon a stripling bound and helpless, and 
 their hands grasped their murderous weapons, so 
 
70 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 bitter was the envy that his prophetic dream had 
 roused in them. They threw him into a pit to perish 
 with hunger and thirst ; they were debating as to 
 the policy of drawing him up to despatch him, when 
 the appearance of the Ishmaelite caravan and the 
 avarice of Judah changed their determination into 
 that which was even still more heartless and cruel- 
 Now, a company of wrinkled and grey-bearded way- 
 faring men, they bowed themselves to the earth be- 
 fore the regal state of their former victim ; — the 
 very consummation at which the prophetic dreams 
 that had exasperated their envy and rage against him 
 had. pointed ; so that they had themselves fulfilled 
 the divine intimation, and that, by the act of daring 
 wickedness whereby they hoped to render it impos- 
 sible. cc There are many devices in a man's heart, 
 nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." 
 Prov. xix. 21 . No wonder that " Joseph remem- 
 bered the dreams that he had dreamed of them/' 
 
 " And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew 
 them, but made himself strange unto them, and 
 spake roughly unto them : and he said unto them, 
 Whence come ye ? And they said, From the land 
 of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his 
 brethren, but they knew him not. . . . 
 
 " And Joseph said unto them, Ye are spie^ , to 
 see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And 
 they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 71 
 
 are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons ; 
 we are true men, thy servants are no spies. And he 
 said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of 
 the land are ye come. And they said, Thy servants 
 are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in theland 
 of Canaan, and behold the youngest is this day with 
 our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto 
 them, This is what I spake unto you, saying, Ye 
 are spies. Hereby ye shall be proved ; as Pharaoh 
 lives ye shall not go hence, except your youngest 
 brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him 
 fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, 
 that your words may be proved, whether there be 
 any truth in you ; or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely 
 ye are spies. And he put them all together in 
 ward for three days/' Verses 7 — 19. 
 
 We have no regal monuments of the epoch now 
 before us. Joseph evidently sate as a king in the 
 gate, when his brethren were brought into his pre- 
 sence. It can therefore be only on monuments that 
 discourse of the actions of kings that we can hope 
 for any illustration of the passage. For these we 
 must descend to a somewhat later period. A scene 
 not uncommon in the civil wars that ended in the 
 union of the two Egypts under one crown, repre- 
 sents the reception given to an embassy from the 
 opposite faction. The ambassadors are called spies, 
 and beaten, before they are admitted into the pre- 
 
72 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 sence of tbe king. In Egypt every thing was pre- 
 scriptive. There can hardly be a doubt that this 
 was a point of court etiquette. If it were so, 
 Joseph's brethren, we may be sure, were subjected 
 to this discipline. In effect, it is not at all probable 
 that a company, upon which such a charge was im- 
 puted as that made by Joseph against his brethren, 
 would in the ancient world have escaped with no 
 more grievous corporal inflictions than those of 
 bonds and imprisonment. Even in the days of the 
 Romans, the entire tone of society, and the collective 
 mode of thought, would render it improbable that 
 any individual, however exalted in rank, would be 
 committed to prison upon a serious charge without 
 being previously examined by scourging. When we 
 call to mind the cruel wrong that Joseph had suf- 
 fered from the unfeeling men who were now in his 
 power, and also that he was utterly ignorant of the 
 design of poor Reuben for his deliverance, we shall 
 perceive that even if such were the case, his 
 rigorous deportment would be amply justified by 
 the circumstances. The precaution taken by Jo- 
 seph on this memorable occasion would also be ren- 
 dered needful by the political relations of the king- 
 dom of Lower Egypt in the times of Aphophis. The 
 Arvadites and Hittites were the two clans of the 
 Canaanitish confederacy by whose aid the Menche- 
 rian Pharaohs had been expelled from Memphis. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 73 
 
 But with the other Canaanitish nations they were 
 frequently at war. The Canaanites in Egypt even 
 confederated with the Egyptians for the purpose of 
 invading Canaan. Of this fact we have the irre- 
 fragable evidence of the monuments. It was there- 
 fore highly important to the safety of the throne of 
 Pharaoh that this vast tide of immigrants from 
 Canaan should be closely watched, lest under the 
 pretext of purchasing corn, some formidable force 
 might be gradually introduced, and thus a double 
 danger arise from within as well as from without. 
 Under these circumstances, there would be nothing 
 at all remarkable in the rough greeting wherewith 
 Joseph challenged his brethren. It was the ordi- 
 nary course with all large bodies of travellers from 
 Canaan. 
 
 " And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, 
 and live, for I fear God, If ye be true, let one of 
 your brethren be bound in the house of your prison ; 
 go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses. 
 But bring your youngest brother unto me ; so shall 
 your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And 
 they assented. And they said one to another, We 
 are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we 
 saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, 
 and we would not hear ; therefore is this distress 
 come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, 
 Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against 
 
74 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 the child ; and ye would not hear ? Therefore be- 
 hold also his blood is required. And they knew 
 not that Joseph understood them : for he spake 
 unto them by an interpreter. And he turned him- 
 self about from them and wept, and returned to 
 them again, and spake unto them [repeating his 
 decision], and took from them Simeon, and bound 
 him before their eyes/' Gren. xlii. 18 — 24. 
 
 The brethren of Joseph had now been for three 
 days in prison, expecting hourly to be led forth to 
 suffer an ignominious death at the hands of the 
 public executioner. It was by this severe discipline 
 that the compunctious visitings, (which all the an- 
 guish of their father, of which for so many years they 
 had witnessed the daily proofs, had failed to awa- 
 ken), first wrung their flinty hearts. It is quite 
 clear from this passage that Reuben, as well as his 
 father, had been completely deceived by the strata- 
 gem of the torn and bloody coat ; nevertheless the 
 conduct of this patriarch on the occasion, exactly 
 squares with the general tone of his character (see 
 Gen. xlix. 3, 4), and offers another internal evidence, 
 if such be wanted, of the genuineness of the history 
 before us. He did not (as was his clear duty) ap- 
 prize his father of the lawless violence of his bre- 
 thren towards Joseph, of which he himself was 
 cognizant. Had he done so, it would have led to 
 inquiries, whence doubtless the whole truth would 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 75 
 
 have been elicited. It is a vain question to ask in 
 reply, How then would the purposes of God have 
 been fulfilled by Joseph ? It is perfectly true that 
 Grod was pleased to accomplish them by the moral 
 infirmity of Reuben, as well as by the relentless 
 cruelty of Simeon and the cold calculating avarice 
 of Judah. Nevertheless Simeon and Judah, yea, 
 and Reuben also, shall each bear his own sin. Man 
 can incur God's displeasure, but he cannot counter- 
 work his purposes. 
 
 It is sufficiently evident from the passage before 
 us, that Joseph used the Egyptian language in this 
 colloquy, and that it was unintelligible to his bre- 
 thren. So clearly is this implied by the scope of 
 the text, and so unanswerably is it demonstrated by 
 the etymology of the word rightly translated tc in- 
 terpreter/' and also by the comparison of the two 
 languages, for which we have such ample materials, 
 that we can only regret that an opposite statement, 
 by commentators generally well entitled to the con- 
 fidence of their readers, should have rendered this 
 rectification needful.* 
 
 u Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with 
 corn, and restore every man's money into his sack ; 
 and to give every man provision for the way : and 
 thus did he unto them. And they laded their 
 asses with corn and departed thence. And as one 
 
 * See, inter alias^ Bagster's Comprehensive Bible on Gen. xlii. 23. 
 
76 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 of them opened his sack to give his ass provender 
 at the resting-place [in the desert] he saw his silver 
 [in rings] for behold it was at his sack's mouth. 
 And he said unto his brethren, My money is re- 
 stored ; and, lo, it is even in my sack : and their 
 heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying 
 one to another, What is this that Grod hath done 
 unto us ? 
 
 " And they came unto Jacob their father unto the 
 land of Canaan, and told him all that befel unto 
 them ; saying, The man, who is the lord of the land, 
 spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the 
 country. And we said unto him, We are true men ; 
 we are no spies : we be twelve brethren, sons of 
 our father ; one is not, and the youngest is this day 
 with our father in the land of Canaan. And the 
 man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby 
 shall I know that ye are true men ; leave one of 
 your brethren here with me, and take food for the 
 famine of your households, and be gone : and bring 
 your youngest brother unto me : then shall I know 
 that ye are no spies, but ye are true men : so will I 
 deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the 
 land. 
 
 " And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, 
 that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in 
 his sack : and when both they and their father saw 
 the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 77 
 
 their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved 
 of my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, 
 and ye will take Benjamin away : all these things 
 are against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, 
 saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to 
 thee : deliver him into my hand, and I will bring 
 him to thee again. And he said, My son shall not 
 go down with you ; for his brother is dead, and he 
 is left alone : if mischief befal him by the way in 
 the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my grey 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 " And the famine was sore in the land. And it 
 came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn 
 which they had brought up out of Egypt, their fa- 
 ther said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. 
 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did 
 solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see 
 my face, except your brother be with you. If thou 
 wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and 
 buy thee food : but if thou wilt not send him, we 
 will not go down : for the man said unto us, Ye 
 shall not see my face, except your brother be with 
 you. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with 
 me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a bro- 
 ther ? And they said, the man asked us straitly of 
 our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father 
 yet alive? have ye another brother? and -we told 
 him according to the tenor of these words : could 
 
78 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 we certainly know that he would say, Bring your 
 brother down ? And Judah said unto Israel his 
 father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and 
 go ; that we may live and not die, both we, and 
 thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for 
 him ; of my hand shalt thou require him : if I 
 bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, 
 then let me bear the blame for ever. For except 
 we had lingered, surely now we had returned this 
 second time. And their father Israel said unto 
 them, If it must be so now, do this ; take of the 
 best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry 
 down the man a present, a little balm, and a little 
 honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds : and 
 take double money in your hand ; and the money 
 that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, 
 carry it again your hand : peradventure it was an 
 oversight: take also your brother, and arise, go 
 again unto the man : and God Almighty give you 
 mercy before the man, that he may send away your 
 other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of 
 my children, I am bereaved/' Gen. xlii. 25, to Glen, 
 xliii. 14. 
 
 The inspired narrative now leaves the land of 
 Egypt, we only quote it here for the sake of 
 continuity. The workings of an evil conscience 
 in the brethren of Joseph, found kindred feelings 
 in the advanced age and infirmities of their father. 
 
JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 79 
 
 They were all afraid when they saw the linked 
 rings of silver which they had taken down to Egypt 
 to buy corn, returned at the mouth of their sacks. 
 These chains of silver (Heb. rmi2 " chains/' " that 
 which binds/') are frequently depicted in the tombs, 
 and have even been found there. The custom of 
 carrying the precious metals for the purposes of 
 traffic in linked rings or chains was universal in 
 ancient Egypt, where coined money was unknown 
 until the days of the Ptolemies ; and remained in 
 occasional use throughout the world, until far into 
 the middle ages. 
 
 The present prepared by Jacob and his sons for 
 the ruler of Egypt, admits of so remarkable an 
 illustration from the existing monuments of the 
 latter kingdom, that it is not possible to pass them 
 by on this occasion, even though they should lead 
 us a little further into verbal criticism than com- 
 ports exactly with our present design. 
 
 We will take the several articles enumerated in 
 the order of their occurrence, — 
 
 1 . Balm >*)!£. The resin or gum that exudes from 
 the wounded bark of a tree : whence its Hebrew 
 name, which means a wound or the issue (ichor) 
 from a wound. Gums of many kinds, principally 
 fragrant ones, are often found in the tombs of Egypt, 
 both deposited in jars, and used in the embalming 
 of mummies. 
 
80 JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 
 
 2. Honey. 27^1 (debash) It is well known that 
 this word signified the thickened juice of grapes 
 and dates, as well as the honey of bees. In the 
 hieroglyphic account of the so-called expulsion of 
 the shepherds from Egypt, a group appears in the 
 catalogues of the spoils taken after each victory, 
 which is evidently the same word. Jjf*q tabkh * or 
 
 ^$ bkh. In the latter form it is still read in the 
 Coptic texts fivKKi, "ripe dates." Many thousands 
 of jars of this substance are enumerated among the 
 spoils taken, or the tribute exacted from the Ca- 
 naanites. "We could not have a clearer proof that 
 it was imported from Canaan into Egypt, where it 
 was in great request. 
 
 3. Spices. rrMDl. This is a Hebrew word, signi- 
 fying, " that which is pounded small/' The Egyp- 
 tians were very particular in this branch of the 
 apothecary's art. It was performed generally by 
 female slaves, by grinding the substance to be tritu- 
 rated between two hard stones. So accurately was 
 the process performed, that in the vast quantity of 
 spices found in a mummy of a high class which was 
 opened at Leeds twenty years ago, not a particle 
 could be discovered larger than the rest, though 
 diligent search was made for it. The substance 
 here specified was prepared in Canaan. 
 
 4. Myrrh tab wrongly translated. It should have 
 
 * There was no d in the Egyptian language. 
 
JOSEPH. 81 
 
 been rendered Ladanum, the Xctiavov of the Greeks. 
 It is the gum that exudes from the Cistus Ladanifera, 
 a tree found in Canaan at this day. This perfume 
 was in high esteem in ancient Egypt. There is now 
 no occasion to appeal to learned authorities in proof 
 of its frequent use there. It has frequently been 
 found in the tombs, and its well-known odour was 
 powerfully predominant in the mixture of spices 
 with which the Leeds mummy was embalmed. Its 
 appellative in hieroglyphics completes the proof. 
 This will, we believe, be found in a group which is 
 well ascertained to mean " perfume " of some sort, 
 but to its assumed phonetic value, no equivalent 
 has been hitherto found, either in Coptic or any 
 other language, It is written £^\ It or, £g=|f ntl, 
 or |-|£§ hit The initial character of this group 
 resembles greatly one of the homophons of the letter 
 s. ^ ; so much so, that Champollion confounded the 
 two, both in his copies and his readings ; — never- 
 theless the comparison of many repetitions of this 
 common group on the monuments themselves has 
 convinced me, that it represents an object altogether 
 different from that depicted by the character with 
 which it has been supposed to be identical. I be- 
 lieve that its power was I, and that it was inter- 
 preted by the mouth <^^> at the end of the group. 
 It was not possible to write them thus ^^ , because 
 then the mouth would be read as a mere grammatical 
 
 G 
 
82 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 form. Had the group been written thus I=, that 
 would have equivocated with another group of alto- 
 gether different meaning. These are reasons amply 
 sufficient for the metathesis which has changed Itn 
 into nil, |2=°- We believe it therefore to be the 
 hieroglyphic appellative of Ladanum, a word which 
 the Greeks adopted without change. This perfume 
 was largely used in the worship of the gods of Egypt, 
 and vast quantities of it are repeatedly specified as 
 part of the tribute exacted by Amosis from the 
 Canaanites in the hieroglyphic record of his expul- 
 sion of the lower Egyptians from Memphis.* 
 
 5. Nuts D'Oton. i. e. Pistacio nuts. TheSe are not 
 the produce of Egypt, but jar soft hern have repeatedly 
 been found in the tombs. 
 
 6 Almonds. These are likewise in the same 
 category. Their existence in the tombs, and the 
 unfitness of the soil of Egypt for the growth of the 
 trees that produce them, render it certain that both 
 nuts and almonds were among the articles which 
 ancient Egypt imported from Canaan. 
 
 " And the men took that present, and they took 
 double money in their hands, [i. e., with them] and 
 Benjamin ; and rose up and went down to Egypt, 
 and stood before Joseph. 
 
 " And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he 
 
 * Generally called the granite sanctuary of Karnak. It is now in the 
 Louvre at Paris. 
 
JOSEPH. 83 
 
 said to the steward of his house, pp 3 bring these, men 
 home and slay abundantly and prepare ; for these 
 men shall dine with me at noon. And the man did 
 as Joseph bade, and brought the men into Joseph's 
 house. And the men were afraid because they 
 were brought into Joseph's house ; and they said, — 
 Because of the money that was returned in our sacks 
 at the first time are we brought in ; that he may 
 ■seek occasion against us [lit. entangle us] and fall 
 upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses." 
 Gen. xliii. 15 — 18. 
 
 To detain one of the enemy upon a feigned civil 
 charge has been a common stratagem of war at all 
 times. The men evidently supposed themselves 
 suspected by Joseph of belonging to some Canaan- 
 itish nation at Avar with Phiops, and that they had 
 been trepanned by the ruse of the returned money. 
 They now looked, on their arrival at Joseph's house, 
 to be at once stripped of their garments and the rest 
 of their property, and set to work with the other 
 slaves and prisoners of war, that in the day-time 
 performed the menial offices of the establishment, 
 and at night were chained in oval brick dungeons, 
 in the square enclosure that surrounded the palace. 
 Such was doubtless the internal economy of Joseph's 
 house, in common with the rest of the princes of 
 Egypt. 
 
 A very mistaken notion in regard of the asses 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 mentioned in the text before us has taken possession 
 of the minds of most scripture readers, mainly created 
 by the attempts at pictorial illustrations made in 
 the middle ages. It is assumed that ten men with 
 ten asses only went into Egypt on this occasion, 
 whereas, in all probability, the caravan of the 
 Patriarchs consisted of many attendants besides 
 themselves, and of some hundreds of asses. This 
 animal was a valuable property in Egypt, and often 
 appears among the properties of her ancient princes, 
 as in the following, from the tomb of the prince 
 Hotp-ols at Sakkarah.* 
 
 " And they came near to him that was over the 
 house of Joseph j=j^ and they spake with him at the 
 door of the house/' Gen. xliii. 19. 
 
 No. 15 of the plan of Lepsius. 
 
JOSEPH. So 
 
 The present passage is adduced by some commen- 
 tators, in proof that the languages of Egypt and 
 Canaan were, in these remote times, so much alike, 
 that the inhabitants of the two countries could 
 understand each other. This is a mistake of inad- 
 vertency which a very superficial attention to the 
 context would have sufficed to expose. The man 
 with whom Joseph's brethren conversed, held in 
 Joseph's house exactly the same office as Joseph 
 himself had held in the house of Potiphar on his 
 first arrival in Egypt ; and if this office were held 
 by a Canaanite slave in the one case, why not in 
 the other also ? Infidelity has found more pretexts 
 in loose unsatisfactory glosses like this than in any 
 other source of error that could be named. 
 
 "And [Joseph's brethren] said, Sir, we came 
 indeed down at the first time to buy food : — and it 
 came to pass when we came to the inn, that we 
 opened our sacks, and behold, every man's silver 
 was at the mouth of his sack ; our silver in full 
 weight : and we have brought it again with us : 
 and other silver have we brought with us to buy 
 food : we cannot tell who put our silver in our 
 sacks. And he said, Peace be unto you, fear not ; 
 your God and the God of your fathers hath given 
 you treasure in your sacks ; I had your silver. 
 And he brought Simeon out to them." Gen. xliii. 
 19—23. 
 
86 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 
 
 The weighing of silver in rings is a common sub- 
 ject in the tombs. The balance was the medium 
 of adjustment of the entire traffic of the ancient 
 world. The annexed design is from the tomb of 
 Nahrai at Benihassan. 
 
 Simeon had been selected by Joseph to remain 
 in prison as a hostage for the return of his brethren, 
 because he was the originator and ringleader of the 
 lawless violence through which Joseph had been 
 sold into Egypt. That such was the case appears 
 very evidently from the comparison of other pas- 
 sages, and from the general character of Simeon, 
 which drew down upon him his father's curse. (See 
 Gen. xlix. 5 — 7.) We are too apt to forget the ex- 
 tent to which we offend God when (under any pre- 
 text) we indulge the fierce and brutal passions of 
 our natures against our fellow-men. This he has 
 clearly proclaimed in his word. A thousand and a 
 
JOSEPH. 87 
 
 thousand times has he thundered the same truth 
 in the unwilling ear of man by the terrors of his 
 Providence. To how many slave-holders, to how 
 many school -masters, yea, proh pudor, to how 
 many parents, who, after the indulgence of their 
 fierce passions upon their victims, Ci wipe their 
 mouths and say, We have done no evil," does God 
 address the cleaving malediction of the dying 
 patriarch : " Cursed be their wrath, for it was 
 fierce, and their anger for it was cruel ! " 
 
 " And the man brought the men into Joseph's 
 house, and gave water, and they washed their feet ; 
 and he gave their asses provender. 
 
 " And they made ready the present against Jo- 
 seph came at noon, for they heard that they should 
 eat bread there. 
 
 " And when Joseph came home, they brought 
 him the present which was in their hand into the 
 house, and bowed themselves to him to the e arth. 
 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is 
 your father well : the old man of whom ye spake ? 
 Is he yet alive ? And they answered, Thy servant 
 our father is ingood health ; he is yet alive. And 
 they bowed down their heads and made obeisance. 
 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Ben- 
 jamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your 
 younger brother of whom ye spake unto me ? And 
 he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And 
 
88 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Joseph went forth in haste, for his bowels did yearn 
 upon his brother, and he sought where to weep, 
 and he entered into his chamber and wept there/' 
 Gen. xliii. 24—30. 
 
 This passage needs no illustrative remarks. Its 
 comment is written in the hearts of all men. It 
 finds its interpretation in the bosom of every child 
 of Adam. " One touch of nature makes the whole 
 world kin ! " 
 
 " And [Joseph] washed his face, and went forth 
 [from his chamber] and refrained himself. And he 
 said, Set forth bread ; and they set forth for him 
 by himself, and for them [his brethren] by them- 
 selves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with 
 him by themselves/' Ver. 31, 32. 
 
 The tombs of ancient Egypt fully illustrate the 
 custom to which this passage alludes. Before the 
 master and mistress of the house (when both sate 
 down to the same banquet) was placed a table piled 
 with bread in loaves and cakes, and in endless 
 
 (THTTfTft 
 
 /IWWNN 
 
JOSEPH. 89 
 
 variety of forms. The baker's art was sedulously 
 cultivated in Egypt, and, wonderful to tell, some of 
 its productions remain to this day. Baskets of bread 
 have been frequently found in the tombs. The 
 preceding examples of tables of bread are all from 
 tombs of the era of Joseph or somewhat earlier. 
 The arrangement of the guests, according to our 
 text, agrees also exactly with the indication of these 
 pictures. The heads of the house and their children 
 and dependents sate at separate tables. 
 
 u Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with 
 the Hebrews ; for that is an abomination to the 
 Egyptians/' Verse 32. 
 
 For the illustration of this passage, there is no 
 necessity to assume that the impurity of the Hebrews 
 consisted in their being shepherds, by ordinary oc- 
 cupation, with the Chaldee, the Greek, and other 
 ancient commentators. This gloss encumbers the 
 narrative with a formidable difficulty, inasmuch as 
 Pharaoh greatly favored the Canaanites, and ad- 
 mitted as his courtiers Canaanite shepherds, both 
 by birth and descent. It was in religion only that 
 the shepherd was unclean in Egypt. Foreigners 
 generally were likewise accounted unclean and 
 unfit for any intercourses beyond those of war and 
 of traffic, by her utterly intolerant mythology. The 
 name of a foreign nation, written in hieroglyphics, 
 is always accompanied by some opprobrious epithet, 
 
90 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 and determined by a man in bonds. The following 
 are examples: ^?|l "Arvad." ^f^^fQ^Xi "the 
 overthrown of Sheth/' the Moabites. Ife |||| " the 
 wicked race of Cush," Ethiopia. All foreigners, 
 and at all times, whether of peace or war, are thus 
 written on the monuments. We may therefore 
 clearly infer that it would be accounted pollution 
 to sit at table with them. 
 
 " And they sate before him, the first-born ac- 
 cording to his birthright, and the youngest accord- 
 ing to his youth : and the men marvelled one at 
 another. And he sent forth portions unto them 
 from before him : but Benjamin's mess was five 
 times so much as any of theirs. And they drank 
 and were merry with him/' Verses 33, 34. 
 
 The monumental illustrations of this custom also 
 are as beautifully complete as any of those that 
 have yet engaged our attention. The annexed en- 
 graving represents the tri-monthly banquet held in 
 honor of the dead, in the noble hall of the tomb of 
 the prince and chief physician Nahrai, at Beni 
 Hassan. He was attached to the court of Pharaoh 
 Amenemes II., who reigned in Egypt about a hun- 
 dred years before the times of Joseph. The enor- 
 mous quantity and variety of the viands are no 
 exaggerations. Whole crowds of retainers waited 
 without the hall to receive their portions of food at 
 these banquets. The vaults underneath the hall 
 
92 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 were of dimensions large enough for the mummies 
 of all the retainers of the house of Nahrai ; and all 
 persons having relatives in the tomb were entitled to 
 partake of the banquets. Within the hall the entire 
 family of Nahrai attended upon their parents in the 
 order of their primogeniture. The observance ap- 
 pears to have been — the youngest received the dish 
 from the cooks and passed it to the child next in 
 age. In this way it passed from hand to hand to 
 the first-born, who stood before the father, and 
 served the dish to him. The master of the house 
 first cut off a portion for himself and the mother 
 of the family, if she sate at the same table with 
 him. In the banquets of Nahrai she sate at a sepa- 
 rate table, and was attended in the same manner 
 by her daughters, probably because she was a prin- 
 cess in her own right. The dish or joint was then 
 placed by the first-born at the feet of his parents, 
 
JOSEPH. 93 
 
 and the whole family remained standing until they 
 had eaten. It was then once more presented by 
 the first-born to the father, who cut from it, and 
 placed upon slices or cakes of bread portions for 
 each of his children, which being distributed, and 
 another dish served to the father, the whole party 
 sate down together — the children to eat of the first 
 dish, the father of the second. The retainers of the 
 house were afterwards served by the domestics, but 
 always in the presence of Nahrai himself.* That 
 similar state and ceremony were observed in the 
 banquet which Joseph gave to his brethren, there 
 cannot be a doubt. They handed the dishes to him 
 and he sent them their portions on the bread which 
 was piled before him. It will be noticed, that the 
 bread on the table before Nahrai is cut in slices. 
 
 " And [Joseph] commanded him that was over 
 his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks [pack-sad- 
 dles] with provision as much as they can carry, and 
 put every man's money in his sack's mouth. And 
 put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of 
 the youngest, and his own money. And he did 
 according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As 
 soon as the morning was light, the men were sent 
 
 * In proof of the number of persons entitled to partake of these ban- 
 quets, it may be mentioned, that in the tomb of Amenemes, which is in 
 the immediate vicinity of that of Nahrai, 1000 mummies of soldiers who 
 had fallen in the wars with Cush, were deposited in its vaults at one 
 time. 
 
94 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 away, they and their asses. And when they were 
 gone out of the city and not yet far oiF — Gen. xliv. 
 1—4. 
 
 This must have been a city on the north-eastern 
 border, adjacent to the desert which divides Egypt 
 from Canaan. On, or Heliopolis, is so situated, and 
 as it is the only city named in the inspired narra- 
 tive, the proof that it was the scene of these trans- 
 actions is as conclusive as if the fact had been for- 
 mally stated. 
 
 " Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after 
 the men ; and when thou dost overtake them, say 
 unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for 
 good ? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, 
 and whereby indeed he divineth ? ye have done 
 evil in so doing. And he overtook them, and he 
 spake unto them these same words. And they said 
 unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? 
 God forbid that thy servants should do according to 
 this thing : behold, the money, which we -found in 
 our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out 
 of the land of Canaan : how then should we steal 
 out of thy Lord's house silver or gold ? With whom- 
 soever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, 
 and we also will be my lord's bondmen. And he 
 said, Now also let it be according unto your words : 
 he with whom it is found shall be my servant ; and 
 ye shall be blameless. Then they speedily took 
 
JOSEPH. 95 
 
 down every man his sack to the ground, and opened 
 every man his sack. And he searched, and began 
 at the eldest, and left at the youngest : and the cup 
 was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent 
 their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and re- 
 turned to the city. And Judah and his brethren 
 came to Joseph's house ; for he was yet there : and 
 they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph 
 said unto them, What deed is this that ye have 
 done? wot ye not that such a man as I can cer- 
 tainly divine ? And Judah said, What shall we say 
 unto my lord ? what shall we speak ? or how shall 
 we clear ourselves ? Grod hath found out the ini- 
 quity of thy servants : behold, we are my lord's 
 servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup 
 is found. And he said, Grod forbid that I should do 
 so : but the man in whose hand the cup is found, 
 he shall be my servant ; and as for you, get you up 
 in peace unto your father. Then Judah came near 
 unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I 
 pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let 
 not thine anger burn against thy servant : for thou 
 art even as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, 
 saying, Have ye a father or a brother ? And we 
 said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, 
 and a child of his old age, a little one ; and his 
 brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, 
 and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto 
 
96 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 thy servants. Bring him down unto me, that I may 
 set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my 
 lord, The lad cannot leave his father : for if he 
 should leave his father, his father would die. And 
 thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest 
 brother come down with you, ye shall see my face 
 no more. And it came to pass when we came up 
 unto thy servant my father, we told him the words 
 of my lord. And our father said, Go again, and 
 buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go 
 down : if our youngest brother be with us, then 
 wil 7 we go down : for we may not see the man's 
 face, except our youngest brother be with us. And 
 thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that 
 my wife bare me two sons : and the one went out 
 from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces ; 
 and I saw him not since : and if ye take this also 
 from me, and mischief befal him, ye shall bring 
 down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now 
 therefore when I come to thy servant my father, 
 and the lad be not with us ; seeing that his life is 
 bound up in the lad's life ; it shall come to pass, 
 when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he 
 will die : and thy servants shall bring down the 
 grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to 
 the grave. For thy servant became surety for the 
 lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto 
 thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for 
 
JOSEPH. 97 
 
 ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant 
 abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my lord ; 
 and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how 
 shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with 
 me ? lest peradventure I shall see the evil that shall 
 come on my father. Then Joseph could not refrain 
 himself before all them that stood by him ; and he 
 cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And 
 there stood no man with him, while Joseph made 
 himself known unto his brethren. And he wept 
 aloud : and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh 
 heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am 
 Joseph : doth my father yet live/' Gen. xliv. 4. to 
 xlv. 3. 
 
 Here again we have no need of Archaic illustra- 
 tion or modern criticism. As long as man shall 
 remain embodied on this earth, so long shall the 
 simple unpretending truthfulness of this narrative 
 touch his heart. 
 
 " And his brethren could not answer him, for 
 they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph 
 said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray 
 you. And they came near. And he said, I am 
 Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 
 Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with your- 
 selves, that ye sold me hither : for God did send me 
 before you to preserve life. For these two years 
 hath the famine been in the land : and yet there are 
 
 H 
 
98 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 five years, in which there shall be neither ploughing 
 nor harvest/' ver. 3 — 6. 
 
 This passage clearly points out the cause of the 
 famine. The ploughing in Egypt takes place just 
 as the waters of the inundation reach the field. In 
 these disastrous years the river scarcely rose above 
 its wonted level. There was no ploughing, because 
 there was no water wherewith to irrigate. For the 
 same reason, there was no harvest. 
 
 " And God sent me before you to preserve you a 
 posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a 
 great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent 
 lire hither, but God ; and he hath made me a father 
 to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler 
 throughout all the land of Egypt/' ver. 7, 8. 
 
 These words are not the apologetic extenuation 
 of the perpetrators of a foul wrong, when, after 
 years of impunity they are suddenly confronted 
 with the victim of their misdoings : they are ad- 
 dressed by the victim to his oppressors, as abashed 
 and conscience-stricken they writhe in the grasp 
 of his absolute power over them, and grovel in the 
 dust before him. In the annals of Greece, of Rome, 
 of the Middle Ages, of all Heathendom, Pagan and 
 Christian, there is nothing so noble as this 1 Lord, 
 what shall man be, when thy Holy Spirit hath 
 through long discipline expelled from his soul the 
 mist and taint of his birth-sin, and brought forth 
 
JOSEPH. 99 
 
 clearly and sharply the lineaments of Thine own 
 image, wherein thou didst at first create him ! 
 
 " Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto 
 him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me 
 the 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 chil- 
 dren, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, 
 and thy herds, and all that thou hast ; and there 
 will I minister food unto thee (for yet there are five 
 years of famine) ; lest thou, and thine household, 
 and all that thou hast come to poverty/' Gen. xlv, 
 9—11. 
 
 This was no chimerical fear. The same divine 
 prescience in Joseph foresaw both the famine and 
 its consequences. The impoverishment of the princes 
 of Egypt, and of the petty kings of Canaan, by this 
 fearful visitation, and the important consequences 
 of both, are distinctly traceable, amid the dim sha- 
 dows that conceal the history of mankind at these 
 remote periods. 
 
 The word Goshen V^ we have elsewhere ascer- 
 tained to signify a flower* and to be the epithet 
 originally of the eastern portion of the Delta ; but 
 afterwards to have been applied to the whole of 
 this division of Egypt, in exactly the same manner 
 
 * The Monumental History of Egypt, vol. ii. Binns and Goodwin,. 
 Bath. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 as Ramses, which was the name of a city on the 
 extreme western border of the Delta. 
 
 " And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my 
 brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh 
 unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all my 
 glory in Egypt, and of all ye have seen ; and ye 
 shall haste and bring down my father hither. 
 
 " And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck 
 and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. More- 
 over he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon 
 them : and after that his brethren talked with 
 him/' ver. 12—15. 
 
 This passage admits of no comment. " Lives 
 there a man of soul so dead," as to read it without 
 emotion ? it is but vanity to attempt to excite it in 
 him by any amplification. 
 
 " And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's 
 house, [even the] saying, Joseph's brethren are 
 come : and it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and 
 of his servants/' ver. 16. 
 
 " And Pharoah said unto Joseph, Say unto thy 
 brethren, This do ye ; lade your beasts, and go, 
 get you unto the land of Canaan ; and take your 
 father and your households, and come unto me : 
 and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, 
 and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 
 
 " Now thou [Joseph] art commanded, this do ye ; 
 take ye waggons out of the land of Egypt for 
 
JOSEPH. 101 
 
 your little ones, and for your wives, and bring 
 your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff ; 
 for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours/' 
 ver. 17—20. 
 
 " And the children of Israel did so : and Joseph 
 gave them waggons, according to the commandment 
 of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 
 To all of them he gave each man changes of rai- 
 ment ; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred rings 
 of silver and five changes of raiment. 
 
 " And to his father he sent thus : ten asses laden 
 with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses 
 laden with corn and bread, and prepared meat for 
 his father by the way." ver. 23. 
 
 Our engraving of the banquet of Nahrai (above, 
 p. 91), has already thrown light upon this passage : 
 a further illustration would be supplied by one of the 
 bills of fare of the feasts for the dead, which remain 
 to this day inscribed on the walls of all the prin- 
 cipal tombs of Egypt. In that of Eimei at Grhizeh, 
 who was one of the princes of Suphis, no fewer than 
 98 dishes are directed to be set forth in the monthly 
 and semi-monthly banquets. 
 
 Many more, equally striking, might also be col- 
 lected from the same sources of knowledge, of the 
 high perfection to which the culinary art had at- 
 tained in Egypt in Joseph's days, giving entire veri- 
 
102 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 similitude and consistency to the present prepared 
 by him for his aged father. 
 
 " So he sent his brethren away, and they de- 
 parted : and he said unto them, See that ye fall not 
 out by the way/' ver. 24. 
 
 This caution would be greatly needed by the 
 troop of rough, wild, impulsive men to whom it was 
 addressed. Even to this day the governments of 
 Egypt, Syria, and other countries bordering on the 
 desert, are felt to be an intolerable restraint to the 
 Arab rangers of the sand, and the return of a cara- 
 van of them to their native wastes is too often sig- 
 nalised by violent and sanguinary quarrels. Joseph's 
 brethren had much to resent, and much to forbear, 
 among themselves. In the absence of Joseph's cau- 
 tion, a bloody encounter would probably have been 
 the issue of the bitter recriminations wherewith 
 they would have wreaked on each other the re- 
 sentful feelings that the recent exposure of their 
 villanies had excited in them. 
 
 " And they went up out of Egypt, and came unto 
 the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and 
 told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is go- 
 vernor over all the land of Egypt. And his heart 
 fainted, for he believed them not. And they told 
 him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto 
 them : and when he saw the waggons which Joseph 
 sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father 
 
JOSEPH. 103 
 
 revived. And Israel said, It is enough : Joseph my 
 son is yet alive : I will go and see him before I die/' 
 Gen. xlv. 24—28. 
 
 " I had fainted unless I had believed to see the 
 goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 
 Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and he shall 
 strengthen thine heart : wait, I say, on the Lord ! " 
 Psalm xxxvii. 13, 14. 
 
 K And Israel took his journey, with all that he 
 had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices 
 unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake 
 unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, 
 Jacob, Jacob. And he said. Here am I. And he 
 said, I am God, the God of thy father : fear not to 
 go down into Egypt ; for I will there make of thee 
 a great nation : I will go down before thee into 
 Egypt ; and I will also surely bring thee up again ; 
 and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes/' 
 Gen. xlvi. 1 — 4. 
 
 It was at Beer-sheba that Abraham, after the ratifi- 
 cation of his covenant with Abimelech, had, in token 
 thereof, planted a tree by the well, which, from this 
 circumstance, he named " the well of the oath/' and 
 " called upon the name of the Lord the everlasting 
 God : the well by this token was confirmed to him 
 and to his seed after him for a perpetual possession. 
 Gen. xxi. 25 — 34. It was at Beer-sheba that the Lord 
 appeared unto Isaac, and solemnly repeated to him 
 
104 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the promise that he had at the first made to his 
 father Abraham. In consequence Isaac also builded 
 an altar there, and called upon the name of the 
 Lord. Gen. xxvi. 23 — 25. Again, it was at Beer- 
 sheba that Jacob himself had received from his 
 father Isaac the parting prophetic benediction which 
 conferred upon him, to the exclusion of Esau, the 
 inheritance of the promise, to obtain which Abram 
 their father had left Ur of the Chaldees. Gen. xxviii. 
 1—5, 10. The transaction therefore recorded in 
 the passage before us was no light matter, neither 
 was this explicit repetition of the promise in a 
 place thus specially consecrated to its ratification, 
 and under the wonderful circumstances in which 
 Israel now sojourned at Beer-sheba, a common or 
 insignificant event. It was on the last night of 
 Jacob's sojourn in the land of promise, that God 
 was pleased to repeat, for the last time, the promise 
 made at the first to Abram, and in the place which 
 Abram had especially consecrated to the God who 
 had made that promise. These, we repeat it, are 
 not circumstances to be superficially glossed over, 
 in a book wherein not one word has been written 
 in vain. That the importance nevertheless of this 
 passage of Holy Writ should only fully appear now, 
 that the sojourn of Israel in Egypt is receiving such 
 large elucidation from the monuments that still 
 exist in the valley of the Nile, is a special but not 
 
JOSEPH. 105 
 
 at all a singular circumstance, in the providential 
 arrangements of God. He "who hath addressed his 
 word to man so long as man shall sojourn upon this 
 earth, has also ordained, that with the lapse of 
 time, the intelligence of man and the sphere of his 
 knowledge shall advance likewise and continually : 
 but the effect of this wider intellectual glance will 
 only be, that the word of God will vindicate its 
 verity more triumphantly, and more clearly demon- 
 strate the adaptation of its teachings to the wants 
 of man. 
 
 In order to make appear the great importance of 
 the passage before us, we must call the attention of 
 our readers to another portion of the Bible, which 
 discourses of the points now under review. 
 
 " He that ministereth to you the Spirit and 
 worketh miracles, doeth he it by the works of the 
 law, or by the hearing of faith ? Even as Abraham 
 believed God, and it was accounted to him for 
 righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which 
 are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 
 And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify 
 the heathen through faith, declared before, the good 
 news unto Abraham, that is, ' In thee and in thy 
 seed shall all nations be blessed/ So then they 
 which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abra- 
 ham. For as many as are under the works of the 
 law are under a curse : for it is written, Cursed is 
 
106 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 every one that continueth not in all things that are 
 written in the book of the law to do them. But 
 that no man is justified by the law in the sight of 
 God is evident : for [it is written] the just shall 
 live by faith ; and the law is not of faith, but [it 
 says] the man that doeth them shall live in them. 
 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 being made a curse for us : for it is written, Cursed 
 is every one that hangeth on a tree : that the bless- 
 ing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through 
 Jesus Christ ; that we might receive the promise of 
 the Spirit through faith. 
 
 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; 
 though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be con- 
 firmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 
 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises 
 made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; 
 but as of one, And unto thy seed, which is Christ. 
 And this I say, that the covenant, which was con- 
 firmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was 
 four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disan- 
 nul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 
 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more 
 of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by pro- 
 mise." Gal. iii. 5—18. 
 
 The scope of this passage, we need scarcely ob- 
 serve, is to prove that the Abrahamic promise was 
 a matter superior to, and independent of, the Mo- 
 
JOSEPH. J 07 
 
 saic law ; and the proof of the position is found in 
 the circumstance, that the promise was made to 
 Abraham and to his seed as to one, not to his seeds 
 or posterity generally, as to many ; (so the Jews in- 
 terpret it ;) the one man, thus designated, being 
 Christ. It follows, therefore, that it was to Christ 
 in Abraham, and not to Abraham in person, that 
 the promise, in its ultimate interpretation, was 
 made. But, according to the Scripture doctrine of 
 paternity, Christ was in Isaac, and Christ was in 
 Jacob, quite as much as in Abraham. (See Hebrews 
 vii. 9, 10.) It is therefore of no importance to which 
 of the representatives and heads of the family of 
 Abraham the promise is repeated. The same God 
 speaks in it of the same Christ, and as long as the 
 promise is repeated, so long the dispensation of the 
 promise lasts. But in the passage before us, God 
 orally declared the Abrahamic promise for the last 
 time. It was never afterwards repeated to the 
 chosen race by this mode of revelation. It is 
 moreover wonderfully remarkable, that this last 
 repetition took place on the last night of the sojourn 
 of the Patriarchs in Canaan. On the day following 
 the tribe of Israel crossed the borders of Egypt. 
 We find, therefore, with admiration, but without 
 surprise, that in this " covenant, well ordered in 
 all things/' the dispensation of the promise, (that 
 is, of the divine utterance of the promise) which 
 
108 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 began with the call of Abram into Canaan, from Ur 
 of the Chaldees, terminated on the last night of the 
 sojourn in Canaan of Isaac his grandson. 
 
 Upon this view of the subject, another conclusion 
 follows inevitably. It is from the end and not 
 from the beginning of this dispensation of the 
 promise that the interval between it and the law 
 must be computed. To assume that in the passage 
 we have quoted from the Gralatians, St. Paul speaks 
 only of the first enunciation of the promise to Abram 
 is to ignore altogether the frequent subsequent re- 
 petitions of the same promise to himself and to 
 Jacob. Whereas the entire argument of the apostle 
 goes to show that Grod and his Christ were the only 
 parties to the promise at any time, and conse- 
 quently, that all the repetitions of the promise were 
 of exactly the same value, inasmuch as they were 
 all made by the same God of the same Christ. The 
 four hundred and thirty years therefore mentioned 
 by St. Paul, as the interval between the Abrahamic 
 promise and the Mosaic law, dates from the last re- 
 petition of that promise to Jacob at Beer-sheba on 
 the last night of his sojourn in the land of Canaan. 
 This is very evident. Let us now turn to other 
 passages of Holy Writ which mention the same 
 interval. 
 
 "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel 
 who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty 
 
JOSEPH. 109 
 
 years. And it came to pass at the end of the four 
 hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it 
 came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went 
 out from the land of Egypt/' Exodus xii. 10, 11. 
 
 It is not possible for language to be more explicit 
 than this. The passage is found at the termination 
 of the history of the bondage in Egypt ; the dura- 
 tion of the sojourn of Israel there is a natural con- 
 clusion of the narrative. We are well aware of the 
 interpolation which this text has suffered in the 
 Samaritan Pentateuch, and some other authorities 
 of the third and fourth centuries before the vulgar 
 era, and whereby it is made to read " the sojourn- 
 ing of the children of Israel who dwelt in Canaan 
 and in Egypt, &c." This gloss we apprehend, con- 
 victs itself of forgery, by the circumstance that it 
 converts the passage into arrant nonsense. The 
 natural termination of the history in the sojourn in 
 Egypt, is the duration of that sojourn as we have 
 already explained : — but thus interpolated, the pas- 
 sage does not give the duration of that sojourn at 
 all ; but the chronology of another event, altogether 
 foreign and irrelevant to the matter in hand. 
 
 When we add to these that no copy of the Hebrew 
 original has this reading, and that, as Bunsen has 
 well observed, the very nature of the addition excites 
 a strong suspicion of its falsehood, there is no occa- 
 sion to detain the reader further with the well 
 
110 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 known motives of the interpolators. Enough has 
 been advanced to establish the truth of the Hebrew 
 reading. It is only the adoption of the gloss by- 
 many otherwise high authorities on Biblical criti- 
 cism, which has rendered needful that which we 
 have said upon it. 
 
 If the Bible is to decide this question, and not 
 man's chronological and statistical speculations, the 
 enquiry is at an end. This period of 400 years was 
 distinctly prophesied to Abram, almost at the com- 
 mencement of his sojourn in Canaan, Gen. xv. 1 3. 
 The same period is also formally repeated in the 
 inspired adoption of this prophecy by Stephen, Acts 
 vii. 6, as well as by St. Paul in the passage already 
 quoted from Galatians. 
 
 Thus clearly is it revealed in the word of God, 
 that the children of Israel sojourned in Egypt for 
 exactly four hundred and thirty years, and because 
 it is thus revealed, and for no other reason, we at 
 once assume it, and take our stand upon it boldly 
 and decidedly. If it be objected to us, that by doing 
 this we shall presently involve ourselves in inextri- 
 cable difficulties, we reply, that we shall not for 
 that reason tamper with the truth of God. We 
 receive this fact as He has revealed it. We shall 
 proceed, step by step, through the whole subject ; 
 and when the threatened difficulties arise, we will 
 endeavour to deal with them. A tangible and pre- 
 
JOSEPH. Ill 
 
 cise fact like this, moreover, of times so remote from 
 history is far too precious to be allowed to pass 
 away before the chronological chimera of this critic, 
 or the statistical spectre of that philosopher. We 
 repeat that which we have already said before, that 
 the writings of believers in revelation are the ar- 
 moury whence its infidel assailants have drawn their 
 deadliest weapons. 
 
 " And Jacob broke up [his encampment] at Beer- 
 sheba : and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their 
 father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the 
 waggons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him/' 
 Gen. xlvi. 5. 
 
 The word here translated " waggon/' H^JS meant 
 originally, " young bullock/' which being the uni- 
 versal beast of burden in the ancient world, after- 
 wards gave its name to the vehicle to which it was 
 yoked. The subject of draught-oxen is very com- 
 mon in the reliefs of Egypt, but the carriages are 
 not on wheels, but on runners. 
 
 It was in such carriages, drawn by oxen, that the 
 household stuff of the patriarchs was conveyed into 
 
112 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Egypt. Jacob, with the women and young children, 
 went thither in palanquins, which were either drawn 
 by men-slaves, or borne upon their shoulders. 
 
 FROM THE TOMB OP NAHRAI. 
 
 "And they took their cattle and their goods 
 which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and 
 came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him. 
 His sons, and his sons' sons with him ; his daugh- 
 ters and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought 
 he with him to Egypt 
 
 " All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt 
 of his issue, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the 
 souls were three-score and six. And the sons of 
 Joseph which were born him in Egypt were two 
 souls : all the souls of the house of Jacob which 
 came into Egypt, were three-score and ten." Gen. 
 xlvi. 6, 7, 26, 27. 
 
JOSEPH. 113 
 
 The great precision after which, the writer of this 
 passage labours in the detail of these facts is very 
 remarkable. It is impossible for a statement to be 
 made more carefully. Xow there are but two mo- 
 tives conceivable by which the penman can have 
 been actuated in this writing. The one is his con- 
 viction, that the facts he had to state were deeply 
 important to his history : the other his conscious- 
 ness, that he was writing a falsehood which never- 
 theless he wished to impose upon his readers for 
 truth. If in this or any other numerical statement 
 the numbers thus formally recorded may be accepted 
 in a vague indefinite sense, so that any one number 
 may mean any other, (a mode of interpretation very 
 much in vogue among certain critics of the present 
 day) assuredly the passage before us was written 
 for the purpose of deceiving and misleading the 
 reader. This conclusion is inevitable. 
 
 " And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to 
 direct his face unto Goshen ; when they came into 
 the land of Goshen.* And Joseph made ready his 
 chariot, and went to meet Israel his father in Go- 
 
 * The city of On, or Heliopolis, was some miles to the southward oi 
 the Delta, of which (as we have already explained) Goshen was one of 
 the ancient names. The circumstances here detailed, correspond very 
 exactly both in time and place. The tribe of Jacob sought the grassy 
 plains of the Delta for the pasturage of their cattle immediately on their 
 arrival in Egypt. Judah, the first-born of Jacob, is sent to On, to announce 
 to Joseph his father's arrival. 
 
 I 
 
114 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 shen, and presented himself unto him, and he fell 
 on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 
 And Israel said unto Joseph, now let me die, since 
 I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive/' 
 Gen. xlvi. 28—30. 
 
 It would be with the state and habiliments of a 
 military chief that Joseph went forth on this occa- 
 sion ; by no other order of the community were 
 horse-chariots, rQSlE, ever used. 
 
 " And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his 
 father's house, I will go up and shew Pharaoh, and 
 say unto him, My brethren and my father's house, 
 which were in the land of Canaan are come unto 
 me. And the men are shepherds, they are also 
 herdsmen, and their flocks and their herds, and all 
 their possessions they have brought. And it shall 
 come to pass when Pharaoh shall speak to you, and 
 shall say, What is your occupation ? that ye shall 
 say, Thy servants have tended cattle from our youth, 
 even until now, both we and also our fathers, that 
 ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shep- 
 herd is the abomination of Egypt." Gen. xxxi. 34. 
 
 So universally is the very well-known passage of 
 Manetho preserved by Josephus in his first book 
 against the sophist Apion, quoted as a comment upon 
 tjiis text, that we are absolutely compelled to follow 
 a precedent so firmly established, and take here the 
 question of the first shepherd-invasion of Egypt. 
 
JOSEPH. 115 
 
 Having quoted this passage, commentators generally 
 consider, that the abhorrence of the shepherd by 
 the Egyptian is hereby fully accounted for. To this 
 assumption we shall be compelled to demur. 
 
 It is as follows : — " There was a king [of Egypt] 
 named Amountimseus. In his reign God was un- 
 propitious, I do not know why ; and unexpectedly, 
 some men of ignoble race, rushing boldly from the 
 East, made war upon the country and took it easily 
 without a battle, and having made prisoners of the 
 principal men in it, they burnt down the cities and 
 overthrew the temples of the gods. They likewise 
 used all the inhabitants as harshly as possible, slay- 
 ing some, and selling others with their wives and 
 children into slavery/' k«t, A*k>*. I. 14. 
 
 This passage, which we have translated as closely 
 as possible, convicts itself of intentional exaggera- 
 tion by its phraseology. Nevertheless, that it is a 
 genuine extract from the temple-records, there can 
 be no doubt. We have already explained, that the 
 men of ignoble race were the lower Egyptians, that 
 they were the partizans of the older religion, and 
 that the Canaanite settlers in the Delta took part 
 with them in the schism that arose in Egypt upon 
 the change made in her mythology by Mencheres. 
 The monuments whence Manetho extracted this his- 
 tory being kept by the partizans of the opposite 
 faction, we hereby fully explain both the application 
 
 I 2 
 
116 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 of the opprobrious nicknames of " shepherds " and 
 " foreigners," to the Lower Egyptian Pharaohs, and 
 the fearful picture which the account gives of the 
 barbarities committed by the men from the east, who 
 conquered Amountimaeus, which the existing monu- 
 ments of Egypt contradict in toto. 
 
 u At length they made one of themselves king, 
 whose name was Salatis. He lived at Memphis, 
 and put to tribute both the Upper and the Lower 
 Country, and garrisoned the most important places. 
 But he principally fortified the eastern parts, [of his 
 dominion] fearing the growing desire of the Assy- 
 rians, who were then becoming very powerful, to 
 invade his kingdom. So that, finding in the Sethe- 
 oite nome a city very advantageously situated upon 
 the eastern banks of the Bubastite branch [of the 
 Nile] and called from some ancient myth, Avaris, 
 he fortified it, making it very strong with walls, and 
 garrisoned it with am immense force, amounting to 
 240,000 men. Here he held his court in the sum- 
 mer season, administering both the provisioning [of 
 the garrison] and the collection of tribute, training 
 [his troops] diligently in martial exercise through 
 fear of a hostile attack from without. Having 
 reigned for nineteen years, he died. After him 
 another named Beon reigned for twenty-four years, 
 and then another named Apachnas for forty-six 
 years and seven months ; then Aphophis for sixty- 
 
JOSEPH. 117 
 
 one years, and Jannas for fifty years and a month. 
 After all these, Asses reigned also forty-nine years 
 and two months. And these six were the first rulers 
 over them, always at war with Egypt., and desiring 
 principally to uproot it altogether/'' — Ibid. 
 
 These names of shepherd-kings are all opprobri- 
 ous epithets, used as nicknames with punning allu- 
 sions to the real names of the Lower Egyptian Pha- 
 raohs, to whom they were applied. 
 
 The passage itself is totally irreconcileable with 
 the one that precedes it, whence it must have been 
 inferred, that the shepherd invasion was a mere 
 irruption of armed barbarians ; but it agrees per- 
 fectly with the indirect testimony of the remaining 
 monuments of this event, and with the scripture 
 notices of Egypt under the shepherds, that is, the 
 Lower Egyptian Pharaohs. Their kingdom was well 
 ordered and peaceable ; and a succession of the 
 greatest and best that had ever ruled in Egypt, ex- 
 ercised the sovereign authority during reigns of long 
 duration. 
 
 The expression, " these six were the first rulers over 
 the shepherds/' is well deserving of more attention 
 than it has hitherto received ; inasmuch as it dis- 
 tinctly alludes to a fact which the monuments have 
 irrefragably established, namely, that the so-called 
 shepherd-kingdom in Egypt, by no means ended 
 with Asses, though he was probably expelled from 
 
118 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Memphis by the Mencherian Pharaohs. To this 
 point, which is of the last importance to the history 
 of Israel in Egypt, we must return hereafter. 
 
 " This entire nation [that of the shepherds] was 
 called hyksos, — that is king-shepherds, for the 
 word hyk signifies c king/ in the sacred tongue, and 
 sos means c a shepherd/ and ' shepherds ' in the 
 vulgar dialect ; and the two united make hyk-sos." 
 Ibid. 
 
 This criticism is perfectly correct in every parti- 
 cular. The word hyk occurs in the sacred tongue, 
 that is, in the hieroglyphics, with the meaning 
 which Josephus assigns to it. ^J^ hk is a group of 
 common occurrence in the texts ; it means " king " 
 of a foreign nation generally. The word sos (**><;) 
 also is of equally common occurrence in the Coptic 
 texts, which, being as we have explained, the Egyp- 
 tian translation of the Bible and other Christian 
 books, represents the vulgar dialect of ancient 
 Egypt. It is written shos, and signifies " shep- 
 herd/' also " ignominy/' and, " one that is beaten/' 
 In the sacred tongue it is not read with this import ; 
 but the group which has been thus transcribed is 
 of very common occurrence in the texts that ex- 
 plain the reliefs, representing wars with Lower 
 Egypt — £j_HVi shm or shus, which is evidently 
 the same word. The determinative of the group 
 shows us, however, that in hieroglyphics this word 
 
JOSEPH. 119 
 
 was not a common noun, but the proper name of 
 some tribe or nation of foreigners, and enemies of 
 Egypt. Sos, or Shos, was the name of a powerful 
 tribe among the Canaanite auxiliaries of the Lower 
 Egyptian Pharaohs, by whom the Mencherians 
 were expelled from Memphis. So conspicuous a 
 part did they take in this war, that their proper 
 name in after ages had passed pargemiastically 
 from the sacred to the vulgar dialect as the common 
 appellative of " shepherd/' and also of ignominy 
 and " opprobrium " generally. The identification 
 of the shos we will consider hereafter. 
 
 " Some say that these shepherds were Arabs. 
 In another transcription c king ' is not signified by 
 the common noun hyk } but, on the contrary, it 
 means c captive : ' for the words hyk and hak in 
 Egyptian signify literally ' captive/ ' prisoner of 
 war.' This last [import] seems to me more cre- 
 dible, and in better agreement with ancient his- 
 tory." Ibid. 
 
 Josephus here is by no means equally happy. It 
 is perfectly true that the words T^m ^ ia ^ 
 Hierog., and HK hale, Copt mean "to lead captive/' 
 " to take prisoner/' though it is only by a pun that 
 they can be brought into relation with the word 
 hyksos. But our author was misled by an absurdity 
 which, to the great detriment of the truth, he 
 mixed up with his defence of the sacred books of 
 
120 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the Jews. In order to magnify his own nation, he 
 endeavours to prove throughout his work, that the 
 Israelites were the shepherds who conquered Egypt. 
 This at once accounts for his ready acceptance of 
 this quibbling criticism, which, as he tells us after- 
 wards, greatly favors his view, inasmuch as his fore- 
 fathers were both shepherds by occupation and also 
 captives in Egypt. 
 
 There is no subject in the entire compass of 
 human knowledge which so imperatively demands 
 from him that discusses it, a perfectly honest inten- 
 tion, or (we grieve to add) that so seldom obtains 
 this its demand on any hand, as Biblical criticism. 
 
 " He (Manetho) says, that these before-named 
 kings of the shepherds, as they were called, and 
 those who were descended from them, ruled Egypt 
 for 511 years. But after these things, he says, that 
 there was an insurrection against the Shepherds, of 
 the kings of the Thebaid and of the rest of Egypt, 
 and there broke out against them a great war, and 
 of long duration/' Ibid. 
 
 The sum of the reigns of the Shepherd-kings he 
 had before catalogued, is 259 years and ten months. 
 So that, by the place before us, their kingdom lasted 
 251 years after Asses, who was expelled from Mem- 
 phis. But the lists of kings which profess to be the 
 compend or digest of Manetho's history, put down 
 the whole duration of the Shepherd-kingdom in 
 
JOSEPH. 121 
 
 Egypt at 953 years. We have elsewhere expressed 
 our conviction that this kingdom in the Delta had 
 been founded long before the conquest of Memphis 
 by Salatis or Saites, in the reign of Amun-Timaeus. 
 The scriptural and monumental grounds upon which 
 this opinion has been formed, we have already de- 
 tailed in part, and they will appear further in the 
 course of our present undertaking. 
 
 Most unwilling as we are to add needlessly to our 
 already sufficiently copious subject, it seems incum- 
 bent on us to remark on the present passage from 
 Josephus, that a very large and influential school of 
 modern investigators have been entirely mistaken 
 in their interpretation of it : and that their mistake 
 has led to chronological assumptions altogether in- 
 compatible with the truth of the Bible. They read 
 Josephus as though he had said, that the Shepherd 
 kings ruled Egypt for 511 years after the taking of 
 Memphis by Salatis, and then the insurrection of 
 the Theban kings arose : whereas, in the original, 
 Josephus says no such thing. He merely tells us 
 that in Manetho's narrative the account of the du- 
 ration of the Shepherd-kingdom is followed by that 
 of the insurrection which ultimately overthrew it. 
 It was not his intention to state at all in this place 
 the chronological connection between the two events, 
 — for, assuredly, he never could have meant to say 
 that the Shepherds ruled in Egypt for 511 years, 
 
122 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 and then waged a long war which ended in their 
 expulsion, — because thereby he would have over- 
 thrown entirely the theory he was just about to 
 enounce, that the Shepherds were the Israelites : 
 inasmuch as his own books, which he knew inti- 
 mately, declared authoritatively that the sojourn of 
 Israel in Egypt was exactly 430 years. As we pro- 
 ceed with our subject, we shall find other occasions 
 whereon more conveniently to discuss the time of 
 the capture of Memphis. 
 
 It will have sufficiently appeared from what we 
 have stated, that the so-called Shepherd invasion of 
 Egypt, which was merely a civil war between two 
 native pretenders to the crown, was not the reason 
 why " every shepherd was an abomination to the 
 Egyptians," as is assumed by Biblical critics. This 
 antagonism between the husbandman and the herds- 
 man had a far earlier origin. It began with Cain 
 and Abel : and in Egypt, where the one pursuit 
 was agriculture, and where every thing was pre- 
 scriptive, it was a doctrine of religion that every 
 shepherd by occupation was unclean, and inadmis- 
 sible within the precincts of her temples. All this 
 we have before explained (p. 19). The Lower 
 Egyptian ascendancy then did not make every 
 shepherd an abomination to the Egyptians, but the 
 Lower Egyptians were afterwards called " Shep- 
 
JOSEPH. 123 
 
 herds/' that is " abominable/' by the Upper Egyp- 
 tians, because of their victories over them. 
 
 " Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, 
 my father, and my brethren, and their flocks, and 
 their herds, and all that they have, are come out of 
 the land of Canaan, and, behold, they are in the 
 land of Goshen. And he took some of his brethren, 
 even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 
 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your 
 occupation ? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy 
 servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. 
 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn 
 in the land are we come ; for thy servants have no 
 pasture for their flocks : for the famine is sore in 
 the land of Canaan ; now therefore, we pray thee, 
 let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen/' Gen. 
 xlvii. 1 — 4. 
 
 This passage puts the cause of the famine out of 
 the reach of a doubt. It was not a blight on the 
 corn. It was not an excess of rain in the time of 
 harvest. It was a drought upon the whole earth. 
 At the same time that the pastures of Canaan were 
 as arid and as dusty as the waste wilderness that 
 surrounds them, the thick forests that clothe the 
 mountains of Ethiopia were also drooping for lack 
 of moisture, and the Nile " was smitten in its seven 
 streams, so that men went over dry shod : " even as 
 it shall be again at some future period, and for 
 
124 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 some similar display of the goodness and severity of 
 God towards his people Israel. Is. xi. 15, 16. 
 
 " And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy 
 father and thy brethren are come unto thee : the 
 land of Egypt is before thee ; in the best of the 
 land make thy father and brethren to dwell : in the 
 land of Groshen let them dwell : and if thou knowest 
 any men of fitness [for the office] among them, set 
 them over my cattle/' ver. 5, 6. 
 
 The office proposed by Pharaoh for the accept- 
 ance of Joseph's brethren was one frequently held 
 by the princes of Egypt. ^^ " Superintendent of 
 the king's cattle/' is one of the titles of a prince, 
 whose funeral tablet is in the Museo de bei arti, at 
 Florence. It has been there ever since the days of 
 the Medici, and was doubtless found in Lower 
 Egypt. The title is also often written thus : )$f Ji^ 
 " royal scribe (or enumerator) of the bodies of 
 cattle," or as we should say, " heads of cattle." This 
 was an office evidently sought after and highly 
 esteemed in Ancient Egypt, a circumstance strongly 
 confirmatory of our explanation of the sense in 
 which " every shepherd (or cattle-feeder — n ?^ means 
 both) was an abomination to the Egyptians." They 
 were religiously unclean, and not allowed to dwell 
 in the cities of Egypt, which were all accounted the 
 precincts of the temples of their tutelary gods, that 
 invariably stood in the midst of them. This re- 
 
JOSEPH. 125 
 
 strietion seems to have gone no further than those 
 who immediately attended upon the cattle. 
 
 " And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and 
 set him before Pharaoh : and Jacob blessed Pha- 
 raoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art 
 thou ? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of 
 the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and 
 thirty years ; few and evil have the days of the 
 years of my life been, and have not attained unto 
 the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the 
 days of their pilgrimage. And Jacob blessed Pha- 
 raoh, and went out from before Pharaoh/' Gen. 
 xlvii. 7—10. 
 
 In this passage is contained the only formal state- 
 ment of the fact, that the life of man had under- 
 gone a considerable abbreviation in the course of 
 the period that had then elapsed since the creation 
 and the deluge. The recorded length of the lives 
 of the men of these still earlier times had already 
 made apparent this same fact. It is moreover 
 to be noted, that in the times of Jacob human life 
 had a much longer average duration than after- 
 wards. This is a fact which will presently demand 
 our attention. It was not until later, that the da.ys 
 of the years of man's life had dwindled down u to 
 three-score years and ten/' Ps. xc. 10. These are 
 truths revealed so clearly and obviously, that it is 
 hard to conceive how a distinct denial of them, or 
 
126 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 even such an explanation of them, as shall make 
 the names of the earlier patriarchs not those of in- 
 dividuals, but of tribes, and the Scripture numbers 
 generally the metaphorical representations of vague, 
 undefined, and undefineable lapses of time, can 
 nevertheless consist with expressions of boundless 
 respect for the Old Testament. Such is the case 
 nevertheless, and with more than one writer of high 
 authority on our subject. 
 
 " And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, 
 and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, 
 in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as 
 Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished 
 his father and his brethren, and all his father's 
 household with bread, according to their families/' 
 ver. 12, 13. 
 
 This is the narrative of the inspired historian. 
 He applies to the part of Goshen in which Joseph 
 located his father and his tribe, the name which it 
 obtained long afterwards in the days of the capti- 
 vity (see Exod. i. 11). It is almost needless to re- 
 mark, that Rameses must have been either another 
 name for Goshen, or a part of Goshen. This appears 
 very evidently from the text and context. Its lo- 
 cality we shall find hereafter. 
 
 Thus have we subjected the whole of the inspired 
 narrative of the circumstances which led to the lo- 
 cation in Egypt of the tribe or sept of Jacob, in 
 
JOSEPH. 127 
 
 every single particular, to the most trying ordeal, 
 by which it is possible to test the genuineness of 
 any professed history of the past, We have mi- 
 nutely compared its incidental allusions, those un- 
 important accessories, in which all feigned narratives 
 invariably betray themselves by blunders and ana- 
 chronisms, with the yet existing monuments of the 
 time and country of which it purports to relate the 
 history. How the Mosaic narrative comes forth from 
 the torture-chamber, wherein this crucial question 
 has been administered to it, — whether its genuine- 
 ness or imposture have appeared in the process, we, 
 without one impulse of fear, without one shadow of 
 mistrust, leave to the judgment of the reader the 
 most hostile to its authenticity, that may cast his 
 eye upon our pages. 
 
 These contemporary monuments have corrected 
 the mistakes and misapprehensions of twenty-five 
 hundred years. They have restored to significance 
 and perfect harmony with the context, words which, 
 in the days of Ptolemy Epiphanes and the Septua- 
 gint, were mere cabalisms. Their import had 
 been long forgotten, and they were only to be re- 
 presented in the new version by the transcription of 
 their Hebrew characters into Greek. 
 
 We have repeatedly remarked, in the course of 
 our investigation, that not one word in the Bible 
 was written in vain : we have now another and 
 
128 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 similar proposition to lay down. Not one event in 
 Providence has happened in vain. It has not been 
 in vain that the monuments of Ancient Egypt have 
 remained until now deeply hidden beneath the sand 
 of the desert. Neither has their present disclosure 
 taken place for no higher purpose than to supply 
 materials for huge unreadable volumes, in which 
 the writers may display their learning, their philo- 
 sophic rejection of the Bible, and their implicit faith 
 in Eratosthenes, Censorinus, and other ancient 
 Greek authorities. That it is for the illustration of 
 the Bible that these materials for the history of 
 Ancient Egypt have been kept by a miracle in Pro- 
 vidence, we have long felt convinced. Our purpose 
 in the present work is to demonstrate the truth of 
 this our conviction. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FAMINE. 
 
 "And there was no bread in all the land ; for the 
 famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and 
 the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 
 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was 
 found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of 
 Canaan, for the corn which they bought : and Joseph 
 brought the money into Pharaoh's house. And 
 when the money failed in the land of Egypt and 
 in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came 
 unto Joseph and said, Give us bread, for why should 
 we die before thee, for the money faileth ? And 
 Joseph said, Give me your cattle ; and I will give 
 you for your cattle, if money fail. And they brought 
 their cattle unto Joseph : and Joseph gave them 
 bread for horses, for flocks, for herds, and for asses : 
 and he brought them through that year with [the] 
 bread [he gave them]/' Gen. xlvii 13 — 1 7. 
 
 This was but the third year of the famine. At 
 
130 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 its conclusion, the whole of the moveable property 
 of Egypt and Canaan is Pharaoh's. The rings of 
 silver and gold are in his treasure-houses. The 
 cattle of all kinds feed on the grassy plains of the 
 Delta, under the supervision of the king's servants. 
 The enumeration of the several kinds of cattle 
 mentioned here, is illustrated by the tombs of the 
 princes of Egypt of the times of Joseph. Cattle 
 of several sorts formed an important part of their 
 wealth. They are represented on the walls of their 
 tombs with minute accuracy : so much so, that each 
 separate head has the appearance of a portrait. It 
 would convey a wrong impression were we to assume 
 that the flocks and herds of Egypt were like those 
 that now graze the pastures of England. They con- 
 sisted of collections of many different species of 
 bovine and caprine animals. The princes were in 
 the habit of going forth to the mountains on hunt- 
 ing expeditions, at the head of long trains of attend- 
 ants, for the purpose of taking them alive in toils. 
 It is not until the times immediately preceding those 
 of Joseph that they are ever represented hunting 
 with deadly weapons. The experiment which ulti- 
 mately issued in the present breeds of tame cattle 
 was then in progress. Gazelles, antelopes, and wild 
 goats of various species constituted the flocks of the 
 princes of Egypt. Zebus, yaks, brahmin -bulls, as 
 well as the wild cattle, both of Western Asia and 
 
THE FAMINE. 131 
 
 Eastern Africa, were their herds. Even in the days 
 of Joseph's immediate predecessors, a highly-valued 
 possession of one of the princes of the twelfth dy- 
 nasty, Nahrai,* consisted in a tame breed of the 
 oryx, the gnou, or some other species of the colossal 
 antelopes that to this day bound in herds over the 
 vast plains of interior Africa. 
 
 The concentration of the cattle of vast districts 
 in one place, and under one hand and manage- 
 ment, which is implied by the inspired narrative, 
 would have the effect of greatly settling the tame 
 breeds which were afterwards in use. This effect 
 certainly followed : for of the cattle depicted in 
 the tombs of Egypt, which belong to later times 
 than those of Joseph, the flocks are all goats, and 
 the herds are all oxen, of three or four breeds 
 only. 
 
 The ass was always the beast of burden of Egypt, 
 from the very earliest period of which we have any 
 monumental^record. He still strays wild in herds, 
 and browses the oases of the desert tracts that hem 
 in Egypt on all sides. The Zebra, the Twaggai, and 
 the other striped asses of interior Africa do not 
 appear ever to have reached Egypt. Had they been 
 seen there, doubtless they would have been highly 
 valued. 
 
 The horse was unknown in Egypt in the times 
 
 * His tomb is at Beni-hassan, in Middle Egypt. 
 K 2 
 
132 ISRAEL IK EGYPT. 
 
 that preceded the Lower Egyptian or shepherd 
 kingdom. He constantly appears, and as a property 
 in the highest possible estimation, on the monu- 
 ments of the times that followed that kingdom. It 
 is well worthy of note that, in exact accordance 
 with this monumental indication, the horse is not 
 mentioned among the possessions acquired by Abram 
 during his sojourn in Egypt. Gen. xii. 15. Whereas, 
 in the passage before us, the horse stands first of all 
 among the cattle of the princes of Egypt. The 
 political changes which have taken place in the in- 
 terval between the times of Abram, and those of 
 Joseph, satisfactorily account for this discrepancy 
 which prevails alike in the texts and on the monu- 
 ments. Doubtless with the great influx of eastern 
 strangers into Lower Egypt which they promoted, 
 the horse was introduced from his native wilds of 
 Arabia. 
 
 The camel, which was one of Abram's possessions 
 in Egypt, formed no part of the live stock of 
 Egypt in Joseph's time. It is not represented in 
 the pictures, nor mentioned in the inscriptions of 
 one monument of Egypt of any epoch whatever. 
 It was doubtless an unclean animal there, and not 
 permitted under any circumstances to enter the pre- 
 cincts of the kingdom. We have already explained, 
 that in Abram's times the tenure of the Delta was 
 very uncertain and precarious, and that it seems to 
 
THE FAMINE. 133 
 
 have been well nigli common ground to the Egyp- 
 tians and Canaanites : whereas, under the Lower 
 Egyptian kingdom it became a part of Egypt, where 
 the laws and usages of the realm were rigidly 
 enforced. So fully does this comparison of the 
 inspired text with the existing monuments, bring 
 out its truth to the minutest particular. 
 
 The domestic animals of ancient Egypt, as depicted 
 on the monuments, and traceable in their existing 
 remains, would form a deeply interesting subject of 
 investigation. 
 
 " When that year was ended, they came to him 
 the second year and said unto him, We will not hide 
 from our lord how that our money is spent ; my lord 
 also hath our herds of cattle ; there is not ought 
 left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our 
 lands : Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, 
 both we and our lands ? buy us and our land for 
 bread, and we and our land will be servants unto 
 Pharaoh : and give us seed, that we may live and 
 not die, that the land be not desolate. 
 
 u And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for 
 Pharaoh ; for the Egyptians sold every man his 
 field, because the famine prevailed over them : so 
 the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, 
 he removed them to cities from one end of the bor- 
 ders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof/' Gen. 
 xlvii. 18—21. 
 
134 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 A great and momentous change in the social con- 
 dition of the entire population of Lower Egypt is 
 assuredly implied by the passage before us to have 
 originated in these governmental acts of Joseph, 
 and to have been still prevalent in the times of the 
 writer of the present narrative. The change thus 
 effected is the one which, in every case, clearly marks 
 the transition of a people from the state of semi- 
 barbarism to that of civilization. It consists in 
 the reclamation of the mass of the inhabitants of 
 a country from a wandering life passed in tents to a 
 fixed life passed in cities and villages. It was in all 
 other ancient countries a process so slow and gradual 
 as altogether to escape historical notice, save in some 
 myth or religious fable wherein the priesthood 
 conferred the honour of originating it upon some 
 noted benefactor of their temples and worship. 
 In the land into the ancient history of which we 
 are now enquiring, where nothing perishes, the 
 period, the occasion, and the man by whom it was 
 accomplished, are all preserved. 
 
 It was in the fourth year of the famine that the 
 Divine wisdom in Joseph laid the foundation of laws 
 and institutions in Egypt, upon which she flourished 
 as an independent state for nearly 2000 years after- 
 wards. A duration which surpasses more than three- 
 fold that of any other ancient monarchy. 
 
 The monumental indications of the occurrence of 
 
THE FAMINE. 135 
 
 such a political change about the time when the 
 Bible informs us it took place, are neither few nor 
 unimportant. The Greek lists hint obscurely, but 
 intelligibly, at the great disorders and irregularities 
 of government that afflicted Egypt at the commence- 
 ment of the monarchy. Changes of dynasty, anar- 
 chies, and civil wars, are noted as common occur- 
 rences. The monuments speak of a state of things 
 in the infancy of the monarchy, which was sure to 
 produce these effects. The princes of Egypt had 
 possessions so vast, and laid claim to powers so un- 
 limited, that it is really not easy to comprehend 
 what power was left for Pharaoh to exercise. In 
 these times he must have been in the position of 
 our kings in the Middle Ages, the mere slave and 
 vassal of the haughty nobles that surrounded him. 
 The effect, as well as the cause, is clearly chronicled 
 in this wonderful stone-history. The early kings 
 of Egypt seem to have been as uncertain in their 
 dwelling-place as their subjects. The immediate 
 successors of the founder of Memphis, the first me- 
 tropolis of Egypt, administered the affairs of the 
 kingdom there for a few generations only. Then 
 comes an interval of 200 years, in which no royal 
 name, save of an obscure king or two, occurs in her 
 cemeteries. The successors of these primitive kings 
 have left their memorials higher up the valley ; and 
 the Greek lists, in strict harmony with this monu- 
 
136 ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 
 
 mental indication, tells us that the successors of the 
 builders of the pyramids had for their capital, Aby- 
 dos, far in Middle Egypt, on its extreme southern 
 limit, and 200 miles from Memphis.* Then follows 
 a religious civil war, and an anarchy which is filled 
 up in the lists as usual, with hundreds of anony- 
 mous kings reigning for one or two millennia, and 
 with about half a dozen names of obscure kings on 
 the monuments. It was thus that the priests of 
 Egypt ever wrote history ! Then, once more, a new 
 family reigning still at Abydos, or Coptos, exercised 
 dominion over the whole of Egypt, and the monu- 
 ments and the lists are again in accordance : but in 
 little more than a century, Amun Timseus, the last of 
 this dynasty, is dispossessed of Memphis by the Lower 
 Egyptian king, Saitis, and Egypt is divided into at 
 least two distinct monarchies. Of what is all this the 
 indication, but of that which has hitherto taken place 
 in the infancy of all the monarchies of the world ? 
 An insufficient modicum of authority unwillingly 
 conceded to the reigning monarch by a factious oli- 
 garchy of haughty nobles. It is scarcely needful 
 for us to explain how exactly the measures with 
 which the Divine Wisdom inspired Joseph on the 
 occasion of the famine, struck at the root of this 
 evil, and laid the foundation of the absolute, yet 
 
 * This city is called in the lists, Elephantine. I have elsewhere dealt 
 with this mistake, History of Egypt, vol. i. 
 
THE FAMINE. 137 
 
 well-ordered monarchy w!iich, in the infancy of 
 states, and in ages of semi-barbarism, is the only 
 possible form of government under which prosperity 
 and justice to the ruled are reciprocated by tran- 
 quillity and permanence to the rulers. 
 
 The monuments of Egypt of the ages that followed 
 the times of Joseph, present a very remarkable con- 
 trast in this particular, to those that precede him. 
 In these earlier periods, the only remaining memorial 
 of Pharaoh is the pyramid in which he was buried. 
 The great works were all executed by the princes 
 and potentates that surrounded him. He is only 
 named, while living, on the occasion of conferring 
 some tract of land on one of his nobles. After his 
 death they made an idol of him, worshipped him in 
 his pyramid, and constituted themselves his priests 
 and ministering attendants : offices which of course 
 were well endowed both with revenues and political 
 power. This is the occasion on which the names of 
 the kings of primitive Egypt appear far more fre- 
 quently than on any other. 
 
 Nothing can be more striking than the contrast 
 to this state of things which is presented by the 
 monuments of the times that succeeded the epoch 
 of Joseph. Now Pharaoh is every thing : whereas 
 before, he had been a mere pageant, next to nothing. 
 The princes of Egypt, who had been supreme in the 
 earlier period, become, in their turn, insignificant 
 
138 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 and powerless, save through Pharaoh, in these later 
 times. The titles of Abrach, Saris, Rapha-he, and 
 other distinctions, which were all but universal in 
 the court of the early Pharaohs, fell into utter de- 
 suetude in the times of their successors. The nobles 
 of Egypt, in the post-pastoral period of her history, 
 were contented with the offices of generals, admi- 
 rals, superintendents of estates, judges, and other 
 functions, all entirely subordinate to the royal 
 power of Pharaoh ; and date the great transactions 
 of their lives by the year of Pharaoh's reign — a 
 practice of which there is not a single example in 
 the preceding times. The name of the reigning king 
 is, in short, recorded every where, and nothing is 
 done in Egypt, either in peace or war, but Pharaoh 
 is at the head of the movement. Even in the tombs 
 of the princes this contrast to the earlier epoch pre- 
 vails as every where else. The princes of the pyra- 
 mids were petty kings nearly independent of Pha- 
 raoh. The nobles of Thebes were as much the 
 dependents on the will of Pharaoh as the slaves 
 that ground his corn. The contrast in this parti- 
 cular of the two epochs, is as perfect as possible ; 
 and the institutions of Joseph, embodied in the 
 passage of the inspired narrative before us, most 
 satisfactorily account for it. 
 
 The institutions of Joseph extended over all 
 Egypt. His patron was a most magnificent mon- 
 
THE FAMINE. 139 
 
 arch. The memorials of his reign have been care- 
 fully defaced every where by the fanatic bigotry of 
 his successors. His memory has likewise been re- 
 viled by them as a shepherd and a foreigner. But 
 the few remains that have escaped them, betray 
 their falsehood and their barbarism. 
 
 At Shech Said, Sowet-al Misdan, El Bircheh, 
 and some other localities in the south of Middle 
 Egypt, there are many tombs of the nobles who 
 wrote his name (g^l)| He was evidently a rich 
 and munificent king. The arts of design attained 
 in his age a perfection certainly not surpassed, pro- 
 bably not equalled in any other epoch. Like the 
 most eminent of his predecessors, he built a palace 
 which must have been of magnificent dimensions, 
 and richly endowed ; for the princes of his court 
 were all ambitious to fill offices connected with its 
 construction or economy. flljgj | This monarch 
 
 was the Phiops or Aphophis of the lists, and the 
 patron of Joseph ; for there was but one Pharaoh of 
 the name. 
 
 The institutions of Joseph, then, were coextensive 
 with the kingdom of Aphophis ; that is, with Egypt 
 Proper; and the changes he here introduced affected 
 the entire monarchy, and were not confined to the 
 Delta. It was on this account that they became 
 permanent, and have left their traces upon the yet 
 existing monuments of the country, which, at every 
 
140 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 step of our enquiry, seems more strongly to vindi- 
 cate its claim to be entitled the land of wonders. 
 All these questions we shall presently consider. 
 
 " Only the land of the priests bought he (Joseph) 
 not : for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, 
 and ate the portion that Pharaoh gave them : 
 wherefore Joseph bought not their lands/' Gen. 
 xlvii. 22. 
 
 If our identification of Pharaoh Aphophis on the 
 monuments be correct, this is exactly the measure 
 we should have anticipated from a monarch of his 
 piety and munificence. He himself undertook the 
 victualling of the temples during the famine, from 
 the drafts which, as Pharaoh, he drew upon the 
 magazines of Joseph. So that the land of the priests 
 Joseph did not purchase, for it was never brought 
 to market. The nobles and the priests of Egypt 
 therefore were placed by the events of the famine 
 in two entirely distinct categories. In the preceding 
 times they had stood in the same position as land- 
 owners. This is the clear import of the sacred 
 text, not one word of which, we repeat, has been 
 written in vain. 
 
 " Then Joseph said unto the people : Behold, I 
 have bought you this day and your land for Pha- 
 raoh. There shall be seed for you [when the famine 
 is past] and ye shall sow the land. And it shall be 
 [the law] that ye shall give a fifth part of the yield 
 
THE FAMINE. 141 
 
 to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for 
 seed of the field and for your food, and for them of 
 your households, and for food for your little ones. 
 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives : let us 
 find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be 
 the servants [slaves] of Pharaoh. And Joseph made 
 it law over the land of Egypt unto this day, the fifth 
 to Pharaoh, save the land of the priests alone, for 
 that was not Pharaoh's/' Gen. xlvii. 23 — 26. 
 
 The wisdom with which Joseph was endowed 
 from God is very conspicuous throughout the whole 
 record of his administration, and perhaps appears 
 no where more clearly than in this the last trans- 
 action thereof, which has been preserved in the 
 inspired narrative. He does not dispossess the 
 princes of Egypt of their land unconditionally, not- 
 withstanding their avowed willingness so to sur- 
 render it. This would have left the entire population 
 of the country in the grasp of an autocrat ; which 
 would have infallibly ended in one of those iron 
 tyrannies that afflict a nation for a few years, and 
 then are swept away by the mercy of God. But 
 with infinite sagacity he took advantage of the 
 occasion accurately to adjust the question between 
 the sovereign and his nobles, so that the authority 
 of the one, and the privileges of the other, were both 
 clearly defined. The expenses of the government of 
 Egypt were defrayed by the impost ; and then the 
 
142 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 proprietorship of the land reverted to the original 
 possessors. The power of Pharaoh was hereby in- 
 creased, so as to enable him to maintain the rights 
 of the crown against the daring ambition of his 
 nobles, but not so as to constitute him an irrespon- 
 sible autocrat or tyrant. The nobles also were no 
 longer in position to assume the titles and preroga- 
 tives of kings,* as they constantly do on the walls 
 of their banquet-halls, in the times that preceded 
 Joseph, and to trouble Egypt with incessant civil 
 wars of pretension ; but neither were they deprived 
 of their just rights and properties by this most sa- 
 gacious adjustment. Joseph accepted of their full 
 acknowledgment of the supremacy of Pharaoh, and 
 the fifth part of the future produce of their lands, in 
 Compensation for their nourishment for that year, 
 and the three following years during which the 
 famine was to last. Afterwards he gave them seed 
 from his garners, wherewith to sow their fields, 
 which were once more overflowed by the fertilizing 
 waters of the Nile. Even to this particular he had 
 already bound himself and the government of Pha- 
 raoh, by express stipulation in the original contract ; 
 thereby guarding, as far as possible, against any 
 advantage being taken of the forlorn condition of 
 the princes of Egypt, for further exactions on the 
 part of Pharaoh, in case of his own demise. 
 
 * Though they never pretended to the crown ; which, by the funda- 
 mental law of the kingdom, was hereditary in the family of Menes. 
 
THE FAMINE. 143 
 
 The principle of this most equitable adjustment, 
 seems to have remained the law of Egypt up to the 
 extinction of the monarchy. The terms of it were 
 far too honest and moderate not to be intrenched 
 upon by the dominant party in after-ages. In the 
 days of Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt about 
 the time of the birth of our Saviour, the king's 
 share in the produce had grown to one-third, and 
 been commuted by the cession to the crown of that 
 proportion of the land itself* 
 
 The relative position of the priesthood in Egypt 
 likewise underwent a considerable modification by 
 those institutions of Joseph, the monumental evi- 
 dence of which it will now be incumbent upon us 
 to examine. These, as we trust to show, are neither 
 few nor dubious. In primitive Egypt, as its his- 
 tory stands written on its coeval monuments, the 
 father of the family who was even then a prince, 
 was also the priest. All the higher offices connected 
 with religion mingle with military and naval com- 
 mands in the long lists of titles and dignities of 
 these petty kings. The individuals actually minis- 
 trant in the various offices of the worship of the 
 gods and kings, scarcely appear in their tombs, and 
 when they are represented there, it is merely as 
 members of the prince's household. They were, in 
 fact, the servants or slaves of nobles, as much so as 
 
 * Historiarum, lib. i. c. 73. 
 
144 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the keepers of their cattle, or their agricultural la- 
 bourers.* It would seem from the inspired narra- 
 tive, that a similar state of things with the Egyptian 
 priesthood prevailed in Joseph's days. The em- 
 balmers, who are said to be his servants, Gen. 1. 2, 
 were an order of the priesthood, as we shall find 
 hereafter. 
 
 The monumental history of the times that fol- 
 lowed those of Joseph, present to us the Egyptian 
 priesthood under an aspect as remarkably contrasted 
 with their former condition, as we have found to 
 have been that of the princes of the same two 
 epochs. The priest and his function have risen 
 wonderfully in position and importance among the 
 institutions of Egypt. The only remains of prae- 
 pastoral Egypt, are tombs, palaces, and pyramids. 
 These last, with their precincts, were the only tem- 
 ples ; for all their gods were dead men, so that it 
 was fitting that all their temples should be sepul- 
 chres. The temples of Athom (that is, Adam, the 
 first man, identified with the sun) at Heliopolis, and 
 of Pthah (that is, Phut, the son of Ham, at Memphis) 
 were enclosures surrounding pyramids. In that at 
 Heliopolis, was most probably deposited some so- 
 
 * The monumental evidence of this state of things under the Old 
 Kingdom is very ample. The copious details both in reliefs and hierogly- 
 phics, of which it is composed, pertain rather to an entire monumental 
 History of Egypt, than to the present work. 
 
THE FAMINE. 145 
 
 called relic of the father of mankind. It is not cer- 
 tain that a single temple, properly so called, existed 
 in the old kingdom. 
 
 In wonderful contrast to this, the remains of the 
 new kingdom are all templar. In addition to the 
 ruins of temples, which are by far the most frequent 
 of all memorials of post-pastoral Egypt, the palaces 
 of the Pharaohs, and the houses of the nobles, were 
 covered within and without with reliefs represent- 
 ing shrines of gods, trains of priests, and pomps of 
 worship. In the sepulchral vaults of the nobles 
 themselves, the adamantine chain of prescription is 
 gradually loosened, and the exemplar of the tombs 
 of their forefathers of Old Egypt, where every thing 
 was secular life, its arts and acts, and where, save 
 in proper names and titles, thS gods were never 
 mentioned, is somewhat departed from at the very 
 commencement of the war with the Lower Egyp- 
 tians or Shepherds. Even at this period, (about the 
 time of the death of Joseph,) the ceremonies of the 
 great man's funeral intermix with the labours of his 
 slaves ; and the enumeration of his flocks and herds, 
 in the decorations of the tombs of the princes of 
 Egypt. The examples of this first step in the trans- 
 ition occur at Elethya in Upper Egypt, and in the 
 oldest of the sepulchral vaults at Grournou in 
 Western Thebes. As we proceed downwards with 
 the stream of history, the secular progressively re- 
 
 L 
 
146 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 cedes, to give place to the ecclesiastical, in the 
 tombs and sepulchral monuments of the nobles of 
 Egypt, until, at the last periods of the monarchy, 
 the former entirely disappears, and nothing but re- 
 ligious processions and mystic devices surround the 
 embalmed corpse in the coffin. 
 
 The tombs of the later Pharaohs seem to have 
 set the example or fashion of this change. Their 
 decorations were from the commencement of this 
 epoch, mythic and ecclesiastical only. On the tem- 
 ples built by these Pharaohs, the more ancient ones 
 mingled the pictures of their wars with the Shep- 
 herds and the negroes, with the processions of wor- 
 ship and the pictures of gods ; but from the works 
 of their successors they entirely disappear, and 
 through a long succession of inglorious reigns, the 
 priesthood advanced continually in wealth and in- 
 fluence, until at length it mounted the throne of 
 Pharaoh ; and the summit of the power of the 
 Egyptian mythology, and the lowest abyss of po- 
 litical and national degradation into which Egypt 
 ever fell, during the long period that she existed as 
 a kingdom under native Pharaohs, is marked by 
 a dynasty of priests.* 
 
 * It is supposed by Bunsen to be the 21st dynasty. They have left 
 but few remains of their sovereignty, and these of vile execution, testify- 
 ing to great decay in the arts of design. They reigned in Egypt about 
 the times of Samuel the Prophet. 
 
THE FAMINE. 147 
 
 The Greek tradition is consentaneous to these 
 monumental indications of the great increase of the 
 power of the priesthood during the later periods of 
 the Egyptian monarchy. The passage we have just 
 quoted from Diodorus Siculus informs us, that in 
 the days of his visit to Egypt one-third of the entire 
 surface belonged to them. 
 
 Thus have we ascertained that in that interval 
 of the history of ancient Egypt during which Jo- 
 seph administered the affairs of the kingdom, her 
 institutions had undergone a great and momentous 
 change, affecting very seriously the relative positions 
 of Pharaoh, his nobles, and the priesthood. So 
 marked and unmistakeable is this social revolution, 
 that it clearly appears upon the comparison of the 
 coeval monuments of the two epochs. 
 
 The ordinances of Joseph, which form our present 
 text, professedly dealt with all these three con- 
 ditions of men in ancient Egypt ; and the changes 
 in society which those ordinances would inevitably 
 have produced in after-times, are precisely those 
 which the coeval monuments of these after-times so 
 loudly and plainly declare to have taken place. 
 
 We have not the slightest hope that either this 
 or any other similar consideration will for one mo- 
 ment relax the serene smile of dignified incredulity 
 with which modern philosophy eyes askance the 
 pages of the books of Moses, or that she will con- 
 
 L 2 
 
148 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 descend any other reply than the reiteration of her 
 wonted oracular response, " Joseph, his name, his 
 history, and his ordinances are all metaphor/' To 
 those, however, who still believe the Bible to be the 
 word of God, it may be some consolation to find 
 that God's truth has not quite so much to fear from 
 man's researches as some well-meaning but ill-in- 
 formed preachers and writers have endeavoured to 
 persuade them. 
 
 " And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt and in 
 the country of Goshen, and they had possessions 
 therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly." 
 Gen. xlvii. 27. 
 
 This clause again opens the question of the dura- 
 tion of the sojourn of Israel in Egypt. We submit 
 that the entire passage, and especially the phrase in 
 it, " and they had possessions therein," that is, they 
 possessed lands, is altogether incompatible with so 
 inconsiderable a lapse of time as the 215 years of 
 the vulgar computation. 
 
 The deeply interesting circumstances that at- 
 tended the death of Jacob we pass over, only be- 
 cause they do not admit of illustration from the 
 monuments or history of Ancient Egypt. 
 
 " And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept 
 upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded 
 his servants, the D^NST! raphaim, to embalm his 
 father : and the raphaim embalmed Israel." Gen. 
 1. 1, 2. 
 
THE FAMINE. 149 
 
 The office or function which the inspired histo- 
 rian has transcribed from the Egyptian in the sacred 
 text, is very frequently noted among the titles of 
 honour borne by the princes of Egypt of the times 
 of Joseph. The group which represents it ^gj" re- 
 produced letter for letter the Hebrew transcription 
 SD"), which is rightly translated " physician " in the 
 English Bible. The root, which was common to 
 both Egyptian and Hebrew, meant " to heal/' and 
 from thence arose the subsidiary senses " to amend/' 
 " to mend/' " to sew ; " but its primary import was 
 ei to heal/' The healing art in Egypt, as in all 
 other nations in the earlier stages of civilization, 
 was in the highest possible repute. So much so 
 that the title *a£ *^ " chief physician" was the 
 summit of the ambition of the haughty nobles of 
 the old kingdom : and the fortunate possessor of it 
 invariably places it at the head of his blazon. It 
 even precedes the title " royal prince," saris. The 
 circumstance that the direct practitioners of the 
 healing art formed part of the household of Joseph, 
 points out clearly that this honour also had not 
 been withheld from him by his bountiful and grate- 
 ful benefactor. 
 
 According to the tenets of the Egyptian mytho- 
 logy, the embalmment of the dead was the highest 
 and noblest exercise of the healing art. It was the 
 triumph over the grand disease to which all other 
 
150 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ailments tended, and in which they terminated. 
 The embalmer's duties once completed, the man 
 was dead no longer. His body, perfectly pure, 
 shining, and beautiful without, and innate with 
 divinity, reposed in its gorgeous temple, the conse- 
 crated image of a god, worshipped and imparting 
 blessings. His soul, alternately performing acts of 
 worship to the gods, of prowess against their ene- 
 mies, and reposing in the Elysian fields on the 
 banks of the celestial Nile (the course of the sun in 
 heaven), awaited nevertheless with impatience the 
 revolution of the cycle of years after which it would 
 return, bearing life and breath, to its former tene- 
 ment. Then the resuscitated man would step forth 
 from his tomb, once more to dwell in his beloved 
 Egypt. Heavily as it is encumbered with coarse 
 symbols and mythic absurdities, the fable betrays 
 nevertheless the deep conviction which possessed 
 the minds of its inventors, that man was not made 
 to die, neither the image of God impressed upon his 
 external form to see corruption ! 
 
 "We have already stated that the healing art was 
 always sacred in Egypt. It passed altogether into 
 the hands of the priesthood, in the changes in so- 
 ciety which originated with the ordinances of Joseph. 
 In the Later Kingdom the title of " chief physician" 
 is scarcely assumed by any secular prince, before 
 the times of Psammetichus, when the monarchy was 
 
THE FAMINE. 151 
 
 on the verge of extinction, B.C. 600. A dilettante 
 taste for archaeology seems then to have brought 
 these old titles once more into vogue. 
 
 The physicians of the New . Kingdom, however, 
 like the scribes, did not disdain to associate secular 
 offices with their sacred functions ; but the art itself 
 was in these later times completely identified with 
 religion. So much so, that the translators of the 
 Egyptian Bible rejected the word rapha altogether. 
 It however remains in the Coptic texts, as the ap- 
 pellative of a heathen temple, which being the re- 
 sidence of the physicians, would naturally enough 
 be named in common discourse, " the doctor's house/' 
 erpee [epiihe]. The same word is retained in Egypt 
 to this day. The ruins of a temple are still named 
 in the vernacular Arabic birbe. 
 
 The well-known passages of Herodotus ii. 85 — 89, 
 and Diodorus Siculus i. 91, which describe the modes 
 of embalming practised by the Egyptians, have been 
 so often quoted at length, in illustration of this 
 text, and therefore so familiar to most readers, and 
 so easily accessible to all, that we are spared the 
 necessity of more than a casual reference to them, 
 in the brief sketch of the art ; as it appears, from the 
 mummies themselves, to have been actually in prac- 
 tice, with which we propose to comment upon it. 
 
 Unless we assume that the remains discovered in 
 the chamber of the third pyramid, by Colonel How- 
 
152 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ard Vyse, are those of the mummy of King Men- 
 cheres (which we are free to confess is very doubtful), 
 no human bodies have been found in Egypt, of 
 which we have evidence that they are so old as the 
 times of Joseph. The tomb of Menthotp, the cour- 
 tier of a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, which was 
 opened twenty years ago by Passalaqua at Gournou, 
 is the oldest that ever was discovered intact. There 
 the body, its swathing, and the case had all moul- 
 dered to black dust, so that not even the bones were 
 distinguishable. We believe the earliest known 
 mummy to be that of the priest Sa-amun, which was 
 found by the same excavator in the same burial-place. 
 He lived in the reign of Ramses IX., about 1000 b.o. 
 His mummy has been opened, and its accessories 
 minutely and carefully examined. The comparison 
 of the results of this examination, with the accounts 
 of the Greek authors to which we have referred, 
 utterly dispels the assumption of the French savans 
 that nothing changed in Egypt, from the foundation 
 of the monarchy to its extinction. In Egypt, as 
 everywhere else, the art of embalming, like every 
 thing human, was greatly modified by the varying 
 circumstances of the long succession of ages during 
 which it continued to be practised; so that a mummy 
 of the ordinary age of those now existing, that is, 
 of the Greek and Roman periods, or thereabouts, 
 gives no illustration to the embalming of the body 
 
THE FAMINE. 153 
 
 of Jacob, beyond the fact that the practice prevailed 
 in Egypt at both epochs. 
 
 According to our Greek authorities, the first pro- 
 cess in the embalming, after the body had been 
 disembowelled, was to steep it for thirty days in a 
 solution of the salt called natron. This was the 
 practice in the times of both Diodorus and Hero- 
 dotus, 450 B.C. It had also prevailed at an earlier 
 period : for the flesh of the mummy of Sa-amun, 
 1000 B.C., is saturated with this salt. But to judge 
 by the effects, some change in the mode of applica- 
 tion had taken place, even in that interval. The 
 flesh of Sa-amun is entirely adipocire, which 
 suggests the inference, that at the earlier epoch the 
 mummy was not steeped as in the days of Herodotus, 
 but the natronized fluid was incessantly poured over 
 it by attendants. The flesh of the priestess Asrui, 
 " the porteress/' at Manchester, is in the same state. 
 She lived in the days of Sesonchis, about a century 
 later than Sa-amun. Here then is a change in a 
 custom of embalming, which prepares us for the 
 inference to which we have been driven by the facts 
 which have been presented to us. So powerful an 
 antiseptic is this solution of natron, so perfectly 
 imperishable does it make the body, that had it been 
 earlier known, the whole of the mummies of all 
 epochs alike would have come down to this time. 
 This conviction first occurred to us as we were stand- 
 
154 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ing ankle deep in the black dust, to which all the 
 mummies of the old kingdom have mouldered away, 
 in one of the pits of Ghizeh. Gems, rings, amulets, 
 all of the remotest periods are constantly found 
 among the dust. The articles of wood, the baskets 
 of bread and fruits in these tombs are scarcely 
 altered, but the bodies, their swathings, and their 
 coffins, are all dust, The conclusion seems in- 
 evitable. The art of embalming was then in its in- 
 fancy ; so that the bodies have decayed, and com- 
 municated their rottenness to the wood and linen 
 that were in contact with them. This process we 
 conceive, would in the climate of Egypt have been 
 impossible, had the practice of applying to the body 
 the natron so universal in the deserts around Egypt 
 then existed. 
 
 The next process in the embalmer's art consists, 
 according to our Greek authorities, in anointing 
 the body with palm wine and oil of cedar, and fill- 
 ing up all its cavities with a mixture of fragrant 
 gums, resins and woods. Myrrh, and cassia, or cin- 
 namon, are specified, with other spices not named, 
 as entering into the compound which was used for 
 this purpose. 
 
 These practises likewise prevailed in Egypt more 
 that 500 years before the times of Herodotus, the 
 earliest of our written authorities. The linen cloths 
 next to the body of Sa-amun are deeply stained 
 
THE FAMINE. 155 
 
 with some strong astringent like palm wine or oil of 
 cedar. We have already mentioned, that cassia, or 
 cinnamon, and myrrh, were most distinctly percep- 
 tible in the spicery that filled the cavities of the 
 body, as well as ladanum, which is mentioned along 
 with them in the Scripture account of the imports 
 of spices from Canaan. 
 
 The examination of this mummy also brought to 
 light the circumstance, that the mode of applying 
 the spices underwent considerable modification in 
 the time that thence elapsed before the visit of He- 
 rodotus, like the use of the natron. In his days, 
 the spice was only put into the cavities of the body : 
 such is actually the case with mummies cotemporary 
 with Herodotus. But when Sa-amun was em- 
 balmed, not only were the cavities filled, but the 
 whole surface of the body was embedded in a mass 
 of spicery. The impossibility of replacing it in its 
 present state when once the linen that bound it to 
 the body had been removed, suggested the conclu- 
 sion, that some of the ingredients of which it was 
 compounded had been viscid or semi-fluid, and that 
 it had at first been applied to the body in the form 
 of a paste. The average depth of this layer of spi- 
 cery was at least two inches, so that the quantity 
 must have been enormous. Were we upon the his- 
 tory of Egypt, it would be easy to discover, in the 
 changed political circumstances of Egypt and the 
 
156 ISRAEL IN EGFPT. 
 
 world at the two epochs in question, an abundant 
 reason why the embalmers of the later period used 
 some cheaper expedient, for the preservation of the 
 body, than these costly compounds. 
 
 We find therefore that no mummies now existing 
 come within 1000 years of the epoch of Joseph, 
 and also that the embalmer's art in Egypt under- 
 went considerable modifications with the lapse of 
 time. "We conclude from hence, that the only cer- 
 tain and tangible illustration which the embalming 
 of Jacob receives from the passages of Herodotus 
 and Diodorus, is the establishment of the fact, that 
 the art of embalming the dead was practised in 
 Egypt in the days of these writers, as well as at the 
 epoch of Joseph. 
 
 "And forty days were fulfilled for him [Jacob]; 
 for so are fulfilled the days of those that are em- 
 balmed. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy 
 days." Gen. 1. 3. 
 
 The time occupied in the embalming and the 
 attendant funeral ceremonies underwent, as might 
 have been anticipated, far less change than the art 
 itself, in the vast interval that separates the epoch 
 of Joseph from that of Herodotus and Diodorus. — 
 To the passage before us, therefore, these writers 
 furnish a highly valuable illustration. According 
 to Herodotus, the period assigned by religion, and 
 on no account to be departed from, for the embalm- 
 
THE FAMINE. 157 
 
 ing, was seventy days, u.s. Diodorus says, that the 
 time occupied by the process was upwards of thirty 
 days. Our text by reconciling these two passages, 
 seems to indicate, that the same prescription pre- 
 vailed at both epochs. The forty days were occu- 
 pied in the actual process, the remaining thirty in 
 the swathing and decoration of the mummy, and 
 the weeping lasted for the whole seventy days. 
 
 The customs that prevailed at this seventy days 
 weeping for the dead, are so particularly specified 
 by both authors, and are so remarkably illustrated 
 by the paintings in the tomb of Sa-amun, at 
 Gournou, that there can scarcely be a doubt, that in 
 them we have the counterpart of that which took 
 place on the death of Jacob. 
 
 Herodotus says, that on the death of an Egyptian, 
 the females of the household covered their heads 
 and faces with mud, and leaving the house, went 
 about the streets uncinctured, and howling, and 
 beating themselves. The men also beat themselves, 
 but did not defile their persons nor wear their gar- 
 ments unbound. Lib. ii. 83. Diodorus repeats all 
 these particulars, with the addition, that the family 
 of the deceased neither used the bath, nor drank 
 wine, nor changed their garments during this cere- 
 mony, which lasted the whole time that the body 
 was in the embalmer's hands. 
 
 The mourning for the father of Sa-amun which 
 
158 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 is represented on the wall of the tomb at Gournou, 
 where his body was found, so remarkably illustrates 
 these particulars, that we have great pleasure in 
 introducing it. See Plate /. 
 
 The occurrence here depicted, must have taken 
 place betwen six and seven hundred years before 
 the times of Herodotus. So that it is not easy to 
 conceive of any ancient fact receiving a more per- 
 fect illustration than is supplied by these ancient 
 authorities to the mourning of the Egyptians for 
 Jacob. 
 
 " And when the days of weeping for him [lit. his 
 weeping] were past, Joseph spake unto the house of 
 Pharaoh saying v Gren. 1. 4. 
 
 By the house of Pharaoh we are to understand 
 Pharaoh in council, that is, Pharaoh and the estates 
 of Egypt. The word " house/' had in Egyptian a 
 meaning very similar to that which we apply to it 
 in the phrase " houses of Parliament/' i. e., parlia- 
 ment. Thus the hieroglyphic group for a banquet 
 or festal assemblage is *f litt, " a good house or 
 apartment/' i. e., a room well garnished for the 
 guests. In the same manner the group which ex- 
 actly translates the expression before us, ^o lit. 
 " the king's house " is frequently used in the texts 
 with the sense of " council," and even of " acts of 
 council." These figurative uses of the word jp or 
 ' house or dwelling," are of importance in the 
 
THE FAMINE. 159 
 
 interpretation of the hieroglyphic texts. Our re- 
 marks upon them in this place are rendered neces- 
 sary by the circumstance, that the phrase n3T)S n*a 
 with the import of " council, or entourage^ of Pha- 
 raoh " is scarcely Hebrew, though (as we have seen) 
 it was a very common mode of expression in ancient 
 Egypt. 
 
 " If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, 
 I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father 
 made me swear, saying, Lo, I die : in the grave 
 which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, 
 there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me 
 go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will 
 come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury 
 thy father, according as he made thee swear. And 
 Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him 
 went up all the court of Pharaoh, even the nobles 
 of his palace, and all the nobles of the land of Egypt. 
 And all the household of Joseph, and of his brethren, 
 and his father's household. Only their little ones, 
 their flocks and their herds, they left in the land of 
 Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots 
 and horsemen : and it was a very great company. 
 And they came to the plain of Atad, which is be- 
 yond Jordan, and there they lamented a great lamen- 
 tation, and a heavy. And Joseph made the funeral 
 abel '3_N of his father for seven days. And when 
 the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the 
 
160 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 mourning in the plain of Atad, they said, This is a 
 great funeral from Egypt. Therefore the name of 
 it was called Abel Mizraim, "the funeral of Egypt/' 
 Gen. 1. 4—11. 
 
 Egypt mourned for Jacob with the mourning of 
 a king. No more solemn pomp, no higher or more 
 regal state could have followed the bier on which 
 the mummy of Pharaoh journeyed to its long home. 
 The sons of Pharaoh, the princes and the nobles, 
 the commanders of the armies, the judges, all were 
 there. The chariots and horses of Pharaoh and of 
 the great ones of Egypt swelled the pomp of the 
 procession. The scene before us was no ordinary 
 one. It was not an event of frequent or even occa- 
 sional occurrence, like the funeral of one of the 
 kings or nobles of the country. The funeral rites 
 which were celebrated for seven successive days on 
 the plains of Atad, were sufficiently removed from 
 either of these categories, to be recorded in the tra- 
 ditions of Canaan, and to give to the place where 
 they were celebrated, a name commemorative of 
 them, which it still retained in the days when 
 Moses wrote, and long afterwards. 
 
 We can scarcely review the life of this patriarch 
 thus associated with its closing scene, without calling 
 to remembrance the promise of Him whom Jacob 
 had served so perseveringly and so faithfully : " Them 
 that honour me, I will honour/' 1 Sam. ii. 30. 
 
THE FAMINE. 161 
 
 The existing monuments of Ancient Egypt do not 
 fail us here, any more than on those former occa- 
 sions on which we have appealed to them. The 
 word we render " noble/' is, in the original, the 
 literal translation of a title whereby the collective 
 nobility of Egypt is signified on monuments of all 
 epochs. ^}f This epithet was long ago detected 
 by Champollion in the Greek transcription of the 
 name of one of the gods of Egypt, Haroeris, i. e. 
 " Hor," (Horus) — Oeris " the greater/' " the elder/' 
 As a title of honor, it is of constant occurrence in 
 the inscriptions on the tombs and coffins of princes. 
 It was supposed to have vanished altogether from 
 the Coptic texts, save in the reflex shadow of it, 
 adumbrated by the interrogative pronoun OTEP, 
 " how great/' quantus ? It was the sagacity of 
 Samuel Birch, of the British Museum, that first 
 pointed out its existence there, under the redupli- 
 cated form of hello " old." This was the primitive 
 sense of the group which the inspired writer fol- 
 lowed, translating it by )p1 " elder." Its determi- 
 native is a man bearing the staff with which age 
 supports its tottering steps : 
 
 — pedibus me 
 Porto meis et manu nullo subeunte bacillo. 
 
 — Juvenal. Sat. III. 
 
 This staff had become a symbol' of office in Egypt 
 altogether irrespective of age, long before the time 
 
 M 
 
162 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 of Joseph. In that time, and afterwards, the use 
 
 of this group in the texts to express nobility is so 
 frequent, that it almost becomes pronominal. 
 
 The word b^N abel, with the sense of " mourning/' 
 " funeral rite/' occurs in the Egyptian texts of all 
 transcriptions, with the elision of the moveable 
 letter I or r final. In the Coptic texts hebi means 
 "to mourn ;" in hieroglyphics $©J hb or ub means 
 funeral ceremonies generally, like its Hebrew coun- 
 terpart. The initial iJ} which is interpreted by j[ 
 h or u, is the picture of the banquet-hall with pillars 
 of a tomb, like those at Beni Hassan, Essiout, and 
 other localities in Middle Egypt. They are noble 
 vaults, excavated in the solid rock, and supported 
 by columns which have been left when the sur- 
 rounding solid was removed. In those halls were 
 
THE FAMINE. 163 
 
 held the appointed periodical banquets for the dead. 
 Square pits of great depth were hewn in the floors, 
 and in these the mummies were deposited. The 
 Egyptian artists, who knew nothing of perspective, 
 represented these pits by the lozenge in the centre 
 of the base. © The name of this hall has been 
 eb, or hebi* which thence came to be also the ap- 
 pellative of the ceremonies observed in it. 
 
 " And his (Jacob's) sons did unto him according 
 as he commanded them : for his sons carried him 
 into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave 
 of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought 
 with the field for a possession of a burying-place of 
 Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre." Gen. 1. 12, 13. 
 
 The funeral ceremonies, according to the ritual 
 of Egypt, having been completed at Atad, the sons 
 of Israel alone proceed to the cave of Machpelah, 
 bearing to its final resting-X->lace the embalmed body 
 of their father. Of the observances which took 
 place on the burial of the dead with the clan or sept 
 of Abraham at this time, we know nothing. The 
 few practices on such occasions mentioned any 
 where in the inspired narrative, are those natural 
 expressions of grief which are common to all man- 
 kind. We can only infer from the very peculiar 
 circumstances of their sojourn in Canaan, that they 
 were perfectly free from all admixture with the 
 
 * ThebnW ebel of the Hebrew text. 
 M 2 
 
164 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 idolatries of Canaan and of Egypt. Yet, in order 
 to the right understanding of that narrative, it is 
 very needful to keep in mind, that the chosen seed 
 of Abraham was not at this particular period com- 
 missioned to make any especial protest, either direct 
 or indirect, against these idolatries, beyond that of 
 not immediately participating in their acts of wor- 
 ship. They were as yet very few in number, and 
 they dwelt in the midst of nations who were engaged 
 in corrupting the truth regarding God and the future 
 state, by overlaying it with coarse earthly symbols : 
 but much that was true still remained in the reli- 
 gions both of Egypt and Canaan, and this truth the 
 Israelites of course held in common with them. 
 Four hundred years afterwards, at the time of the 
 Exodus, the case was very different. We make no 
 greater mistake, than when, following the guidance 
 of the vain, fruitless speculations of the so-called 
 learning of the last two centuries, we assume that 
 the idolatries of Egypt and Canaan were already 
 venerable and well-established superstitions in the 
 patriarchal times. The Bible declares the direct op- 
 posite to this. There was much right acquaintance 
 with the true God in these times both in Egypt (Glen, 
 xii. 17 — 20, &c.) and Canaan. (Gen. xx. 1 — 7 ; xxvi. 
 6 — 11.) It is, moreover, expressly declared in the 
 same inspired narrative, of one of the most offensive 
 members of the Canaanite confederation, the Amo- 
 
THE FAMINE. 165 
 
 rites, (Gen. xv. 16,) that at the time of the call of 
 Abram their idolatrous perversion of the truth J137 
 was not yet completed, and therefore the judgments 
 against them were delayed for 600 years. The 
 general definitions of idolatry, moreover, embodied 
 in Grod's revelation to man, declare it to be a cor- 
 ruption of the truth regarding religion ; (Rom. i. 
 20 — 23, &c.) but corruption is a gradual and pro- 
 gressive change : and to assume that at so early a 
 period as the one before us ; that change had already 
 been completely undergone by the religious opinions 
 both of Egypt and Canaan, is also to assume that 
 mankind had already existed on the earth, as it 
 then was, for some millennia of years, — a position 
 which the Bible contradicts, which the traditive 
 history of all nations contradicts, and which the 
 existing monuments of Egypt contradict likewise, 
 and no less emphatically than either of the other 
 two witnesses. This is the question really in de- 
 bate between the believer and the infidel at this 
 moment, — the length of time during which man 
 has been upon the earth as it now is, — in other 
 words, the number of years that have elapsed since 
 the deluge ; for this reason we state our convictions 
 upon it at length. 
 
 The rites which took place on the plains of Atad, 
 at which the armies of Egypt and the flower of her 
 nobility assisted, would admit of a very ample com- 
 
166 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 merit from the tombs. But as thereby we should 
 illustrate the customs, not of Israel, but of Egypt, 
 it will suffice to mention here, that they consisted 
 principally of banquets and of games of strength 
 and agility. In these last the funeral games of 
 Greece had, doubtless, their origin. The very few 
 notices of the Hebrew funeral customs, which are 
 to be found in the Bible, do not justify us in as- 
 suming that either of these practices ever obtained 
 among the descendants of Abraham. 
 
 " And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his 
 brethren, and all that went up with him, to bury 
 his father, after he had buried his father. 
 
 " And when Joseph's brethren saw that their 
 father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradven- 
 ture hate us, and will certainly requite us all the 
 evil that we did to him. And they charged Joseph 
 (as his elder brothers) saying, Thy father did com- 
 mand before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto 
 Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of 
 thy brethren and their sin : for they did unto thee 
 evil : and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of 
 the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph 
 wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren 
 also went up and fell down before his face ; and 
 they said, Behold, we are thy servants ! And Joseph 
 said unto them, Fear not : am I in the place of 
 God ? For though ye thought evil against me, God 
 
THE FAMINE. 167 
 
 meant it unto good, that what is done this day 
 might come to pass, even the saving alive of much 
 people. Now, therefore, fear ye not, I will nourish 
 you and your little ones. And he comforted them 
 and spake to their hearts/' Gen. 1. 14 — 21. 
 
 This is the last recorded transaction in the life 
 of Joseph. Like so many of his former acts, it 
 needs no ethical comment : for, " thereby he being 
 dead yet speaketh," and to the heart of every man 
 who is privileged to peruse his history. 
 
 " And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's 
 house ; and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 
 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third 
 descent : the children also of Machir the son of Ma- 
 nasseh were brought up on Joseph's knees. 
 
 u And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, and 
 God will surely visit you and bring you out of this 
 land, which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 
 Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children 
 of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye 
 shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph 
 died the son of a hundred and ten years/' Verses 
 22—26. 
 
 " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; 
 for the end of that man is peace/' Psalm xxxvii. 
 37. 
 
 We must now ascertain the year of the sojourn 
 of Israel in Egypt, wherein Joseph's death took 
 
168 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 place. He was thirty years old when he first stood 
 before Pharaoh (Gren. xli. 36). The immigration 
 into Egypt took place in the second year of the 
 famine, (cxlv. 6,) which, at the utmost, cannot have 
 been more than ten years afterwards. It follows, 
 therefore, that when Joseph died, Israel had been 
 in Egypt for seventy years. 
 
 " And they embalmed him (Joseph) and he was 
 put into a coffin in Egypt/' Verse 26. 
 
 The imperfect mode of embalming (in use at this 
 time) upon which the practitioners of the art so 
 greatly improved afterwards, would abundantly 
 suffice to keep the mummy in perfect beauty and 
 fragrance for the 400 years that elapsed before 
 Joseph was committed to his tomb in Canaan. It 
 is for ten times that duration that it has proved 
 unequal to rescue the flesh of man from corruption. 
 
 The mortal remains of Joseph were not buried in 
 Egypt. His coffin, upon the lid of which was 
 moulded with plaster and coloured, as exact a 
 likeness of his countenance, (which, doubtless, called 
 up vividly the remembrance of him to his imme- 
 diate survivors) as art in Egypt could accomplish, 
 occupied a very conspicuous and most honorable 
 place in the house of Ephraim his first-born. Mum- 
 mies in Ancient Egypt were heir-looms highly 
 valued, and upon certain occasions pledges for loans 
 of money. The fragrant odour emitted by the spices 
 
THE FAMINE. 169 
 
 in which they were embalmed, made them welcome 
 inmates in halls of entertainment ; so much so, that 
 the sepulture was often deferred for centuries, so 
 that many successive generations were frequently 
 ranged upright against the walls of the grand hall 
 of entertainment in the family mansion. They 
 were, in short, exactly as the family portraits of 
 our great houses in modern times. 
 
 This very strange custom, which renders so per- 
 fectly natural and in order the dying request of 
 Joseph, is minutely described by Diodorus Siculus 
 (lib. i. c. 91). Its existence also at a time absolutely 
 cotemporary with that of Joseph is recorded in the 
 tomb of the chief physician Nahrai- at Beni Hassan. 
 The noble vault which was the banquet-hall of this 
 tomb is thirty feet square, and of an elevation which 
 harmonizes admirably with this dimension. The 
 roof is triple arched, and the two groinings are sup- 
 ported by four square fluted massives. A long 
 hieroglyphic inscription, in 222 short columns, runs 
 round the surbase of this hall : the rest of the walls 
 being decorated with pictures of the arts of common 
 life and the funeral banquet, according to the rigid 
 prescription of religion for all the tombs of Egypt. 
 The inscription embodies the names of six successive 
 representatives of the family to which its deep 
 mummy-pits (one of which is open and plundered 
 in the floor of the hall) served as a place of sepul- 
 
170 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ture. Nahrai the excavator commemorates the gifts 
 in land and canals of irrigation presented to his 
 father and grandfather by the two first monarchs of 
 the twelfth dynasty. We have already explained 
 that the reign of the former of these Pharaohs 
 (Amenemes I.) commenced during the sojourn of 
 Abram in Egypt. 
 
 The son of Nahrai, En-sha, continues the inscrip- 
 tion on the death of his father, and on his death 
 his son Nuhotph again proceeds with it. Nuhotph 
 was cotemporary with Amuntimoeus the fifth king 
 of this dynasty, whom Saites the Lower Egyptian 
 dispossessed of Memphis. 
 
 This disaster to the Theban Pharaohs is silently 
 but most significantly commemorated in the inscrip- 
 tion before us. At the end of Nuhotph's contribu- 
 tion to it is a votive tablet, representing a man 
 sitting at a table of shew-bread in the act of pre- 
 senting it. The style of art which prevailed when 
 this tablet was executed, was altogether different 
 from that of the rest of the tomb. It calls to mind 
 the execution of the tombs at Elythya in Upper 
 Egypt, which were excavated in the times of the 
 eighteenth dynasty, about 200 years after those of 
 Nuhotph. The inscription that follows it exactly 
 fills up the entire surbase of the hall. It was added 
 by a representative of the family named fg\"f q^ 
 Souk-enh " the living crocodile : " but the paintings 
 
THE FAMINE. 171 
 
 which cover the rest of the walls of this gorgeous 
 vault enable us to state distinctly that he was nei- 
 ther his son, his grandson, nor even his great-grand- 
 son. All the house of Nahrai to that degree, and 
 to the number of more than a hundred individuals, 
 are represented there, and no one of them bears the 
 name of Sukenes. It was therefore in the sense of 
 remote descendant that Sukenes wrote himself the 
 son of Nahrai, whose family he represented. The 
 name tells the disastrous history of the descendants 
 of these heros of Upper Egypt, whose glories had 
 been shared by the ancestors of Sukenes. The in* 
 scription itself records the fallen fortunes of his 
 house. 
 
 After the loss of Memphis, Amun-timaeus seems to 
 have left the especial service of the gods of that 
 city, who (in his notion doubtless) had forsaken 
 him, and to have put himself under the tutelage of 
 the god of the city nearest Memphis that still re- 
 mained in his hands, which was Crocodilopolis in 
 the Faium. Here he built the temple and palace 
 which, in the days of Herodotus, was one of the 
 wonders of Egypt, under the name of the Laby- 
 rinth, and the remains of which, bearing the name 
 of Amun-timaeus everywhere, were cleared from the 
 sand about seven years ago by Lepsius. This temple 
 was dedicated to the local god of the place, Sevek 
 or Souk, the crocodile. Herodotus expressly men- 
 
172 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 tions this fact.* The two or three ill-fated indivi- 
 viduals that succeeded Amun-timseus on the tot- 
 tering throne of the Mencherian Pharaohs all took 
 the crocodile in the second ring of their royal names. 
 And when the Lower Egyptians, or the famine, or 
 both,' drove them from the Faium and Middle 
 Egypt, they instituted the worship of the crocodile 
 in the two cities they founded in the Upper country, 
 Elethya and Ombos. 
 
 The name Sukenes, therefore, plainly indicates 
 that the family of Nahrai had remained faithful to 
 the royal house of their patrons. The inscription 
 
 PORCH OP THE TOMB OF NAHRAI. 
 
 * Lib. ii. c. 148. 
 
THE FAMINE. 1 73 
 
 he has engraven on the wall tells as plainly that 
 .it had shared in their disasters also. It was pro- 
 bably inscribed after the expulsion of the Lower 
 Egyptians from this part of Middle Egypt, late in 
 the eighteenth dynasty. Sukenes tells us in it, that 
 he had put up a door of wood to the banquet-hall, 
 and a fence of wood to the porch of the tomb, which 
 remains to this day, one of the most beautiful objects 
 in Egypt. Both closures had originally been of 
 metal, as the scratches on the rock still show visibly. 
 He also commemorates certain other repairs that he 
 had made, so that the tomb had been plundered by 
 the conquerors. He concludes with an address to 
 the mummy of Nahrai the excavator of the tomb, 
 inviting him to come in and lie down in the resting- 
 place which the piety of his descendant had thus 
 made ready for him. 
 
 Here then was the mummy of a man who had 
 died almost two centuries before the times of Joseph, 
 but was not interred until more than two centuries 
 afterwards. 
 
 So pregnant is this illustration, that we presume 
 it will be an apology for the long historical detail 
 which has been required to introduce it. 
 
 We have already explained the extraordinary no- 
 tions and customs that prevailed in Egypt regarding 
 the body after death, its embalming, and its final 
 resting-place. Their prevalence may possibly have 
 prepared the reader in some measure for a state- 
 
174 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ment we are very reluctant to make, so little does 
 it seem to comport with the spirit of truth and 
 soberness in which it is our earnest desire to carry 
 on the present inquiry. There are at Sacchara, 
 immediately over against Memphis, the ruins of the 
 tomb of a prince in Egypt, whose name was that of 
 Joseph, written in hieroglyphics. It is in the close 
 vicinity of the largest pyramid of that group, which, 
 from other circumstances, we assume to have been 
 that of Aphophis and his father Meris. The titles 
 and offices held by this personage were also those of 
 Joseph. He was ^ | llf; "chief ab-rech/'* and "director 
 of the granaries tf all Egypt," JJ^ ggTfllM 
 as well as the possessor of several other offices. The 
 name has been assimilated to an Egyptian phrase 
 expressive of Joseph's function in Egypt, [j^r^l 
 
 i-suphj " he came to save ; " Copt. " he will save. ; 
 The letters are so exactly those of Joseph's name— 
 ^D^ — that the identity does not seem to admit of 
 question. It may have been that, as in other cases, 
 his tomb was carried on at the public expense, as a 
 mark of public respect and esteem ; but we must 
 confess we incline to the opinion, that at a late 
 period in the life of Joseph, the Egyptian successor 
 to his offices had also assumed his name, and that he 
 was the excavator of the tomb. We give here his 
 portrait and his titles. 
 
 * Gen xli. 4, 5. See above, p. 55. 
 
RELIEF PROM THE TOMB OF JOSEPH. 
 
176 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN — RISE OF THE NEW 
 
 KING. 
 
 We do not here discuss the question of the duration 
 of the sojourn. It will soon appear that if the Greek 
 lists of the kings of Egypt gave us reliable chrono- 
 logy, it must have lasted 430 years. But such was 
 by no means the case. The question therefore still 
 remains an open one, notwithstanding their tes- 
 timony. 
 
 From our historical authorities, we obtain two 
 certainties regarding this period. The one is, that 
 the patron of Joseph was the shepherd king Apho- 
 phis. This (as we have already explained) . is the 
 concurrent testimony of all the Egyptian records 
 translated by the Greeks. The other certainty appears 
 upon the monuments, and their testimony is equally 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 177 
 
 clear and irresistible. It is the name of the king 
 that knew not Joseph. 
 
 The time of the rise of the new king is our first 
 question. We have ascertained that Aaron was born 
 eighty-three years, and Moses eighty years before the 
 Exodus. It further appears from the inspired nar- 
 rative, that the infanticidal decree of the new king 
 (Exod. i. 22.) had been issued in the interval be- 
 tween the two births : for on the birth of Aaron 
 (Exod. vi. 20.) no concealment was required, such 
 as took place on that of Moses, chap. ii. 1 — 7. Seven 
 years being allowed for the former attempts to keep 
 down xhe numbers of Israel, (which is probable 
 enough, chap. i. 8 — 21,) would give us ninety years 
 before the Exodus for the rise of the new king. 
 
 The cotemporary monuments of this epoch are 
 numerous, but their testimony is obscure and hard 
 to understand. The histories collected by the curi- 
 osity of the later Greeks, about the time of our 
 Saviour, from the temple records of Egypt, are the 
 other source of our knowledge. They exactly re- 
 semble all other histories written in similar circum- 
 stances. A vast mass of fable, often incoherent, 
 has accumulated upon a skeleton or frame-work of 
 truth. The very laborious collation of these two, 
 has done something to expose the fables of the one, 
 and to unravel the perplexities of the other. It is 
 
178 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 with this something, and with this alone, that we 
 intend to trouble our readers. 
 
 We must of necessity commence with a brief sum- 
 mary of the previous history of Egypt. 
 
 The temple records open with the statement that 
 when Menes the human founder of the kingdom 
 ascended the throne, Egypt had been governed by 
 the gods for more than 17,000 years. The monu- 
 ments disclose the origin of this manifest fiction. 
 The first gods of Egypt were the patriarchs of the 
 Old World, who were made in some cases local gods 
 of cities founded by their descendants. In other 
 instances they were themselves the founders of the 
 cities wherein they were worshipped after their 
 death. It was the well-known long lives of men 
 before the flood, and immediately after it, that ori- 
 ginated the fable of the 17,000 years. 
 
 In order to prove this point, namely, that the first 
 gods of Egypt were dead men, and the patriarchs 
 of the Bible, we take the opportunity of giving here 
 the few notices of this false religion which are 
 required to illustrate the text before us. 
 
 \ JtnnJs^xJl a ^ m > *' e# D ^ Adam, the father of man- 
 kind. He was the local god of the city of On, or 
 Heliopolis, the capital of Aphophis, and at all times 
 one of the capitals of Egypt. He was the human 
 impersonation of the sun, which was " the father of 
 
EGYPT DURIXG THE SOJOURN. 179 
 
 all the gods " of Egypt. All idolatry seems to have 
 began with the notion that the sun was God. 
 
 SUfr^ or ^MM or ^®s& nu or nuh > Hi: Noah, 
 the god of the annual overflow, and of water gene- 
 rally. The city in which he w r as first worshipped 
 we shall find presently. He was afterwards made 
 local at any new point to the southward of former 
 settlements in the valley in which a city was built. 
 He was often named ^V^k nu ' mu > that is " No 
 or Noah of the waters/' He was also named 
 " father of the gods/' in allusion, doubtless, to the 
 post-diluvian origin of mankind. 
 
 j^ os-i?H, Osiris, called afterwards Mizraim, 
 D^SXD- He was first named n*r* " the potter/' It 
 was changed to Mizraim, " two cities," when Menes 
 founded Memphis. Other names were also changed 
 for like purposes. This father of ancient Egypt 
 most probably died and was buried at Busiris in 
 the Delta, where he was afterwards local god. In 
 this circumstance originated a number of myths or 
 fables, wherein he was made king of the dead ; — 
 being, as we have elsewhere explained, the rightful 
 king of all Egyptians, as the father of the race. 
 The changes in the religion of Egypt introduced by 
 King Mencheres, in which began the civil broils 
 which Abram is said to have composed during his 
 sojourn in Egypt, were all of them connected with 
 the worship of Osiris. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 VJ iJ $&> i e. N::b, Seba the son of Cush. Gen. 
 x. 7. He is the youngest of all the deified men in 
 the system. For this reason he is entitled ^^Hll 
 c ■ youngest of the gods/' The city in which he was 
 local was Crocodilopolis in Middle Egypt, which 
 was near Abydos. This was one reason why, very 
 long afterwards, he was feigned to be the father of 
 Osiris. 
 
 °Sx3 Phtha or pth, i. e. &1B Phut, the brother of 
 Mizraim. Gren. x. 6. Menes, the founder of the 
 monarchy, was the first of the clan of Mizraim to 
 cross the Nile and colonize the western bank. Phut 
 has given its Egyptian name to the bow, (Copt, phit 
 hieroglyphic pt,) either because he was its in- 
 ventor, or because he greatly excelled in the use of 
 it. The Nile seems to have been the limit of the 
 territories of Mizraim and Phut on the first peopling 
 of North-East Africa. When Menes crossed the 
 Nile, he made the patriarch of the district the 
 local god of his new city. All pictures of the idol 
 Phtha (i. e. Phut deified) have a green skin ; which 
 denotes conventionally the sallow hue acquired by 
 light- complexioned races when first exposed to the 
 sun of the desert. The family of Phut is not given 
 in the Bible. He had probably nine sons ; for his 
 descendants, the negroes of the Lybian desert, were 
 named in hieroglyphics ||2l *• e - *^ e n ^ ne nations 
 of the Phutim. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 181 
 
 \fi£$& amn or hmn y the patriarch DJ1 Ham. In 
 one dialect of Egyptian every final m took an n 
 after it. He was first deified at Peremoun in the 
 Delta. The introducer of Ham into Upper Egypt 
 has left the record of it in his own name. He was 
 the king who founded the twelfth dynasty of the 
 lists. He seems to have colonized Eastern Thebes, 
 and to have made Ham or Amoun the local god of 
 his new city. For this reason he named himself 
 ( IS^^jjJ or 0^p^ i. e. " the beginner or 
 bringer-in of Amun/' In later times Amun became 
 one of the greatest gods in Egypt, as the tutelary 
 of the race of kings by whom the shepherds were 
 expelled. Many of the great revolutions that shook 
 the monarchy during the period now before us, ori- 
 ginated in the pretensions of Amun to rule over the 
 gods of other cities. 
 
 These will sufficiently prove the truth of our 
 statement, that the gods of Egypt were dead men. 
 They were demons (Salves) only in the sense of 
 " the souls of dead men/' and not in that of " fallen 
 spirits " or " devils/' as is generally supposed. The 
 inventors of this mythology were well acquainted 
 with the truth regarding this mysterious subject, 
 as it was taught by the patriarchal tradition. Of 
 this the following group affords us a perfectly satis- 
 factory evidence. 
 
182 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 pggg^ st-oni* (2c&»w$, Plutarch de IsideJ "Seth or 
 Sethonis," " the Author of Evil/' Book of the Dead, 
 Part II. The evil principle of the Egyptian my- 
 thology. Hebrew jtafe, Satan. 
 
 The goddesses were probably the deified wives of 
 the primitive patriarchs. As their names have not 
 been preserved in Scripture, they of course cannot 
 be identified.f Some of the early gods are also in 
 the same position. Month or Mars, Thoth, the god 
 of wisdom, Anubis, the guardian of the tomb, and 
 others, are doubtless deifications of cotemporaries 
 and relatives of Ham and Mizraim, whose names do 
 not appear in the Bible. 
 
 These deified men were regarded at first as mere 
 
 * The character WM\ is a block of stone. It is fully written thus 
 D £m£f on, in the Coptic texts " a stone." The last character is a man 
 wearing a mask representing the head of an ass, which is the conven- 
 tional determinative of all groups expressing the names of foreign gods 
 and evil spirits. The use of the block of stone to express the sound of 
 the syllables o»«, exemplifies a not unfrequent application of pictures in 
 writing foreign words in hieroglyphics. The name Osiris is thus written 
 25 oshe, Copt, "a throne." <^^: iri, Copt, "an eye.'" osh-iri.— 
 There are many other instances. 
 
 f We are only able to give one exception. It is the name of the wife 
 of Athom or Adam. She was the Venus of the Mythology. Her name 
 was written by the Greeks a&eop Hatlior. It stood thus in hieroglyphics, 
 f^j eit-hor, " the house or habitation of Horus," i. e. of the filial 
 deity from whom also descended the rest of the gods. [_J ei or ev 
 " a house," seems to be the transcription of HIP? Eve, the mother of 
 mankind. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 183 
 
 city gods : having no particular attribute of divinity 
 beyond that of the protection of the district in 
 which they were worshipped. Even Adam is 
 scarcely identified with the sun in the tombs of 
 Ghizeh. Noah is the only exception. He is con- 
 nected with the overflow, and the waters of the 
 Xile from the beginning. 
 
 The consciousness of their worshippers that the 
 gods had once been men, is remarkably exemplified 
 by the circumstance that the first kings of Egypt 
 were also made gods on their death, and were wor- 
 shipped in their pyramids as in temples. In the 
 tombs of the princes of Egypt of the most remote 
 epoch, the deceased kings are at the least on a level 
 with the gods ; and an office connected with the 
 worship of Suphis, for example, in the Great Pyra- 
 mid, is named before the priesthood of Phtha in the 
 list of a prince's titles. The reform of ITencheres 
 seems to have been especially directed against this 
 multiplication of gods ; for this king-worship does 
 not appear in the tombs of his adherents. It must 
 nevertheless be understood that the gods entirely 
 lost all their human relations, save their names, 
 when they were once enshrined. "Whatever were 
 the motives of the first introducers of them, they 
 afterwards formed combinations and connexions 
 altogether independent of their former earthly po- 
 sitions. Mizraim, for example, was made the son 
 
184 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 of Sebah his nephew, and Phut was the first-born 
 of Adam. When these myths were invented, the 
 memory of the men had perished altogether. 
 
 This man -worship exhibited, very soon after its 
 invention, its tendency to go downwards in the scale 
 of existence. Cechous, the second king of the 
 second dynasty, is said in the Greek lists to have 
 introduced into Egypt the worship of animals. This 
 worship is noted on the earliest Egyptian monu- 
 ments that exist, as well as on the latest. The 
 motives which at first induced the inventors of this 
 most degraded idolatry to assign certain animals to 
 certain gods, were various, and do not appear to 
 have followed any particular rule. The animal in 
 which Nu or Noah was worshipped was the ram or 
 goat ; for there is scarcely a distinction between the 
 two animals in hot countries. The circumstance 
 that the goat under the name of Mendes was the 
 sacred animal of a city in the eastern Delta, to 
 which it gave its name, (see above) decides that 
 Noah was the local god of the nome of Mendes. It 
 is very supposeable that the traditive memory of 
 the circumstance that an animal so serviceable to 
 man had been saved in the ark, would suggest this 
 association. The bull was the animal impersona- 
 tion of Adam at Heliopolis. It was named Mnevis 
 " \ We know nothing of the reason why. Ptha 
 at Memphis had also a bull for his sacred animal. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 185 
 
 His name was Apis. The comparison of the names 
 of the god and his bull in hieroglyphics throws a 
 little light upon the notions which were in the 
 minds of the inventors. g£ pth has been altered 
 from Phut g by the addition of a letter, to assimi- 
 late it in sound to the word nnD pth " to open/' 
 ci disclose/' (in Egyptian photh " to write in 
 hieroglyphics/') Apis is written £§ hp which is 
 merely the god's name inverted, and with a direct 
 inversion of its meaning also. The initial ff is the 
 pent-house or screen, whence oracular responses 
 were given in the temples of Egypt. The word 
 hp, signifies u to hide," " to cover," in Egyptian 
 and also in Hebrew rtzn- So that the man was 
 the god manifest, and the beast the god concealed. 
 We can give a rather better account of the sacred 
 animal of Anubis, which was the dog or jackal, 
 because he was the local god of Lycopolis in the 
 Busiritic nome,* which was situated on the extreme 
 north-eastern border of the Delta, where, being 
 constantly exposed to the attacks of foreign enemies, 
 great vigilance was required. The dog, we need 
 not explain, denoted vigilance t 
 
 Such was the religion of Egypt when Israel so- 
 journed there, and partook in its idol ceremonies. 
 
 * This city is mentioned in the Rosetta inscr. (line 28, Gr.) as "having 
 been attacked by the Syrians in that day. 
 
 t See Note at the end of this Chapter. 
 
186 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 It was the worship of dead men and live animals, 
 and nothing more. All the mysticism, symbols, 
 and combinations which somewhat veiled its gross- 
 ness in after times, had not then been invented. 
 The system was in its naked absurdity. For the 
 regular succession of times and seasons, without 
 disastrous interruptions like the seven years' fa- 
 mine, — for aid in the various changes and chances in 
 man's affairs, which he always feels to be out of his 
 own control, — nay more, for all the hopes of the life 
 to come, in which Egypt from the first most firmly 
 believed, they were taught to betake themselves to 
 these most ridiculous and impotent gods ; whose 
 worshippers nevertheless, Egyptian as well as 
 Israelite, fully acknowledge the truth that God is 
 One. We might express our astonishment at this 
 fatuity, were it not also exemplified in the present 
 day, and by millions of living men. 
 
 The process by which these local gods became 
 afterwards, at different periods, gods in all Egypt, 
 is easy to apprehend. Noah was apparently always 
 so, for very obvious reasons. The Sun was also god 
 everywhere, from the first : but whether Adam was 
 always associated with him is not so clear. Anubis 
 guarded all tombs, and therefore was wanted in 
 every city. In other instances some signal success 
 or good fortune befalling a city was placed to the 
 credit of a local god, and crowds of worshippers from 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 187 
 
 other parts of Egypt flocked to his shrine. The 
 benefits of this intercourse would form another 
 item in his favour ; his reputation would continue 
 to advance, and shortly a shrine for his worship 
 would appear in the temple of some neighbouring 
 city. The jealousy which this intruder awoke in 
 the original holder of the fane was allayed by 
 another expedient. One of the seers beheld in 
 vision, or an oracle proclaimed from beneath the 
 pent-house, that the two gods were in fact nearly 
 connected, and that the new-comer was heartily 
 welcomed by his affectionate relative. Thus origi- 
 nated the family ties among the gods of Egypt. On 
 the other hand, when a calamity befel a city or 
 district, the local god bore the blame, and his 
 shrine was neglected for that of some more pro- 
 pitious or powerful divinity. There is no greater 
 mistake than to assume, with most writers on this 
 subject, that the idolatry of Egypt was a system 
 complete from the first, and never undergoing any 
 change afterwards. Three great political revolu- 
 tions befel Egypt in the interval which is now be- 
 fore us. Every one of them was a religious war, 
 and resulted in great and radical changes in her 
 mythology : so that the present explanation is im- 
 peratively required for the right understanding of 
 the history we have to relate. 
 
 The history of the gods in Egypt is thus linked 
 
188 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 with that of the men who ruled there after them. 
 The gods taught mankind the common arts of life, 
 and made men fit to govern themselves. They then 
 left the earth. "We now understand this. The gods 
 of Egypt were men ; — the first settlers and their an- 
 cestors. This is the framework of the fable. It is 
 itself a reconstruction most shapeless and unsightly, 
 of that oldest of all traditions, that knowledge of 
 every kind came at first from Grod. 
 
 The first settlers, we now find, formed encamp- 
 ments, and built cities along the eastern bank of 
 the easternmost mouth of the Nile — the Phathmetic 
 branch. They made their capital Heliopolis. In 
 this city the hieroglyphic system of writing was 
 invented, and for this reason it always remained 
 the seat of learning in Egypt. Here also the first 
 stone temple seems to have been built to Adam, as 
 the human impersonation of the sun : for one of 
 the invariable epithets of Athom is "god of the 
 great temple." The temples of the other cities of 
 the first settlers were built with bricks of Nile mud. 
 
 Very shortly after the first settlement — certainly 
 within a hundred years, Menes crossed the Nile and 
 built Memphis. With him begins the human his- 
 tory of Egypt. Five dynasties of kings are enumer- 
 ated in the Greek lists as having reigned after him. 
 Some of these now turn out to be cotemporary. 
 We also know from the monuments that the power 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 189 
 
 of these successors of Menes was confined to Memphis 
 and its neighbourhood, and that the valley to the 
 southward was still waste and uninhabited, save at 
 certain points, of which Abydos, (about a hundred 
 miles from Memphis on the southern border of 
 Middle Egypt) was the extreme limit to the south- 
 ward. 
 
 This epoch was brought to a close by the reli- 
 gious changes, and the wars consequent upon them, 
 of Menes, the last monarch of the fifth dynasty, as 
 he appears to have been on the monuments. Its 
 duration seems to have been about 300 years. 
 
 Hitherto the Greek lists and the monuments are 
 in tolerable harmony, but we now enter upon an 
 epoch when they are in utterly hopeless disagree- 
 ment. Six dynasties of all but nameless kings in 
 the lists, reigning for nearly a thousand years, are 
 represented on the monuments by six successive 
 monarchs only. The study of these combined docu- 
 ments shows clearly that advantage was taken in 
 later times, of anarchies and civil broils, when the 
 records of Egypt were imperfectly kept, to insert 
 therein fabulous reigns and centuries, for the pur- 
 pose of exaggerating the antiquity of Egypt, Such 
 a commotion did take place at this time ; for the 
 capital of the successors of Mencheres was no longer 
 Memphis. It, however, did not last long, for the 
 arts underwent no degradation in the interval of 
 
190 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 its occurrence. It was in this interval that Abram 
 sojourned in Egypt, and is said to have composed 
 the religious feuds in which the civil war ori- 
 ginated. 
 
 The succession afterwards is a very intricate 
 question, belonging to the history of Egypt, and not 
 to that of Israel. It appears that while the six 
 monarchs, who as adherents to the reforms of Men- 
 cheres are recorded in the monuments, reigned at 
 Abydos, another succession of weak and inglorious 
 kings still maintained the old pyramid worship in 
 some cities in the eastern Delta. 
 
 The cessation of this civil war is denoted by the 
 sudden return of the Greek lists to exact harmony 
 with the hieroglyphic pedigrees of the kings of 
 Egypt. The names of seven kings, reigning for about 
 a century and a half, are recorded with wonderfully 
 little variation in both documents. This is the 
 twelfth dynasty of the lists. The monuments show 
 that the crowns of Egypt were hereditary during 
 these seven descents. They also show that Egypt 
 enjoyed great material prosperity under the monarchs 
 of the twelfth dynasty. These kings wrote their 
 names in two rings or shields, which shows them to 
 have been the adherents in religion to the reforms 
 of Mencheres, as we have before explained. The 
 second of these illustrious kings, (Sesortosis I.) made 
 an addition to the temple of Adam at Heliopolis : 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 191 
 
 but the names of none of his successors have been 
 found either in that city or in any other locality of 
 the Delta. The history suggested by this circum- 
 stance is important, and will hereafter require con- 
 sideration. The monuments show that, except at 
 one or two isolated points, the rule of the monarchs 
 of this dynasty was principally confined to Middle 
 Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile. The founder 
 of it opened in person the great canal or river of 
 the Faium, which remains to this day under the 
 name of the Bahr Iussuf. This fact is related in 
 hieroglyphics in the tomb of Nahrai at Beni-hassan. 
 The object of this canal was the irrigation of the 
 singular valley that branches off from the Nile, about 
 fifty miles south of Memphis, far into the western 
 desert. It is at this day the province of the Faium. 
 The wealth of the monarchy would be greatly in- 
 creased by this noble work. During the reigns of 
 the five last monarchs of the twelfth dynasty, the 
 capitals of Egypt appear to have been, Memphis in 
 the north, and in the south Abydos or Coptos, both 
 cities close upon the southern limit of Middle Egypt. 
 The grand object which this entire dynasty had in 
 view, appears clearly from the monuments to have 
 been, the extension of their dominions up the valley 
 of the Nile to the southward. They colonized Upper 
 Egypt. Before their times, Eilethya was the fur- 
 thest point in this district, of which the Pharaohs 
 
192 ISRAEL m EGYPT. 
 
 had possession. They also conquered Nubia, and 
 added it to Egypt, up to the very borders of Ethiopia; 
 driving out from both districts the descendants of 
 Cush, who, though as far advanced in civilization 
 as the Egyptians, were, from their numerous divi- 
 sions into petty kingdoms, unable to contend with 
 them. The monuments of the twelfth dynasty are 
 the unerring witnesses of these historical facts. 
 
 The inevitable consequence of this concentration 
 of the efforts of the kings of Upper Egypt to the 
 southward of their dominions, would be the neglect of 
 their northern border. To the condition of northern 
 Egypt in these remote epochs, we have already fre- 
 quently alluded. The Delta was common ground to 
 Egypt and Canaan. Even in the palmiest days of 
 the successors of Menes, the shepherds of Canaan 
 not only ranged undisturbed over the grassy plains 
 of the Delta, but also depastured their flocks beneath 
 the very walls of Memphis, and were evidently 
 acknowledged as the allies or subjects of the mon- 
 archy.* This state of things shortly before the visit 
 of Abram to Egypt, renders perfectly harmonious 
 and intelligible, all the particulars of it recorded in 
 the inspired narrative. Attached by the fertility of 
 
 * The shepherd Philitis was said by the priests to have been the 
 builder of the pyramid of Suphis. He doubtless assisted in its construc- 
 tion. It was through hatred of the memory of Suphis that this legend 
 was preserved. Suphis, then, was more hateful than the shepherds. 
 Herod. ii. 28. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 1.93 
 
 the soil, vast multitudes of Canaanites had settled 
 in the Delta in cities and encampments. They had 
 adopted the religion of Egypt. This was inevitable, 
 for the doctrine of local gods was universal in all 
 ancient idolatries. They likewise adopted the man- 
 ners, the language, the dress of Egypt, as well as its 
 religion. They were, in a word, Egyptians in every 
 thing but descent. This, however, was a point 
 which, at this remote epoch, when the memories of 
 the first dispersion were yet fresh in the minds of 
 all men, would never be for a moment forgotten. 
 This difference of race in ancient Egypt would ope- 
 rate in exactly the same manner as the tinge of 
 colour in modern colonies.* Notwithstanding the 
 exactitude of his outward conformity, notwithstand- 
 ing his useful, or social, or amiable qualities, the 
 Canaanite would always remain a shepherd, an un- 
 clean person, an abomination, in the eyes of the 
 pure Egyptian. Such we apprehend to have been 
 the state of things in the Delta during the period 
 which the reforms of Mencheres brought to a termi- 
 nation. 
 
 The high praise which the priesthood of Egypt 
 was never weary of pouring upon the name and 
 memory of Mencheres, render it quite certain that 
 the reforms in religion introduced by him, had for 
 
 * The misethiopism of all European colonists is an infatuation, the 
 fearful consequences of which are not } T et developed. 
 
 
 
194 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 one especial object the increase of the power and in- 
 fluence of their order. In closer connection therewith, 
 both the mythology and the ritual of worship were 
 likewise settled by them, rendering the religion more 
 exclusively Egyptian, and therefore more intolerant 
 of all foreigners ; so that their very nature, and pro- 
 bably enough design also, would be to exclude the 
 Egypto-Canaanites in a body from their communion. 
 This very powerful cause would combine with the 
 alliance and friendship they had so long enjoyed 
 with the old kings, to keep the shepherds true to 
 the religion of the pyramids. It does not, however, 
 appear that they took any part in the civil war that 
 followed. They seem rather to have retired to their 
 fastnesses amid the swamps of the Delta, and 
 received there as refugees their co-religionists from 
 the cities of Middle Egypt, whence they were ex- 
 pelled by the Mencherian reformers. Their force 
 would thus be concentrated and increased. 
 
 The peace between the two factions does not ap- 
 pear to have been of any long duration. The monu- 
 mental facts of Heliopolis leave us to infer that this 
 city was lost to the successors of Sesortosis I. So 
 that either the civil war broke out again during his 
 life-time, and Heliopolis was surprised and taken by 
 the king-worshippers of the Delta, or it was ceded 
 by treaty ; the Nile being made by mutual consent 
 the boundary of the territories of two cotemporary 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 195 
 
 and rival Pharaohs ; for with the single exception 
 of the grottoes of Benihassan, there is not a locality 
 in Egypt Proper on the eastern bank where any 
 remains of the twelfth dynasty have been found. 
 
 During the reigns of the three successors of Se- 
 sortosis I. there appears to have been between the 
 two Pharaohs an armed truce. It was nothing 
 more ; for the monuments show that both succes- 
 sions always pretended to the sovereignty of all 
 Egypt. This lasted for about a century. The period 
 corresponds with the declining years of Abraham, 
 and the youth and manhood of Isaac. During this 
 interval, while the western Pharaohs pursued their 
 triumphs over the southern Cushites, the kings of 
 the Delta, and of eastern Middle Egypt, seem to 
 have been developing the fertility of the soil, plant- 
 ing cities and cultivating commerce with their eas- 
 tern neighbours in the Desert and in Canaan. The 
 only evidence of this fact is negative, but very 
 strong. The arts flourished greatly in their reigns ; 
 and at the termination of the period, they were in 
 force enough to cross the Nile and to take Memphis 
 by a coup de main from their western neighbours. 
 The cause of this revival of hostilities had been 
 forgotten in the times of Josephus, and there is no- 
 thing yet found in the monuments whence it could 
 be inferred. They do however make it evident that 
 
 Amun-Timasus made no strenuous eiforts to dis- 
 
 2 
 
J 96 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 possess his rival Saites of the possession of Memphis. 
 On the other hand, he evidently submitted to it as 
 a divine dispensation : a token of the anger of the 
 gods. This was precisely the account of the fall of 
 Memphis, which Manetho found written in the 
 temple-records. The proceedings of Amun-Timaeus, 
 on the loss of his capital, are highly characteristic of 
 ancient idolatry, and of the modes of thought that 
 it produced. He made peace with the victor, pur- 
 sued his conquests over Cush in the south, and with 
 the spoils built, at the point nearest to Memphis 
 which remained in his possession, a stately palace- 
 temple, which he dedicated to the local divinity, 
 — Sevek, " the crocodile/' or Seba. He adopted 
 this god as the tutelary of his own family, nam- 
 ing all his sons and daughters after him. This 
 change of gods was doubtless suggested by the loss 
 of Memphis. Nevertheless Amun-Timseus showed 
 his respect for. or fear of, the religion which had 
 dispossessed him of his capital, by building a pyra- 
 mid for his own tomb close by his new palace : a 
 form of sepulchre so strictly peculiar to the old 
 religion, that it seems on this account to have been 
 unanimously rejected by all the other royal adhe- 
 rents to the reforms of Mencheres. 
 
 The city in which Amun-Timaeus built his palace 
 was situated in the Faium, to the fertility of which 
 district his ancestors had so largely contributed by 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 197 
 
 their works of engineering. The ruins of both pa- 
 lace and pyramid remain to this day. They were 
 discovered very recently by Dr. Lepsius. The city 
 was afterwards named by the Greeks, Crocodilopolis. 
 
 Aphophis, the patron of Joseph, appears on the 
 monuments as the third successor of Saites the 
 conqueror of Memphis, and founder of the city of 
 Sais in the eastern Delta, whom the priesthood 
 named Salatis in derision. The same unerring re- 
 cords of the past also disclose the wonderful fact, 
 that these monarchs were not shepherds by descent, 
 but sons and heirs in the direct line, of Menes and 
 the old Pharaohs ; so that the narrative of Moses 
 is true to the jot and tittle. They were termed 
 shepherd-kings, and their names were converted 
 into nicknames, — because of the religious tenets 
 they professed, and because of their tolerant and 
 enlightened policy towards the Canaanites, — by the 
 priests who kept the archives of Egypt in after 
 ages. On the monuments, the greatest of the Pha- 
 raohs were proud to enrol them in their pedigrees, 
 among their ancestors. This point belongs to the 
 history of Egypt* 
 
 Aphophis, Phiops or Apappus (for by all these 
 several names in the lists, the same individual is 
 really designated) was one of the most magnificent 
 of the Pharaohs. He is said to have ascended the 
 
 * History of Egypt, Vol. ii. 
 
198 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 throne at six years of age, and to have been king of 
 Egypt for a hundred years. The monuments give 
 countenance to this tradition. He is repeatedly 
 represented there as co-regent with his father and 
 grandfather. The latter was the captor of Memphis. 
 The known monuments of Aphophis are few 
 hitherto : for the remains of Memphis and Helio- 
 polis are still covered with sand. When they shall 
 be disinterred we shall probably be in a position to 
 say more upon the transactions of his long reign. 
 Those however that remain tell unmistakeably of 
 victory, prosperity, and the perfection of the fine 
 arts. 
 
 The only exploit of Aphophis, of which a monu- 
 mental record remains, is the defeat of the Egyp- 
 tians of the opposite faction. The deed of arms is 
 commemorated in a superb tablet sculptured on the 
 face of one of the granite cliffs of the Wady Meghara, 
 in the Sinaitic peninsula. The tablet was engraved 
 in the 1 8th year of the reign of his father, on the 
 6th day of the month Mesore, the last month of the 
 year. It is in two compartments. In the first of 
 them Aphophis wears the crown of Lower Egypt, 
 and is represented in the act of rushing hastily 
 towards the south, bearing in his right hand the 
 flagellum, and holding forth with his left a roll of 
 papyrus, whereon was written his claim to the 
 sovereignty of Upper Egypt. Some aggression on 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 199 
 
 the part of the descendant of Amun-Timseus had 
 therefore been the occasion of the war. In the next 
 compartment he has assumed the crown of Upper 
 Egypt, and is grasping with his left hand the hair 
 of his vanquished enemy, while the right hand is 
 raised in the act of striking him with a battle-axe. 
 The enemy is an Egyptian in countenance, wearing 
 the long hair which distinguished afterwards the 
 Upper from the Lower Egyptians. His weakness 
 and cowardice are most significantly symbolised. 
 The figure is androgynous. It has the beard of a 
 man and the breast of a woman. This defeat is said 
 in the accompanying hieroglyphics to have taken 
 place in the mountains of Western Thebes. One of 
 the results of the victory was doubtless the cession 
 to the Shepherds of the valuable copper-mines of 
 Wady Meghara, which we find from other tablets 
 also sculptured on its cliffs to have been in the 
 possession of the kings of the 12th dynasty up to 
 Amun-Timseus. In the hieroglyphic genealogy of 
 the kings of Egypt in the chamber of Karnak, 
 Aphophis is declared to be king of Lower Egypt at 
 the time that Sebachon the successor of Amun- 
 Timasus was king in Upper Egypt. Twenty-four 
 officers of the army of Aphophis have had their 
 names inscribed at the foot of this tablet. The 
 force they commanded had doubtless come to take 
 possession of the mines. They were moreover com- 
 
200 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 missioned to bring from thence metal for bronze 
 colossi of the victor and his associates in the 
 monarchy. 
 
 SIM 
 
 i, K*jy ~w 
 
 We give here a copy of this beautiful tablet, 
 principally because, as may be observed, in the two 
 figures of Aphophis, however rigid, and metallic, 
 and unlifelike, the features are nevertheless the 
 same. They may be taken, therefore to be portraits 
 of the patron of Joseph ! 
 
 The power of the kingdom of the Mencherian re- 
 formers on the western bank of the Nile was rapidly 
 declining throughout the entire reign of Aphophis : 
 so much so that his successor penetrated Upper 
 Egypt as far as Assuan on its extreme southern 
 border, and inscribed himself on the rocks there as 
 king of the Lower country and conqueror of the 
 Upper. In the genealogy of Karnak also, to which 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 201 
 
 we have just referred, he is written by his descen- 
 dant, king of Lower Egypt, governing Upper Egypt 
 by a viceroy, even as the Pharaohs of the 12th 
 dynasty had governed Memphis. 
 
 These favourable circumstances for the develop- 
 ment of the foreign policy of Aphophis, (which was 
 too liberal and enlightened for his generation), were 
 largely taken advantage of by him for the en- 
 couragement of the fine arts. He built for himself 
 a magnificent palace on the eastern bank of the 
 Nile, almost directly opposite to the labyrinth of 
 Amun-Timseus and in obvious rivalry of it. The 
 revenues of this palace-temple must have been 
 immense. The offices attached to it formed the 
 summit of the ambition of all the princes of his 
 court. The tombs of these princes are the most 
 beautiful in Egypt. The following design is from 
 that of the Saris Shusen, mayor of the Aphophoeum, 
 
 | or palace of Aphophis. 
 
 This picture tells its own story. The great cattle 
 
202 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 of Shusen are in the waters of the yearly overflow. 
 The bull which heads the herd perceives a crocodile 
 approaching, and his alarm is pourtrayed with 
 much truth to nature. One of the cattle-keepers 
 however is there in his boat or launch of papyrus 
 reeds, and spears the assailant. The intention of 
 this beautiful design is twofold. It commends the 
 vigilance of the herdsmen of Shushen. It also ex- 
 presses contempt and abhorrence of the crocodile- 
 god of the royal rival of Aphophis on the other 
 bank of the river. 
 
 There are many other tombs of extreme beauty, 
 and all of the princes of Pharaoh Aphophis, in the 
 same mountain, which is at Suade in Middle Egypt, 
 over against the modern city of Nineveh. At other 
 places also tombs of the courtiers of Aphophis have 
 been found ; Shech Said, for example, about fifty 
 miles to the southward, — Chenoboscion, which is 
 still further south, and many intermediate points. 
 They everywhere bear uniform testimony to the 
 high perfection which art in Egypt attained in the 
 days of Pharaoh Aphophis. 
 
 The quarry-marks which the kings of Egypt were 
 wont to inscribe upon the rocks and mountains, 
 whence they hewed the materials for the construc- 
 tion of their temples and palaces, now furnish very 
 important and historical notices of the events of 
 their reigns. The granites and porphyries of the 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 203 
 
 mountains of the Gulf of Suez were in large demand 
 for works of art and ornament during the reign of 
 Pharaoh Aphophis. At the ancient quarry now 
 called Hamamat on the desert road from Keneh on 
 the Nile, to Kossayr on the Red Sea, the inscrip- 
 tions inform us that a considerable force was sta- 
 tioned there to superintend the workmen in the 
 days of Aphophis and his co-regents. The officers 
 of this force inscribe their names on the festival of 
 opening the temple of Ptha or Phut at Memphis, 
 for several successive years. It would seem to have 
 been principally for the decoration of this temple 
 and Memphis, that the quarry was wrought. The 
 high reputation of Aphophis and his father, for the 
 beautiful works of architecture and art with which 
 Memphis was adorned by them, was very gracefully 
 commemorated. The name of the pyramid in which 
 they were both interred, was made in after ages the 
 trivial or vulgar name of Memphis.* It stood in 
 the immediate vicinity of the city, and took, like 
 other royal pyramids,*}* one of the titles of the kings 
 who built it. (MDi^JA "Kl Aphophis the 
 fair constructor the pyramid/' or (SiMj "t A 
 " [of] Meris^: the fair constructor the pyramid/' 
 
 " the house, " or 
 
 * The name of Memphis in religion was 
 " Temple of Ptha. " 
 
 + History of Egypt, Vol. ii. 
 J The name of the father of Aphophis. I found these names of the 
 pyramids in a tomb at Chenohoscion. 
 
204 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 was its name at length. In common speech the 
 king's name was omitted (as with all other pyra- 
 mids) and it was called ^j^. " the pyramid of 
 the fair constructors/' which also was made ever 
 afterwards the name of the city. It was pronounced 
 man-nufi. The Coptic transcription preserves it 
 unchanged. The Greeks changed it slightly 
 
 for the sake of euphony, to Me^*c- The Hebrews 
 about the time of the captivity in Babylon abbre- 
 viated it to P\h Noph, and rp Moph. (Jer. ii. 14 ; 
 Hos. ix. 6, &c.) The name Memphis, then, was to 
 all who read hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt during 
 the whole period that they remained legible, the 
 commemoration of the fair constructions wherewith 
 the patron of Joseph had adorned the glorious city 
 that bore it. Several other interesting facts of 
 history also appear in these quarry marks at 
 Hamamat. 
 
 On the death of Salatis, Meris (whose name was 
 long afterwards punned, or rhymed, or gingled into 
 Benis or Benois, " a dirty fellow," by the Alexan- 
 drians*) divided the monarchy with his son ; and 
 on the first day of the great festival of Ptha at 
 Memphis, Meris was crowned king of Upper Egypt, 
 and Aphophis, or Apappus, of Lower Egypt. The 
 coronation took place in the temple of Ptha, and 
 
 * The names of the Shepherd-kings in the Greek lists are a piece of 
 wit, for which the Alexandrians were always famous. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 205 
 
 both assumed the dress and attributes of that god, 
 thereby declaring themselves his votaries. This 
 event was commemorated by a shrine of porphyry 
 hewn from the quarry of Hamamat. 
 
 Another tablet in the same quarry tells us in 
 further illustration of the history of Egypt in the 
 days of Joseph, that Meris the father of his patron, 
 took Coptos on the western bank near Thebes, from 
 the Mencherians, and made it the capital of Upper 
 Egypt. About a hundred years earlier, Coptos was 
 the capital of the Mencherian king Sesortosis I, of 
 the 12th dynasty. This fact is stated in the tomb 
 of Amenemes, one of his sons at Benihassan. 
 
 Thus clearly does it appear, that all Egypt was 
 under the government to which Joseph was minister, 
 and that his institutions applied to the entire mo- 
 narchy ! 
 
 The 18th of Meris is a year commemorated in 
 the annals of the quarries of Hamamat as well as 
 in those of the mines of Meghara. On the 27th 
 day of Ephip, that is nine days before his arrival at 
 Meghara, the son of Meris passed through Hama- 
 mat, doubtless on his way thither, and ordered the 
 garrison there to commence very extensive opera- 
 tions connected with the decoration of the temple 
 of Ptha at Memphis. 
 
 The fact so important to the Mosaic history, that 
 Aphophis the patron of Joseph ruled overall Egypt, 
 
206 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 is confirmed still more triumphantly by the quarry 
 marks in the red sandstone of Eilethya (called by 
 the Arabs El Kab) which is situated in Upper 
 Egypt, about twenty miles to the south of Thebes, 
 and within thirty miles of Assonan, the extreme 
 limit of all that ever was Egypt. Building stones 
 and blocks for colossal statues were repeatedly cut 
 from thence ; both in the life-time of Meris, and after- 
 wards his son Aphophis cut blocks from thence for 
 colossal sitting figures of his entire ancestry. There 
 cannot be a doubt, therefore, that on the death of 
 his father, Aphophis, or Phiops, or Apappus, (for by 
 these latter names alone he was really known in the 
 annals of Egypt) was sole king both of Upper and 
 Lower Egypt, from its extreme southern limit to the 
 Mediterranean on the north. 
 
 These very clear monumental indications of the 
 highly flourishing condition of Egypt under the 
 Pharaoh to whom Joseph was minister, receive a 
 confirmation from the Greek traditions, the force 
 of which appears never yet to have been perceived. 
 The Alexandrian chronologers are perfectly unani- 
 mous in ascribing to the shepherd-kings all the 
 reforms in the Egyptian calendar, whereby the vague 
 year of 360 days was restored to harmony with the 
 actual seasons. Salatis, or Saites, the grandfather 
 of Apappus, is said to have added to the year the 
 five days of the epoch.* Asses, his descendant, im- 
 
 * Syncelli Chronol. p. 103, D. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 20 7 
 
 proved upon this expedient, by making the addition 
 to consist of half a day or twelve hours to each 
 month.* No Greek authority ascribes this reform 
 to any other line of monarchs in Egypt but the 
 shepherd-kings. Thus clearly does the Greek tra- 
 dition convict of absurdity its own fable regarding 
 the barbarism of the shepherds. For it will be ob- 
 served, that the reform is begun by Saites, the first 
 of the shepherd-kings, and perfected to a degree 
 upon which we in the present day, have scarcely 
 been able to advance by the last of them. This cir- 
 cumstance denotes a progressive civilization of a 
 character very foreign to any thing that appears in 
 the manners of ancient Egypt in later times, where 
 all was as stationary as in China or Japan. The 
 same tendency shews itself also in the foreign policy 
 of this illustrious line of kings, upon which we have 
 already remarked, and which procured for them the 
 opprobrious epithet of shepherds in the annals of 
 the priesthood of after-ages. 
 
 Egypt was then a great, a prosperous, and a flou- 
 rishing kingdom, when Joseph was minister to Pha- 
 raoh. So says the Bible : and the truth of its state- 
 ment is abundantly confirmed, both by the Greek 
 tradition, and by the cotemporary monuments that 
 still exist in Egypt. 
 
 We have at length brought up to one point the 
 
 * Seol. in Plat. Tim. Bekker, i. 424. 
 
208 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 histories of Egypt and Israel. Whether Joseph sur- 
 vived A pappus, his master, and was minister to his 
 son and successor, or died during the long reign of 
 the former, the Greek lists afford us no means of 
 determining. They are a mere mass of confusion. 
 The Egyptian kings before us figure in them in dou- 
 ble and triple entry. In the history of Egypt to 
 which it belongs, we have given the full discussion 
 of this question. The result of that discussion is 
 all that belongs to this place. |fp| 
 
 The son of Apappus was named |*gj rnrnra, which 
 the Greeks would probably have hellenized into 
 Melaneris. He does not however appear in their 
 lists at all. The fame of Melaneris is purely monu- 
 mental. Whoever was his minister, he was a great 
 and prosperous monarch. In his reign the depres- 
 sion of the Mencherian faction reached its lowest 
 point. They were expelled from all Egypt. No 
 dated monuments of the reign of Melaneris have 
 been discovered. We can therefore know nothing 
 of the length of it. 
 
 On the death of Melaneris a war of succession 
 most probably took place. It is certain that after- 
 wards, Upper and Lower Egypt had each its dynasty 
 of shepherd-kings, and that the kingdom of Apap- 
 pus was never re-constructed. 
 
 The king who succeeded Melaneris at Memphis 
 and Heliopolis was named Jannes by the Alexan- 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 209 
 
 drians, which was a pun upon his real name (pFP^ 
 Unas. A single quarry mark at Hamamat records 
 his name ; and the tomb of one of his princes exists 
 at Sakkara, which was the cemetery of Memphis. 
 
 The same obscurity besets the monumental record 
 of the author of this line of kings. His name is 
 
 scarcely found, except on quarry-marks {g \\\ \ 
 Othoes. Not impossibly he was one of the obscure 
 predecessors of Saites. 
 The last of them was Asses (^~^$ whose monu- 
 
 mental fame is equally slight, and in whose reign 
 Memphis was lost to the shepherd kingdom. As we 
 have the ample record of this event, both in the 
 Greek traditions and in hieroglyphics, our narrative 
 will now return to something more like history. 
 
 The Greek tradition of this event is a quotation 
 from the Egyptian history written in that language, 
 at the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the 
 third century before Christ, by a priest of the tem- 
 ple of the city of Sebenne in the Delta named Ma- 
 netho. So very turbid and perplexed is the language 
 of this quotation, that it throws considerable doubt 
 upon the fluency and accuracy of Manetho's Greek, 
 whatever may have been his proficiency in decipher- 
 ing his native hieroglyphics. With the unravelling 
 of the knots and intricacies of this his narrative, 
 which has been effected with much labour by the 
 
 p 
 
210 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 comparison of it with the testimony of the monu- 
 ments, we have nothing to do here.* The result, 
 which is all that belongs to our present undertak- 
 ing, is as follows : — "In the reign of Asses, a king 
 of the Thebaid, [i.e., Upper Egypt] named Amosis, 
 confederated with the kings of other parts of Egypt, 
 and expelled the shepherds from Memphis. After 
 this defeat they retired from the rest of Egypt, to a 
 district about 10,000 arourse [that is 300 miles] in 
 circumference, which they fortified with a wall very 
 great and strong. In this enclosure they kept all 
 their goods and plunder. Thothmosis, the son of 
 Amosis, besieged them in this their strong hold with 
 480,000 men ;— but at length he gave up the siege, 
 and made a treaty with the besieged, wherein it was 
 stipulated that the shepherds should leave Egypt 
 unmolested, with all their property, and go where 
 they would. They did so depart from Egypt, and 
 to the number of not less than 2,400,000. They 
 went into the desert, taking the road that leads to 
 Syria." f 
 
 This our version of Manetho does a good deal to 
 clear his narrative of some of its grosser intricacies 
 and inconsequences. Nevertheless we must acknow- 
 
 * See History of Egypt, Vol. ii. p. 
 + Josephus Cont. Apion. i. 14. A floating number of 511 years for 
 the Shepherd rule in Egypt, also occurs in this narrative ; but the two 
 events at each extremity of it do not appear. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 211 
 
 ledge that it egregiously fails to commend itself to 
 the understanding, as sober, credible history. The 
 following appear to be the certainties which it em- 
 bodies. 
 
 I. Memphis was lost to the shepherd-kingdom 
 in the reign of Asses. 
 
 II. The king who dispossessed him of it was 
 named Amosis. In the lists he appears as the first 
 king of the 18th dynasty. 
 
 III. Amosis was confederate with other kings of 
 Upper Egypt, when he made this successful attack 
 upon Memphis. 
 
 IV. After the loss of Memphis, the shepherds 
 retired to a district 300 miles in circuit. Three 
 hundred miles being just about the circumference 
 of the district traversed by the mouths of the Xile, 
 which the Greeks called the Delta, we conclude that 
 it was into the Delta that the shepherds retreated. 
 
 V. The great and very strong wall is now intelli- 
 gible. The defeated king fortified Heliopolis his 
 capital, at the crown or head of the Delta. He like- 
 wise built forts to defend the river and its approaches 
 at the point where it first branches into mouths, 
 now called the Barash. The mode in which this 
 history is narrated is very instructive as to the spirit 
 in which it was written. 
 
 This is the whole of the history which it seems 
 possible safely to infer from Manetho's narrative. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 without the further assistance of the monuments. 
 To them, therefore, we now return. 
 
 The hieroglyphic name of Amosis repeatedly occurs 
 both on cotemporary monuments and in the genea- 
 logies of his royal descendants. He wrote his name 
 
 m two rings 
 
 m 
 
 which shows him to have been 
 
 an adherent of the Mencherian faction. He is also 
 placed in the genealogies as the immediate descend- 
 ant of Amun-timceus, who was expelled from Mem- 
 phis by Saites.* These facts might have been in- 
 ferred from the narrative of Manetho. 
 
 Amosis certainly had possession of Memphis ; for 
 in the twenty-second year of his reign he made 
 additions to the temple of Ptha in that city, and in 
 the same year he built a temple in it to his god 
 Amoun. These facts are recorded by the quarry 
 marks on the rock of Toorah, which is immediately 
 over against the ruins of Memphis. The formal 
 hieroglyphic statement of the capture of Memphis, 
 we shall presently have to consider. 
 
 The loose uncertainty of Manetho's narrative is 
 still more strikingly illustrated by the monumental 
 identification of Thothmosis whom he calls the son 
 of Amosis. Thothmosis was the descendant of 
 Amosis, but there were at least six removes and 
 more than a century of time between them. It is 
 
 * Tablet of Abydos, &c. 
 
EGYPT BUR1XG THE SOJOURN. 213 
 
 from the monuments constructed by this Thothmosis 
 that we shall be able to continue the history of the 
 shepherds in Upper Egypt, from the times of Mela- 
 neris where we left it ; and also that of the Men- 
 cherian kings, up to the period of the capture of 
 Memphis, so as to trace this event to its probable 
 cause. 
 
 The expulsion from Egypt of the shepherds by 
 
 Thothmosis 
 
 has no other monumental foun- 
 
 dation, than that Heliopolis was ceded to him by 
 treaty with the Pharaoh then at the head of the 
 shepherd kingdom, and that he colonized the extreme 
 north-western angle of the Delta, founding there 
 the city now called Alexandria. Thothmosis was at 
 peace with the shepherds, and traded largely with 
 them during the whole of his reign. The represen- 
 tatives of the kingdom of Apappus seem on the 
 cession of Heliopolis to have made their capital 
 Xois in the centre of the Delta. In the Greek lists 
 they are the seventy-six Xoite kings who reigned 
 for 184 years. They were the contemporaries of the 
 18th and 19th dynasties of the same lists. The 
 only name with which the monuments have made 
 us certainly acquainted is that of the last of them, 
 who ceded the miserable remnant of the dominions 
 of Apappus, to the king that knew not Joseph, and 
 became the husband of his daughter. This transac- 
 tion we shall find to have taken place at Heliopolis. 
 
214 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The emigration therefore in Manetho's history of 
 2,400,000 shepherds is a mere blundering anticipa- 
 tion of the events of the Exodus. 
 
 The causes of the decline of the kingdom of Apap- 
 pus, we must now endeavour to trace on the mon- 
 uments of Thothmosis. 
 
 This monarch was most probably the son by 
 incest * of Queen Amenses and her father Mesphres 
 his predecessor. They were all three magnificent 
 monarchs. Their constructions, especially at Thebes, 
 which Amosis their ancestor had made his capital, 
 were of great beauty. They founded the palace of 
 Karnak in the portion of that city on the eastern 
 bank of the Nile. Amongst other remains in this 
 palace was a side chamber, or cloister, in which is 
 represented the worship of sixty-one of the royal 
 and vice-regal ancestors of Thothmosis. This most 
 important monument yet exists at Paris in a muti- 
 lated state. It has hitherto contributed but little 
 to the illustration of Egyptian history. The study 
 however of the monuments locally in other parts of 
 Egypt has thrown considerable light upon it. An 
 examination of all the royal names that are legible 
 in this monument we have given elsewhere. The 
 result stands thus : — 
 
 * The Egyptians certainly never had the sense of the enormity of these 
 offences, which prevailed so universally among the Semitic and Japhetian 
 races in the ancient world. The extinction of the aboriginal Mizraites, 
 in the days of the Ptolemies, had probably resulted from this cause prin- 
 cipally. History of Egypt, Vol. i. ch. i. p. 14. 
 
31 kin.es face left. 
 
 30 kings face right. 
 
216 ISRAEL W EGYPT. 
 
 It will be observed that the thrones of the kings 
 are arranged on the walls of the chamber in four 
 rows. 
 
 In the two upper rows are 32 kings. 
 
 In the two lower rows are 29 kings. 
 
 61 
 
 The names of the kings in the two upper rows 
 are all those of kings in Lower Egypt, writing their 
 names in one ring only. 
 
 The names of the kings in the two lower rows 
 are all those of kings in Upper Egypt, who wrote 
 their names in two rings. 
 
 At the extremities of the two side-walls next the 
 door of the entrance to the chamber, are the remains 
 of pictures of Thothmosis doing sacrifice to the two 
 lower rows of kings ; — that is of kings in Upper 
 Egypt. We know him to have been a lineal descend- 
 ant of Amosis, and accordingly Amosis appears at the 
 head in the lowest row to the right of the entrance. 
 The name is mutilated, save the first character, and 
 a portion of the second. 
 
 The pictures of the worshipper of the two upper 
 rows of kings have entirely perished. It cannot have 
 been Thothmosis, as has been conjectured.* In 
 
 * Or if it was Thothmosis, as he worships the kings of Upper Egypt 
 under his name in Lower Egypt, so he worshipped the Lower Egyptians 
 under his name in the Upper country. We have so restored him in our 
 diagram. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 217 
 
 this case his figure would have occupied the space 
 of all the four rows : as appears in innumerable 
 examples of Egyptian art, the rules of which ad- 
 mitted of no variation. We believe that the wor- 
 shipper of these kings in Lower Egypt was his 
 queen, and that the monument commemorated an 
 act of pacification between the two factions that 
 had so long divided Egypt. Thothmosis seems to 
 have married the daughter of the king of Heliopo- 
 lis, perhaps the heiress to the throne. Probably 
 enough, it was in her right that this capital was 
 added to his dominions, and the war which in all 
 the previous reigns had raged between the two fac- 
 tions, ended in a permanent peace. The chamber 
 of Karnak now becomes significant. In token of 
 this pacification the king and queen worship each 
 their respective royal ancestry in the same shrine. 
 This act of worship would be an important conces- 
 sion on the part of Thothmosis to the religion of his 
 queen and her subjects ; inasmuch as king-worship 
 had certainly been abolished by the Mencherian 
 reforms. 
 
 From this monument we now derive a very im- 
 portant fact connected with the fall of Memphis 
 and of the kingdom of Apappus. The kings of 
 Upper Egypt, of the line of the Shepherds, confe- 
 derated with the Mencherian reformers in Nubia ; 
 for in this genealogy they appear as kings in Lower 
 
218 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Egypt, and contemporary with these their rivals in 
 Upper Egypt. There had been peace and amity 
 between the two factions for some successions when 
 Amosis came to the throne. What more probable, 
 then, than that he himself had set the example 
 which his descendant Thothmosis appears to have 
 imitated, by espousing the daughter of the Shep- 
 herd-king of Upper Egypt, and thereby becoming 
 the rightful heir to both pretensions. This circum- 
 stance, in itself perfectly natural and usual, removes 
 entirely the historical difficulty as to the causes of 
 the fall of Memphis. The force of Upper Egypt and 
 Nubia was confederated under Amosis. By com- 
 mon consent they made Amun, the god of eastern 
 Thebes, the patron of the war. The priesthood, 
 doubtless, fanned the flame of enthusiasm, and they 
 would rush to the assault of the strongholds of the 
 polluters of the sacred soil of Egypt, the allies of 
 impure foreigners, with all the ardor of a crusade. 
 
 Thothmosis wrote in hieroglyphics the chronicle 
 of this capture of Memphis by Amosis, on the exte- 
 rior of a magnificent shrine of red granite, which 
 formed part of the same palace of Karnak. Of this 
 most valuable record nothing but a fragment re- 
 mains. It consists of fifty-four lines of hierogly- 
 phics, all greatly mutilated. We have already trans- 
 lated the whole of them.* They embody the follow- 
 
 * History of Egypt, Vol. ii. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 219 
 
 ing historical facts : Amosis took Memphis when 
 he was twenty-nine years old. Its name is written 
 3E& " the land of Xoph." We have already seen 
 that this was the habitual abbreviation of the name 
 of Memphis with the Hebrews. It is spoken of in 
 this inscription invariably as a Canaanite city. 
 This is the case with all other cities of Egypt in the 
 hands of foreigners, and in all hieroglyphic inscrip- 
 tions. Their names are spelt according to the 
 foreign pronunciation of them, and are written as 
 those of strange cities. It is highly probable, more- 
 over, that the liberal policy of the Aphophean Pha- 
 raohs would be far in advance of the prepossessions 
 of their own Egyptian subjects, and as well as of 
 the rest of the inhabitants of Egypt, The conse- 
 quence of this would be both large defections to 
 the banner of Amosis, and also revolts within the 
 territories of the Memphite king. These would 
 again tend to drive him to more dependence upon 
 the immigrants from Canaan, and also to alliances 
 with the kings of their confederacy in Canaan 
 itself; so that in every succeeding year, the war 
 would more and more lose its civil, and acquire an 
 international complexion. These considerations 
 divest of all inconsistency with the facts already 
 ascertained — the circumstance that in this chronicle 
 the war of Amosis against Memphis is spoken of as 
 a war with the Canaanite nations of Arvad and 
 
220 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Heth, and the hereditary and native Pharaoh of 
 Lower Egypt as the king of Arvad. 
 
 The war lasted for seven years certain : probably 
 much longer. In the latter years of it Amosis 
 seems to have abandoned all further attack upon 
 the territory of the Memphite Pharaohs, and to 
 have even confederated with them against the Ca- 
 naanites and Assyrians, who were threatening Egypt 
 with an invasion across the desert of Suez. 
 
 Thus clearly does it appear from both the monu- 
 mental and traditive records of the event, that the 
 fall of Memphis exercised no adverse influence 
 whatever upon the position of Israel in Egypt. The 
 Delta entire still remained, by the declaration of 
 both authorities, under the rule of the descendants 
 of the patron of Joseph. 
 
 In the year after the capture of Memphis, Amosis 
 crossed the desert and took by storm the strong 
 hold of Adasa, in the south of Canaan. Doubtless 
 the strong defences with which, as Manetho records, 
 the Shepherds fortified their northern border, would 
 deter him from further aggressions upon their terri- 
 tories. There was also another motive for this 
 diversion of the war, at least equally powerful in 
 ancient times. Enormous booty fell into the hands 
 of the conqueror, on the capture of Memphis. But 
 a still larger prey escaped the conquerors, and was 
 carried across the desert by the Canaanite confede- 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 221 
 
 rates of the Memphite king. It was in pursuit of 
 this, that Amosis marched upon Adasa. It would 
 appear, that upon the loss of Memphis the Apho- 
 pean Pharaoh had purchased peace by the further 
 cession of Hermopolis in Middle Egypt ; retiring, 
 altogether to the Delta, as Manetho writes : for the 
 wars of the six following years of the reign of 
 Amosis are all foreign wars with Arvad, Heth, 
 and Naharaim, the spoil whereof he embarks on 
 the Nile at the cities of Tanis and Athribis in the 
 eastern Delta : both cities being at the time in the 
 hands of the Shepherds, as the mode of writing 
 their names in hieroglyphics plainly indicates. 
 
 The immediate successors of Amosis (the Theban 
 Pharaohs, as we may now call them) seem to have 
 principally occupied themselves with the prosecu- 
 tion of the conquests begun by their ancestors over 
 Cush to the southward. Mesphres, the father of 
 Thothmosis, is the first of them who has recorded 
 his name on any monument in the Delta. He 
 founded the city of Alexandria on its north-west- 
 ern point, but apparently as a colony, not as a 
 conquest. 
 
 The cession of Heliopolis to Thothmosis was the 
 first event adverse to Israel, that had yet occurred 
 in the history of Egypt. In his reign a gang of 
 captive Israelites is represented making bricks in 
 the tomb of Ris-share, the superintendent of his 
 
222 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 constructions at Thebes ; but in all probability 
 they were Simeonites or Levites, and misdemean- 
 ants against the laws of Egypt. The Delta still 
 acknowledged the sovereignty of the Xoite kings, 
 the descendants of Apappus. 
 
 Events adverse to Egypt were never related to 
 strangers by the Egyptian priesthood, whatever 
 record of them may have existed in the temple 
 muniments. It was only the wide circulation in 
 Egypt in the days of the Ptolemaic kings [b. c. 304 
 to b. c. 19] of the Jewish account of the Exodus, and 
 its undeniable truth, that extorted from them the 
 mutilated and falsified story of the Shepherd inva- 
 sion, which we have just quoted. Great misfor- 
 tunes befel the kingdom of the Theban Pharaohs in 
 the days of the successors of Thothmosis ; but not 
 a word or hint of them appears in the Greek tradi- 
 tion. Their history is altogether monumental. 
 
 Armais, the grandson and second successor of 
 Thothmosis, experienced in the seventh year of his 
 reign a disastrous defeat from the Phutim of the 
 Sahara, in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 island of Philoe, close to the southern border of 
 Egypt. Armais fled northward before his enemies, 
 who pursued him, and entered Thebes his capital in 
 triumph. There they were joined by a faction in 
 Egypt, headed by the half-brother of Armais, a very 
 dark mulatto, whom they placed on the throne, 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 223 
 
 giving him to wife a Phutite princess. Headed by 
 this pretender, they continued the pursuit of Armais, 
 who fled to Memphis, where he seems to have pur- 
 chased the assistance of the Apophean Pharaoh at 
 Xois by the cession of Heliopolis, and by this aid to 
 have been able to make some stand against his negro 
 conquerors. He remained at Memphis and Alexan- 
 dria long enough to inscribe his name on temples, 
 the ruins of which exist to this day. At the former 
 city he dedicated a temple to the Sphinx of Sephres, 
 the builder of the second pyramid of Grhizeh. This 
 huge colossus, Avhich is a hewn rock in its place, 
 remains to this day. The Xoite or Aphophean 
 Pharaohs whose alliance he was then seeking, were 
 especially devoted to the worship of Sephres, and 
 named themselves after this ancient king. The Greek 
 lists say that the brother of Armais finally expelled 
 him from all Egypt. 
 
 The consequence of these events to Upper Egypt 
 was a disputed succession to the throne of Thebes. 
 For several descents, a line of Negro kings, on the 
 eastern bank of the Mle, contended for the sove- 
 reignty of Egypt with the sons of Amosis on the 
 western bank. The war was of course a religious 
 war : for such was the nature of all civil wars in 
 Egypt at all periods of her history. It seems to have 
 been the attempt to identify Amun with the sun 
 (of which Nesteres of the lltVdy nasty had been the 
 
224 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 author) that was the cause of the discontent in 
 Egypt, in which the success of the Negroes origin- 
 ated. The new sectaries worshipped the disc of the 
 sun only, renouncing most scrupulously all other 
 idols. They however erased the names and pictures 
 of Amun alone from the temples.* Amenophis 
 Memnon, the son and successor of Armais, ended 
 this schism at Thebes in the usual way. He mar- 
 ried the Negro princess at the head of the other 
 pretension. In Middle Egypt, nevertheless, these 
 black sectaries continued for two or three descents 
 longer to claim the sovereignty of Egypt. 
 
 These disasters to the rival throne would leave 
 the southern frontier of the Xoite Pharaohs un- 
 molested, and enable them once more to develope 
 the policy of the great Apappus.f To this course 
 they would, moreover, now be driven by another 
 cause. The children of Israel had now greatly in- 
 creased both in numbers, wealth, and influence in 
 their kingdom. They had not adopted the language 
 of Egypt, though they seem to have conformed gen- 
 
 * History of Egypt, Vol. ii. 
 "h The remains of a temple of the Negro disc-worshippers is said to 
 exist at Tanis, on the north-east of the Delta. The style of their con- 
 structions, which is extremely beautiful, yielding in artistic merit to the 
 works of no other race or time in Egypt, is, nevertheless, so peculiar, that 
 they are readily distinguished. Trans. R. S. L. Vol. i. pp. 76—92, 140— 
 148. This is a further illustration of the tolerant policy of the Shepherd- 
 Pharaohs. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE S0J0URK. 225 
 
 erally to its customs and institutions. Their sym- 
 pathies would therefore naturally flow out towards 
 the people across the desert, inhabiting the country 
 to which they were one day to return, and speaking 
 the same language with themselves : and in the 
 councils of Pharaoh the voices of the princes of 
 Israel would be in favour of alliances with the kings 
 of Canaan ; so that the general policy of the govern- 
 ment of the Delta would be to encourage the settle- 
 ment of the Canaanites in the cities and pasturages 
 on its eastern border. 
 
 The same state of things continued during the 
 reigns of the two remaining Theban Pharaohs, which 
 brought the dynasty (the 18th of the lists) of which 
 Amosis was the founder to its termination. Through- 
 out them the Pharaohs of Thebes and the Delta were 
 at peace. 
 
 The 18th dynasty consisted of ten successive 
 monarchs, reigning at Thebes for about 200 years. 
 
 The short reign of Rameses ™T|M\P 
 
 the founder 
 
 of the following Theban dynasty seems to have been 
 occupied with the expulsion of the Negro disc-wor- 
 shippers from the eastern bank of the Nile. This 
 was probably the benefit conferred on Egypt, which 
 procured for him from the priesthood the honour of 
 being placed at the head of a new dynasty, though 
 in fact he was the son of his predecessor. 
 
 Q 
 
226 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Sethos 
 
 the son and successor of Rameses, 
 
 was, like his father, a fierce fanatic against the 
 Negro disc-worshippers. He built the propyla of 
 his palace-temple, at Karnak in Eastern Thebes, 
 with the stones of one of their temples which had 
 stood in the vicinity, and which he razed to the 
 ground.* In the first year of his reign he boasts of 
 a great and successful war against the Shepherds of 
 Canaan, five actions of which he had recorded on 
 the north external wall of the same palace-temple. 
 The minute analysis of this vast picture we have 
 given elsewhere. -f- The epitome of the history it 
 embodies is all that belongs to this place. 
 
 The dominions of the Xoite Pharaoh are named 
 here the land of Arvad, as on the granite shrine 
 of Thothmosis : but the epithet Upper or South- 
 er 31 (SfX r t n 'h r > th e Upper Arvadites") is added 
 to distinguish Arvad in Egypt, from Arvad in Ca- 
 naan, which Sethos also visited, and which is named 
 S=d aJL " ^ e l° wer (northern) Arvadites." 
 
 As we have already stated, the bulk of the Ca- 
 naanite settlers in the Delta were of the tribes of 
 Arvad and Heth. No admixture, however, took 
 place between the two tribes, even after they had 
 embraced the religion of their new country, and 
 
 * Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit., U.S. 
 f History of Egypt, Vol. ii. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 227 
 
 ■were located in the cities of Middle Egypt and the 
 Delta. They still remained Arvadites and Hittites. 
 They dwelt in separate cities, and the national dis- 
 tinctions were as strictly kept up in Egypt as in 
 Canaan. This was the universal custom in ancient 
 times. It prevails to a considerable extent among 
 the inhabitants of the East to the present day. In 
 our western parts of the world, it is peculiar to one 
 tribe only — the Jews. A very natural consequence 
 of this distinction had evidently befallen Arvad 
 and Heth in Egypt, during the interval between the 
 reigns of Amosis and Sethos. There had been a 
 war between them. Heth had been worsted and 
 expelled from Egypt, The Xoite kings had taken 
 the part of Arvad. The Hittites crossed the desert, 
 and the story of their wrongs roused the vindictive 
 passions of their brethren in Canaan. They confe- 
 derated with other tribes, made war upon Arvad. 
 and invaded his territory in Canaan, and those also 
 of his ally the Xoite king of Egypt, under whom 
 Arvad held possessions in suzereignty. In this 
 emergency the king of Xois sought the aid of 
 the Theban Pharaoh, Sethos I. These were the 
 causes of the war, the results of which are em- 
 bodied in the vast picture which surrounds the side 
 portal in the north external wall of the palace of 
 Karnak. 
 
 The belligerents in this war were Sethos I. of 
 
 Q2 
 
228 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Thebes, confederate with the Xoite king (or Upper 
 Arvad, as his co-regent in Upper Egypt, who ft bears 
 no rival next the throne/' names him by a haughty 
 and insolent taunt), also with Lower Arvad (that is 
 Arvad in Canaan) and Naharaim or Mesopotamia. 
 On the other side Heth, with whose pretensions to 
 possessions in Egypt the war had originated, was 
 in league with the Amorites, the Zuziin of Kanah, 
 Moab and Ammon, and the Jebusites, and had 
 invaded the territories of the Xoite Pharaoh. The 
 Zuzim and Moab were also claimants of strong-holds 
 in Egypt as well as Heth. This was (as we have 
 seen) the motive of the war, which, according to the 
 picture of it, was wonderfully successful. After 
 repelling the invaders from Egypt, Sethos pursues 
 them into Canaan, dislodges them from Adasa in 
 the mountains of Judea, routs them in battle after 
 battle, and overruns the entire land as far as the 
 foot of Hermon, which being then the name of the 
 whole southern face of the mountain-ranges both of 
 Libanus and Anti-Libanus, means of course that he 
 marched through all Canaan or Phenicia. He then 
 vindicates the claims of Arvad in Canaan, i. e. 
 Lower Arvad, to the right of felling timber in the 
 forests of Hermon for the supply of Egypt, where 
 no timber grows. Having accomplished this, he 
 receives an embassy of congratulation, with rich 
 presents, from Tyre, the chief city of Arvad in Ca- 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 229 
 
 naan ; then defeats the Zuzim, sacking Canaan or 
 Kanah their chief city, and returns to Egypt on the 
 eastern bank of Jordan, through the territories of 
 the Jebusite and of Moab. 
 
 If the averments of this pictorial rhodomontade 
 are to be literally received, the Xoite king purchased 
 the aid of his Theban brother at a very costly price. 
 Six cities or strongholds in the Delta were ceded by 
 him to Sethos. The names of four of them are still 
 legible : the other two have suffered mutilation. 
 The legible names consist of Tanis, Bubastis, and 
 Heliopolis, on the eastern border of the Delta, and 
 Sais on its western boundary. Five stations in the 
 desert of Suez are also included in the concessions 
 of the Xoite king to Sethos. Of their three unmu- 
 tilated names, one only (namely, Kadesh-Barnea in 
 the Wilderness) is mentioned in the Bible. 
 
 This ancient war, the cotemporaneous record of 
 which remains extant to this day, is important to 
 the history of Israel in Egypt. The contingent of 
 Israel to the army of the Xoite king would be very 
 considerable ; and when the war was carried into 
 Canaan, doubtless they formed part of the invading 
 force. This circumstance exactly harmonizes with 
 the single fact which alone stands recorded in the 
 inspired narrative, during this long interval which 
 we are now endeavouring to fill up from the monu- 
 ments of Ancient Egypt. It is the defeat of the 
 
230 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Ephraimites by the Philistines of Grath, which is 
 mentioned in the pedigree of Joshua. 1 Chron. 
 vii. 20, 21. The clear inference from hence, that 
 in this interval there were frequent wars with Ca- 
 naan, is thus established by the monuments of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Sethos I. reigned at Thebes for fifty-five years. 
 There is no record of any war of his on the northern 
 frontier of his kingdom afterwards. The beautiful 
 obelisk now standing in the Piazza del Popolo at 
 Rome informs us, in the hieroglyphic inscription 
 engraven upon it, that it was erected by Sethos be- 
 fore the temple of Re-Athom at Heliopolis. Thus 
 is the cession of this capital to Sethos, which is re- 
 corded at Thebes, confirmed by its own monuments. 
 This, in common with the tomb of Sethos and all 
 other monuments of his reign, which are very nu- 
 merous, tell us unmistakeably that it was long, 
 peaceful, and prosperous. 
 
 The son and successor of Sethos was for five years 
 co-regent with his father. He is named in the 
 stories related to the Greeks by the Egyptian priest- 
 hood, Sesostris. In the lists and on the monuments 
 his name is Ramses. In the fifth year of his acces- 
 sion, (the first of his sole reign) there was again a 
 war on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt. As we 
 have three picture-records of this war on three of 
 the greatest temples now remaining in Egypt, the 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 231 
 
 details of it are very amply chronicled. The motive 
 of it was .precisely the same as that of the former 
 war. The pretensions of the Hittites and of Moab 
 to possessions in Egypt had been revived. They 
 confederated with other tribes of Canaan, and the 
 dominions of the Xoite king in the Delta again 
 suffered an invasion. He applied once more for aid 
 to his haughty brother at Thebes. An alliance was 
 formed between them, and the repulse of the in- 
 vaders by their combined armies is the subject 
 commemorated in these boastful pictures. Notwith- 
 standing the amplitude of the space occupied by its 
 details on the walls of the temples, the war of 
 Ramses with Canaan was a very inferior affair, both 
 in its prosecution and its results to Egypt, to that 
 of Sethos his father. 
 
 The very intricate details of this war we have 
 given elsewhere. They are neither important to 
 the history of Israel, nor to any other history, be- 
 cause they are not true — save in one or two circum- 
 stances. The war issued in the cession of Hadasha 
 and Phenne, or Punon in the peninsula of Sinai, to 
 the Canaanites, whereby probably the claims ot 
 Heth to possessions in Egypt were compromised. 
 In the war of Sethos, Hadasha had remained with 
 the Xoite dynasty, and Phenne with the Theban at 
 its termination. Both crowns therefore contributed 
 to the concession by which the peace was purchased. 
 
232 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Throughout the pictures of this war, the Xoite 
 Pharaoh is invariably spoken of as Upper Arvad 
 in the explanatory text that accompanies them, and 
 his soldiers are represented as fighting in the ranks of 
 Egypt, but with the helmet, arms, and costume of 
 Tyre or Arvad, though in the cast of their counte- 
 nances and their complexions they are decided 
 Egyptians. The fact we have now ascertained, that 
 the Upper Arvad of the hieroglyphics is a taunt- 
 ing epithet for the kingdom of the Xoites in the 
 Delta, satisfactorily explains all these circumstances. 
 The copy from Ipsambul in Nubia, 
 of the picture of one of these sol- 
 diers, will, we trust, not be without 
 interest, now that it is understood 
 that they represent the armies of 
 the kings in whose dominions Israel 
 sojourned in Egypt ; and under whose 
 banners the fighting men of Israel 
 marched. 
 
 There is a tablet of Ramses, in which he is repre- 
 sented smiting his enemies, on a rock on the nor- 
 thern bank of the Nahr el Kelb, the ancient river 
 Lycus, which was the boundary of Arvad in Canaan 
 to the northward. This, however, must have been 
 executed by his allies the Arvadites of Canaan, and 
 at his command, for it does not appear from the 
 hieroglyphics that he ever penetrated beyond Ha- 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 233 
 
 dasha in the mountains of the Dead Sea, which is 
 separated from the valley of the Lycus by the whole 
 extent of the land. 
 
 How little this war, of which the hieroglyphics 
 boast so loudly, really availed for the pacification 
 of Egypt, appears abundantly in the sequel. Only 
 four years afterwards, the Xoite kingdom was again 
 invaded, and by the very Canaanite nation whose 
 utter discomfiture is paraded in the temple-picture, 
 namely, Sheth, or Moab and Amnion. The prin- 
 cipal cities in the Delta were in the hands of Moab 
 when Ramses arrived there. This is the evident 
 tenor of the narrative of the war which still exists.* 
 Israel, now very powerful in the Delta, would cer- 
 tainly take no part in a war against their kindred, 
 the descendants of Lot : — a circumstance which 
 amply accounts for the success of the invasion. 
 Ramses came as a pacificator. One of the terms 
 of it was, all but certainly, the marriage of the heir 
 to the Xoite throne with a princess of Moab. This 
 sufficiently appears in the hieroglyphic record of 
 the next transaction, in which the Xoite king is no 
 longer entitled King of Upper Arvad, but Prince of 
 Moab. 
 
 This transaction is a memorable one in the 
 annals, both of Israel and Egypt. It took place 
 in the twenty-first year of the reign of Ramses. 
 
 * It is a Papyrus in the British Museum. The Salier Papyrus. 
 
234 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The record of it is a long hieroglyphic inscription 
 on the south external wall of Karnak, in East- 
 ern Thebes. The mode of inscribing this event 
 differs entirely from that of those we have hitherto 
 examined. The history of a war was a picture. It 
 was to commemorate civil and peaceable communi- 
 cations with foreigners, that the present mode was 
 applied. This explanation is required by the style 
 of this singular inscription, which is as grandilo- 
 quent against the foreigners, and breathes blood- 
 shed and slaughter as furiously as any battle-piece 
 in Egypt. It was, nevertheless, a treaty of pacifi- 
 cation and alliance, offensive and defensive, between 
 Ramses and the kings of A r Moab 5jfr^p;JL, and 
 Aroernv^V J% ^=§ ^X, , probably at this period the 
 capital cities of the two members of the warlike 
 confederacy of Moab and Ammon. Its name in 
 Egypt was that of its country: ®^Q ^ shtin, "the 
 mountains of Sheth or Siddim." * 
 
 The interview between the contracting parties 
 took place at Heliopolis, The terms of the treaty 
 are hinted at in this obscurely-worded document, 
 which is also greatly mutilated. They are confirmed 
 by other coeval monuments. They stand thus : 
 
 Egypt conceded to Moab all claim upon any pos- 
 
 * In Appendix A will be found a synopsis of the principal Canaanite 
 names, written in hieroglyphics, with their identification. Israel had at 
 this time no national name. 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 235 
 
 session to the eastward of the Phathmetic branch 
 of the Nile. Moab in return conceded to Egypt her 
 pretension to all cities and lands to the westward 
 of this boundary. The names of four of these ceded 
 cities are yet legible. They are Sais in the western 
 Delta, Xois in the central Delta, and Phelbis and 
 Sebennytus in the eastern portion of the same divi- 
 sion of Egypt. The gods of both parties sanction 
 the treaty. Athom-ra [i. e. Adam the sun] the god 
 of Heliopolis, appears for Ramses. Ashtoreth, the 
 goddess of Moab, and Astar, the god of Heth, meet 
 him on the other part. An annual interchange of 
 presents between the two powers was also stipu- 
 lated in token of perpetual amity. 
 
 The ratification of this treaty has perished from 
 the inscription, but it appears upon other monu- 
 ments. It is that of which we have had so many 
 former examples, and which seems to have been 
 universal in ancient Egypt. The king of Ar Moab, 
 who was the Xoite Pharaoh, Si-Phtha, married 
 Thouoris, the daughter of Ramses, and consented to 
 govern in the Delta, his present dominions, as vice- 
 
 roy, 
 
 on the condition, that on the death of his 
 
 father-in-law he should succeed him as Pharaoh in 
 all Egypt. 
 
 The acceptance of these terms evidently implies 
 that the Xoite kingdom was greatly depressed in 
 
236 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the days of Si Phtha. In the absence of direct 
 history, we may be sure that the occasion of it 
 would be the close union and sympathy between 
 Israel and Moab, which had reduced the power of 
 the Xoite Pharaoh to a mere shadow, so that he 
 sought the aid of Ramses to save his throne from 
 destruction and the Delta from being made a pro- 
 vince of the Moabites. The date of this treaty is 
 therefore beyond doubt that also of the rise of the 
 new king that knew not Joseph ; inasmuch as thereby 
 the kingdom of Aphophis was finally merged in 
 that of the Theban Pharaohs. 
 
 The back-reckoning which synchronises the his- 
 tories of Egypt and Israel for the period we have 
 considered, is all that now remains. 
 
 In the 21st year of Ramses, he had reigned alone for 16 years. 
 
 The reign of Sethos 55 „ 
 
 Ramses 1 1 j - „ 
 
 The ten kings of the 18th dynasty . . 205 „ 
 
 277^ years. 
 
 This was the interval that had elapsed from the 
 capture of Memphis by Amosis, to the rise of the 
 new king. If we add to this number the 90 years 
 which we assume for the proximate interval be- 
 tween this event and the Exodus, and deduct the 
 sum from 430, the whole duration of the sojourn, 
 it will give us the 64th year of the sojourn for the 
 date of the fall of Memphis, which is 6 years only 
 
EGYPT DURING THE SOJOURN. 237 
 
 before the death of Joseph. When we further con- 
 sider that the durations of the reigns of these Pha- 
 raohs are taken from the Greek lists, which are by 
 no means certainties, frequently err, and always in 
 excess, it follows that the death of Joseph and the 
 fall of Memphis (the first great blow to the kingdom 
 of his patron) are very nearly synchronous : which 
 is exactly what the ancient history of the whole 
 world would have led us to anticipate, where the 
 personal character of the ruler had so much to do 
 with the prosperous or adverse circumstances of 
 his kingdom. 
 
 Note — The single trait of the manners and customs of Israel in Egypt at 
 this epoch, which the Bible has recorded, is their association with the pure 
 worship of the patriarchal tradition, that of these idols of Egypt. This 
 fact is hinted at in the book of Deuterononw xxix. 16, 17. It is stated 
 distinctly in general terms by the prophet Ezekiel xx. 7, 8. The traces 
 of this their false worship also appear in other passages. They worship- 
 ped the steer or ox "^37 • Exod. xxxii. 4, &c. This would doubtless be 
 the bull Mnevis, the sacred animal of On or Heliopolis. The goat like- 
 wise was one of the gods of their idolatry *H>^H? Leviticus xvii. 7, in 
 which we recognise the sacred animal of the Mendesian nome. 
 
 That the worship of Israel should be thus assimilated with that of 
 Egypt, was a natural consequence of their present circumstances. They 
 were the prosperous and thriving subjects of a settled, well-ordered, and 
 tranquil state. They therefore adopted in a measure its religion. 
 
238 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 
 
 " And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all 
 that generation. And the children of Israel were 
 fruitful and multiplied, and waxed exceeding 
 mighty ; and the land was filled with them/' 
 Exod. i, 6. 
 
 We once more bring the text upon which we are 
 engaged before the reader's eye, in order that he 
 may perceive how exactly and to the minutest par- 
 ticular, all that we have found upon the monu- 
 ments regarding the last days of the Xoite kingdom 
 in the Delta corresponds with the terms of it. 
 " Israel waxed exceeding mighty : " therefore first 
 Heth is expelled from Egypt. Soon afterwards 
 Arvad also loses his influence there. The circum- 
 stances that both tribes had been among the first 
 settlers in the Delta, had assisted Saites in the 
 
THE KING THAT KXEW NOT JOSEPH. 239 
 
 taking of Memphis, and had also been among the 
 first to make peace with the conqueror after its 
 re-capture by Amosis, availed nothing. They were 
 the hereditary enemies of Israel. They were of 
 another race, and therefore they must depart to 
 make room for the kindred of the reigning tribe, 
 the children of Lot. This result of our inquiry 
 furnishes, we submit, a proof neither wire-drawn 
 nor weak, that we have interpreted aright, both the 
 sacred text and the hieroglyphic inscriptions. 
 
 (C And the land was filled with them." The en- 
 tire extent of the kingdom in which Israel sojourned, 
 is the obvious import of this phrase. "We shall find 
 no difficulty in demonstrating that Israel was scat- 
 tered over the whole Delta, and that this district 
 u was filled with them." when we come to consider 
 the events of the Exodus. 
 
 ;; Xow there arose up a new king over Egypt, 
 which knew not Joseph. 
 
 " And he said unto his people. Behold, the people 
 of the children of Israel are more and mightier than 
 we ! Come on. let us deal subtilly with them, lest 
 they multiply ; and it come to pass, that when 
 there falleth out any war. he also [Israel] be among 
 those that hate us, and fight against us. and so get 
 the ascendancy over the land.''' Ver. 8 — 10. 
 
 Israel has now acquired great political influence 
 in the Xoite kina'dom. We have alreadv detected 
 
240 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the clearly visible traces of it on the cotemporary 
 monuments of Egypt. The present text would 
 suggest the probability that it was the fear of the 
 rapid increase of this influence, that had induced 
 Si-phtha, or his council, to seek the alliance of the 
 Theban Pharaoh, and to submit to the conditions 
 of it. 
 
 When Ramses had annexed the Delta to his own 
 monarchy, he found the process going on there, of 
 which the annals of modern colonization furnish 
 us with so many parallel examples. One of the 
 two races that inhabited it was extinguishing the 
 other. The sons of Mizraim were rapidly disappear- 
 ing before the Abrahamic immigrants that thronged 
 the Delta. Ramses dealt with both the intruding 
 races. Moab, as we have seen, left Egypt under 
 treaty. With Israel his mode of dealing was sug- 
 gested by the antipathy of races in himself and in 
 his subjects ; a perfect hallucination of the mind, 
 and one of all others the least under the control of 
 reason, and the most difficult to assign to any ra- 
 tional cause. Yet has it been a most powerful mo- 
 tive at all periods of the history of man. Sparta 
 and Messene is a familiar example of its prevalence 
 in the days of old ; and, not to multiply modern in- 
 stances, negro slavery in the present day. 
 
 u Therefore they did set over them taskmasters 
 to afflict them with their tasks. And they built for 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 24] 
 
 Pharaoh magazines, [fortresses] even Pithom and 
 Rameses." Ver. 11. 
 
 This was the beginning of the captivity. The 
 children of Israel have no more in Egypt the im- 
 munities which had been granted them by Aphophis 
 in consideration of the counsels and services of Jo- 
 seph, and which placed them exactly on a level 
 with the native Egyptians. The decree of the 21st 
 of Rameses, deprives them of all these, and places 
 them in the position of sojourners there, as strangers 
 within or without the gates of the cities ; thereby 
 rendering them liable to the forced services which 
 were exacted of tribes so situated, according to the 
 practice of the ancient world. The universality of 
 this custom is so perfectly established by another 
 place in the subsequent history of Israel, that we 
 give the passage at length. 
 
 " And Hiram the king of Tyre answered in writ- 
 ing, which he sent to Solomon, * * * We will 
 cut wood out of Lebanon, according to all thy need : 
 and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to 
 Joppa ; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem. 
 
 " And Solomon numbered all the strangers in the 
 land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David 
 his father had numbered them ; and they were found 
 153,600. 
 
 " And he set 70,000 of them to be bearers of 
 burdens, and 80,000 to be hewers in the mountains, 
 
 R 
 
242 ISRAEL IH EGYPT. 
 
 and 3600 overseers to set the people a work/' 
 2 Chron. ii. 11, 16—18. 
 
 It is surprising that the illustration of the bon- 
 dage in Egypt afforded by this remarkable passage 
 has not before been noticed. 
 
 The names of the two strongholds built by the 
 Israelites will now require our attention. 
 
 Pithom, DHD. We have elsewhere expressed our 
 conviction that this was the city originally built by 
 Sethos the father of Rameses on the easternmost 
 branch of the Nile, which was named after it the 
 Phathmetic, i. e. Pithometic branch ; in the same 
 way as all the other branches took the names of the 
 principal cities on their banks. The hieroglyphic 
 names of this city was J2RfT®± £k p-stmei, " the 
 lock or seal of Egypt ; " written in the Coptic texts, 
 it was tamiati, omitting the p at the beginning, 
 which is the definite article. It retains the same 
 name to this day, Damietta. It is several years 
 since we published this our conviction : * our pre- 
 sent inquiry entirely confirms it. The constructions 
 of Israel at Damietta would doubtless consist of 
 extensive fortifications, walls, and other military 
 works. 
 
 Ramses, ttftyn. It was the custom of the kings 
 of Egypt, at all times and from the first, to call by 
 their own names the districts or lands reclaimed 
 
 * " Egypt, her testimony," &c. 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 243 
 
 and added to the actual surface of Egypt Proper, by 
 the engineering operations carried on during their 
 reigns, either by themselves or their subjects. In 
 the tombs of the earliest epochs, when the first co- 
 lonization was yet in progress, the princes of Egypt 
 paraded long lists of fields and plots of ground, all 
 named after the reigning Pharaoh in the inventory 
 of their properties.* Other plots of ground regis- 
 tered in their tombs were named after more ancient 
 kings. By this means the hieroglyphic names of 
 
 
 , both of the second 
 
 Cechous U and Reophis 
 
 111 M 
 
 dynasty, have been preserved. This consideration 
 establishes the high probability, that the localities 
 in Egypt called Ramses in the books of Moses, were 
 so named after the monarch who had first added 
 them to Egypt. Now we have found that the Delta 
 had been accounted a strange land, and the cities 
 acquired there recorded as foreign conquests, by the 
 Theban Pharaohs, the predecessors of Ramses. So 
 that the act of the 21st of Ramses, whereby the 
 whole of it was annexed to and made a part of 
 Egypt, was in effect analogous to the reclamation of 
 a patch of the desert by means of channels from the 
 Mle. It made an actual addition to the soil of 
 Egypt, and therefore, by invariable prescription, 
 
 * History of Egypt, Vol. i. 
 R 2 
 
244 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the Pharaoh who had been the author of it, named 
 the acquired district after himself. We have hap- 
 pily further monumental evidence which reduces 
 this probability to a certainty. In the act of Pha- 
 raoh Ramses which adds the Delta to Egypt, he 
 goes to Heliopolis, not under the name in his first 
 
 Y ' m g> (B^ yHS^ which was his name in Lower 
 
 Egypt (Sesostris), but under the name in his second 
 
 ring, (4MMPP1 i- e * Meiamoun (the beloved of 
 
 Amoun), Ramses, (he is named in the lists Ramses 
 Meiamun), which was his name in Upper Egypt. A 
 haughty taunt is doubtless implied in this. The 
 newly-acquired district shall be called, not by his 
 name in Lower Egypt (of which nevertheless it 
 forms a part), but by his name in Upper Egypt, 
 thereby asserting the superiority of Thebes his capi- 
 tal over all the cities of Egypt, and of Amun his 
 god over all the gods of Egypt. This was the reason 
 why he named the Delta Ramses. The monumental 
 evidence of the Delta itself is perfectly decisive of 
 the question as to this identity. There is not a 
 single mound or ruin in any part of the Delta, on 
 which the name of Pharaoh Ramses has not been 
 engraved, and in nearly the whole of them his is the 
 only kings name that occurs at all. So clear is it 
 that it was after him that the district wherein Is- 
 rael sojourned was named Ramses. (See Gen. 
 xlvii. 11.) 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 245 
 
 In the place now before us Ramses is also the 
 name of a city of Egypt built by the Israelites. This 
 was the new capital which Ramses built for Si-Ptha, 
 his son-in-law, and Thouoris his daughter, and 
 named after himself. The site of it bears to this day, 
 and always has borne, the name of Ramses. A few 
 sculptured stones, with the name of the founder, 
 once marked the spot : but they have been destroyed 
 by the barbarism of Mohammed Ali. It is situated 
 on the extreme western border of the Delta, and 
 about midway between the crown thereof and the 
 sea. So that with Pithom by the sea on the oppo- 
 site border, and Heliopolis at the southern angle (see 
 map), it was well placed for holding the entire Delta 
 in military subjection. The building of fortified 
 camps was that upon which Ramses employed the 
 forced labour of the Israelites, when he first placed 
 them in bondage. These completed, and manned 
 with a strong military force, and Pharaoh was in 
 position to throw off the mask with which the 
 power of the Israelites in the Xoite kingdom had 
 compelled him to cover his first steps against them. 
 
 " And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied 
 and grew, and they were grieved because of the chil- 
 dren of Israel. 
 
 " And the Egyptians made the children of Israel 
 to serve with rigour. 
 
 "And they made their lives bitter with hard 
 
246 ISRAEL IN' EGYPT. 
 
 bondage, in mortar (asphalt), and in brick, and in 
 all manner of service in the field. All the service 
 wherewith they made them serve was with rigour/' 
 Exodus i. 12—14. 
 
 The children of Israel are now completely in the 
 position of prisoners of war. They are made to 
 work at the drudgery — the mere brute labour, both 
 of the field and of the city, under task-masters from 
 among themselves, appointed by the Egyptians, and 
 beaten when their gangs fail in producing the re- 
 quired amount of labour. In this consisted the 
 bondage in Egypt, and with certain mitigations, it 
 continued until the time of the Exodus. 
 
 The reign of Pharaoh Ramses in Egypt was a 
 very long one. According to the Greek lists, it 
 lasted for sixty-eight years, and there is a tablet in 
 the British Museum which is dated in his sixty-sixth 
 year. As the decree to which we have so often al- 
 luded was made in his twenty-first year, it will 
 follow that he held the children of Israel in bondage 
 for forty-seven years. 
 
 The actual numbers of the children of Israel, at 
 the time of this beginning of their captivity, are of 
 course unknown. The expression " the land was 
 filled with them/' implies, however, that they must 
 have been very many. At the Exodus, when the 
 census of the fighting men was taken, there were 
 upwards of 600,000 men in Israel between the ages 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 247 
 
 of twenty and sixty ; but assuredly in the captivity 
 the Israelites would be compelled to begin to work 
 long before the age of twenty, and to continue to 
 labour long after that of sixty. If therefore we put 
 down the number of prisoners of war or bond-slaves, 
 which the policy of Ramses had placed at his dis- 
 posal, at 500,000, we shall be sure to err considerably 
 in defect. Yet is even this number incomparably 
 out of proportion to any hieroglyphic record of cap- 
 tives that exist on the monuments of Egypt. The 
 whole amount of prisoners taken alive in the wars 
 of Amosis for the recovery of Memphis, scarcely ex- 
 ceeds 2400 (which is by far the greatest number 
 extant). In the histories of other wars, the capture 
 of 15, 10, or even 5 living prisoners, are deemed 
 events worthy of commemoration on the walls of 
 the temples they helped to build, so very generally 
 did the combatants in ancient warfare prefer death 
 on the battle-field to the horrors of captivity. 
 
 The works upon which the Israelites were com- 
 pelled to labour would be in great part of a monu- 
 mental character, for this was the prevailing taste 
 in ancient Egypt at all epochs. And mechanical 
 science in these times, not extending beyond the 
 inclined plane, and possibly the lever, the quantity 
 of work produced entirely depended upon the num- 
 ber of men whose forced services were at the com- 
 mand of the constructor. The Israelites would be 
 
248 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 marched in gangs to the quarries, and employed 
 both in the hewing of blocks of stone and granite, 
 and in the transport of them across the desert to 
 Egypt, like the Canaanites in the reign of Solomon. 
 They •would also be employed in making bricks of 
 Nile mud, wherewith to build the walls of the huge 
 quadrangular precincts of the temples, and the 
 cloisters for the priests, and the oval cells for the 
 
 prisoners | | which they enclosed. Likewise, in 
 
 the works actually in progress on the sites of tem- 
 ples, palaces, and other great constructions, very 
 much more depended in these remote epochs upon 
 the application of direct human force, and very 
 much less upon mechanical contrivances, than in 
 subsequent periods. We give a single example of 
 this. The huge blocks and slabs of stone with which 
 the walls were built, and the still more unwieldy 
 masses that formed the architraves of the colonnades, 
 were not raised from the ground by ropes, to work- 
 men upon scaffolds, as in modern architecture. 
 They were heaved and rolled with infinite toil and 
 risk of life and limb, up the inclined surface of huge 
 mounds of Nile mud, by the slaves who were at- 
 tached to the building.* These labours were never 
 
 * So completely are many of the halls of the palace of Medinat Abou 
 in Western Thebes, encumbered both within and without with these 
 mounds, that I suspect they were never finished, and consequently the 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 249 
 
 performed by freedmen for hire in ancient Egypt, 
 They were accounted penal and degrading, and were 
 always wrung by the torture of the lash from slaves, 
 prisoners of war, and malefactors. These circum- 
 stances in the customs of ancient Egypt suggest a 
 conclusion of the very last importance for the mon- 
 umental verification of " the king that knew not 
 Joseph " of the Mosaic narrative. The number of 
 commemorative remains of any Pharaoh being thus 
 entirely dependent upon the amount of forced labour 
 at his command, there must of necessity appear 
 among the ruins of Egypt the name of one Pharaoh 
 distinguished among all his predecessors and suc- 
 cessors for the number of existing monuments of 
 his reign, in an excess enormously disproportionate 
 to the memorials of any other king of Egypt, if the 
 Bible narrative be true. "We shrink not at all from 
 this alternative. If this be not the case, then is 
 the Bible account of the bondage in Egypt either a 
 fiction or an exaggeration, which we hold to be 
 a sin of a still deeper die against the truthfulness 
 which its own precepts inculcate. But there is a 
 Pharaoh so distinguished among all his fellows on 
 
 scaffolding has not been removed. Herodotus relates that a man was 
 killed, during the removal of a "block of granite, at Sais ; and that king 
 Psametichus in consequence ordered it to be left where it was, and not 
 put in its place in the temple, (lib. ii. c. 176.) But this was a modern 
 refinement. The life of a workman was no such important matter in the 
 days of Ramses. 
 
250 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the monuments of Egypt : and to an excess fully 
 commensurate to the amount of human labour at 
 his command, which the Bible assigns to " the king 
 that knew not Joseph ;" and this Pharaoh is Ramses, 
 whom we have already identified as the oppressor of 
 Israel from considerations altogether distinct from 
 this, and independent of it. 
 
 The excess in the number of the existing monu- 
 ments of Ramses over those of any other king of 
 Egypt of any epoch, is so great, that the most sober 
 statement of it sounds like exaggeration. The num- 
 ber of kings of Egypt of the Pharaonic period, that 
 is from the foundation of the monarchy by Menes, 
 to its conquest by Alexander the Great, amounts to 
 about 150. The existing monuments of Ramses 
 are more in number, and greater in magnitude and 
 extent, than those of the whole of the rest of the 
 Pharaohs put together. The same fact appears 
 when we descend to the details. Of the nine Pha- 
 raonic obelises yet existing in the ruins of Rome, and 
 brought thither by the emperors from Heliopolis and 
 other cities in the Delta, six were either completed 
 in the quarry of Ramses, having been begun there 
 by his predecessors, or were executed by him alto- 
 gether. Of the twenty-three other obelises of this 
 epoch which yet exist in Egypt, and in the rest of 
 the world, fifteen bear in like manner the name of 
 Ramses, either alone or in connexion with some of 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 251 
 
 his ancestry.* Of the eight temples which yet re- 
 main in the ruins of Thebes, there is but one which 
 Ramses did not either complete or build from the 
 first. His name has also been read on the fragments 
 of other temples which once stood at Thebes, but 
 are now razed to the ground. If we now turn to 
 the localities in the rest of Egypt, in which the 
 name of Ramses has been found, we are thrown into 
 the same predicament as in our account of him in 
 the Delta. There is scarcely a mound of ruins in 
 the whole of Egypt and Nubia, on which the name 
 of Ramses does not appear, either as the builder of 
 a temple to the local divinity, or as the author of 
 extensive additions to one already existing. So that 
 to chronicle them would be pretty nearly to give a 
 list of the whole of the localities where ruins have 
 been found in Nubia, Egypt, and the Delta. Every- 
 where in the latter district, the name of Ramses 
 stands all but alone. The greater monuments of 
 ancient Egypt preserved in the museums of Europe, 
 bear testimony to the same fact. The number of 
 colossi, andriantes, statues, groups, sphinxes, and 
 other memorials of the reign of Ramses that appears 
 in them is out of all proportion greater than those 
 of any other king of Egypt. 
 
 The traditionary account of Ramses preserved by 
 the Greeks, is of an exactly corresponding character. 
 
 * Notes on Obelises, by J. Bonomi. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. vol. i. p. 158. 
 
252 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 We have many particulars of his reign in the notices 
 of Egypt, both of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. 
 He is named by the first of these authors, Sesostris, 
 and by the latter of them Sesoosis. Both are merely 
 attempts to write the name in his first ring. 
 ( ji^ 1 ^^ ra-merois : sothphre, which in the narra- 
 tives of the priests to the Greek travellers was ab- 
 breviated to sesothphre. This word Herodotus hel- 
 lenized to Sesostris, and Diodorus to Sesoosis ; for 
 both authors were ignorant of hieroglyphics, and 
 therefore merely wrote from the ear. He was 
 called Sesostris at Heliopolis and Memphis, where 
 they heard of him, because his name in Lower 
 Egypt was in the first ring. In Upper Egypt, at 
 Thebes, where Grermanicus heard of him some time 
 afterwards, he had the name of Ramses, which, 
 being in the second ring, was his name in that 
 division of the monarchy.* (/fMlffiPP j) 
 
 The testimony of all these ancient authorities 
 regarding Sesostris Ramses is perfectly uniform. 
 He was by far the greatest monarch that ever sate 
 upon the throne of Egypt. He built in every city 
 in Egypt a temple to the city god. (Diod. i. 56.) 
 He made enormous additions to the temple of Ptha 
 at Memphis. The propylon or porch which he built 
 at the entrance, was supported by two andriantes 
 
 * See Tacitus, Ann. lib. ii. c. 60. 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 253 
 
 (pillar-like statues) of himself and his queen, each 
 thirty cubits high. (Her. ii. 110. Diod. i. 57.) The 
 statue of himself still remains prostrate, but almost 
 uninjured, on the plain of Metrahenny. His con- 
 structions generally were remarkable for the enor- 
 mous size of the blocks employed in building them. 
 (Her. c. 108.) 
 
 Thus fully and clearly is the monumental fame 
 of Ramses corroborated by the testimony of those 
 who visited Egypt 2000 years ago. 
 
 We further learn, from these same authorities, 
 many particulars regarding the great works of en- 
 gineering, accomplished by Sesostris Ramses. He 
 built a chain of fortifications along the entire north- 
 eastern frontier of his kingdom, to defend it from 
 the attacks of the Syrians and the Arabs. These 
 extended from Pelusium on the sea, across the 
 desert, to Heliopolis ; a distance of 1500 stadia — 
 about 160 English miles. He likewise erected 
 mounds to keep out the waters of the overflow from 
 many cities which had suffered great inconvenience 
 from this cause. His engineering works for the 
 distribution of the waters of the Nile, were of the 
 same colossal character. He intersected the entire 
 district between Memphis and the sea with chan- 
 nels of irrigation so wide and so numerous that he 
 altogether altered the character of that part of 
 Egypt. It became from thenceforth impracticable 
 
254 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 either for cavalry or war-chariots ; whereas before 
 the times of Sesostris Ramses, it had been noted for 
 equestrian warfare. (Diodorus, c. 57.) The older 
 historian, Herodotus, confirms the whole of these 
 particulars. He further states that Ramses mea- 
 sured out the land thus reclaimed in square blocks, 
 and distributed it by lot among his Egyptian sub- 
 jects (c. 109) ; clearly implying that the Delta was a 
 new country, and that Ramses was the first to 
 annex it to Egypt. We had already inferred the 
 same fact from the existing monuments of the reign 
 of this monarch. 
 
 Thus perfectly in harmony is the testimony of 
 the Greek tradition with that of the cotemporary 
 monuments regarding Sesostris Ramses. He had 
 at his command a very far larger amount of forced 
 human labour than any king of Egypt either before 
 or after him. 
 
 The next question that arises in the order of our 
 discussion is, What account do these same authori- 
 ties give of the circumstances which placed at his 
 command this vast body of slaves ? 
 
 The priests of the temples carefully explained to 
 Diodorus that no single native Egyptian had put 
 his hand to any one of the great works of Sesostris. 
 They were constructed altogether by the forced 
 labours of his prisoners of war. (c. 56.) This we 
 also might have anticipated ; for it had been the 
 
THE KIXG THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 255 
 
 custom at all times. The memory of the builder of 
 the great pyramid (Cheops or Suphis of the fourth 
 dynasty) was infamous in Egypt, because he had 
 employed upon it the forced labour of his own sub- 
 jects. (Her. ii. 124.) Had Sesostris followed his 
 example, doubtless his memory would have shared 
 the same fate. It would have been execrated, and 
 his monuments defaced. 
 
 The priesthood gave always the same account of 
 the vast number of captives in Egypt in the days 
 of Sesostris Ramses. They were the fruits of his 
 victories. We have three versions of their story of 
 his wars given at three different periods : That of 
 Herodotus was related more than 450 b. c. Diodo- 
 rus was in Egypt about the time of our Saviour ; 
 and Tacitus with Grermanicus nearly a century 
 afterwards. If we compare the three together we 
 shall find that they are all agreed in the point that 
 Sesostris Ramses spent many of the earlier years of 
 his reign in foreign conquests : but, as we proceed, 
 it is very amusing to discover that the extent of 
 the geographical knowledge of the priestly narrators 
 at each epoch, is the exact measure of the foreign 
 conquests they assign to their hero. According to 
 Herodotus, he embarked on the Red Sea, overran 
 Asia as far as Scythia, and returned home through 
 Europe, (c. 102, 103.) The hero of Diodorus throws 
 all this into the shade. He subdues the whole 
 
256 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 south coast of Asia as far as India, a country 
 scarcely known to Herodotus. He then marches 
 inland and overruns Europe and Asia in a circuit 
 which everywhere exactly overpasses the extreme 
 limit of the conquests of Alexander the Great. He 
 is made to subdue the nations immediately beyond 
 this limit, whose very names had been before un- 
 known either in Greece or Egypt. (Diod. lib. i. 
 c. 55.) Had the names of any nations still more 
 distant been familiar to them, doubtless their hero 
 would have been sent thither also. 
 
 But what are even these to the deeds in arms of 
 the hero of the Theban priesthood a century after- 
 wards, when the Roman prince Germanicus stood 
 before a temple at Thebes, and demanded an expla- 
 nation of a huge battle-piece sculptured on one of 
 the propyla ? He received for answer, that it was 
 one of the exploits of the great [Sesostris] Ramses, 
 who had left Egypt on foreign conquest at the head 
 of 700,000 fighting men, and had subdued Lybia, 
 Ethiopia, the Medes, the Persians, Bactria and 
 Scythia ; holding also in subjection Armenia and 
 Cappadocia, and conquering Bythynia, on the one 
 coast of Asia Minor, and Lycia on the other.* In 
 a word, every tribe, nation, and country in East 
 Africa and Asia which was at that moment con- 
 tending for its independence with the arms of im- 
 
 * Taciti Annales, ii. c. 60. 
 
THE KISG THAT KXEW XOT JOSEPH. 257 
 
 perial Rome, had, by their account, been thousands 
 of years before made by their hero the tributary of 
 Egypt. These veracious narrators of history did 
 not send their hero to Europe, it is true, and for 
 precisely the same reason that their predecessors at 
 Heliopolis forbore to make him conquer Tyre and 
 Babylon to Herodotus. Germanicus had himself 
 been there, and would therefore have been able to 
 contradict them, from his personal knowledge. 
 
 The existing monuments of Egypt happily put us 
 in a position to apply a perfectly conclusive test to 
 these narratives, in which we have already detected 
 such strong prima facie evidence of falsehood. We 
 have explained that of the war at the commence- 
 ment of the reign of Ramses, no fewer than three 
 different picture-narratives are still in existence, 
 and that one of them (that at Abou Simbel) is all 
 but perfect. In them therefore we have before us 
 the one original, whence all these different versionsof 
 the story were read by the priests to their foreign 
 visitors. It was a very inconsiderable and inglorious 
 affair, ending in nothing but concession and pacifi- 
 cation. Not a single stronghold was taken, not an 
 ounce of tribute nor one living captive was brought 
 to Egypt, Had such been the case, assuredly they 
 would have been paraded in a triumph ; but no such 
 appears in any of the pictures of the campaign. It 
 was apparently a mere march over the desert, a 
 
 s 
 
258 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 battle and a retreat ; never was ancient falsehood 
 more easily detected than this ! 
 
 The prisoners then, with whom Ramses built the 
 vast constructions that distinguish his reign, were 
 not taken in the wars at the commencement of it. 
 We say so, inasmuch as the cotemporary records of 
 those wars contradict it ; which is only to say that 
 they do not declare a thing in itself impossible. 
 
 These monumental remains however, enable us 
 to carry the enquiry one step further. No subse- 
 quent war took place in the reign of Ramses, of any 
 consequence ; certainly none in which he could 
 possibly have taken any great number of captives. 
 The excavation of the speos or cavern-temple at 
 Abou Simbel was not begun until his thirty-eighth 
 year. Yet is its vestibule adorned with the details 
 of this affair at the beginning of his reign. Had any 
 great action of war befallen in this long interval, 
 surely it would have been recorded, and not an old 
 and then almost forgotten event. Some other wars 
 of Sesostris Ramses are in fact mentioned on the 
 monuments, but not one that approaches in im- 
 portance to this of the fifth year from his accession, 
 the first of his sole reign. 
 
 Yet all that the priests told the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans concerning the vast works of Sesostris Ramses 
 in Egypt, was true. The temples whence they read 
 them, stand to this day, and repeat unerringly the 
 
THE KIXG THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 259 
 
 same story. Whence then had this man the enormous 
 amount of human labour at his command which 
 enabled him in one life to accomplish more than 
 all the other kings of Egypt put together, who had 
 preceded and followed him for more than 2000 
 years ? The Scripture account of the subtle and 
 deceitful policy whereby the children of Israel were 
 made slaves about this time, presents, we submit, 
 the only possible solution of this wonderful and 
 otherwise perfectly unaccountable anomaly, to which 
 there is no parallel in the monumental history of 
 any other country ! 
 
 " And the king of Egypt spake to the midwives 
 of the Hebrews, of which the name of the one was 
 Shiprah, and the name of the other Puah. 
 
 " And he said, "When ye do the office of a mid- 
 wife to the Hebrew women, and see that [the 
 infant] is a son, then ye kill him ; but if it be a 
 daughter then she shall live. But the midwives 
 feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt com- 
 manded them, but saved the men-children alive. 
 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and 
 said to them, Why have ye done this thing, and 
 saved the men-children alive ? And the midwives 
 said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are 
 not as the Egyptian women ; for they are lively, 
 and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto 
 them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " And the people multiplied and waxed very 
 numerous. 
 
 " And it came to pass, because the midwives 
 feared God, that he made them houses/' Exod. i. 
 15—21. 
 
 Every branch of the healing art was hereditary, 
 and most strictly prescriptive in Egypt. It was, 
 moreover, so absolutely identified with religion, that 
 its practitioners were all priests. The two person- 
 ages to whom Pharaoh gave this instruction were 
 Egyptians, as their names import ^o^ Tshiphre 
 B%jf^ Paith. They were ladies of high rank, and 
 at the head of the college, or guild of their profes- 
 sion throughout all Egypt. They were to issue to 
 the entire body of their subordinates a secret order, 
 for which they were to feign a revelation from the 
 goddess, the patroness of their mystery, Tun 
 Tj Bsil * Their fear, however, of the invisible 
 power whom they thus ignorantly worshipped, and 
 their sense of the sacredness of their office, pre- 
 vented them from obeying the mandate of Pharaoh. 
 They thus subserved the divine purpose, Israel went 
 on increasing, and therefore the divine blessing, 
 giving abundant prosperity to the houses of their 
 husbands, was their visible reward. 
 
 " And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 
 
 * She was the Lucina of the Egyptian Mythology. Her name was 
 Tamar, she was the wife of Noah. 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 261 
 
 Every son that is born ye shall cast into the Nile, 
 and every daughter ye shall save alive/' Exod. i. 
 22. 
 
 Pharaoh now becomes himself religious. All 
 sacrifice was in the first institution vicarious. The 
 sin of the offerer was imputed to the victim. In 
 Egypt this was especially the case, as the ceremo- 
 nial for the sacrifice of beasts abundantly testifies. 
 The victim was brought to the altar with fire upon 
 it. Wine was poured upon its head. The priest 
 then stabbed it, invoking at the same time the 
 name of the god. He then cut off the head, pro- 
 nounced curses over it, and threw it into the river. 
 (Herod, ii. 39.) The victims at first had been 
 young persons and children of either sex, but 
 always virgins. They were thrown into the river. 
 (Porphyr. de Abstin. 199 R) * This was also the 
 case with all the old idolatries. The grand and 
 crowning rite of the entire round of service was a 
 human sacrifice. The better feelings of men in 
 Egypt, and other well-ordered countries, soon re- 
 volted against these murderous rites ; and before 
 
 * He here mentions that human sacrifices were offered at Heliopolis 
 up to the time of Amosis, who abolished them, and substituted figures of 
 wax, which were thrown into the river instead of children. 
 
 Plutarch seems to have believed that human sacrifices were offered at 
 Elythya (the god of which city was Sevek, the crocodile) even in his 
 time. De Iside et Oscride, c. 73. 
 
262 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the time of Ramses, had substituted beasts or 
 images for living boys or girls ; though it is scarcely 
 needful to remark that human sacrifices made a 
 part of the ceremonial of the idolatries of Canaan, 
 Babylon, and other heathen nations, up to their 
 extinction. It would be a fact perfectly familiar 
 to the subjects of Ramses, that it was a direction 
 of the primitive ritual of Egypt, that, on stated oc- 
 casions, children should be thrown into the Nile in 
 sacrifice. He would therefore find no difficulty in 
 persuading them, that when he commanded the 
 male infants of Israel to be thus immolated, he 
 spake the mind of the gods. 
 
 Ramses has now got the victims of his policy at 
 considerable advantage. His strong military force 
 keeps Israel in awe in the Delta. The flower of 
 the manhood of all the tribes is dispersed over the 
 whole of Egypt, and working under the whips of 
 his taskmasters. He has now no more occasion to 
 dissemble. He devotes the entire race to slavery 
 and speedy extinction. The men will soon die out, 
 under the hardships he meditates. The women will 
 be the handmaids and drudges of the Egyptians. 
 Such was his design, which doubtless, he would 
 have accomplished, had not He that fought for 
 Israel, been mightier than either Ramses or his 
 gods. 
 
 We have already explained that the infanticidal 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 263 
 
 decree was probably issued in the interval between 
 the births of Aaron and of Moses. 
 
 " And there went a man of the house of Levi, 
 and took a daughter of Levi. And the woman con- 
 ceived and bare a son ; and when she saw him, that 
 he was a goodly child, she hid him three moons. 
 And when she could no longer hide him, she took 
 for him an ark (basket) of papyrus rushes, and 
 daubed it with asphalt, and put the child therein ; 
 and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 
 And his (Amram's) sister stood afar off to see what 
 would be done to him." Exodus ii. 1 — 4. 
 
 The tribe of Levi was at this time in very low 
 estate. The causes of it we must now consider. 
 
 Levi was the third son of Leah the wife of Jacob, 
 by a fraudulent trepanned marriage, the result of 
 which wrong the inspired narrative has plainly 
 recorded : Jacob hated Leah. Gen. xxix. 21 — 34. 
 For the unhappy offspring of such a marriage, the 
 chances of parental tenderness and careful training 
 are but small in any state of society. Where poly- 
 gamy prevails, they only who have been themselves 
 the witnesses of the abominations of an eastern 
 harem, can have the remotest idea of the incessant 
 tempest of the fiercest and worst passions of our 
 nature, in the midst of which the children of Leah 
 were nurtured. Their mother's wrongs, and how 
 they might be redressed and avenged, were the ele- 
 
264 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ments whence their entire characters were to be 
 developed. There is not a single transaction re- 
 corded of the children of Leah, in which this fault 
 of their early training does not appear. Hatred of 
 the children of Rachel, contempt for their father, 
 and that fierce, clannish, animal attachment to each 
 other, which led them to hunt in couples, like wolves 
 or hyaenas, and to tear in pieces the perpetrators of 
 dishonour upon their sept, by stratagems of which 
 the wild beasts would have been ashamed, had 
 their powers been equal to them, were its bitter 
 fruits. 
 
 Even Reuben, though by nature mild, gentle, and 
 amiable, had no more reverence for his father, than 
 to perpetrate upon his house the unpardonable out- 
 rage which cost him the primogeniture. Gen. xlix. 
 3, 4. Judah, possessed of far more natural talent 
 (see Gen. xliv. 14 — 34), and too shrewd, too saga- 
 cious, and too avaricious to compromise himself by 
 overt acts of lust or violence, has left, nevertheless, 
 the melancholy record of his utterly unbridled pas- 
 sions and ill-ruled household, in one of the most 
 revolting passages in the entire volume of revela- 
 tion. Of Levi and his next brother, their father 
 himself shall speak, and in the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 " Simeon and Levi are brethren, 
 
 Their swords are weapons of violence. 
 
 my soul, come thou not into their plot, 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 265 
 
 With their confederacy mine honour be not thou 
 united, 
 
 For in their wrath they slew the men, 
 
 And in their wantonness they houghed the oxen. 
 
 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ; 
 
 And their wrath, for it was cruel. 
 
 I will divide them in Jacob ; 
 
 Yea, I will scatter them in Israel/' 
 
 Gen. xlix. 5 — 7. 
 
 Of the doubtless innumerable instances in which 
 the fierce passions that burnt in the bosoms of these 
 men of blood had burst forth, two only are recorded. 
 Their conspiracy to murder Joseph, we have already 
 considered. The slaughter of the Hivites is even 
 still more revolting. It maintains a bad eminence 
 among the collected histories of the great atrocities 
 that have been committed by man upon the earth. 
 There is yet one aggravating circumstance in it 
 which is not generally understood. They murdered 
 Dinah their sister, as well as her paramour, and 
 the whole of his kindred. There can be no doubt 
 of this. It was this deed amid those of the rest of 
 their lives of rapine, that drew down their father's 
 most emphatic curse upon their guilty heads. This 
 was an occurrence too disgraceful to his own an- 
 cestry for Moses to record. No perceptible good 
 purpose moreover would have been answered by 
 the disclosure, and therefore it was graciously per- 
 
266 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 mitted him to spread the veil of oblivion over it : 
 but there is every reason to believe that it took 
 place : for Dinah is never mentioned afterwards. 
 
 Here then was the sin which brought upon its 
 perpetrators this fearful denunciation of the Divine 
 vengeance ; and, moreover, he who spake by the 
 lips of the dying and agonized father when he 
 uttered it, " is not a man that he should lie, neither " 
 the son of man that he should repent ! Hath he 
 said, and shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, 
 and shall he not make it good ? " Its fulfilment 
 however, is no where directly recorded : for the 
 arrangement in the Holy Land whereby Levi had 
 Jehovah and His service for his patrimony was pre- 
 eminently a blessing ; the direct reversal of a curse ; 
 as it is invariably styled in the language of Scrip- 
 ture. (See Num. xviii. 20. Deut. x. 8, 9, &c.) It 
 is well known also, no such fate befel Simeon, who 
 was equally included in the malediction. 
 
 The prophecy therefore must have received its 
 fulfilment during the sojourn in Egypt ; and in the 
 well-known gap in the genealogy of Levi and in the 
 census afterwards, we point to the silent but highly 
 significant evidences of it. The ruffian propensities 
 of these men would soon fulfil their curse without 
 any miraculous interposition, when the death of 
 their father had in some measure freed them from 
 the restraint which his authority had imposed upon 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 267 
 
 them. In order rightly to apprehend this, the state 
 of society which prevailed among the children of 
 Israel in Egypt after his death must be considered. 
 
 There is but one passage in the whole Bible in 
 which any event that bef el Israel in Egypt after the 
 death of Jacob, and before the rise of the king that 
 knew not Joseph, is recorded. It occurs in the 
 genealogy of Ephraim. 1 Chron. vii. 20 — 23. The 
 history narrated in it amounts to this : The Eph- 
 raimites crossed the desert on a predatory expedition 
 into Philistia, for the purpose of driving off cattle. 
 They were defeated with great slaughter by the 
 men of Grath. Eliad in the direct line from the 
 first-born of Ephraim was among the slain. 
 
 This circumstance tells of a state of society in 
 the Delta, on the death of Joseph and the first 
 immigrants, perfectly analogous to that which our 
 knowledge of the elements of which it was com- 
 posed would have led us to anticipate. It con- 
 sisted of 
 
 I. The Lower Egyptians. The professors of the 
 man-worship of the Pyramids. 
 
 II. The Egypto-Canaanites, or Shepherds, their 
 co-religionists and the close imitators of all their 
 customs. 
 
 III. The Canaanite rangers of the Desert, the 
 inhabitants of Canaan Proper, and professing its 
 local idolatry. 
 
268 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 IV. The children of Israel, now rapidly increasing 
 in numbers. 
 
 The transition from barbarism to civilization 
 commenced by the regulations of Joseph at the 
 famine, (above p. 134.) was also in progress at this 
 time, and upon all these classes, for we shall pre- 
 sently find that long afterwards the change was still 
 far from complete. Quarrels, feuds, broils, and 
 deeds of violence would inevitably attend such a 
 state of things, and in the midst of these, the wild 
 fierce propensities of Simeon and Levi would drive 
 them with uncontrollable vehemence. Their sons 
 would also follow them : and close at their heels. 
 Had the government of Egypt been a weak one 
 instead of a strong one, Simeon and Levi might 
 have stood in its annals for great conquerors. But 
 law in Egypt was always very powerful, and society 
 therefore wonderfully peaceable and well-ordered ; 
 so that Simeon and Levi would only figure among 
 their cotemporaries as violent, quarrelsome, turbu- 
 lent men, and their tribe as bad subjects, and 
 troublesome, dangerous neighbours. Retribution 
 would speedily follow. The entire population of 
 every class would rise against them. They would 
 be overpowered, and the laws both of social order 
 and of war would take their course upon them. It 
 was as bond-slaves and prisoners-of-war among the 
 cities and tents of their brethren of the other tribes 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 269 
 
 that Simeon and Levi were divided in Jacob, and 
 scattered in Israel. As we have already explained, 
 the misfortunes of Simeon and Levi during this 
 interval are not recorded, but the fact that they 
 underwent them is very significantly indicated by 
 their places in the census of Israel in the Desert. 
 In the first census, Simeon brings forward 59,300 
 fighting men, Numb. i. 23., shewing that the in- 
 crease in his tribe had been at least as rapid as in 
 that of those of his brethren. But the Levites were 
 left out of this census by express command, the 
 reason for which is not given, (verses 47 — 50.) It 
 app.ears however, and very clearly, in the following 
 census. The whole of the living males of Levi of all 
 ages, was then only 23,000 ; considerably less than 
 half the average number of the fighting men (i. e. 
 the men between 20 and 60) of each of the other 
 tribes. Levi therefore had been omitted from the 
 former census, because his numbers were so insig- 
 nificant, that to have recorded them would have 
 been to set him forth as a reproach in Israel. 
 Simeon also partook in the curse of his progenitor, 
 as this second census shows unmistakably. His 
 59,300 has dwindled down to 23,000 only, — scarcely 
 the half of the numbers of any one of the rest of his 
 brethren, in the same enumeration. The men of 
 the former census therefore had been far advanced 
 in life, and past the age of prolificness. They fell 
 
270 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 in the wilderness and left few representatives be- 
 hind them ; for the young men of the tribe had 
 already perished in Egypt. 
 
 Amram, the head of the tribe of Levi and his 
 family, are now household slaves attached to one of 
 the palaces of Si Phtha the viceroy of the Delta at 
 Heliopolis. He himself is probably far away from 
 his family, as head of his tribe, and task-master ■ 
 over them in their forced labours in some distant 
 quarry. His wife and sister, with his child, were 
 housed in a wretched hovel in the court of the 
 palace, and worked under the baton of the master 
 of the house. 
 
 FROM NAHRAI AT BENIHASSAN. 
 
 The birth of Moses would not be an event in 
 which their oppressors took any interest. Had they 
 detected the concealment^ they would merely have 
 thrown the infant into the river, and beaten the 
 mother : — occurrences too frequent in the house of 
 bondage everywhere to have attracted notice. 
 
THE KING THAT KXEW NOT JOSEPH. 271 
 
 Baskets of the papyrus-rush were in common use 
 in Egypt. The word translated ark is not Hebrew 
 but Egyptian. Tinn. It is the name of the cage in 
 which birds and small animals taken in the chase 
 were kept alive for the purpose of domesticating 
 them, according to the universal practice in these 
 ancient times. It is written z=>J tb. 
 
 " And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to 
 bathe at the river, and her maidens walked in train 
 or file [after her] along the bank of the Nile. And 
 she saw the basket among the flags, and she sent 
 her hand-maid to fetch it. And when she had 
 opened it she saw the child ; and behold the babe 
 wept. And she had compassion on him and said, 
 This is one of the Hebrews' children/' verses 5, 6. 
 
 This was Thouoris^^ C^~f P X Z^jT the daughter 
 of Pharaoh Ramses, and the wife of Si-Phtha the 
 last of the Xoite kings of the Delta. At this time 
 she was united with her husband in the vice-regency 
 of this division of Egypt. On the death of her 
 father and younger brother, she became queen-regent 
 over all Egypt. The clear monumental indications 
 of this identity will appear in the progress of our 
 enquiry. Thouoris was the priestess of the goddess 
 Hathor,* the wife of Athom (Adam) the tutelary of 
 
 * Hathor ^J was the Egyptian Venus. She was a deification of 
 Eve. 
 
272 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Heliopolis. This is recorded in her tomb. It was, 
 moreover, the universal custom in Egypt. All the 
 princesses of the earliest epochs were also ministers 
 to the worship of the goddesses. The occasion on 
 which she went down in state to the water was, a 
 religious solemnity, the commencement of which 
 was an act of ablution in the sacred waters of the 
 river. It was the festival of the new moon. Jo- 
 chebed, the mother of Moses, was, as we have seen, 
 one of the household slaves of the palace. She was 
 therefore cognizant of all the movements of the 
 princess. She put the basket with her infant in the 
 place where the procession would approach the bank 
 of the river, and set her husband's sister, and her 
 fellow-slave to watch it afar off. The stage or quay 
 by which the princess would descend to the water's 
 edge would no doubt have an enclosure fenced off 
 from the rest of the river, to keep out the crocodiles 
 which at that time swarmed in the Nile everywhere. 
 Within this enclosure the poor outcast was in com- 
 parative safety. All the river was sacred : but it 
 was especially so in those portions of it which ran 
 by the temples and were enclosed off for the many 
 ceremonies of ablution which formed so important 
 and large a portion of the entire ritual of the wor- 
 ship of Ancient Egypt. When the princess first 
 perceived the cage, she probably supposed it might 
 have been left there by some profane person who 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 273 
 
 had dared to commit the act of impiety of " netting 
 the water- fowl of the gods/' * The burst of natural 
 feeling which gushed from her heart when she saw, 
 and heard the cries of, the wretched forsaken infant 
 whom the cruel edict of her father directed her to 
 cast at once out of the enclosure, to be torn in 
 pieces almost before it touched the water by the 
 hungry monsters, who probably enough lay basking 
 and wallowing by dozens together on the sand- 
 banks adjacent, and excited by his cries, already 
 gnashed their teeth for their prey, suggests a very 
 important conclusion. The milk of human kind- 
 ness had stirred in the breasts of other women in 
 Egypt, besides the princess Thouoris, at the sight of 
 these unoffending and helpless sufferers. The ex- 
 pedient adopted by the mother of Moses was a com- 
 mon one, — and thereby many of the sons of Israel 
 had been rescued from the fate to which the law of 
 Ramses had consigned them. That no great num- 
 ber of infants had perished by this barbarous per- 
 secution, the census at the Exodus makes abund- 
 antly apparent. The whole tenor also of the subse- 
 quent notices of the Egyptians in the books of Moses 
 goes to prove, that the bondage with its attendant 
 cruelties was the work of Pbaraoh, and his council- 
 lors, not of his subjects. The inspired history 
 
 * This was one of the forty-two mortal sins of the moral code of 
 Ancient Egypt. 
 
 T 
 
274 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 combines moreover with the monuments to acquit 
 Si-Phtha and his illustrious spouse from any very 
 active share in the sorrows of Israel. 
 
 " Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, 
 Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew 
 women, that she may nurse the child for thee ? 
 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go, and the 
 maid went and called the child's mother. And 
 Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child 
 and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. 
 And the woman took the child and nursed it." 
 Verses 7 — 9. 
 
 The name Thouoris in the Greek lists, and the 
 dynasty to which she belonged (the 19th, that of 
 Ramses her father) are all that profane tradition 
 has handed down regarding her.* The history of 
 this illustrious lady is, with these exceptions, alto- 
 gether monumental. Nevertheless, the few notices 
 they embody, very remarkably confirm the inspired 
 
 * She is made the third successor of her father Ramses. She was in 
 fact his second successor. She is also said to be a man, but the motive 
 of this change of sex is very obvious. According to the chronological 
 computations of the Greek compilers of these lists, the siege of Troy took 
 place during her reign ; and as Homer says, that Polybus was the king 
 of Egypt at that time, of course this is king Polybus ; and the account of 
 him which appears in Homer's verses they have appended as an historical 
 notice to the name of Thouoris in the lists. This fact is very instructive. 
 It discloses the notions of writing history that prevailed among the com- 
 pilers of the Greek tradition regarding Egypt. The name Thouoris is 
 plainly that of a woman, if it be an Egyptian name. 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 275 
 
 narrative. She had no family, and her husband 
 survived her for nearly forty years. She was queen 
 of all Egypt for a short period on the death of her 
 younger brother Amenephthis. These monumental 
 facts suggest the certainty that she was the eldest 
 daughter of Ramses, and that at the time of her 
 marriage she was of somewhat advanced age, and 
 had been for many years attached to the service of 
 religion as one of the vestals or pallaces* which 
 was the usual fate of the princess royal of Egypt. 
 Her husband, on the other hand, was not a child 
 merely ; he was an infant at the time of their 
 marriage. No unusual disparity in these matches 
 of policy and convenience. Probably enough, it 
 had been the troubles consequent upon an infant 
 succession that had furnished the pretext for 
 the interference of Ramses in the affairs of the 
 Xoite kingdom which had issued in this marriage. 
 These circumstances seem to be all implied in the 
 inspired narrative of the transaction before us, 
 which we assume to have taken place in the tenth 
 year of the captivity, and of the marriage of 
 Siphtha and Thouoris. Pharaoh's daughter was 
 evidently a sovereign queen. The edict of her fa- 
 ther was nothing to her. She disregarded it openly, 
 deliberately, and in the face of her whole court, 
 Thouoris was at this time sole administratrix of the 
 
 * An order of priestesses, generally the daughters of Pharaoh. 
 T 2 
 
276 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 monarchy of her husband, who was still a mere 
 child, under tutors and governors. The operation 
 of the law therefore, and its suspension in the 
 Delta, were altogether in her own breast. In re- 
 gard to the succession, moreover, Thouoris was most 
 painfully situated. In all probability it was by the 
 laws of nature impossible that a child of hers 
 should sit on the throne of her husband, and she ■ 
 had for this reason been selected from among the 
 many daughters of Ramses for the wife of Siphtha. 
 In these circumstances, her public adoption of the 
 outcast infant of a tribe whom the same policy 
 whereby she had been condemned to childlessness, 
 had also doomed to a cruel death, was noble and 
 most womanly. 
 
 The circumstances of Amram, the father of Moses, 
 and head of the tribe of Levi, would be materially 
 altered by this event. As nurse of a son of the 
 house of Pharaoh, Jochebed his wife would take 
 rank in Egypt next to the princesses of the blood. 
 
 The census of the tribe afterwards, when it 
 entered the holy land, renders it far from impro- 
 bable that the mitigations which would follow upon 
 this change in the circumstances of its head, had 
 saved it from extinction. 
 
 " And the child grew ; and she [his mother] 
 brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he be- 
 came her son. And she called his name Moses ; 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 277 
 
 and she said, Because I drew him out of the water." 
 Verse 10. 
 
 The name is an Egyptian one. It was written 
 thus $>^S^l"litt nu-mu-shf] " received, 
 [taken] from Nu (Xoah) of the waters/' This name. 
 like Sesostris, was abbreviated in common parlance 
 to mii-she, as the Hebrews wrote it.* 
 
 " And it came to pass in the days when Moses 
 was grown up." Verse 11. 
 
 " And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of 
 the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. 
 And it came to pass when he was full forty years 
 old," Acts vii. 22, 23. 
 
 The collation of these two inspired passages 
 elicits the fact, that an interval of forty years 
 elapsed after the last event recorded, during which 
 nothing has been written regarding the history of 
 Israel. It is incumbent upon us to supply this in- 
 terval from the monumental history of Egypt. 
 
 The commencement of the captivity falling upon 
 the 21st of Ramses, the birth of Moses took place 
 in his 31st, or thereabout, by our calculation. As 
 
 * In Manetlio's account of the Exodus, preserved by Josephus, (Cont. 
 Apion. I. 25.) his name is said to be Osarsiph, or Closes. The former 
 name is j p ^ \jh oskir-shf "taken from Osiris ; M and its use by 
 
 Manetho, shows him to have been the votary of a philosophic modification 
 of the ancient superstition which was first invented in his days. It made 
 Osiris to represent every thing tee/, and Seth or Typhon, every thing dry. 
 
278 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the whole reign of Ramses lasted for 66 or 68 
 years, it follows that 35 or 37 years of this unre- 
 corded interval were occupied by the termination 
 of it. The particular of this reign, directly perti- 
 nent to the history of Israel, namely, his identifica- 
 tion with " the king that knew not Joseph/' has 
 been already sufficiently discussed. The following 
 tabular arrangement of all the dated monuments of 
 it' that are known to exist, is instructive as to its 
 general history : 
 
 Year of the 
 reign of Ramses. 
 
 1st tablet at the quarry of Gebel Silsili 
 commemorating the hewing of stone 
 for a temple .... 4 
 1st war (with Sheth) . . .5 
 
 the first of his sole reign. 
 2nd war with Asiatics (papyrus at Turin) 8 
 3rd war (with Sheth) Karnak . .9 
 
 4th war with Asiatics (Sallici papyrus) 14 
 
 Pacification with Sheth . . .21 
 
 Commencement of captivity. 
 2nd tablet at Gebel Silsili . . 30 
 
 3rd tablet at Gebel Silsili on the occasion 
 
 of hewing stone for a temple . . 34 
 
 The speos at Abou Simbel in Nubia com- 
 menced • . . . .35 
 4th tablet at Gebel Silsili . 37 
 Hewing stone for a building. 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 279 
 
 Year of the 
 reign of Ramses. 
 
 Speos of Abou Simbel completed . 38 
 
 5th tablet at Gebel Silsili . . 40 
 
 6th ditto ditto . . 44 
 
 Funeral tablet at Florence, one of the 
 
 officers of Ramses who died in the 
 
 year of his reign . . .62 
 
 Tablet at the British Museum . . 66 
 
 Some historical deductions of considerable in- 
 terest arise from this synopsis of the dated cotem- 
 porary monuments of the reign of Ramses. 
 
 I. All the wars of Ramses took place in the first 
 twenty years of his reign. 
 
 This is conformable with the Greek tradition. 
 
 II. The treaty with Sheth was of the definite and 
 important character which its hieroglyphic record 
 states it to have been. It was a permanent pacifi- 
 cation. No war occurred afterwards during the 
 reign of Ramses. 
 
 Here again the Greek tradition is literally cor- 
 rect. There was peace in Egypt with all the world 
 throughout the latter years of the reign of Sesostris. 
 So many were his captives, that all the drudgery of 
 Egypt was performed by them, and never did the 
 country enjoy such a measure of temporal prosperity 
 as at this period. 
 
 III. It was the 30th year of his reign that he 
 
280 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 began to hew blocks of red sand-stone from Gibel 
 Silsili for the construction of temples at Thebes. 
 This is, according to our computation, within a year 
 of the birth of Moses. We have assumed that the 
 building of the fortifications of Pithom and Ramses, 
 and the vast engineering works wherewith he in- 
 tersected the Delta, would occupy about this 
 period ; and at this time it is very supposeable that 
 Ramses would permanently reside either at Heli- 
 opolis or Xois. Here, in the midst of the Israelites 
 he would have abundant opportunities of observing 
 their rapid increase, notwithstanding his grievous 
 oppression of them, and notwithstanding the mur- 
 derous instructions he secretly gave to Shiphrah 
 and Puah. We have already ascertained that his 
 infanticidal decree must have been issued in the 
 interval between the birth of Aaron and that of 
 Moses. We now find that the year before the latter 
 event, Ramses was in all probability in Upper 
 Egypt superintending the building of the temples 
 of Thebes. Nothing is more probable than that 
 soon after passing this revolting law he should have 
 fled from the odium which it evidently excited in 
 his subjects of all ranks in that part of his do- 
 minions where it came into operation, leaving the 
 execution of it to his officers under the viceregency 
 of his daughter. 
 
 The entire independency of the edict which Tho- 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 281 
 
 uoris displayed in the adoption of Moses, is also 
 well accounted for by this date. Ramses, her 
 father, had at this time finally left the Delta to her 
 sole government, probably only returning thither 
 afterwards on rare occasions : for we find that the 
 great constructions of the following years of his 
 reign were all in Upper Egypt and Nubia. 
 
 IV. The war of the 5th of Ramses (the first of 
 his sole reign) was assuredly the great military ex- 
 ploit of his life : inasmuch as he has left three repe- 
 titions of it on three of his greatest constructions ; 
 the first of which he did not begin to build until 
 more than thirty years afterwards. 
 
 V. The same monumental facts reduce to a simple 
 impossibility the statement of the Greek traditions, 
 that they were prisoners of war who built the con- 
 structions of Ramses. 
 
 The condition of Israel in Egypt must necessarily 
 have undergone considerable mitigation after the 
 adoption of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter. The 
 silence of the inspired historian implies this fact, 
 which appears still more clearly in the constant 
 murmurings of the entire body of the people while 
 in the wilderness after the Exodus, and the frequent 
 conspiracies among them to displace Moses and 
 return to Egypt under the leadership of the heads 
 of the tribes. Had the cruelties and horrors which 
 marked the commencement and termination of the 
 
282 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 captivity, been in no way mitigated in the interval 
 of the century for which it lasted, surely the rem- 
 nant of so unparalleled a persecution would never 
 have conspired against their liberator, to return to 
 the lash of the taskmaster and the house of bon- 
 dage ! 
 
 The fact thus strongly implied in the history of 
 Israel, we now find to be rendered probable by the- 
 monumental history of Egypt. The government of 
 the Delta seems at this time to have been a vice- 
 royalty, administered from the throne of the kings 
 who had known Joseph, and by a princess who had 
 shown by her adoption of Moses, her sympathy with 
 the sentiments of her predecessors. The immediate 
 author of the captivity had left the Delta to her 
 sole regency. So that, not only did the infanticidal 
 edict fall into utter disuse, (we never hear of it 
 again in the inspired narrative) but the circum- 
 stances of the Israelites would be similar to their 
 condition under the Xoite kings, with the exception 
 that they were now strangers in Egypt, and that 
 their forced services were in constant requisition at 
 the quarries, the temples, and other public works 
 which were in progress in every city throughout 
 the land of Egypt. 
 
 The date of the death of Ramses is the only par- 
 ticular concerning it, preserved in the history of 
 Egypt, traditive or monumental. His successor was 
 
THE KING THAT KNEW NOT JOSEPH. 283 
 
 named Amenemnes, or Amenephthis, in the lists. 
 The monuments declare him to have been his thir- 
 teenth son. He wrote his name as king of Egypt 
 
 The monumental history of this monarch is very 
 scanty. His traditive history is confined to a single 
 fact. He reigned in Egypt for five years only. 
 There is no evidence that the death of Ramses ex- 
 ercised any particular influence on the Delta, or 
 that Amenephthis interfered at all with the vice- 
 royalty of his sister. At his death, however, many 
 changes took place, which brought the period now 
 under review to its termination in the forty-second 
 year of the age of Moses, which corresponds with 
 the " full forty years old " of the inspired narrative. 
 
284 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOSES IN MIDIAN. 
 
 " And it came to pass in those days when Moses 
 was grown, that he went out unto his brethren and 
 looked on their burdens/' Exod. ii. 11. 
 
 " And when [Moses] was cast out, Pharaoh's 
 daughter took him up and nourished him for her 
 own son. And Moses was learned in all the wis- 
 dom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words 
 and in deeds. And when he was full forty years 
 .old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the 
 children of Israel/' Acts vii. 21 — 23. 
 
 " By faith Moses when he was come to years re- 
 fused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; 
 chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
 God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 
 Esteeming reproach for Christ greater riches than 
 the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the 
 recompence of reward." Heb. xi. 24 — 26. 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 285 
 
 This is the whole of the direct inspired history, 
 and of the traditions which have had the subse- 
 quent sanction of inspiration regarding the life of 
 Moses, at the epoch at which we have now arrived. 
 These inspired writers throw, at the least, as much 
 light on the cotemporary monumental history of 
 Egypt, as they receive illustration from it. We do 
 not hesitate to give it as a marvellous coincidence, 
 that the death of Amenephthis took place when 
 Moses was forty-two years old ; and that on this 
 event the aged and childless princess, his foster- 
 mother, became Queen of all Egypt. So that the 
 history of Egypt at this epoch — faintly traced upon 
 its cotemporary monuments — renders not only pos- 
 sible, but highly probable, that which the Bible 
 states to have been the fact. When Thouoris be- 
 came queen of all Egypt, she proposed to inaugu- 
 rate Moses her foster-son as her successor and co- 
 regent with her husband on her demise. But Moses 
 refused to " be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter/' 
 and thereby to be afterwards Pharaoh himself. We 
 now understand at what a sacrifice of all the noblest 
 and most exalting ties and ambitions of human 
 nature, Moses chose the " reproach of Christ;" and 
 perceive the extent to which his refusal illustrates 
 the power of the faith, which was his motive in 
 doing so. 
 
 And he [Moses] spied an Egyptian smiting an 
 
286 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this 
 way and that way, and when he saw no man, he 
 slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And 
 when he went out the second day, behold two men 
 of the Hebrews strove together ; and he said to him 
 that did the wrong, Why smitest thou thy fellow ? 
 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge 
 over us ? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst . 
 the Egyptian ? And Moses feared and said, Surely 
 this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard 
 this thing he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled 
 from the face of Pharaoh." Exodus ii. 11 — 15. 
 
 The events in the history of Egypt which have 
 taken place since we last considered it, are required 
 to harmonize this narrative with that which pre- 
 cedes it. It is, as we have explained, only by the 
 aid of the facts contained in the inspired narrative 
 that the history of Egypt at this time can be written. 
 
 Thouoris seems from the first to have married the 
 infant heir to the throne of the Xoites, on the con- 
 dition that on his father's death she should succeed 
 to the throne of all Egypt. As, however, was too often 
 the case, she, together with a host of her brothers and 
 sisters, were passed by, by her father in his extreme 
 old age, and his thirteenth son Amenephthis, a very 
 young man, was named his successor. On the death 
 of this young king, after a short and monumentally 
 inglorious reign of five years, Thouoris was called 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 287 
 
 to the throne ; probably by the states of Egypt, to 
 redress the wrong which her father's appointment 
 had done her. It would seem from the coincidence 
 of dates, that her first act on her accession was 
 prompted by her affection for her foster-son. His 
 refusal to be named her successor, would not fail to 
 be a deep mortification and grief to her, however 
 fully she might enter into and appreciate the purity 
 of his motives. She seems from the monuments to 
 have left to her husband, now Pharaoh Siphtha, the 
 administration of the affairs of Lower Egypt, and 
 to have retired to Thebes ; when she not only ap- 
 pointed for her successor the infant son of Ame- 
 nephthes, but directed that the government should 
 be carried on in his name ; constituting Siphtha, 
 her husband, his tutor, and co-regent during life. 
 Queen Thouoris seems thenceforward to have led a 
 religious life at Thebes ; interfering but little with 
 affairs of state, and occupying herself in the deco- 
 ration of the tomb for herself and her husband, 
 which is more tastefully and elaborately furnished 
 than any other in the valley of the kings, and in 
 other works of a devotional character : such being 
 the nature of all the existing memorials of her 
 reign. 
 
 After the departure of his foster-mother, Moses 
 still resided at the court of Pharaoh Siphtha as a 
 prince of Egypt. At this time the metropolis and 
 
288 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ordinary residence of Siphtha seems to have been 
 the city of Ramses in the Western Delta. 
 
 It would be in some official capacity that Moses 
 went down to the opposite border of Egypt to inspect 
 the forced labours of the Israelites. The descrip- 
 tion of these labours in the passage before us, shews 
 that we have correctly estimated the position of 
 Israel in Egypt at this time. All the men of Israel, 
 were at all times liable to be called out to serve in 
 the gangs of workmen, but there were no circum- 
 stances of aggravation and insult added to this 
 coercion by the government. So that they were 
 not in a worse position than the Canaanites in 
 the Holy Land in Solomon's reign. Their suffer- 
 ings arose from acts of individual oppression and 
 cruelty from the Egyptian officers and the task- 
 masters of their own brethren that were over them. 
 They were not systematically enacted as before and 
 afterwards. 
 
 The scene which took place when Moses " looked 
 upon the burdens of his brethren/' affords clear evi- 
 dence that he had hitherto been a stranger to the 
 actual sight of their sufferings. It is, moreover, one 
 that would hardly fail to have taken place on the 
 first visit of a high-minded, kindly-natured man, 
 hitherto only accustomed to command, to the house 
 of bondage. This circumstance which excited Moses, 
 is one of daily, hourly occurrence at all times, and 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAX. 289 
 
 in all places, where man is slave to man. Upon 
 any pretext, or no pretext, a slave is laid down, and 
 cruelly, mercilessly beaten by his tyrant. It is a 
 hard matter ! (we speak from personal experience 
 in the land of Egypt and elsewhere) for a man to 
 restrain himself from acts of violent retribution, to 
 whom the spectacle is yet a strange one ; even when 
 the tyrant is of his own race, and the slave a stran- 
 ger. We can therefore readily understand that the 
 indignation which would fire the soul of Closes at 
 the sight of one of his own brethren thus maltreated 
 by an Egyptian, should burst forth uncontrollably, 
 and that, seizing the opportunity when none but 
 Israelites were present, he should cut down the 
 oppressor with his scymitar and bury him in the 
 sand. The act was a perfectly natural one : — a 
 consideration which strongly corroborates the truth 
 of the narrative, though (as we scarcely need ob- 
 serve,) this consideration by no means justifies the 
 act itself. 
 
 The transaction of the following day disclosed the 
 extent of the error into which the impetuosity of 
 Moses had betrayed him. The narrative is again 
 wonderfully truthful. A Hebrew task-master, in 
 sedulous imitation of his superiors, is avenging upon 
 the person of one of his unoffending brethren under 
 him, the stripes which still smart on his own. How 
 exactly this is true wherever slavery prevail?, they 
 
 u 
 
290 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 who are most conversant with it will be best able 
 to declare. Even to this day, in every slave-plan- 
 tation in the west, in every slave-bazaar and com- 
 pound in the east, the cruellest task-masters are the 
 slaves themselves over their fellow-slaves. The ex- 
 postulation of Moses with the oppressor, shews him 
 the position in which his rash act has placed him. 
 The Hebrew task-masters will confederate with the" 
 Egyptian officers, and be the first to impeach him 
 as a violator of the laws of Egypt. If Moses had 
 seen much of slavery, he might have been well 
 assured of this, though the threat of the Hebrew 
 task-master had never been uttered. It is the one 
 circumstance that perpetuates slavery all over the 
 world. The slaves in authority are in league with 
 the masters against their fellow-slaves. 
 
 In the eye of the law in ancient Egypt, as in 
 every well-ordered country, human life was very 
 precious. It awarded the punishment of death not 
 to the shedder of blood merely, but to the bystander 
 also, who, seeing the outrage, forbore to defend the 
 sufferer to the peril of his own life.* The impeach- 
 ment of Moses therefore which immediately fol- 
 lowed, left no choice to Pharaoh Siphtha but the 
 issue of the order for his arrest and trial. Moses, 
 however, had notice of this in time to escape into 
 the desert, and leave the bounds of Egypt, according 
 
 * Diod. Sic. i. § 77. 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 291 
 
 to the invariable practice of accused parties in that 
 country at the present day. 
 
 " And Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and 
 dwelt [sate down, rested] in the land of Midian, and 
 he sate by a well/' Exod. ii. 15. 
 
 Midian crossed the peninsula of Sinai, and ex- 
 tended along the eastern coast of the gulf of Akaba. 
 It was probably at some mine or quarry in the 
 desert that Moses had killed the Egyptian officer. 
 The Midianites were descendants from Abraham 
 (Gen. xxv. 2) ; they were therefore akin to Israel, 
 which was doubtless the reason why Moses sought 
 refuge in their country. 
 
 u Now the priest-prince * of Midian had seven 
 daughters : and they came and drew water, and 
 filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And 
 the shepherds came and drave them away, but Moses 
 stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 
 And when they came to the seer [prophet] their 
 father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon 
 to-day ? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us 
 out of the hand of the shepherds : and also drew 
 water enough for us, and watered the flock. And 
 he said unto his daughters, And where is he ? Why 
 is it that ye have left the man ? Call him that he 
 may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell 
 
 See Genesis xiv. 18. 
 U 2 
 
292 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his 
 daughter. 
 
 " And she bare him a son, and he called his name 
 Gershom ; for he said, I am a stranger in a strange 
 land." Exod. ii. 16—22. 
 
 These transactions took place out of Egypt : they 
 are merely quoted here to continue the narra- 
 tive. 
 
 " And it came to pass after many days, that the 
 king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel 
 sighed by reason of their bondage/' ver. 23. 
 
 Another long period has now elapsed, during 
 which no single event is recorded in the history 
 either of Israel or Egypt. Its termination is marked 
 by the death of the Pharaoh who had sought the 
 life of Moses. In consequence of this event the 
 sufferings of Israel in Egypt were fearfully aggra- 
 vated, so that " they sighed by reason of their bon- 
 dage." The phraseology of the passage leaves no 
 doubt on this head. After the death of the king, 
 Israel sighed by reason of his bondage, as he had 
 not sighed while Pharaoh lived. The circumstances 
 in the history of Egypt which occasioned this change, 
 we have now to consider. 
 
 The period we find, Acts vii. 30, to be forty years 
 proximately, or in round numbers. This is assuredly 
 the sense in which the epochs in the life of Moses 
 are to be interpreted. For, as has been very justly 
 
MOSES m MIDIAN. 293 
 
 remarked,* to assume an exact tripartite division of 
 his life into three equal periods, is also to assume a 
 miraculous interference on a very trivial occasion, 
 and for no conceivable purpose ; inasmuch as with- 
 out it the events of human life never do, in this 
 manner, conform to the rules of arithmetic. 
 
 The Pharaoh who had died, we have ascertained 
 to be Siphtha, the last of the line of the Aphophean 
 kings. This his place in the annals of Egypt (for 
 which it is incumbent upon us to explain that we 
 are ourselves alone responsible) solves entirely the 
 many anomalies that otherwise beset his monu- 
 mental history. He is not named in the lists, yet 
 assuredly he was a king in all Egypt, and for a very 
 long period. He was evidently cotemporary with 
 Ramses, and one of his near successors on the throne. 
 He was also of the family of Ramses, for in a tablet 
 at Gournou he worships Ramses and his progenitors 
 as his ancestry. Nevertheless, he is the only one of 
 this entire line of Pharaohs who has rejected the 
 name of Amun from both the rings of his royal 
 titles, styling himself in the first of them the wor- 
 shipper of Ra at Heliopolis, and in the second, of 
 Ptha at Memphis. Thus utterly ignoring the exis- 
 tence of Thebes, the third capital of Egypt, and, in 
 the days of the illustrious line of kings to which he 
 claims affinity, the greatest of all, and the only royal 
 
 * Bimsen's Egypt's Place, vol. i. 
 
294 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 residence, 
 
 /"o\ 
 
 the sun/'] 
 son of 
 
 
 /^> [" light of the sun, proved by 
 
 /WW 
 
 on 
 
 [" one with Phtha, Siphtha the 
 Ptha " ] and identifies himself 
 altogether with the northern portions of the mon- 
 archy. These circumstances are all explained by 
 the assumption that he was the infant son of the 
 last of the Xoite kings, and that Ramses took ad- 
 vantage of the death of his father to annex his do- 
 minions to the crown of Egypt, by espousing Siphtha 
 to his daughter Thouoris, to whom he confided the 
 viceroyalty of the Delta in the name of her infant 
 husband. 
 
 We have already explained that, on the refusal 
 of the crown of Egypt by Moses, Thouoris, his foster- 
 mother, went to Thebes, when she appointed the 
 infant son of Amenephthis his successor in the 
 monarchy, administered the government in his 
 name, and employed herself in works of piety. Her 
 husband probably remained in the Delta. 
 
 The character of Siphtha appears, from the few 
 monuments of his reign that are known to exist, to 
 have been precisely that which the inspired narra- 
 tive leaves to be inferred regarding him. He was 
 an unambitious, mild, humane monarch, very likely 
 to have acquiesced in the arrangement whereby his 
 queen adopted for her son the Hebrew boy who 
 probably had been his playmate in their childhood, 
 inasmuch as after the death of Thouoris, and up to 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 295 
 
 the period of bis own death, we find him always 
 religiously conforming to the still more humiliating 
 arrangement of which she also was the author, and 
 which imposed upon him the cares and toils of 
 sovereignty, but conferred all its honours upon her 
 infant nephew. 
 
 Thouoris survived for seven years only the refusal 
 of Moses to be her son and heir.* She seems to 
 have from the first associated the infant her nephew, 
 whom she made her successor, with her in the sove- 
 reignty ; and also to have administered the kingdom 
 in his name. So that his reign dates its commence- 
 ment from his own birth two years before the death 
 of his father, while she and her husband appear 
 merely as his co-regents. 
 
 Except their tomb, the extent and elaborate 
 beauty of which we have often mentioned, the me- 
 morials of the reign of Siphtha and Thouoris are 
 but very few, and they altogether of a religious 
 character, commemorating acts of worship to their 
 ancestry in the temples of Thebes. They seem to 
 have employed the Israelites in the completion of 
 the many temples and other constructions begun by 
 their father, and which they were contented to 
 complete in his name, omitting their own altogether. 
 The abundance of the monuments of Ramses re- 
 quires some such circumstance, notwithstanding the 
 
 * Lists of Manetho, D}*nasty XIX. 
 
296 ISRAEL m EGYPT. 
 
 number of workmen at his command, and the length 
 of his reign. They may also have proceeded with 
 works of utility, which leave no monumental trace 
 behind them, but nevertheless, there cannot be a 
 doubt that the sufferings of the captivity were 
 considerably mitigated when Siphtha and Thouoris 
 had the sole rule in the Delta. 
 
 We find from the passage before us, that the death 
 of Siphtha took place in the 39th year of the reign 
 of his nephew and co-regent, which was likewise 37 
 years after the death of Amenephthis, and 30 years 
 after that of Queen Thouoris. 
 
 The name of this Pharaoh was written in hier- 
 oglyphics, 
 
 r&\ 
 
 of the 
 with 
 
 /j?\ (wis kru ra mn-amun) (watcher 
 = transmigrations of the sun, one 
 
 D 8 
 
 >^> Amun) ; (stei mn-pth) (Sethos one 
 with Phtha.) It appears from the comparison of the 
 lists with the Scripture narrative, that Sethos was 
 born when his father ximenephthis had been for three 
 years king of Egypt ; and that on his father's death, 
 two years afterwards, he was adopted by Queen 
 Thouoris, his aunt, who not only made him king of 
 Egypt from his birth, but carried on the affairs of 
 government in his sole name, constituting herself and 
 her husband Siphtha his guardians and co-regents 
 during life. In the ninth year of his age and reign, 
 his foster-mother died. The circumstance that both 
 Moses and Pharaoh Sethos II. had been the adopted 
 
MOSES IN MEDIAN. 297 
 
 sons of this queen of Egypt, we shall find hereafter 
 to be one well worthy of note. 
 
 The temple-records of Egypt, which were quoted 
 by the historian Josephus,* make Sethos II. to have 
 been a great warrior, who left his own dominions 
 at the commencement of his reign to conquer foreign 
 countries, and committed the affairs of the monarchy 
 altogether to his relatives and councillors. We have 
 already read the same story from the same records 
 of the grandfather of this king, and detected its 
 utter falsehood. The monuments are equally ex- 
 plicit in the present instance. They give not even 
 a shadow of support to the tradition. So that this 
 fable of the warrior was the screen wherewith the 
 lying priests of the Egyptian idolatry covered over 
 equivocal and disgraceful transactions in the reigns 
 of their ancient kings. Sethos II. was an irreligious, 
 vicious, idle profligate. His tomb, in the valley of 
 the kings, is the instinctive chronicle of his infamy. 
 The excavation and decoration of the tomb of a 
 king of Egypt began on the day of his accession, 
 and ended on the day of his death. The superin- 
 tendance and direction of it were duties so sacred, 
 that even Pharaoh could not perform them by 
 proxy. His own presence, his own directing mind 
 must be there, or the work stood still. At the 
 instant of his death, it ceased altogether. In what- 
 
 * Contra Apion. i. 15. 
 
298 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ever state of imperfection it might be, no stroke of 
 the chisel, no trace of the pen, passed over it again. 
 The mummy of Pharaoh was laid in the vault — 
 finished or unfinished — and the tomb was closed. 
 So that there is much history to be read in the wild 
 and desolate valley of the kings, in the desert of 
 Western Thebes. The long reign of a pious mon- 
 arch is marked by a suite of corridors and halls 
 excavated in the mountain, to an extent which 
 threatens the stability of the superincumbent mass, 
 and gorgeously and elaborately decorated with hie- 
 roglyphics and reliefs, like the vault of Sethos I.* 
 A reign, suddenly terminated by untimely death, 
 appears in the abrupt cessation of works in pro- 
 gress, promising great excellence and beauty when 
 complete, like the tomb of x\menephthis.-f- It is 
 thus that the tomb of Sethos II 4 writes his history. 
 In grandeur of design his tomb is equal to the 
 largest in the valley, and an immense range of cor- 
 ridors and halls is excavated : so that this Pharaoh 
 had at his command a supply of labour equal to the 
 greatest of his peers. The parts of it also that are 
 finished are of exquisite execution ; so that he had 
 no lack of skilled artists. Nevertheless this vault 
 is distinguished from all the other tombs in the 
 valley by a very remarkable peculiarity. No single 
 
 * No. 17, of Sir G. Wilkinson's enumeration, 
 f Ibid. No. 8. X Ibid. No. 15. 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 299 
 
 corridor or hall throughout it was ever finished, 
 though they were all begun. I was not able to 
 discover even a wall which had been completed, 
 except perhaps the roof of the inclined corridor, 
 which forms the entrance. Yet in every part there 
 are bits which have been finished with the utmost 
 care ; the rest of the picture of which they formed 
 a part, being merely traced with minium or char- 
 coal on the stucco. The opposite wall of the apart- 
 ment has not been stuccoed or even dressed prepa- 
 ratoty to it. It has been merely roughed out with 
 the chissel, and the chips and fragments encumber 
 the floor of the hall to this day. This is the case 
 with the entire tomb, from its entrance to the last 
 or golden hall, }ft=&\ in which stood the sarcophagus. 
 It is not so, we repeat it, with any of the other 
 tombs in the valley. Up to the furthest point they 
 are all finished with the utmost care. It is only 
 there that the work of decoration ceases suddenly : 
 making it evident that the commencement of each 
 of the halls in the tomb of Pharaoh, took place on 
 the recurrence of some stated festival ; and that it 
 was his duty to see that in the interval, the works 
 both of excavation and decoration, were complete, 
 and that all was ready to proceed with the new 
 work. In this his duty, which was esteemed of the 
 most sacred and awful obligation in ancient Egypt, 
 Sethos II. failed altogether. The work in his tomb 
 
SOO ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 was merely continued during the actual celebration 
 of the festival : that ended, and all the workmen 
 were withdrawn, save a few unskilled drudges to 
 carry on the excavation, that the treasure which 
 the states of Egypt had assigned to him for this 
 purpose might be lavished in sensual indulgences. 
 The skilled workmen at his disposal would be hired 
 out to his princes and nobles, and their wages would- 
 be speedily absorbed in the same insatiable vortex. 
 There is no other mode of accounting for these ap- 
 pearances in the tomb of Sethos II. • 
 
 At the period now under review, Sethos II. had 
 been for thirty-seven years actual king of Egypt. 
 That his reign was a long one, appears from his 
 sarcophagus as well as his tomb. This receptacle 
 was most elaborately and exquisitely finished. With 
 the means of working the hard red granite at the 
 disposal of ancient Egypt, it must have employed 
 any number of workmen that could be engaged 
 upon it at the same time, for many years. The 
 fragments lie scattered to this day on the floor of 
 the last hall in his tomb, together with the chips 
 that have fallen there from the chisels of the exca- 
 vators, the rude marks of which still remain on the 
 unsightly walls of this mere hole in the rock. The 
 name of Sethos II. is not unfrequently written on 
 the great remains of Thebes and other cities through- 
 out Egypt, but everywhere they are upon trifling 
 additions to the constructions of his ancestors. 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 301 
 
 The death of Siphtha, which is recorded in the 
 inspired narrative, would render it needful that 
 Sethos II. his co-regent, and now sole king of Egypt, 
 should visit the Delta. Probably enough it would 
 be the first time that he had been in that part of 
 his dominions, where his guardians had been su- 
 preme for so many years. 
 
 Assuming this very probable circumstance, the 
 first thing that would attract the attention of Sethos 
 on his arrival in the Delta, would be the utter fail- 
 ure of his grandfather's design for the extermina- 
 tion of the strangers that sojourned therein. Not- 
 withstanding nearly a century of oppression, the 
 thousands of Israel swarmed every where, and the 
 land was filled with them. 
 
 He would also not fail to observe the great falling 
 off in the products of their forced labours which 
 had marked the reign of his uncle and co-regent, as 
 compared with the works wrung from the Israelites 
 by the tyrannies of Ramses his grandfather. The 
 crowd of courtiers, flatterers, and needy adventurers 
 that always surround a sovereign, would help on 
 this impression. They would remind him of the 
 leaning of Siphtha towards the liberal policy of the 
 Aphophean Pharaohs his ancestors, and of the mild 
 gentle character of his queen. The weak humani- 
 ties towards Israel, which had characterised their 
 reigns, would furnish a constant theme for their 
 
302 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 banter, and jibe, and ridicule, and the defect in the 
 work of Israel, of their indignation. Under the 
 pressure of these circumstances the character of 
 Sethos II. underwent a very common change. The 
 reckless careless profligate, suddenly started forth 
 the morose inexorable tyrant. The most stringent 
 and cruel orders were issued to the officers over the 
 forced labours of the strangers. No mitigation of 
 their toils was to be allowed for a moment. Let 
 them die under their burdens, — no matter. The 
 lash of the taskmaster resounded every where, and 
 there was a great cry throughout the land of Egypt. 
 
 " And the children of Israel sighed by reason of 
 their bondage, and they cried, 
 
 " And their cry came up unto God by reason of 
 their bondage. And God heard their groaning, and 
 God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with 
 Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the 
 children of Israel, and God had respect unto them/' 
 Exod. ii. 23—25. 
 
 c • Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father- 
 in-law, the priest of Midian : and he led the flock 
 to the back-side of the desert, and came to the 
 mountain of God, even to Horeb. 
 
 " And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him 
 in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush : and 
 he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, 
 and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 303 
 
 I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why 
 the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw 
 that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out 
 of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. 
 And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not 
 nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for 
 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 
 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the 
 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 
 Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was afraid 
 to look upon God. 
 
 " And the Lord said, I have surely seen the afflic- 
 tion of my people which are in Egypt, and have 
 heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for I 
 know their sorrows ; and I am come down to deliver 
 them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring 
 them up out of that land unto a good land and a 
 large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; 
 unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, 
 and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the 
 Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, 
 the cry of the children of Israel is come unto 
 me : and I have also seen the oppression wherewith 
 the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, 
 and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou may- 
 est bring forth my people the children of Israel out 
 of Egypt. 
 
 " And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I 
 
304 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring 
 forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ? And he 
 said, Certainly I will be with thee ; and this shall 
 be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee : When 
 thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye 
 shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses 
 said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the 
 children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The " 
 God of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and 
 they shall say to me, What is his name ? what shall 
 I say unto them ? And God said unto Moses, I 
 AM THAT I AM : and he said, Thus shalt thou 
 say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me 
 unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, 
 Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Je- 
 hovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, 
 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent 
 me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this is 
 my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather 
 the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Je- 
 hovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, 
 of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I 
 have surely visited you, and seen that which is done 
 to you in Egypt : and I have said, I will bring you 
 up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of 
 the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, 
 and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebu- 
 sites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 
 
MOSES IN MIDIAN. 305 
 
 And they shall hearken to thy voice : and thou 
 shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the 
 king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord 
 God of the Hebrews hath met with us : and now 
 let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into 
 the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord 
 our God. 
 
 " And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not 
 let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will 
 stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my 
 wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and 
 after that he will let you go. And I will give this 
 people favour in the sight of the Egyptians : and it 
 shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go 
 empty : but every woman shall borrow of her neigh- 
 bour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels 
 of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : and ye 
 shall put them upon your sons, and upon your 
 daughters ; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians/' 
 Exod. iii. 
 
 " And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they 
 will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice : 
 for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto 
 thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that 
 in thine hand ? And he said, A rod. And he said, 
 Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the 
 ground, and it became a serpent ; and Moses fled 
 from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put 
 
 x 
 
306 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he 
 put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a 
 rod in his hand : That they may believe that the 
 Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the 
 God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared 
 unto thee. 
 
 " And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put 
 now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his 
 hand into his bosom : and when he took it out, be- 
 hold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, 
 Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he put 
 his hand into his bosom again ; and plucked it out 
 of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as 
 his other flesh, And it shall come to pass, if they 
 will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice 
 of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of 
 the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they 
 will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken 
 to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of 
 the river, and pour it upon the dry land : and the 
 water which thou takest out of the river shall be- 
 come blood upon the dry land. 
 
 " And Moses said unto the Lord, my Lord, I 
 am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou 
 hast spoken unto thy servant : but I am slow of 
 speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said 
 unto him, Who hath made man's mouth ? or who 
 maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the 
 
MOSES IX MIDIAX. 307 
 
 blind ? have not I the Lord ? Now therefore go. 
 and I tv ill be with thy mouth, and teach thee what 
 thou shalt say. And he said, niy Lord, send, I 
 pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 
 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against 
 Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy 
 brother ? I know that he can speak well. And also, 
 behold, he cometh forth to meet thee : and when 
 he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And 
 thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his 
 mouth : and I will be with thy mouth, and with 
 his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 
 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people : 
 and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of 
 a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 
 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, where- 
 with thou shalt do signs. 
 
 " And Moses went and returned to Jethro his 
 father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray 
 thee, and return unto my brethren which are in 
 Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And 
 Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the Lord 
 said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt : 
 for all the men are dead which sought thy life. 
 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them 
 upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt : 
 and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And 
 the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to re- 
 
 x 2 
 
308 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 turn into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders 
 before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand : 
 but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let 
 the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, 
 Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my 
 firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, 
 that he may serve me : and if thou refuse to let him 
 go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn/' 
 Exod. iv. 1—23. 
 
 The time for the deliverance has come at length. 
 The leader is prepared by long discipline for his 
 arduous office, and the people that are to follow him 
 now cry unto Grod. Forty years before, they had de- 
 nounced Moses unto Pharaoh when he smote one of 
 their oppressors. In Egypt also, all who in the re- 
 motest degree had favoured Israel are dead, and a 
 heartless profligate and cruel tyrant wields the 
 thong of the taskmaster. All was ready. Then, 
 and not till then, God will work. Our impatient 
 struggles and cries avail nothing with him while 
 our sorrows are working for our benefit : that once 
 accomplished, and the fiercest efforts of our enemies 
 cannot for a single moment delay our deliverance. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 309 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 
 
 " Akd the Lord said unto Aaron, Go into the 
 wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met 
 him in the mount of God, and kissed him. 
 
 " And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord 
 who had sent him, and all the signs which he had 
 commanded him/' Exod. iv. 27, 28. 
 
 The tribe of Levi is now no longer in the low 
 estate in which the narrative of the birth of Moses 
 displayed it. His adoption by queen Thouoris, and 
 the appointment of his mother to nurse him as one 
 of the sons of Pharaoh, were distinctions which 
 would not fail to be accompanied with large acces- 
 sions both of influence and wealth. This would 
 give to Amram and the rest of the elders of Levi 
 the means of protecting the small remnant of their 
 tribe from the tyranny of the Egyptian officers, so 
 as to restore them in some measure to their place 
 
310 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 among their brethren. Aaron the head and first- 
 born of Levi, is now a prince in Egypt. He leaves 
 the boundaries of the kingdom, he goes into the 
 presence of Pharaoh at his pleasure. He could 
 have done neither had he not been of high rank. 
 
 The brothers met in Mount Sinai. They will meet 
 there hereafter. They returned to Egypt together ; 
 each as a prince in his own right ; for the death of 
 Pharaoh Siphtha took off his proscription of Moses 
 if it had ever been issued. Such was the law of 
 Egypt.* 
 
 It had been in humble guise that Moses set out 
 from Midian. (See verse 20.) But he went forth 
 at God's command, and he bore God's commission : 
 and " them that honour Him, He will honour." 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron went and gathered to- 
 gether all the elders of the children of Israel. And 
 Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had 
 spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight 
 of the people. And the people believed : and when 
 they heard that the Lord had visited the children 
 of Israel, and that he had looked upon their afflic- 
 tions, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." 
 Exodus iv. 29—31. 
 
 Thirty-seven years before, Moses " supposed that 
 his brethren would have understood how that God 
 by his hand would deliver them, but they under - 
 
 * Rosetta Inscription, Greek lines 12 — 14. 
 
THE PLAGUES 0E EGYPT. 311 
 
 stood not/' Acts vii. 25. Both Moses and his brethren 
 have suffered much during this interval. Both have 
 learnt much also. 
 
 " And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and 
 told Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah the Grod of Israel, 
 Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto 
 me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is 
 Jehovah that I should obey his voice to let Israel 
 go ? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel 
 go?" Exod. v. 1, 2. 
 
 This was Sethos II. ; and we have here another 
 event in his monumental history to relate. It was 
 an act of gross and mad impiety to which the monu- 
 ments of Egypt have recorded no parallel, in the 
 history of any other individual that ever lived there. 
 It appears that when the tidings of the death of 
 Siphtha reached Thebes, it became the duty of Sethos 
 as his co-regent and successor, to visit the valley of 
 the kings, for the purpose doubtless of being present 
 at certain ceremonies preparatory to the sepulture. 
 Here the exquisite beauty of the resting-place of 
 his kind and most indulgent relatives Siphtha and 
 Thouoris, and the disgraceful contrast to it, pre- 
 sented by his own slovenly, unfinished, and neg- 
 lected vault, would be strongly impressed upon him. 
 The course he adopted would send a thrill of horror 
 and disgust through the entire of his subjects, of 
 which we can form but a feeble conception. He 
 
312 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 ordered the names and portraits of his aunt, tc 
 whom he owed it that he was king of Egypt, and of 
 his uncle, who had carried on the affairs of the 
 nation for him, and built temples whereon he had 
 inscribed the titles of Sethos to the exclusion of 
 himself, to be covered with stucco, and wrote over 
 them his own recreant name. It would not have 
 been possible to have framed any other act of daring 
 wickedness, whereby the higher and better feelings 
 of ancient Egypt would have been so grossly out- 
 raged. 
 
 The next act of Sethos II. is recorded in the pre- 
 sent passage, and is worthy that which went before 
 it. The answer of the infatuated king to the mes- 
 sage from the God of Israel is exactly that which 
 we might have anticipated from the violator of 
 the tomb of his benefactors. The tyrant knew not 
 his country's gods, for he had despised and neg- 
 lected the elementary precept of their religion re- 
 garding his own tomb. He knew not the natural 
 feelings of affection and respect towards his deceased 
 relatives, nor even the still commoner obligation of 
 gratitude to the memories of liberal and disinter- 
 ested benefactors. Upon these, the very elements 
 of all right and reverential feeling in man, he had 
 trampled ruthlessly and with mockery. How should 
 such a man know the God of Israel, or care to obey 
 him? 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 313 
 
 " x\nd they said, The God of the Hebrews hath 
 met with us : let us go, we pray thee, three days 
 journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto Jehovah 
 our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or the 
 sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, 
 Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people 
 from their works ? Get you unto your burdens. 
 And Pharaoh said [to his courtiers], Behold the 
 people of the land are many, and ye make them rest 
 from their burdens/' Exod. v. 3 — 5. 
 
 The moral identification of the monumental 
 Sethos with the Pharaoh of the Exodus, yields in 
 perfectness of coincidence to no other in the entire 
 history. A reckless, hardened profligate, and im- 
 pudent contemner of the commonest convention- 
 alities of outward decency, ignorant through the 
 wanton neglect of abundant opportunities of learn- 
 ing wisdom, and heady, headstrong, boisterous, and 
 uncontrollable in the exact measure of his ignor- 
 ance, the same individual must have sat for both 
 portraits. The man who could perpetrate the 
 grossest of all outrages upon the memory of his 
 foster-parents before their funeral ceremonies were 
 commenced, at the same time petrifying with horror 
 the whole kingdom by the blasphemous impiety of 
 the act, and this merely to gratify a whim of vanity 
 and self-opinion, — this is the king of Egypt we 
 should have chosen from the entire list of them for 
 
314 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the opponent of Moses, even if there had been no 
 chronological data to guide us in the selection ! 
 
 The tyrant's address to the Egyptians around 
 him, further illustrates the view of the real op- 
 pressors of Israel, of which other passages had also 
 afforded us the shadow and outline. The kings of 
 Egypt, and not the people of Egypt, were the ene- 
 mies of Israel. It was to the authorities and great 
 officers of the city of Ramses that the sordid and 
 brutalized tyrant addressed the last of these objur- 
 gations. We could not have had a more convincing 
 proof of the correctness of our previous assump- 
 tions regarding this matter, than the passage be- 
 fore us. 
 
 " And Pharaoh commanded the same day, the 
 taskmasters of the people [Egyptians] and their offi- 
 cers [Israelites] saying/' — ver. 6. 
 
 This also was addressed to the whole body of the 
 executive of the officers over the forced labours of 
 Israel, whom he had peremptorily summoned into 
 his presence. The Egyptians and the Israelites both 
 stand before Pharaoh, and listen to the commands 
 of the tyrant. 
 
 u Ye shall no more give the people straw to make 
 brick as heretofore : let them go and gather straw 
 for themselves. And the tale of the bricks which 
 they did make heretofore ye shall lay upon them : 
 ye shall not diminish ought thereof; for they be 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 315 
 
 idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacri- 
 fice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon 
 them, that they may labour therein, and let them 
 not regard vain words/' 
 
 " And the taskmasters of the people [Egyptians] 
 went out, and their officers, [Israelites] and they 
 spake to the people saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, 
 I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw 
 where you can find it : yet not ought of your work 
 shall be diminished. 
 
 " So the people were scattered abroad throughout 
 all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble instead of 
 straw. 
 
 " And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, Ful- 
 fil your works, even your daily works, as when 
 there was straw. 
 
 " And the officers of the children of Israel, which 
 Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were 
 beaten, saying, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your 
 daily task both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore ? 
 Then came the officers of the children of Israel and 
 cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou 
 thus with thy servants ? There is no straw given 
 unto thy servants, and they say unto us, Make brick, 
 and behold thy servants are beaten ; but the fault 
 is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, 
 ye are idle : therefore ye say, Let us go and do 
 sacrifice to Jehovah. Go therefore now and work : 
 
316 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye 
 deliver the tale of bricks/' Exod. v. 6 — 18. 
 
 It was on the third day after the delivery of God's 
 message that the disgusting scene took place which 
 is described at the conclusion of this passage. To 
 comment upon ; or to amplify it, would be only to 
 weaken its effect. 
 
 That bricks made of Nile mud, held together* 
 with chopped straw, have at all times, from the 
 beginning until now, been used for building in 
 Egypt is well known. It is not equally well known, 
 that in the ancient kingdom, bricks made by the 
 king's slaves for public works, were all stamped with 
 the name of the reigning Pharaoh. Bricks made in 
 eighty different reigns were collected in Egypt by 
 the Prussian commission. (1843.) 
 
 Another circumstance connected with the brick- 
 work of Ancient Egypt is also well worthy of note. 
 The temples and palaces of Ramses at Thebes are 
 distinguished from those of all the other kings of 
 Egypt, by the enormous size of the quadrangular 
 precincts that surround them, and by the vast series 
 of ruined halls, corridors, and oval cells with which 
 they are crowded. All these, together with the 
 wall that encloses the precinct, were built of bricks 
 of Nile mud, all of them stamped with the name of 
 Ramses. Not dwelling upon the strong presumptive 
 evidence afforded hereby, that he was the king that 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 31 7 
 
 knew not Joseph, (the proof of that being sufficiently 
 clear without it), we find from hence also, that the 
 captive Israelites had been from the first principally 
 employed upon the unskilled and very debasing 
 drudgery of making bricks. There is no violation 
 of probability in the supposition, that the works 
 now especially in hand, would be such precincts and 
 outer buildings for the numerous temples erected by 
 the grandfather of Sethos in the Delta ; and that 
 by this display of excessive zeal for his own gods, 
 and of contempt for the God of the oppressed peo- 
 ple, whom his grandfather's subtle treachery had 
 made the public slaves, he should endeavour to 
 atone to the priesthood for the act of abominable 
 impiety he had just committed in the valley of the 
 kings, and to appease the justly offended prejudices 
 of his Egyptian subjects generally. 
 
 The picture representing Israelite malefactors 
 (Levites ? ) at work making bricks in the tomb of 
 Rekshare, one of the architects of Thothmosis, is 
 moreover highly illustrative of the passage before 
 us. We find from it, that the Egyptian as well as 
 the Israelite task-masters, were beaten when the 
 work failed, and also that they were in that case 
 themselves set to work by the superior officers of 
 the king. 
 
 The season of the year at which these transac- 
 tions took place, appears from the inspired narrative 
 
318 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 of them. It was shortly after the wheat-harvest, 
 and the plains of the Delta were yet covered with 
 the long stubble left by the reapers, who in Ancient, 
 as in Modern Egypt, cut off the corn close to the 
 ear. Instead of being any more supplied with straw 
 from the threshing-floors, which was short enough 
 to be at once available for mixture with the clay, 
 without cutting, the tyrant will compel them to go . 
 forth and collect the stubble, and cut it, and yet 
 not all diminish the tale of the bricks. The wheat- 
 harvest is over in Egypt about the end of April ; at 
 the time when the Nile is at the lowest, and the 
 hot sand-wind from the Sahara blows incessantly 
 across the valley of the Nile for fifty days, render- 
 ing it as barren in appearance, and in temperature 
 as intolerable as the surrounding deserts. It was 
 into this burning atmosphere that the Israelites 
 were driven forth to waste their strength and lives 
 upon their impossible tasks. 
 
 " And the officers of the children of Israel did 
 see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye 
 shall not minish ought from your bricks, of your 
 daily task. 
 
 " And they met Moses and Aaron who stood in 
 the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And 
 they said unto them, Jehovah shall see you, and 
 shall judge how ye have made our savour to stink 
 in the sight (perception) of Pharaoh, and in the 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 319 
 
 sight of his servants, even to the putting of a sword 
 into their hands to slay us. 
 
 "And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, 
 Lord, why is it that thou hast sent me ? wherefore 
 hast thou so evil entreated this people ? For since 
 I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath 
 done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered 
 thy people at all. 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Now shalt thou 
 see what I will do to Pharaoh : for with a strong 
 hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand 
 shall he drive them out of his land/' Exodus v. 
 19—23 ; vi. 1. 
 
 The third day has scarcely yet declined in Egypt 
 since the first interview of Moses and Aaron with 
 Pharaoh. Yet the faith of Moses, and of all Israel, 
 has broken down, because they are not already de- 
 livered from their oppressors. Their faith must be 
 increased. This is a condition of spiritual gifts, 
 inseparable from the religion of Jehovah under all 
 its dispensations. 
 
 " And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 
 I am Jehovah. I appeared unto Abraham, and 
 unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, under [the name of ] 
 Elshaddai, but in my name Jehovah, did I not make 
 myself known unto them. Yet did I establish my 
 covenant with them, to give them the land of Ca- 
 naan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they 
 
320 ISEAEL m EGYPT. 
 
 were strangers. Now also I have heard the groan- 
 ing of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians 
 keep in bondage, and I have remembered my cove- 
 nant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel ; 
 
 " I Jehovah will surely bring you out from under 
 the burdens of Egypt. 
 
 " Yea, and I will deliver you from their service. 
 
 " And I will redeem you with a stretched-out. 
 arm, and with great judgments. 
 
 " And I will take you to me for a people. 
 
 " And I will be to you for a God. 
 
 " And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, 
 
 " Who bringeth you forth from under the burdens 
 of Egypt. 
 
 " And I will bring you into the land, 
 
 " Which I lifted up my hand to give it, 
 
 " To Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 
 
 " Now will I give it to you for a possession. Even 
 I, Jehovah. 
 
 " And Moses spake unto the children of Israel ; 
 but they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of 
 spirit, and for cruel bondage." Exodus vi. 1 — 9. 
 
 This is a very remarkable passage. The Israelites 
 are groaning, bleeding, and dying by hundreds un- 
 der the merciless inflictions of the task-masters of 
 Pharaoh. Moses, whose message from God had 
 been the sole cause, however unintentional, of this 
 fearful increase of their sufferings, expostulates with 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 321 
 
 God upon the present distressing effect of his mes- 
 sage, so different from that which he, as well as 
 Israel, had anticipated. God's answer is addressed 
 to the wants, and not to the wishes ; to the faith, 
 and not to the sufferings, either of Moses or Israel. 
 For the confirmation thereof, he vouchsafes to them 
 a two-fold revelation of his own thoughts. 
 
 He assumes to himself a new name. By the name 
 Mshaddai, he was known to the whole earth. Egypt 
 knew it familiarly, and habitually profaned it by 
 applying it to the whole host of her men and women 
 gods, dead and alive ! * Jehovah is his new name, 
 whereby he will reveal himself to Israel only, and 
 to his sons, whether of the flesh or of the faith. 
 
 In His second revelation of himself to Moses, God 
 was pleased to repeat and solemnly ratify the Abra- 
 hamic blessing and covenant in a prophetic hymn 
 or ode. 
 
 God's message of peace was faithfully delivered, 
 but the faith of his people was as yet too weak to 
 receive it. The spirit of Israel was not attuned to 
 the song of Moses. It was " as vinegar upon nitre/' 
 to his " heavy heart/' Prov. xxv. 20. 
 
 * ^1W m vS Gr. iravTOKpaTup " God almighty. The hieroglyphic tran- 
 scription of this name of God 0^ iri or el-chet 4 ' the doer of all things " 
 
 is a constant epithet in the texts both of the gods and kings of Ancient 
 Egypt. It is applied to Ramses the oppressor of Israel on hundreds of 
 monuments yet in existence. 
 
 Y 
 
322 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " And Jehovah spake unto Moses saying, Go in 
 and [command unto] Pharaoh the king of Egypt 
 that he send the children of Israel out of his 
 land. 
 
 " And Moses spake before Jehovah saying, Be- 
 hold the children of Israel have not hearkened unto 
 me. How then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of 
 uncircumcised lips ? 
 
 " And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, 
 and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, 
 and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the chil- 
 dren of Israel out of the land of Egypt/' Verses 10 
 —13, 28—30. 
 
 The faith of Moses and Aaron must now undergo 
 a yet severer test. With no other defence than the 
 promise of God, — with no other weapon than the 
 message of God, — they are again to go into the pre- 
 sence of the rabid tyrant, and deliver to him the 
 words of God as the mandate of a king ! It is not 
 easy to conceive of a commission involving more 
 imminent personal peril. It was ever thus : they 
 whom God designs to do eminent service to his 
 cause, must be prepared for it by searching trials of 
 their confidence in him. " Without faith it is im- 
 possible to please God/' Heb. xi. 6. 
 
 " And Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold I will 
 make thee as God unto Pharaoh, and Aaron thy 
 brother will I make thy prophet. Thou shalt speak 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 323 
 
 all that I command thee : yea, Aaron thy brother 
 shall command Pharaoh to send the children of 
 Israel out of his land. 
 
 " But I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multi- 
 ply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, 
 Yea Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I 
 may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine 
 host, even the people of the children of Israel, out 
 of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And all 
 Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch 
 forth my hand over Egypt, and bring forth the 
 children of Israel from the midst of you [0 inhabit- 
 ants thereof!] 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah com- 
 manded them ; so did they/' Exod, vii. 1 — 6. 
 
 To encourage his servants in the arduous and 
 perilous mission on which he sent them forth, God 
 was pleased to raise yet higher the veil that hid the 
 glorious future from their gaze. Now is faith tri- 
 umphant ! They go forth in the name of Jehovah 
 and doubt no longer. 
 
 " And Jehovah spake unto Moses [by the way] 
 saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, 
 Give ye forth a sign, then thou shalt say unto 
 Aaron, Take thy staff and cast it before Pharaoh ; 
 it shall become a serpent. 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh 5 
 and they did so as Jehovah had commanded ; and 
 
 Y 2 
 
.324 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh, and be- 
 fore his servants, and it became a serpent. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and 
 the sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt. They 
 also did in like manner with their enchantments. 
 For they cast down every man his staff, and they 
 became serpents : but Aaron's staff swallowed up 
 their staves. Yet Pharaoh's heart was strong [ob- 
 stinate] that he hearkened not unto them, as Jeho- 
 vah had said/' Exod. vii. 8 — 13. 
 
 The issue of this their second interview with 
 Pharaoh had been foretold. The supernatural 
 powers of the false gods of Egypt are called forth 
 to assist the delusion of the infatuated monarch. 
 It is now happily no longer needful to show the 
 reality of the powers possessed by the ministers of 
 the Egyptian idolatry, or to combat the ignorant 
 illogical assumption that they practised tricks of 
 jugglery on this and other similar occasions. Had 
 they done so, the miracles of Moses and Aaron were 
 the most powerful means of helping forward their 
 delusion that could possibly have been devised, and 
 the Grod in whose name they performed them, min- 
 istered to the sin of the idolatrous priests of Egypt ! 
 
 The epithets and titles of the various orders of 
 the Egyptian priesthood are not yet well ascer- 
 tained. There are but few students of a vast sub- 
 ject, so that the progress of Egyptian archaeology is 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 325 
 
 now necessarily but slow. More than to state that 
 they are all Egyptian words written with Hebrew 
 characters, we do not, for this reason, enter upon 
 their derivation. 
 
 " And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart 
 is hardened ; he refuseth to let the people go. Get 
 thee unto Pharaoh in the morning ; lo, he goeth 
 out unto the water ; and thou shalt stand by the 
 river's brink against he come ; and the staff that 
 was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand. 
 And thou shalt say unto him, Jehovah the Grod of 
 the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee to say, Let my 
 people go, that they may serve me in the wilder- 
 ness : and behold, hitherto thou wouldst not hear. 
 Thus saith Jehovah, In this shalt thou know that I 
 Jehovah [am Grod]. Behold I [Aaron] will smite 
 with the staff in my hand upon the waters in the 
 Nile, and they shall be turned to blood. And the 
 fish that is in the river shall die, and the Nile shall 
 stink, and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the 
 water of the Nile. 
 
 "And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, 
 Take thy staff, and stretch out thy hand upon the 
 waters of Egypt, upon the canals, mnro, upon the 
 branches of the Nile, nV")NV, and upon their pools, 
 D2N, and upon all their tanks of water, mpft, that 
 they may become blood, and that there may be 
 blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in the 
 channels of wood and in the channels of stone. 
 
326 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron did so as Jehovah com- 
 manded, and Aaron lifted up the staff and smote 
 the waters that were in the Nile, in the sight of 
 Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants ; and all 
 the waters that were in the Nile were turned to 
 blood. And the fish that was in the Nile died, and 
 the Nile stank, and the Egyptians could not drink 
 of the water of the Nile. And there was blood - 
 throughout all the land of Egypt. 
 
 " And the magicians of Egypt did so with their 
 enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened ; 
 neither did he hearken unto them, as Jehovah had 
 said. Yea, Pharaoh turned and went to his house, 
 setting not at all his heart upon the matter. 
 
 " And all Egypt digged on the banks of the Nile 
 for water to drink ; for they could not drink the 
 water of the Nile/' Exodus vii. 14—24. 
 
 The entire agreement of this passage, with all the 
 circumstances and accessories under which we have 
 assumed from the analogy of other passages, that 
 the event must have occurred, is well worthy of 
 note, and very extraordinary. 
 
 Pharaoh Sethos was residing at Ramses, in the 
 western Delta. The site of this city is about six 
 miles further west than the Bolbatine, or western- 
 most mouth of the Nile. (See Map.) This circum- 
 stance is clearly intimated in the narrative. Pha- 
 raoh would " go out unto the water " on the morn- 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 827 
 
 ing following the last interview. Moses and Aaron 
 were to stand by the brink of the Nile against he 
 came 
 
 The occasion on which Sethos went in procession 
 to the edge of the Nile, surrounded by the civil and 
 ecclesiastical authorities of Egypt, must have been 
 a stated and a solemn one. The period of the year 
 at which the transaction occurred, makes it appa- 
 rent that such would actually be the case. The 
 yearly overflow had just begun. The river had 
 risen considerably. The first change in the appear- 
 ance of the waters had already taken place. This 
 is called, from the colour they assume, " the Green 
 Nile/' It is occasioned by the stagnant pools on 
 the plains of Ethiopia, the contents of which are 
 propelled into the bed of the river by the rise of the 
 flood. The Nile water is then unfit to drink for 
 three or four days, and the Egyptians prepare against 
 it by storing the water in tanks and pools before its 
 commencement. It is just at the time of this phe- 
 nomenon (about the middle of June) that the stubble 
 is collected into heaps in the wheat-fields, in order 
 to burn it. It was the sight of the stubble yet 
 abroad that had doubtless suggested to Sethos the 
 cruel expedient of withholding straw from the 
 Israelite workmen. He designed thereby to save 
 this labour to the Egyptians. 
 
 In this state of the river it was the duty of 
 
328 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Pharaoh in person, and attended by the pomp of a 
 religious procession, to inspect the waters, in order 
 to decide upon the ceremonies of worship which 
 were requisite, and upon the sluices of irrigation 
 which were then to be opened. Every thing con- 
 nected with the Nile was religion in Ancient Egypt. 
 Over every different phase of the overflow a sepa- 
 rate god presided : and to open the sluice which 
 diverted its sacred waters one day before the pre- 
 scription, or to keep it open one day after, were 
 both mortal sins in the code of her mythology. On 
 such an occasion, and for such a purpose, Sethos 
 went down in state to the brink of the Nile, to 
 direct the observances which were prescribed by 
 religion on the appearance of the next phenomenon 
 in the course of the overflow. In this second condi- 
 tion of the Nile, the waters are deeply tinged with 
 the ferruginous clay of the lower hills and plains 
 over which they flow at the commencement of their 
 devious course. This change is called from its colour, 
 the Red Nile, and on its first appearance the broad 
 turbid tide certainly has a startling resemblance to 
 a river of blood : we can testify to this fact, having 
 seen it. Of this natural occurrence the God of 
 Israel was pleased miraculously to avail himself in 
 order to rebuke the obduracy of Sethos. The ap- 
 pearance became reality when Aaron lifted his staff. 
 The red waters of the overflow were changed into 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 329 
 
 that which they seemed to be ; clotted blood, reek- 
 ing and rotting in the burning sun of Egypt. The 
 plague extended throughout all the branches of the 
 Nile, and the canals and channels of irrigation, whe- 
 ther of wood or stone. In the reedy pools formed by 
 the waste waters on the edge of the desert, in the 
 tanks and reservoirs which supplied the garden and 
 the city with this indispensable requisite for life 
 in Egypt, all was blood. The fish died, the river 
 stank, and the Egyptians loathed to drink of its 
 water, just at the time when this most delicious 
 and refreshing of draughts is in its highest per- 
 fection. 
 
 If any doubt had before existed that the scene 
 of this terrific display of the power of God was the 
 Delta, the phraseology of the present passage must 
 have removed it. Nowhere else in Egypt could the 
 expressions whereby the several receptacles of the 
 waters of the Nile are signified, have been used with 
 any propriety. One only of them will require 
 special notice. The word we render " Nile/' is 
 Egyptian. Heb. nN\ Coptic iaro. Hieroglyphic I] ||| 
 This word is never used but of the Nile and its 
 natural branches ; so that the expression " Niles/" 
 decides the question of the locality definitively. 
 There is but one Nile anywhere in Egypt, save in 
 the Delta only. 
 
 The haughty tyrant is once more encouraged in 
 
330 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 his obduracy by the display of the same miraculous 
 power in the priesthood of his own idolatry. He 
 makes light of God's message, disdains any reply to 
 His messengers, and returns in state to his palace 
 at Ramses. 
 
 This terrible judgment was confined to the Delta, 
 the principal scene of the oppression and sufferings 
 of Israel. The fact appears in the circumstance- 
 that sweet water was still to be obtained by digging 
 in the sand at the banks of the river. This was the 
 water of the inundation of the higher parts of the 
 valley that filtered through. 
 
 " And seven days were fulfilled after that the 
 Lord had smitten the Nile/' Verse 25. 
 
 This is just about the time that would be required 
 for the inundation to pass from the head of the 
 Delta to the sea. In the course of it, the loathsome 
 putrescence rolled onward before the waters of the 
 rising flood which restored the Nile to its ordinary 
 condition. " In the midst of wrath, Grod remembers 
 mercy." 
 
 " And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Gro unto Pha- 
 raoh, and speak unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Let 
 my people go, that they may serve me. Else if thou 
 refuse to let them go, behold I will smite all thy 
 borders with frogs. And the Nile shall bring forth 
 frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into 
 thine house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 331 
 
 thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and 
 upon thy people, and into their ovens, and into thy 
 kneading-troughs, and the frogs shall come up both 
 upon thee and upon thy people, and upon all thy 
 servants. 
 
 u And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, 
 Stretch forth thy hand with thy staff over the 
 canals, and over the Niles, and over the pools, that 
 the frogs may come up over the land of Egypt. 
 And Aaron stretched forth his hand over the wa- 
 ters of Egypt ; and the frogs came up and covered 
 the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with 
 their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the 
 land of Egypt. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and 
 said, Intreat Jehovah that he may take away the 
 frogs from me and from my people, and I will let 
 the people go, that they may do sacrifice to Jeho- 
 vah. And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Declare to me 
 when I shall intreat for thee and for thy people, to 
 destroy the frogs from thee and from thy houses, 
 that they may remain in the Nile only. And he 
 said, To-morrow. And he said, Be it according to 
 thy word, that thou mayest know that there is none 
 like unto Jehovah our God. For the frogs shall 
 depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from 
 thy servants, and from thy people. They shall re- 
 main in the Nile only. 
 
332 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, 
 and Moses cried unto Jehovah because of the frogs 
 that he had brought against Pharaoh. And Jeho- 
 vah did according to the word of Moses ; and the 
 frogs died out of the houses, out of the cities, and 
 out of the fields. And they gathered them to- 
 gether upon heaps, and the land stank. 
 
 " But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, 
 he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto 
 them, as Jehovah had said/' Exod. viii. 1 — 15. 
 
 This is again the natural appearance next in the 
 order of occurrence to the Red Nile, and of it also 
 the God of nature availed himself to vindicate his 
 power before Pharaoh, and before Egypt. The Nile, 
 its branches and the great canals of irrigation are 
 all bank-full, and the exuberant moisture has 
 aroused from their summer torpor into life and ac- 
 tivity the frogs of the Nile, in numbers inconceivable 
 to those who have not been in hot countries. Even 
 in ordinary years the annoyance of these loathsome 
 creatures night and day, gives some idea of what 
 this plague must have been, and renders abundantly 
 reasonable the creation of a goddess, Ranipula* at 
 the very commencement of the mythology of an- 
 cient Egypt. In the whole of this fearful succes- 
 
 * " Driver away of frogs." Her name was Heki : Birch ap. Bunsen. 
 She was the Buto of the Greek authors. 
 
THE PLAGUES OE EGYPT. 333 
 
 sion of judgments, there is not one more personally 
 revolting than the plague of frogs. 
 
 " And the magicians did so with their enchant- 
 ments, and brought up frogs upon the land of 
 Egypt/' Probably out of the tanks or impluvia in 
 the centre of the open courts round which their 
 temples were built. But were there not frogs 
 enough upon the land of Egypt already ? "Why 
 bring up more ? A more useful display of their 
 supernatural attainments would have consisted in 
 calling forth the frog-expelling energies of the 
 goddess to whom they had entrusted this needful 
 office. That would have affected the whole ques- 
 tion between Jehovah and the gods of Egypt. The 
 power of Moses and the priests both flowed from 
 the same source. The ministers of the idols can 
 somewhat divert its course, so as to encourage the 
 reprobate king in his wickedness, but they can no 
 more turn it back upon Him who sent it forth, 
 than the loiterer on the sea-beach can roll back the 
 rising tide with his staff. 
 
 The frogs are in Pharaoh's palace, in the halls 
 and rooms of state, in the offices and secret cham- 
 bers, on his table and on his bed. The food of him- 
 self and his family is polluted by them. The palace 
 rings incessantly with their hideous croakings, 
 when undisturbed ; and with their yet more dis- 
 cordant shrieks and yells when attacked and in 
 
334 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 danger. He could laugh at the river running blood, 
 for Ramses was on the extreme border of Egypt, 
 and water might be had for the supply of the palace 
 from the springs in the desert. But now he suffers 
 personally. There is no rest night or day. His 
 family expostulates, and Pharaoh relents. Jehovah 
 hears the prayer of his servant. The frogs die, or 
 leave the land for the river. With them the re- . 
 lentings of Pharaoh depart also, as Jehovah had said. 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, 
 Stretch forth thy staff and smite the dust of the 
 land, and it shall become gnats [musquitoes] in all 
 the land of Egypt. And he did so, and Aaron lifted 
 up his staff, and smote the dust of the land, and it 
 became gnats upon man and upon beast, all the dust 
 of the land became gnats throughout all the land of 
 Egypt. 
 
 " And the magicians did so with their enchant- 
 ments to bring forth gnats, but they could not. Yet 
 there were gnats upon man and upon beast. Then 
 the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger 
 of a god. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and 
 he hearkened not unto them, as Jehovah had said/' 
 Exod. viii. 16—19. 
 
 The overflow has risen above the level of the 
 canals and channels, and is rapidly flowing over the 
 entire surface. The fine dust or powder, into which 
 the Nile mud of last year's overflow is triturated. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 335 
 
 and with which the fields are entirely covered, now 
 presents a very extraordinary phenomenon. Imme- 
 diately on its being moistened with the waters, 
 gnats and flies innumerable burst from their pupae, 
 and spring into perfect existence. The eggs that 
 produce them were laid in the retiring waters of 
 the former flood. They have matured in the in- 
 terval, and they vivify instantaneously that the dust 
 has absorbed moisture enough to discolour it. As 
 the flood advances slowly onwards, a black line of 
 living insects on its extreme verge moves with it, 
 The sight of them, and of the birds and fishes that 
 prey upon them, is a curious and a wonderful one. 
 Once more the God of all the earth avails himself 
 of the natural Qvent actually occurring in the course 
 of the year in Egypt. Aaron lifts his staff over the 
 teeming dust, and the swollen germs of insect life 
 that are mingled with it break forth into mosquitoes, 
 a fearful pest in Egypt, but principally confined to 
 the coast in the present day. 
 
 The priests once more go forth and sing their in- 
 cantations and mutter their charms over the dust, 
 but the permissive power of the spirits that obeyed 
 them is withdrawn, and no musquitoes appear at 
 their bidding. The conviction was forced upon 
 them which they declared to Pharaoh. The finger 
 of the God of Israel was more powerful than all the 
 gods of Egypt, However, by the aid of curtains 
 
336 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 and attendants, the apartments of the palace would 
 be kept tolerably free from the buzzing swarms that 
 were tormenting his subjects outside. Sethos suf- 
 fered but little personal inconvenience, and there- 
 fore the expostulations of his own priests were as 
 little regarded as those of Moses and Aaron. He 
 hardened his heart, and hearkened to neither of 
 them, " as Jehovah had said." 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Rise up early 
 in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh ; lo, he 
 cometh forth to the water ; and say unto him, Thus 
 saith Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may 
 serve me. Else if thou wilt not let my people go, 
 behold I will send swarms upon thee, and upon thy 
 people, and upon thy houses ; and the houses of the 
 Egyptians shall be full of swarms, and also the land 
 around them. 
 
 " And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen 
 in which the people dwell, that no swarms shall be 
 there ; to the end that thou mayest know that I 
 am Jehovah in the midst of the land [of Egypt] ; 
 therefore will I put a division between my people 
 and thy people. To-morrow shall this sign be. 
 
 " And Jehovah did so, and there came a grievous 
 swarm into the house of Pharaoh, and into his ser- 
 vants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt ; and 
 the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm/' 
 Exod. viii. 20—24. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 337 
 
 The overflow being nearly at its height, it seems 
 to have been the custom of Egypt, in all ages, for 
 the supreme ruler to go forth in solemn procession 
 to the brink of the Nile, and there with much cere- 
 mony to direct the opening of the sluices at the 
 mouths of the great canals ; the occasion being fur- 
 ther marked by feasts and rejoicings which last for 
 many days. 
 
 Here again also the messenger of Jehovah met 
 Pharaoh Sethos. The threatened plague on this 
 occasion also, we believe to have been the natural 
 phenomenon next in order of occurrence. At this 
 period of the overflow, when so much of the country 
 is under water, the common flies infest the cities of 
 Egypt* to a fearful extent. The attempt to read the 
 word, rightly translated " swarms, " (pDV) of some 
 blood-fly, is altogether supererogatory, to those who 
 have actually experienced the torment of the common 
 fly in Egypt, during the overflow, at the present day. 
 The plague of flies will take its place as a round in 
 the entire climax of the plagues, without the aid of 
 any such interpretation. 
 
 Groshen, " the land of flowers," was at first the 
 name of a district in the east of the Delta. It was 
 there that Israel and his tribe were first located. It 
 was also, like Ramses, a name for the whole Delta. 
 The Egyptians in the Delta were principally settlers 
 brought thither by the Pharaoh of that name. We 
 
 z 
 
338 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 infer from this passage that they were for the most 
 part located in the western portion of it, around the 
 city of Ramses. The Israelites still clung to the set- 
 tlements of their forefathers, and inhabited Goshen 
 and its eastern portions. 
 
 " And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, 
 and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 
 
 " And Moses said, It is not meet so to do : for ■ 
 we shall sacrifice the dread [or reverence] of Egypt 
 to Jehovah our God : see now, may we sacrifice the 
 dread of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will 
 they not stone us ? We must go three days' journey 
 into the wilderness, to sacrifice to Jehovah our God 
 as he shall command us. 
 
 " And Pharaoh said, I will send you forth, and 
 ye shall sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilder- 
 ness, only go not very far away [but] intreat for me. 
 
 " And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, 
 and I will intreat Jehovah that the swarms may 
 depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from 
 his people to-morrow : but let not Pharaoh act de- 
 ceitfully any more in not sending forth the people 
 to sacrifice to Jehovah. 
 
 " And Moses went out from Pharaoh and intreated 
 Jehovah. And Jehovah did according to the word 
 of Moses, and removed the swarms from Pharaoh, 
 from his servants, and from his people. There re- 
 mained not one. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 339 
 
 " And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time 
 also ; neither would he let the people go/' Exodus 
 viii. 25—32. 
 
 No curtains, no precautions, no assiduity on the 
 part of attendants can keep out the flies of Egypt. 
 They creep in at every crevice, however minute, 
 through which the air circulates. It will only be 
 by a detail of actual and personal suffering from 
 this pest in an ordinary year, that the amount of 
 torment they are capable of inflicting will appear to 
 those who have not been to Egypt ; and these details 
 are too revolting. It may suffice to remark, that 
 the suffering from the nausea that ensued when a 
 fly was accidentally swallowed, and from the count- 
 less swarms of them that settled on every morsel of 
 food, the moment it was exposed to them, had 
 nearly in one instance issued in loss of life during 
 the inundation of 1848. The cause of these fearful 
 swarms was, on that occasion, rendered perfectly 
 apparent. Not only has a far greater number been 
 hatched (as we have already explained), but so 
 large a proportion of the whole land being under 
 water, their supply of food is greatly diminished by 
 the circumstance ; so that they are literally mad 
 with hunger, and throw themselves headlong upon 
 whatever offers to satiate it. They rush into an 
 apartment in which food is set forth like a snow- 
 storm, and in spite of all the attendants can do, 
 
 z 2 
 
340 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 every drinking-vessel is filled with them, and they 
 are heaped in huge black masses alive and dead 
 upon every dish. Nothing escapes their voracity. 
 Bread and fruit are polluted by them just as eagerly 
 as animal food. We have described that which we 
 saw under the ordinary circumstances of the over- 
 flow. What the plague must have been when Je- 
 hovah " hissed to the fly " from the entire Delta, 
 and settled their noisome swarms upon the narrow 
 strip of country around the city of Ramses, we must 
 confess our own utter inability to imagine. From 
 the inspired narrative before us, we may form some 
 judgment of their numbers. They died of hunger 
 in such quantities, that their bodies rotted on the 
 mud, and corrupted the land. The amount of tor- 
 ment they inflicted we also learn from thence. The 
 suffering bowed the stiff-neck and smote the stout 
 heart of Pharaoh Sethos. 
 
 Oxen, sheep, and goats were all worshipped as 
 gods in Egypt. To have offered them in sacrifice 
 would have been to have slain the gods of Egypt 
 before the eyes of their worshippers. Such would 
 evidently have been the impression which such an 
 act would have produced. These animals were 
 slaughtered in Egypt for food, not for worship. 
 
 Of course Sethos disregarded and laughed at his 
 promise, the moment the plague was removed. 
 Doubtless he still laid the flattering unction to his 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 341 
 
 soul, that Jehovah was after all like his own idols, 
 only a little more powerful. The enchanters are 
 already beaten. Moses will yield after this or ano- 
 ther trial, and then Sethos will be master of the 
 field. 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Go in unto 
 Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the 
 god of the Hebrews, Send forth my people, that they 
 may serve me ; for if thou refuse to send them forth, 
 and holdest them still, Behold the hand of Jehovah 
 is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the 
 horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the 
 oxen and upon the sheep, even a very grievous mur 
 rain. And Jehovah shall sever between the cattle 
 of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. There shall no- 
 thing die of all that is the children's of Israel. 
 
 cc And Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, To- 
 morrow shall Jehovah do this thing in the land. 
 And Jehovah did that thing on the morrow, for all 
 the cattle of Egypt died ; but of the cattle of the 
 children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, 
 and behold, there had died not one of the cattle of 
 Israel. 
 
 " Yet the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and 
 he would not send the people forth." Exodus ix. 
 1—7. 
 
 From those marvellous treasure-houses of ancient 
 knowledge, the tombs of Egypt, we have the perfect 
 
342 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 illustration of this plague, and of the natural causes 
 of which, in the unity of this his dispensation, the 
 Grod of nature was again pleased to avail himself. 
 The inundation had advanced considerably, and the 
 pastures of the Delta were now under water. This 
 was an anxious time for the herdsmen of Egypt. 
 The cattle were penned for the night in mounds 
 above the level of the water. In the day-time they 
 were driven forth before the herdsmen into the 
 higher parts of the fields, where the water permitted 
 them to browse upon the young shoots of the lentils 
 that were sprouting abundantly in the fertile mud 
 below. The herdsmen, some in papyrus rafts, 
 others wading or swimming, were in constant and 
 anxious attendance upon them, to keep them out 
 of the deep water, and to protect them from the 
 crocodiles. 
 
 The cattle of Egypt were also at this season in 
 requisition for an agricultural purpose of great im- 
 portance in the tillage of the land. The seeds of 
 many species of lentils, vetches, and other similar 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 
 
 343 
 
 plants, were scattered upon tlie surface of the water 
 at the beginning of the inundation, and trodden in by 
 the cattle, great and small, so as to secure them in 
 the mud, that they might not be washed away by the 
 retreating waters. This was accomplished by inces- 
 santly driving them through the plashy mud, back- 
 wards and forwards, by men armed with heavy whips. 
 
 The cattle suffered greatly from these operations, 
 so contrary to their ordinary habits. This circum- 
 stance is most significantly represented in these 
 ancient reliefs. In the same plane, with cattle in 
 the water, are also diseased cattle, tended by skilled 
 herdsmen who are administering medicine to them. 
 
344 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 This picture we believe to be thus associated with 
 cattle in the water in every tomb in which it is 
 repeated. 
 
 These were, so to speak, the suggestive circum- 
 stances of the present plague. In the administra- 
 tion of it, however, a character more decidedly 
 miraculous and discriminative was imparted to it 
 than to any of the former plagues. The murrain 
 seizes the camels and horses of Pharaoh and his 
 princes in the desert, as well as their cattle in 
 Egypt. Yet the cattle of Israel, intermixed with 
 the cattle of Egypt, breathing the same air, browz- 
 ing the same marshes, are miraculously free from 
 the ordinary unhealthiness of the season. All the 
 cattle of Egypt died of the murrain ; but of the 
 cattle of Israel there died not one. Sethos sent and 
 ascertained this wonderful fact. Yet he went on 
 still in his wickedness : he refused to let the people 
 go. The cattle of Egypt were all dead. He will 
 seize upon the cattle of Israel. This was, doubtless, 
 the suggestion that Satan put into his heart. 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, 
 Take to you handfuls of ashes of the burning,* and 
 let Moses sprinkle it towards heaven in the sight of 
 Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all 
 
 * )t?M " conflagration," " tract of country on fire." See Genesis 
 xix.28; Exodus xix. 18, which are the only other places in the Bible 
 where this word occurs. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 345 
 
 the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth 
 with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout 
 all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the 
 burning and stood before Pharaoh ; and Moses 
 sprinkled it up toward heaven ; and it became a 
 boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon 
 beast. 
 
 " And the magicians could not stand before Moses 
 because of the boils ; for the boil was upon the 
 magicians, and upon all Egypt. 
 
 " And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh, 
 and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had 
 spoken unto Moses/' Exodus ix. 8 — 12. 
 
 Again in strict analogy to the actual succession 
 of the phenomena of the yearly overflow in Egypt, 
 Jehovah selects the next occurrence in the course 
 of it for the instrument of his vengeance upon Pha- 
 raoh. The inundation has touched its highest point, 
 aud the last great work of the husbandman is now 
 being performed. The stubble and the weeds of the 
 low lands have all been carefully gathered off and 
 collected upon the highest mounds, which at the 
 present time are out of the reach of the overflow, 
 and to be watered with the shadoof or balance- 
 bucket. Here they are set on fire and burnt to 
 ashes. The custom seems to be universal in Egypt 
 at the present day. The cotemporary monuments 
 are our unerring authority for stating in addition 
 
346 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 that it prevailed also in Ancient Egypt, Every 
 occupation in agriculture being associated with 
 religion, it was celebrated there in a high and 
 solemn festival, lasting probably for some days, the 
 first day of the feast being named ^j[^ rkh*-na-hb 
 — " the feast of the greater burning ; " and the last 
 day, ^^^ : rkh-tsb-hb— ic the feast of the lesser 
 burning/' These names are of very frequent occur- * 
 rence. They seem to indicate that the heaps were 
 frequently fired in order to insure their entire de- 
 struction. There is the same superstitious notion 
 in Egypt at the present day. The peasants are 
 very particular in burning up the whole. 
 
 The highest land in Egypt now is that on the 
 brink of the river, and it is there that the burning 
 takes place. It is a strange but beautiful sight in 
 the thick darkness of an Egyptian night, to see the 
 river as far as both horizons rolling along between 
 two broad belts of fire. It is a yet stranger sight 
 in the day-time, when the smoke and ashes of these 
 conflagrations drive in whirls and eddies over the 
 land before the rude blasts of the Elesian wind. It 
 was gazing at this sight, and seeing the clothes of 
 all present covered with the light and feathery par- 
 ticles of the ashes, that it first occurred to us, that 
 this was the agent of God's vengeance in the plague 
 of boils ; though we did not then understand that 
 
 * Coptic, " to burn." 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 347 
 
 all the preceding plagues had in like manner been 
 produced through the agencies of the successive 
 phenomena of the overflow. It seemed to us then, 
 and it still seems to us, to solve entirely a great 
 difficulty connected with this miracle, according to 
 the common interpretation of the passage. Fuel is 
 scarce in Egypt, and in consequence fire for all pur- 
 poses is used in the smallest possible quantity, and 
 for the shortest possible time. This peculiarity in 
 the present customs of Egypt we find from the 
 paintings on the tombs to have always prevailed 
 there. The fires used both for cooking and the arts 
 were very inconsiderable. Under these circum- 
 stances it is hard to understand how a handful or 
 two of ashes thrown up from one furnace could be 
 diffused over an entire district to " become boils 
 breaking forth with Mains upon man and beast/' 
 But the difficulty vanishes altogether when we find 
 that it was the season for consuming the weeds and 
 field-refuse of all Egypt, and that the white ashes 
 of their burning was drifting in clouds before the 
 north wind, which at this time blows very fiercely. 
 Sethos appears to have been engaged in some 
 public pomp, prescribed for the observance of this 
 festival of the burnings, when Moses and Aaron 
 denounced and inflicted upon Egypt the plague of 
 boils. The magicians, or priests, suffered severely 
 from it, so much so that the ceremonial was proba- 
 
348 ISRAEL m EGYPT. 
 
 bly interrupted thereby ; but the inspired narrative 
 leaves us to infer that Pharaoh was not personally 
 inconvenienced by it. The fans of his attendants 
 at the time, and the cares of the guardian of the 
 king's apartments in the palace would accomplish 
 this without difficulty. The whole process of the 
 burning lasts but for a few days. The plague passed 
 away with that which Jehovah had miraculously ' 
 constituted the cause of it, and Pharaoh once more 
 despised the chastening of the Almighty. 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Rise up early 
 in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say 
 unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Abraham, 
 Send forth my people, that they may serve me. For 
 yet once again I send forth all my strokes [blows] 
 upon thy heart, [self] and upon thy servants, and 
 upon thy people ; that thou mayest know that there 
 is none like me in all the earth. For now again I 
 stretch forth my hand to smite thee and thy people 
 with plague ; then thou shalt be cut off from the 
 earth/' Exod. ix. 13—16. 
 
 The terms of this passage seems to imply the 
 lapse of some time after the occurrence of the events 
 narrated in that which precedes it. Such we shall 
 find by the passage that next follows to have been 
 actually the case. The condition of Israel during 
 this interval, we gather from the same kind of 
 occasional notices of it. The direct pressure of the 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 349 
 
 bondage had certainly ceased. It is never men- 
 tioned after the first plague. The overflow alone 
 would render the cessation of all great public works 
 of construction in Egypt a measure of necessity. 
 The gangs of forced labourers would on this occa- 
 sion return home to Goshen from the distant scenes 
 of their sufferings ; and the six fearful miracles of 
 judgment which God had displayed on their behalf 
 before the eyes of all Egypt, would present a per- 
 fectly effectual bar to the attempt on the part of 
 any one to reimpose their burdens upon them. Even 
 had Pharaoh been capable of such audacious 
 wickedness (of which there is no evidence) his sub- 
 jects would not have dared to have executed his 
 decrees. The question between Moses and Sethos 
 was now simply that of the departure out of Egypt. 
 The sufferings of the captivity were at an end. 
 
 Another equally important consideration is sug- 
 gested by this passage. Jehovah does not conde- 
 scend to Pharaoh. He hath a controversy with the 
 gods of Egypt. The king of Egypt he leaves to 
 Moses his servant. This was a style of interna- 
 tional communication well known in Egypt in those 
 days. To the treaty of the 21st of Ramses, which 
 had enslaved Israel, the high contracting parties 
 were Amun and Ptha, and Ra, (or the sun) for 
 Egypt ; and Ashtar and Ashtoreth for Moab. It is 
 in the conflict with this confederacy that Jehovah 
 
350 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 now brandishes his glittering sword. Who is 
 Pharaoh ? " Even a man that is a worm, and the 
 son of man that is a worm ! " 
 
 " And thou (Pharaoh) shalt be cut off from the 
 earth. For in very deed for this have I raised thee 
 up, to show in thee my power, and that my name 
 may be declared in all the earth/' Ver. 15, 16. 
 
 " What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteous- - 
 ness with God? God forbid. For he saith to 
 Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have 
 mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will 
 have compassion. So then it is not of him that 
 willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that 
 showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto 
 Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised 
 thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and 
 that my name might be declared throughout all the 
 earth. Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will, 
 and whom he will he hardeneth." Rom. ix. 14 — 18. 
 
 We give this text with its inspired commentary 
 without at all entering upon the mysterious question 
 which the Divine author of both addresses to the 
 faith, and not to the understanding of man. The 
 only remark upon the passage that is incumbent 
 upon us, we make with regret. For the sake of 
 chronological convenience it has been assumed by 
 some writers, that after all, Pharaoh did not perish 
 in this conflict with Jehovah, but survived for many 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 351 
 
 years the departure of Israel, and the destruction 
 of his army. If this really is the case, the history 
 before us is a fable, and the inspired comment we 
 have just quoted a mistake. Such defences are 
 mere subterfuges, deeply injurious to the cause they 
 are intended to serve. 
 
 " As yet exaltest thou (Pharaoh) thyself against 
 my people, that thou wilt not send them forth ? 
 Behold 3 to-morrow about this time, I will cause it 
 to rain a very grievous hail, such as there hath not 
 been in Egypt from the foundation thereof even 
 until now. Send therefore now, gather thy cattle 
 and all that thou hast in the field. Every man and 
 beast which shall be found in the field and not 
 brought home, the hail shall come down upon them 
 and they shall die. He that feared the word of 
 Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh made his 
 servants and his cattle flee into the houses. And 
 he that regarded not the word of Jehovah left his 
 servantsand his cattle in the fields. 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth 
 thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail 
 in all the land of Egypt, upon man and upon beast, 
 and upon every herb of the field throughout the 
 land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his staiF 
 toward heaven : and Jehovah sent thunder and 
 hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, and 
 Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So 
 
352 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very 
 grievous, such as there had been none like it in all 
 the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 
 
 " And the hail smote throughout all the land of 
 Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast ; 
 and the hail smote every herb of the field, and 
 brake every tree of the field. Only in the land of 
 Groshen, where the children of Israel were, was there 
 no hail." Ver. 17—26. 
 
 It is here again our painful duty to have to notice 
 another of the mistakes into which the Christian 
 commentators upon this history have fallen. Be- 
 tween the months of November and February, rain 
 and hail are not uncommon in the Delta and Middle 
 Egypt. They are most frequently accompanied by 
 thunder and lightning; and the storms are very 
 violent, though not of long continuance. Here 
 again then, God created no new thing in the earth, 
 as has been assumed in ignorance of the facts. He 
 merely displayed his mastery over the occurring 
 phenomena of the season. 
 
 The preface to the narrative of this plague implies, 
 as we have explained, a longer interval of time be- 
 tween it and the plague that preceded it, than had 
 been interposed between the previous plagues : so 
 that the entire visitation seems here to separate 
 into two sections. 
 
 An interval, then, has evidently elapsed. We 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 353 
 
 will endeavour very shortly to estimate this interval 
 more precisely. The overflow had attained its 
 height and gradually subsided, leaving throughout 
 Egypt successive flats of intense fertility, ready for 
 the labours of the husbandman. In the earlier 
 days of this interval, the prevalence of the waters 
 would prevent the progress of all great works of 
 construction in Egypt. Afterwards, all Egypt would 
 be abroad in the field and at work ; so that there 
 would be neither time nor men for building tem- 
 ples, and the forced labours of Israel would at this 
 season cease of necessity in good measure. 
 
 Sethos appears to have left the Delta for some 
 other part of his dominions at this time. Israel, in 
 his absence, had collected in Goshen around the 
 princes of the several tribes, and withdrawn them- 
 selves from their previous intermixture with the 
 Egyptians. This appears in the progress of the nar- 
 rative. Doubtless these movements took place at 
 the command of Jehovah, and under the direction 
 of Moses and Aaron. 
 
 The labours of the field being now ended, Sethos 
 has returned to the Delta. Probably enough, in 
 doing so, it had been in his heart and purpose, if 
 not in his counsels, to reimpose the burdens upon 
 Israel. 
 
 " And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and 
 Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this 
 
 2 A 
 
354 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 time. Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people 
 are wicked. It is enough. Intreat Jehovah that 
 there be no more voices of the gods (thunder) and 
 hail : and I will send you forth, and ye shall stay 
 no longer. 
 
 " And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am 
 gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands 
 unto Jehovah, and the thunder shall cease, neither 
 shall there be any more hail : that thou mayest 
 know that the land [of Egypt] is Jehovah's. But 
 as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will 
 not yet fear the Lord Jehovah. 
 
 " And the flax and the barley was smitten : for 
 the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled ; 
 but the wheat and the spelt* were not smitten, for 
 they were not grown up. 
 
 " And Moses went out of the city (Ramses) from 
 Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto Jeho- 
 vah : and the thunders and the hail ceased, and the 
 rain was not poured upon the earth. 
 
 " And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the 
 hail and the thunders ceased, he sinned yet more 
 and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Yea 
 the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would 
 he let the children of Israel go, as Jehovah had 
 spoken by Moses." Exod. ix. 27 — 35. 
 
 It is quite clear from this passage that Pharaoh 
 
 * J1DD3 " short awmed or beardless wheat." 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 355 
 
 and his councillors had from the first well under- 
 stood the strictly religious nature of the conflict 
 in which they were engaged, and betaken them- 
 selves to the gods of Egypt for aid against the Grod 
 of Israel. They had deemed (according to the doc- 
 trine of local gods which prevailed universally in 
 the ancient world) that it was a war between the 
 divine protectors of the two races ; that the powers 
 of the combatants were at the least evenly ba- 
 lanced, and that they had only to persevere, and the 
 victory might yet be with the gods of Egypt. It was 
 to expose the utter futility of these vain imagina- 
 tions that Jehovah was pleased to effect his own 
 purpose through the agencies of the several phe- 
 nomena of the Egyptian year in the cycle of their 
 ordinary occurrence, converting each in succession 
 into a fearful plague. For these were the divine 
 attributes with which the fables of their mythology 
 had invested the dead men and women whom they 
 worshipped as gods. In the instance now before 
 us the ritual of the gods of fire (the Eumenides, or 
 avenging gods) had been exhausted. Earnest 
 prayers, gorgeous processions, and costly sacrifices 
 had been offered in vain. The voice of a greater 
 than the idols still pealed through the heavens. 
 The lightnings of a mightier than they still flashed 
 in the eyes of their votaries, and ran along the 
 ground diffusing blight and ruin, and the hail and 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 rain continued hour after hour, yea, for successive 
 days, breaking the trees, beating down the growing 
 herbs into the mud, and destroying the hopes of the 
 gardens and the fields of Egypt. " Only in Goshen 
 where were the children of Israel was there no 
 hail/' The God of Israel then is contending with 
 the gods of Egypt, and the latter are utterly im- 
 potent before him to help either themselves or their 
 votaries. No fabling of the priests, no enchant- 
 ments of the magicians can veil the truth from the 
 eyes of all Egypt. It was in this dilemma that 
 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron,- and enacted a 
 brief scene of penitence before them. Most vain 
 mockery ! Moses was prescient of Pharaoh's hy- 
 pocrisy, but he was the minister of the God that 
 delighteth in mercy. For the sake, not of Pharaoh, 
 but of his subjects, the plague passes away and the 
 scene changes. Pharaoh and his councillors once 
 more defy the God of Israel. 
 
 The barley is in the ear, and the flax boiled in 
 Egypt at the present day, about the end of Decem- 
 ber and the beginning of January. This makes the 
 interval between the plague of boils and the plague 
 of hail about five months. Such a period would 
 seem to be implied by the tenor of the narrative. 
 All the varieties of wheat now cultivated in Egypt 
 are sown after the barley, when the land is much 
 drier, and are not carried until late in April. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 357 
 
 Whereas the barley - harvest is in February and 
 March. This was also the case in Ancient Egypt, 
 for at the time of the plague of hail the wheat was 
 not grown up. 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Go ye unto 
 Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the 
 heart of his servants, that I might shew these my 
 signs before him : 
 
 " Yea, that thou may est tell in the ears of thy 
 son, and of thy son's son, what things I have 
 wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done 
 among them ; that ye may know how that I am 
 Jehovah/' Exod. x. 1, 2. 
 
 After so fearful a display of the omnipotence of 
 Jehovah as the plague of hail, it is not in the na- 
 ture of man that Sethos and his councillors should 
 immediately on its cessation determine to disobey 
 the command, to enforce which it had been so ex- 
 pressly sent. Some weeks would doubtless first be 
 spent in parley, and equivocating with Moses and 
 Aaron. The fear of a return of the plague must be 
 removed to a safe distance, before the decision 
 which was in their hearts would be uttered by their 
 lips. The children of Israel in this interval would 
 complete the assembling of themselves in Goshen, 
 and be busily occupied with preparations for de- 
 parture. It was on the day that Pharaoh pro- 
 nounced his decision, and before Moses went to the 
 
358 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 king's palace to hear it, that he received the mes- 
 sage from God in the text before us. The patience 
 with which the thousands of Israel had waited 
 hither to the time of their Divine deliverer, instead 
 of bursting their bonds at once with a strong arm, 
 as was fully in their power, now drew from the 
 heart of Grod this most gracious revelation of his 
 purpose in the delay. 
 
 In this interval a scene of exquisite beauty has 
 developed itself in the Delta. The rain and the 
 hail which had somewhat interfered with its first 
 disclosure are over and gone. The voice of the 
 turtle-dove is heard in every bush and tree, amid 
 fresh springing leaves and sweet blossoms. At times 
 the north wind awakes, cool and refreshing ; at 
 other times the south wind blows, soft and balmy. 
 Before both, the beans, the pease, the lupins, the 
 vetches, the lentils, the endless variety of plants of 
 this order that cover the plains of the Delta, all in 
 full blossom, and all sweet scented, roll in green 
 undulations, interchanged with more gorgeous tints, 
 and shake forth their spicy odours, copious as the 
 blue and sparkling river that slowly meanders in 
 the sunshine, and grateful to the senses as the 
 draughts of its delicious waters to him who first 
 reaches its brink from the thirsty desert. There is 
 not in nature any thing more charming ! There is 
 not on the wide world a spot that can advance a 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 359 
 
 stronger claim to its ancient epithet ; Goshen, 
 " the land of flowers/' 
 
 " And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh 
 and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of 
 the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble 
 thyself before me ? Send forth my people, that they 
 may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to send forth 
 my people, behold to-morrow will I bring the locusts 
 within thy borders. And they shall cover the face 
 of the land, so that one cannot be able to see the 
 land : and they shall eat the residue of that which 
 is escaped, which remaineth to you from the hail, 
 and shall eat eYery tree which groweth for you out 
 of the field. And they shall fill thy palaces, and 
 the palaces of thy [servants, attendants,] princes, 
 yea the habitations of all Egypt, such as neither thy 
 fathers have seen nor thy fathers' fathers, since the 
 day that they were upon the earth unto this day. 
 Then he [Moses] turned away and went forth from 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 " Then said Pharaoh's princes unto him. How 
 long shall this man be a snare unto us ? Send the 
 men forth to serve Jehovah their God ! Knowest 
 thou not that already Egypt is destroyed ? 
 
 " Then Moses and Aaron were ordered to return 
 unto Pharaoh, ? and he said to them, Go serve Jeho- 
 vah your God. "Who are they that will go? And 
 Moses said, We will go with our young and with 
 
360 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 our old, with our sons and with our daughters : yea, 
 w^e will go with our flocks and with our herds ; for 
 we must hold the feast of Jehovah. 
 
 " And he [Pharaoh] said unto them, Will Jeho- 
 vah be thus with you (as hitherto) when I shall 
 have sent you forth and your little ones. Take 
 heed lest evil be before you. It will not be so ; 
 [therefore] ye that are men go forth and serve Je- 
 hovah ; for that ye have asked of me. Then they 
 were dismissed from the presence of Pharaoh/' 
 Exodus x, 3 — 11. 
 
 The stout hearts of Pharaoh and his princes melt 
 within them at the mention of the locusts. They 
 will no longer contend with the mighty arm that is 
 stretched out against them. Moses and Aaron are 
 recalled to the council-chamber, and the conditions 
 of the departure of Israel are demanded. Moses 
 answers in the spirit of prophecy. The royal re- 
 joinder is highly characteristic, and places the mind 
 and heart of Sethos in an aspect at least as revolting 
 as any that the monumental and historical notices 
 of it in our possession had set before us. Now that 
 his power is gone, the tyrant turns hypocrite. He 
 takes an affectionate interest in the women and 
 children of the tribe he has enslaved and oppressed. 
 They will never be equal to the fatigues and dangers 
 of the desert. The men may go, but these must 
 remain behind, lest they perish in the wilderness. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 361 
 
 This is Pharaoh's decision. He does not wait for 
 any rejoinder, but at once closes the interview. As 
 if the God of Israel could be mocked with this stale 
 device ! As if " the eyes of Jehovah, that run to 
 and fro throughout the whole earth/' (2 Chron. xvi. 
 .9,) could not see through the flimsy veil of this 
 pretext ! 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Stretch out thine 
 hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that 
 they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat 
 every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath 
 left. And Moses stretched forth his staff over the 
 land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind 
 over the land all that day and all that night. When 
 it was morning the east wind brought the locusts. 
 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, 
 and rested in all the borders of Egypt in exceeding 
 multitudes. Before them were there no such swarms 
 (of locusts) as they, neither after them shall be such. 
 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that 
 the land was darkened ; and they did eat every herb 
 of the land, and ail the trees which the hail had 
 left : and there remained not any green thing on 
 the trees or on the herbs of the field, through all 
 the land of Egypt/' Exodus x. 12 —15. 
 
 There is but one brief season of the Egyptian 
 year during which a descent of locusts there would 
 be possible, and that is the few weeks next following 
 
362 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the cold (and in the Delta rainy) month, which cor- 
 responds to the winter of less-favoured climates. 
 At all other times of the year, a flight of locusts 
 would only alight in Egypt to die of hunger or be 
 drowned. They would find the land covered with 
 the straws of ripe corn and herbs, which are not 
 the food of the locust, or as barren as the desert, or 
 under water, But for this short spring-tide, the- 
 entire surface is covered with luxuriant vegetation. 
 It is a striking coincidence that the view of the 
 plagues which has been forced upon us by the con- 
 sideration of the preceding ones, requires the plague 
 of locusts to occur in exactly this place in the Egyp- 
 tian calendar. 
 
 To one who has seen the locust at work, and also 
 past through the green beauties of the Delta at this 
 season, the idea of this plague is most appalling. 
 The pen of inspiration alone can describe the ra- 
 vages of this awful pest : 
 
 " A day of darkness and gloominess,* 
 
 A day of clouds and thick darkness. 
 
 As the morning light on the tops of the moun- 
 tains 
 
 Comes a great people and a strong. 
 
 There hath not ever been the like, 
 
 Neither shall there be any more after it 
 
 To the years of many generations. 
 
 * The locusts darken the day in their flight. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 363 
 
 A fire devoureth before them, 
 
 Behind them a flame burnetii. 
 
 As the garden of Eden is the land before them, 
 
 And behind them as the desolate wilderness, 
 
 For truly nothing can escape them. 
 
 The appearance of them was the appearance of 
 
 horses.* 
 As trained horses, so do they bound f 
 As the noise of chariots over the [rugged] tops of 
 
 mountains, they take wing, j 
 Yea, as the roar of fire that devoureth stubble, 
 As [clash the arms of] warriors in battle array. 
 At the sight of them the people are in anguish ; 
 All faces gather blackness. 
 They rush forward like mighty men, 
 They climb the wall like men of war, 
 They march every one on his way, 
 They break not their ranks, 
 Neither does one thrust another, 
 They go on every one on his path,§ 
 And where the weapon alights it wounds them 
 
 not. || 
 
 * The head of the locust bears considerable resemblance to that of a 
 horse. 
 
 + The locust leaps like the grasshopper. It moves by a succession of 
 bounds, strongly resembling the gallop of a fleet horse. 
 
 X This description of the deafening buzz and clatter with which a 
 flight of locusts takes wing is wonderfully true to nature. 
 
 § These peculiarities of a descent of locusts is well known. 
 II The locust is so extremely agile that it is very difficult to kill it. 
 
364 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 They run to and fro in the city, 
 
 They mount upon the wall ; 
 
 They climb up upon the houses, 
 
 They steal in at the windows like a thief/' 
 
 Joelii. 2— 9.* 
 
 To comment upon this sublime and most faithful 
 description of a flight of locusts would be to weaken 
 its effect. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in 
 haste : and he said, I have sinned against Jehovah 
 your God, and against you : now therefore, forgive, 
 I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Je- 
 hovah your Grod, that he may take away from me 
 this death only. 
 
 " And he went forth and entreated Jehovah. 
 And Jehovah turned a mighty strong west wind, 
 which took away the locusts, and cast them into 
 the Red Sea : there remained not one locust in all 
 the borders of Egypt/' Exodus x. 16 — 19. 
 
 This act of penitence had been performed before, 
 but not under circumstances of equal urgency. The 
 Delta is a dreary plain of black Nile mud, as barren 
 as the desert, and the locusts having consumed every 
 green thing, are commencing their ravages upon the 
 
 * The flight of locusts in this passage is used metaphorically for the 
 Assyrian invasion of Palestine. The figure was suggested by the actual 
 occurrence of the pest at the time of the delivery of the prophecy. (See 
 c. i. v. 4.) 
 
THE PLAGUES OP EGYPT. 865 
 
 bark of the fruit-trees. The humiliation of Sethos 
 is as abject as the occasion is urgent. He rolls in 
 the dust. He confesses his sin against Moses and 
 Aaron, as well as against Jehovah ; he humbly begs 
 pardon of both. He asks for the intercession of 
 Moses with Grod in terms of distressing meanness. 
 
 For his people's sake the hypocritical prayers of 
 Sethos were heard once more. The west wind arose ; 
 the parched wind of the desert. The locusts were 
 driven like the sand before its rude fitful gusts, to 
 perish in the Red Sea. Their work was done. They 
 had come to Egypt on the east wind from Syria and 
 Palestine. It was the ordinary course and season 
 of their migration. They were on their way to the 
 parts about Cyrene, to lay waste the gardens of 
 Carthage, to ravage the vineyards and olive-yards 
 of Mauritania as far as the pillars of Hercules, 
 when the call of their Creator arrested their flight, 
 and his finger pointed to the land of Egypt. 
 
 Once more a few weeks elapsed, during which 
 the Israelites proceeded with their preparations to 
 depart, no man hindering them ; while Pharaoh 
 parleyed and equivocated with Moses and Aaron. 
 At length all fear of the return of the locusts was 
 at an end. The clover and other leguminous herbs, 
 that had been eaten down, would begin to spring 
 again. Something might even then be done to save 
 Egypt, but it must be by means of irrigation and 
 
366 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the labour of man. Never before had the Israelite 
 slaves been wanted in Egypt as at that moment. 
 In a mind constituted like that of Sethos, motives 
 as selfish and as sordid as these would doubtless 
 preponderate in his final decision. 
 
 " But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that 
 he would not send forth the children of Israel/' 
 ver. 20. 
 
 The divine judgments marched majestically on- 
 wards, utterly regardless of Sethos, his paroxysms 
 of rage, or his collapses of meanness. But one 
 being remains, and then Jehovah will have con- 
 tended with and conquered every thing that is 
 called God, or that is worshiped in Egypt. Over 
 the river and the land, with all that inhabit them, 
 over " the air, the flood, the flame/' he has already 
 asserted his absolute unbounded sovereignty. They 
 have bowed to his behests, and done his command- 
 ments in the eyes of all Egypt. But the sun, the 
 father-god of the whole mythology, the dread pro- 
 tector of the oldest and most venerated of the cities 
 of Egypt, still shines serene in heaven, untouched 
 by the wonders which the God of Israel has wrought. 
 Is not he then also a god as well as Jehovah ? The 
 question soon receives an answer. 
 
 16 Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out 
 thine hand toward heaven, that there may be dark- 
 ness over the land of Egypt, even darkness that 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 367 
 
 may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand 
 towards heaven, and there was a thick darkness in 
 all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one 
 another, neither rose any from his place for three 
 days. 
 
 " Yet had all the children of Israel light in their 
 dwellings/' ver. 21—23. 
 
 The sun then is the minister of Jehovah as abso- 
 lutely as the rest of the elements of nature. He 
 listens as implicitly to the voice of His word, and 
 gives or withholds his light at His bidding as obe- 
 diently as they. 
 
 Once more the agent of this fearful judgment is 
 the occurring event of the season. No one who has 
 been in Egypt to experience it, will doubt for a 
 moment the agency whereby Jehovah wrought. 
 The plague of darkness was a sand-storm. It is 
 impossible for words to describe this fearful visita- 
 tion more accurately, than the passage before us. 
 
 In ordinary years the wheat would have ripened 
 and the harvest have been gathered in the warm 
 sunny month that had elapsed, since the last display 
 of the power of God. In this disastrous year there 
 was no harvest to gather. About the middle of 
 April a west wind sets in strongly, and continues 
 to blow from that quarter for about fifty days. It 
 is named by the Arabs in Egypt hamseen,* from 
 
 * * Fifty." Arabic. 
 
368 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 this circumstance. During the whole season of the 
 prevalence of this wind, the atmosphere is exces- 
 sively dry, and loaded with the fine particles of the 
 sand of the Sahara, — to the great discomfort of the 
 inhabitants of Egypt. But occasionally the west 
 wind suddenly freshens to a perfect hurricane, and 
 sweeping before it the light sands of the desert, 
 precipitates them in columns and drifts upon the . 
 valley of the Nile. The sufferings of man and beast 
 during these dreadful storms, in ordinary years, 
 baffle description. No man leaves his dwelling, for 
 to face a violent gust would be certain death by 
 suffocation. They who are overtaken by them, 
 wrap their faces in their mantles, and lie prostrate 
 on the ground. It is their only chance of life. The 
 light of noon-day is but a red angry twilight. At 
 intervals, though brief ones, it is obscured, and the 
 darkness is total while the heavy drifts pass the 
 sun's disc. We testify that we have seen, on this 
 point. It is impossible by any expedient to keep 
 the sand out of the houses. So saturated is the 
 air with the sand, that it seems to lose its transpa- 
 rency, so that artificial light is of little service. The 
 sand also gets into the eyes, producing ophthalmia ; 
 so that men " see not one another." 
 
 We have described the sand-storm of an ordinary 
 year, which seldom lasts more than a few hours. 
 When the storm raged incessantly for three days, 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 369 
 
 the amount of suffering, of disease and death among 
 the aged, the weak, and the young of the subjects 
 of Pharaoh, we are unable in any way to estimate. 
 We speak from personal endurance, when we say, 
 that for intense and universal misery the plague of 
 darkness would far surpass all that went before it, 
 and that as it was the last, so was it also the most 
 fearful, of the plagues which Jehovah inflicted on 
 Egypt through the agency of the powers of nature. 
 
 The locusts had eaten every green thing through- 
 out all Egypt. The children of Israel did not need 
 the rising crops that they destroyed, but they were 
 protected by the power of their God from the horrors 
 of the sand-storm. The west wind threw down its 
 heavy burden of sand over Ramses. The children 
 of Israel, in Goshen to the eastward, had light in 
 their dwellings, and suffered comparatively but little 
 inconvenience otherwise. Such partial exemptions 
 sometimes occur in sand-storms at the present day. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh called for Moses, and said, Go 
 ye, serve Jehovah^ only let your flocks and herds re- 
 main ; your little ones also shall go with you. 
 
 " But Moses said, Thou shalt also give up into 
 our hands sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we 
 may do sacrifice unto Jehovah our God. Our cattle 
 also shall go with us, there shall not a hoof be left 
 behind ; for thereof must we take to serve Jehovah 
 
 2 B 
 
370 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 our God ; yet know we not with what we must serve 
 Jehovah until we come thither. 
 
 " Then Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, that 
 he would not send them forth/' Exodus x. 24 — 29. 
 
 The sordid meanness of motive, whereby this 
 wretched monarch had been actuated throughout, is 
 at length stripped of its last covering, and comes 
 forth in its naked deformity. 
 
 The cycle of the year in Egypt is now complete. 
 It is just twelve months since Moses first stood be- 
 fore Pharaoh. In the course of it the God of Moses 
 has wielded the nine prominent occurrences in its 
 several seasons to scourge therewith the contumacy 
 of Pharaoh and his princes. 
 
 " But Jehovah had said unto Moses, Pharaoh 
 shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may 
 be multiplied in the land of Egypt. So Moses and 
 Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh ; but 
 Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would 
 not send the children of Israel forth from the land/' 
 Exod. xi. 9, 10. 
 
 Some displacements and omissions have occurred 
 in the Hebrew of the text that continues the nar- 
 rative. The sense of the passage readily adjusts 
 the displacements. The Samaritan transcription of 
 the Pentateuch supplies the omissions. 
 
 u Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Yet will I bring 
 one plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt ; then 
 
THE PLAGUES 0E EGYPT. 371 
 
 will he send you forth from hence altogether, yea, 
 he will thrust you forth with violence. Speak now 
 in the ears of the people, that every man ask of his 
 neighbour, and every woman ask of her neighbour, 
 vessels [objects] of silver and vessels of gold. For 
 I Jehovah do give the people favour in the sight of 
 the Egyptians, so that they shall give them what 
 they ask. 
 
 " For about midnight I will go forth into the 
 midst of the land of Egypt, and every firstborn in 
 the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of 
 Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne even unto the 
 firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the 
 mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. And there 
 shall be a great cry throughout all the land of 
 Egypt, such as there has been none like it, nor shall 
 be like it any more. But against any of the chil- 
 dren of Israel there shall not a dog move his tongue, 
 against man or beast ; that thou mayest know that 
 Jehovah doth put a difference between Egypt and 
 Israel. Thou also shalt be very great in the eyes of 
 Pharaoh's princes and in the eyes of his people. 
 
 " Then Moses [went in unto] Pharaoh, and said 
 unto him. Thus saith Jehovah, 
 
 u Israel is my son, even my firstborn ; 
 
 " And I said unto thee, Send my son forth that 
 he may serve me. 
 
 " But thou hast refused to send him forth : there- 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 fore, behold, Jehovah slayeth thy son, even thy first- 
 born. 
 
 " Therefore thus saith Jehovah, About midnight 
 I will go forth into the midst of Egypt, and all the 
 firstborn of the land of Egypt shall die, from the 
 firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth on the throne even 
 unto the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind 
 the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. 
 
 " And there shall be a great cry throughout all 
 the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it 
 nor shall be like it any more ; that ye [Pharaoh 
 and his princes] may know how that Jehovah doth 
 put a difference between Egypt and Israel. And 
 all these thy princes shall come down unto me, and 
 bow themselves unto me, and say, Go forth, and all 
 thy people that is at thy feet. Then will I go forth." 
 Exodus xi. Sam. 
 
 There is no space for repentance now. Moses, as 
 the prophet of God, denounces the wrath of God 
 upon Pharaoh and his guilty councillors. The ma- 
 jestic bearing of the messenger and the tone of his 
 message rouse the haughty despot to a transport of 
 uncontroulable fury, in which he altogether forgets 
 the fearful purport of it. 
 
 " Then Pharaoh said unto him (Moses), Get thee 
 from me ; take heed to thyself, see my face no 
 more : for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt 
 die. 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 373 
 
 " And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will 
 see thy face again no more. So he went out from 
 Pharaoh [who was] in the heat of wrath/' Exod. 
 x. 28, 29 ; xi. 8. 
 
 Now is the long-suffering of God exhausted. Pha- 
 raoh is given over to desperate folly. He defies the 
 God who had desolated his land, and decimated his 
 people already. He drives from his presence with 
 execrations and insults, the prophet who had nine 
 times denounced the divine judgments upon him, 
 and whose threats in every instance had been 
 strictly verified. 
 
 For twelve months the children of Israel have 
 been occupied in assembling themselves in the east- 
 ern Delta, and in preparations for their departure. 
 Now all is ready. In that very day when their last 
 act of faith in the word of Jehovah was accom- 
 plished, came forth the command to their first act 
 of obedience. 
 
 " And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in 
 the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto 
 you the beginning of months : it shall be the first 
 month of the year to you. 
 
 " Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, 
 saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall 
 take to them every man a lamb, according to the 
 house of their fathers, a lamb for an house : and if 
 the household be too little for the lamb, let him and 
 
374 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 his neighbour next unto his house take it according 
 to the number of the souls ; every man according to 
 his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 
 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the 
 first year ; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or 
 from the goats : and ye shall keep it up until the 
 fourteenth day of the same month : and the whole 
 assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it 
 in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, 
 and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper 
 door-post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 
 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast 
 with fire, and unleavened bread ; and with bitter 
 herbs they shall eat it* Eat not of it raw, nor sod- 
 den at all with water, but roast with fire ; his head 
 with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 
 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the 
 morning ; and that which remaineth of it until the 
 morning, ye shall burn with fire. 
 
 " And thus shall ye eat it ; with your loins girded, 
 your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand ; 
 and ye shall eat it in haste : it is the Lord's pass- 
 over. For I will pass through the land of Egypt 
 this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the 
 land of Egypt, both man and beast ; and against all 
 the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment : I am 
 the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a 
 token upon the houses where ye are • and when I 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 375 
 
 see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague 
 shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite 
 the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you 
 for a memorial , and ye shall keep it a feast to the 
 Lord throughout your generations ; ye shall keep it 
 a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall 
 ye eat unleavened bread ; even the first day ye shall 
 put away leaven out of your houses : for whosoever 
 eateth leavened bread from the first day until the 
 seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 
 And in the first day there shall be an holy convo- 
 cation, and in the seventh day there shall be an 
 holy convocation to you ; no manner of work shall 
 be done in them, save that which every man must 
 eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall 
 observe the feast of unleavened bread ; for in this 
 selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the 
 land of Egypt : therefore shall ye observe this day 
 in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 
 
 " In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the 
 month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until 
 the one-and-twentieth day of the month at even. 
 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your 
 houses : for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, 
 even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation 
 of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the 
 land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened ; in all your 
 habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. 
 
376 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 " Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, 
 and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb 
 according to your families, and kill the passover. 
 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in 
 the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel 
 and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the 
 basin ; and none of you shall go out at the door of 
 his house until the morning. For the Lord will 
 pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when he 
 seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side- 
 posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not 
 suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to 
 smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an 
 ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it 
 shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land 
 which the Lord will give you, according as he hath 
 promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it 
 shall come to pass, when your children shall say 
 unto you, What mean ye by this service ? that ye 
 shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, 
 who passed over the houses of the children jof Israel 
 in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and deli- 
 vered our houses. And the people bowed the head 
 and worshipped. And the children of Israel went 
 away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses 
 and Aaron, so did they/' Exod. xii. 1 — 28. 
 
 It was on the tenth day of the month that Moses, 
 going forth from his final interview with Pharaoh, 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 377 
 
 assembled all the elders and princes of the people, 
 and instituted the passover. The institution itself, 
 the types thereof and their deep significance, need, 
 thank God, no amplification of ours to the English 
 reader. 
 
 In this his last great work in the land of Egypt, 
 God will wield the common elements of the material 
 world no longer. The angel of his presence is coming 
 forth to do his pleasure. This judgment shall sur- 
 pass all that have gone before it, as in severity, so 
 also in close and strict discrimination. Every stroke 
 shall be guided by intelligence ; every victim shall 
 be a selected one. God's dealings with Israel on 
 this occasion undergo a change as strongly marked 
 as the occasion itself. The strength of his faith is 
 to be tested by the observance of a new prescription. 
 An act of domestic worship, suited in all its details 
 to their present position, as sojourners in a land that 
 was not theirs, is instituted for a yearly feast, to 
 serve for a memorial of that which Jehovah is about 
 to do, throughout all future generations. The pas- 
 chal lamb was to be selected, as on this day, by 
 every family in Israel, and to be fed apart from the 
 flock until the day of the judgment ; when its 
 slaughter, and the sprinkling of its blood on the 
 door-posts, would not only commemorate the deli- 
 verance from Egypt, but be for a sign to the de- 
 stroying angel to pass over the habitations of Israel, 
 
378 
 
 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 and also for a sign unto Israel of a truth elementary 
 to all God's dealings with sin in man ; — " without 
 shedding of blood there is no remission/' 
 
 That the twelve months which had elapsed since 
 Moses first appeared in Egypt with the divine com- 
 mand to Israel to depart, had been diligently em- 
 ployed by them in making all needful preparations 
 for so great an event, there cannot be a doubt. It 
 is equally certain that the divine wisdom would be 
 with Moses and the princes of Israel in all the de- 
 tailed arrangements for the harmonious and orderly 
 march of the host of Jehovah. What these details 
 were, we are not informed ; and the narrative of the 
 following events affords but little insight into them. 
 It seems, however, certain, that the Israelites had 
 now altogether left the cities of the Delta, and lived 
 in tents, depasturing their flocks on its fertile 
 plains. We may with probability suppose the 
 general arrangement to have been, that the heads 
 of each tribe were encamped in the vicinity of 
 different cities in the Delta, and that the indivi- 
 dual members of each pitched their tents around 
 them. These cities appear to have lain on, or 
 very near, the line of their march, and to have ex- 
 tended across the entire Delta. The princes of all 
 the tribes, with Moses and Aaron, were at Ramses, 
 on the western bank of the Bolbatine branch of the 
 Nile, in attendance upon Pharaoh. The thousands 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 379 
 
 of Israel lay encamped in a broad belt extending 
 from thence to the eastern desert, a distance of more 
 than seventy miles. 
 
 The sun of the last day of the sojourn of Israel in 
 Egypt had set. It was the fourth day after the in- 
 terview with Moses. Pharaoh, his princes, and the 
 priests of his idols would doubtless take courage 
 from this unwonted delay. Jehovah and his minis- 
 ter are beaten at length, for now the gods of Egypt 
 prevail against them. The triumph would be cele- 
 brated in pomps and sacrifices, in feasts and dances. 
 Nothing is more likely than that the banquet-halls 
 of Pharaoh at Ramses were blazing with lamps, 
 and that he and his princes were pouring forth 
 libations of wine to their gods, and concerting 
 schemes amid their revelry, for the perpetuation of 
 the thraldom of Israel. 
 
 The paschal lamb was slain that night in all the 
 tents of Israel. The sprinkled blood was yet moist 
 on the door-posts of every habitation. Their flocks 
 and herds were ruminating in the pens, their little 
 ones were sleeping in the tents, and the men of 
 Israel, having partaken of the mystical feast, stood 
 awe-struck and silent, listening for the footsteps 
 of the coming God. 
 
 a And it came to pass that at midnight Jehovah 
 smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from 
 the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on the throne, 
 
380 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 unto the first-born of the captive that was in the 
 dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. Then 
 Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his princes, 
 and all Egypt. And there was a great cry in Egypt, 
 for there was not a house where there was not one 
 dead/' Exod. xii. 29, 30. 
 
 Pharaoh Sethos started from his couch that 
 night, yelling in fierce and bitter agony, and gnaw- 
 ing at the sharp arrow that was rankling in his 
 vitals, like a wounded lion. His son, his first-born, 
 his only son, just arrived at man's estate, just 
 crowned king of Egypt, and associated with his 
 father in the cares of sovereignty, writhed before 
 him in mortal throes, and died. His transports of 
 grief were re-echoed, and with no feigned voice, by 
 the princes, the councillors, and the priests that 
 partook of his revelry. Each one rends his gar- 
 ments and clasps to his bosom the quivering corpse 
 of his first-born son. On that fearful night " there 
 was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt/' 
 but if we have rightly read its history, the loudest, 
 wildest wail of remorseful anguish would arise from 
 Pharaoh's banquet hall ! 
 
 The name and brief history of the first-born of 
 Sethos are recorded in the valley of the tombs of the 
 kings. The tomb numbered 11 by Sir Gr. Wilkin- 
 son, was commenced by him on a scale of great 
 magnificence, and his name was inscribed over the 
 
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 381 
 
 entrance, and once on each wall of the inclined 
 corridor. /^\ But the work ended when it had 
 
 Mm 
 
 scarcely = advanced beyond the external sur- 
 face of the ^2 cliff. Probably the absence of Se- 
 thos from the Delta in the interval between the 
 sixth and seventh plagues had been occasioned by 
 the coronation of this ill-fated youth, whose 
 memory, like that of his father, was afterwards 
 made infamous in Egypt. His name on the tomb 
 was covered over by his successor long afterwards, 
 who completed the excavation, making it one of the 
 largest and most magnificent vaults in the entire 
 valley.* 
 
 " Then he (Pharaoh) cried (sent) to Moses and 
 Aaron by night, saying, Arise ! go forth from the 
 midst of my people, both ye and the children of 
 Israel, and go serve Jehovah as ye have said. Also 
 take your flocks, and your herds, as ye have said, 
 and be gone, and bless me also. Egypt also was 
 urgent upon the people, and hasted to send them 
 forth, for they (the Egyptians) said, We be all dead 
 men/' Ver. 31— 33. 
 
 Thus was the Exodus of Israel accomplished. It 
 was extorted from the haughty despot of a proud, 
 prosperous, and most superstitious nation, in the 
 fulness of his power and surrounded by the splen- 
 dours of his court. For twelve months together he 
 
 * It is the well known Harpers 1 tomo of Bruce. 
 
382 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 had resisted the command of Jehovah, and called 
 forth to the conflict the gods of Egypt. He and 
 they were foiled in every rencontre, and his obsti- 
 nacy did but fulfil the purpose of his omnipotent 
 enemy. It was now impossible to conceal from the 
 Egyptians that Jehovah was Grod in Egypt as well 
 as the God of Israel, and that their gods were no 
 gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands, 
 lying fables, the devices of men's hearts ; for the 
 very deified elements of nature they ignorantly 
 worshipped, Jehovah had wielded as the scourges 
 wherewith to chastise their contumacy and folly. 
 
THE EXODUS. 383 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EXODUS. 
 
 " Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, 
 wherein they dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and 
 thirty years. For it came to pass at the end of the 
 four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same 
 day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Jehovah 
 set out from the land of Egypt. This is a night of 
 observances for the children of Israel throughout 
 their generations/' Exod. xii. 40 — 42. 
 
 We follow here again the rule we have already 
 prescribed to ourselves, in forbearing all discussion 
 as to the duration of the sojourn. 
 
 In the passage that next follows we also restore 
 the natural arrangement of the sentences. 
 
 " xind the people took their dough before it was 
 leavened, the remnant being bound up in their 
 cloaks on their shoulders. And they baked un- 
 leavened cakes with the dough which they brought 
 out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they 
 
384 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, no not 
 even to bake themselves bread/' Exod. xii. 34, 39. 
 
 The fact here recorded was perpetually comme- 
 morated in the observances of the Passover. It 
 conveys in the East the strongest possible impres- 
 sion of the haste with which Israel went forth from 
 Egypt. Even under the most cruel tyranny of 
 Mohammed Ali, the boatmen on the Nile can de- 
 mand of those that engage them, a time at stated 
 intervals to bake their bread. For journeys in the 
 desert it is important to have the bread baked as 
 near as possible to the commencement of the journey. 
 
 Such is the custom to this day in Egypt. It was 
 this preparative only for their journey through the 
 wilderness which Israel had not time to make. All 
 other things were ready. Our authorized version, 
 which was made when oriental customs were little 
 known in Europe, conveys a somewhat erroneous 
 impression on this point. 
 
 " And the children of Israel did according to the 
 word of Moses, and they demanded of the Egyptians 
 objects of silver, and objects of gold, and raiment. 
 And Jehovah gave the people favour in the eyes of 
 the Egyptians, so that they yielded to their de- 
 mands. Thus they spoiled Egypt/' Ver. 35, 36. 
 
 The ancient versions have misled our English 
 translators in this passage. To borrow with no in- 
 tention of repayment is to steal ; but such was not 
 
THE EXODUS. 385 
 
 the command of Jehovah to Israel. The original word 
 has no such meaning. The children of Israel had 
 been for nearly a century bond-slaves to the princes 
 and nobles of Egypt. At the command of Jehovah 
 they now demanded the hire, b&W, of these their 
 services, and through his favour they obtained it, 
 on the condition of their instant departure. Our 
 modern neologian commentators are at no pains to 
 correct palpable mistakes like these : while on the 
 other hand, they are never weary of finding out and 
 inventing readings which give absurd or grotesque 
 imports to the sacred text. 
 
 Thus the hosts of Jehovah went forth from Egypt 
 as conquerors, bearing the spoil thereof. 
 
 " And all the children of Israel did so: as Je- 
 hovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did 
 they : and it came to pass on that very day that 
 Jehovah led forth the children of Israel out of the 
 land of Egypt by their hosts/' Ver. 50, 51. 
 
 The expression " by their hosts/' [or (l armies/ 3 
 msn2] is a remarkable one, which brings out 
 clearly the view we had already taken of the as- 
 sembling of the Israelites in the Delta before their 
 final departure. They collected in twelve divisions, 
 each of which was stationed round the city in which 
 the prince of the tribe dwelt, and " had his pos- 
 sessions." Gren. xlvii. 27. The sale of these 
 possessions would entitle the Israelites to a very 
 
 2 c 
 
386 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 large amount of the wealth with which they went 
 out from Egypt. 
 
 " Then the children of Israel journeyed from 
 Ramses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on 
 foot that were men, besides children/' Ver. 37. 
 
 There are few passages in the Bible upon which 
 more has been written than this. It is melancholy 
 to have to add that there are still fewer regarding 
 which, notwithstanding, less is really known. The 
 two cities mentioned in it remain in Egypt to this 
 day, and still retain their ancient names. Succoth 
 moreover lies due east from Ramses, which is ex- 
 actly the direction in which the Israelites must 
 have journeyed on their way frofti thence to the 
 desert of Sinai. Ramses, as we have already ex- 
 plained, was the city built by the Israelites at the 
 command of Pharaoh of that name, and was situated 
 on the extreme western border of the Delta where 
 the settlements of the Egyptians were. The modern 
 name of Succoth ^'^D is in Arabic Sakha, in Coptic 
 Schoou. Its ancient name was written in hiero- 
 glyphics § N V^ sichos* which the Greeks trans- 
 cribed Um$, Xois. That facts so palpable as these, 
 and at the same time of such paramount importance 
 to the illustration of the sacred text before us, 
 should nevertheless have entirely escaped the notice 
 
 * s for th. The German Jews pronounce the letter J") th, s, at the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
THE EXODUS. 387 
 
 of all commentators ancient and modern, is a cir- 
 cumstance concerning which we cannot refrain from 
 the expression of our unfeigned astonishment. Xois, 
 as we have^seen, became the capital of the shepherd- 
 kings after they had lost Memphis. The first grand 
 preparatory movement therefore of the Exodus, was 
 the departure of Moses and Aaron, with the rest of 
 the princes of Israel, from the court of Pharaoh at 
 Ramses, to Xois, the old capital of the Delta. 
 
 The name of the city of Xois, or Succoth, which 
 is Hebrew, and signifies " tents/' shows it to have 
 been built by the Israelite or Canaanite settlers in 
 the Delta. In all probability it had been the resi- 
 dence of one of the princes of the tribes ; so that 
 here the comparatively small company that had left 
 Ramses, consisting only of the little tribe of Levi, 
 acting as guards or attendants upon the princes, 
 were joined by one of the great sections of the host 
 of Israel. Among the conquests of Sethos I. re- 
 corded at Karnak is a city of the Delta named 
 Manasseh, #2| which doubtless had been built by 
 the prince 1^| of this tribe of Israel. It appears 
 from hence ^"^ that Israel had voluntarily built 
 cities in Egypt before the captivity. 
 
 The number of the children of Israel at the time 
 
 of the Exodus is another of those vexed questions, 
 
 with which, in the order of our design, it is now 
 
 incumbent on us to deal fully and faithfully. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The vague reckoning of about 600,000 footmen or 
 infantry of the text, appears by the two exact cen- 
 suses taken in the first and thirty-ninth years that 
 followed the Exodus, to have been justly calculated. 
 The census of the first year makes the fighting men 
 of Israel to amount to 603,550 (Numbers i. 1 — 44 ) 
 The same class in the enumeration at the end of 
 the wanderings in the Desert, amounts to 601,730 
 (Numbers xxvi. 51.) The individuals enrolled in 
 this class were men only, and between the ages of 
 twenty and sixty. All below this limit were ac- 
 counted lads (lb'O and infants. All the men be- 
 yond it took their places among the elders of Israel, 
 and were no longer liable to military service in the 
 field. The censuses being in fact those of the armies 
 of Israel, — the whole of the women, as well as the 
 old men and children, are left out of them : so that 
 the number of which the host of Israel consisted at 
 the Exodus is a question in statistics. An easy 
 reckoning gives us 4,000,000 as the lowest possible 
 approximation to the sum of the entire host that 
 left Egypt at the Exodus. The probability is that 
 it was much greater. We make this statement with 
 the full consciousness of the smile of sarcastic pity 
 with which it will be received by the modern phi- 
 losophical writers who have condescended to this 
 our subject. If in our calculations of the rate of 
 the increase of Israel in Egypt, we followed their 
 
THE EXODUS. 389 
 
 example in working with factors derived from the 
 tables of the latest census of London, or Paris, or 
 Berlin, it is indeed " difficult to imagine how 70 or 
 75 persons can have become 4,000,000 and upwards 
 in this period/' to adopt their considerate phrase- 
 ology ; but we humbly submit that these their 
 factors have nothing whatever to do with the ques- 
 tion ; inasmuch as the circumstances of society 
 which govern the census were entirely different at 
 the two epochs. The age of puberty was the same 
 then as now, but the expectation of life was greater 
 by at least 40 years. This would of course swell 
 the ancient census. Polygamy and concubinage 
 also prevailed among the Israelites, not as moral 
 offences, but as sanctioned and established prac- 
 tices of society : the offspring of such connexions 
 taking their assigned places in the father's house- 
 hold, and being enrolled in the family records as 
 his lawful descendants. Whether their prevalence 
 had, or had not, in the times when they had the 
 divine sanction, the tendency to multiply the spe- 
 cies, we have no means of knowing. They now 
 only exist on the earth as disgraceful crimes. Of 
 this, however, there can be no doubt. They would 
 inevitably tend to the rapid increase of a thriving 
 prosperous race of people among whom they pre- 
 vailed, and at the expense of all the less prosperous 
 races with which they were in contact. These were 
 
oVO ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 exactly the circumstances under which Israel had 
 sojourned in Egypt. The men of Israel grew rich 
 in possessions. According to the universal prac- 
 tice of the ancient world, they would, on this ac- 
 count, seek to increase and extend also their influ- 
 ence and the number of their descendants. They 
 took to them wives abundantly, both from among 
 the Egyptians and Canaanites. In consequence, 
 the men of these races must of necessity intermarry 
 with the Israelitish women, when there seems to 
 have been no impediment to their admission into 
 the tribes of Israel in the right of their wives. 
 The inevitable effect of this process would be that 
 Israel would increase far beyond the natural order 
 of reproduction, while Egypt and Canaan would 
 correspondingly decrease. The prevalence of this 
 custom among the Israelites in Egypt is demon- 
 strated by the divine prohibition and regulation 
 of it shortly after the Exodus. Deut. vii. 2, 3, 
 xvii. 10, seq., &c. Had the custom not existed, 
 the law regarding it would never have been enacted. 
 The consequence we have forestalled is expressly 
 said to have taken place by Pharaoh Ramses, in 
 his counsel with the princes of Egypt for the en- 
 slaving of Israel. " See ! the people of the chil- 
 dren of Israel are more and mightier than we." 
 Exodus i. 9. Israel in Egypt outnumbered the 
 Egyptians themselves. 
 
THE EXODUS. 391 
 
 As this question is to be dealt with in a pre- 
 eminently wide and extended sense, in order to 
 meet the dignified spirit of high philosophy which 
 now assails the Scripture account of it, we state 
 further upon this point, that such is the inevitable 
 consequence at all times, of this close contiguity 
 with intermarriage between any two races of man- 
 kind. The one absorbs the other. Xo half-caste 
 or mulatto race is perpetuated ; but the peculiarities 
 of the veaker race gradually disappear, merging in 
 those of the stronger. This is the case even with 
 the European and the African negro, the two op- 
 posite pole; of the varieties of man. It is pre- 
 eminently sc with all the intermediate races. One 
 familiar instance will illustrate this. 
 
 Less than 4U) years ago, the Portuguese settled 
 in great numbes in the south-western portions of 
 the island of Ctylon. They have exercised consi- 
 derable influence here. A patois of their language 
 is still spoken throigh the entire district, and the 
 names of nine-tenth of the inhabitants are Portu- 
 guese. Yet the race is extinct. There is not a trace 
 of the European form or feature left in the purest 
 and loftiest of the families of their descendants. 
 The Dutch followel them about 200 years after- 
 wards, whei many settlers from Holland occupied 
 the same cistrict. Tuey likewise are just on the 
 verge of extinction. The personal appearance of 
 
392 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 the descendants of both is in nothing distinguish- 
 able from that of the Cingalese. 
 
 In the case of Israel in Egypt the assimilation 
 would be far more rapid and decided than in this ; 
 owing partly, to the greater resemblance between 
 the two amalgamating races, and still more, to the 
 prevalence of polygamy among the Israelites. The 
 circumstance that Joseph was a ruler and a prJnce, 
 would give very great advantages to the first immi- 
 grants, which were certainly continued during the 
 seventy years that he survived that even* : nor is 
 there any evidence that they were afterwards with- 
 drawn before the times of Ramses. £he events 
 that we know to have befallen the shepherd king- 
 dom during this its final epoch, would on the other 
 hand, be highly favorable to the inc'ease of Israel. 
 The losses it sustained on its soutbrn and western 
 frontiers, which were mainly inhabited by Egyp- 
 tians, would render the Israelites still more pre- 
 ponderant in the state, and ircrease their oppor- 
 tunities of aggrandizement. We found on the 
 monuments, evidence of the power of Israel in the 
 Delta at the time of its annexation to the Theban 
 kingdom, so strong as to suggest, that jealousy of it, 
 and apprehension of its consequences, might have 
 induced the guardians of the fnfant Siphtha to call 
 in the assistance of Ramses. His couisel on the 
 occasion, which is recorded in Scripture, (Exod. i. 
 
THE EXODUS. S93 
 
 9,) plainly hints at such a motive. The design of 
 the policy recommended by him and adopted, though 
 not successfully, was the repression of the numbers 
 of Israel. 
 
 These considerations, we submit, combine with 
 the analogy of the similar instances we have cited, 
 to remove all improbability from the Mosaic account 
 of the numbers of Israel at the Exodus, even if, in 
 obedience to the canon of modern philosophy, we 
 choose to forget Grod in the matter, and to view it 
 as altogether the result of natural causes. That the 
 great increase of the Israelites was the effect of 
 God's blessing, is nevertheless very distinctly stated 
 in this account, which has now stood unflinchingly 
 the test of so long and close an examination, that we 
 do not hesitate to express our conviction of its truth, 
 notwithstanding the derision which our avowal is 
 sure to elicit from its philosophic assailants. 
 
 Through God's blessing, then, upon the universal 
 laws of human increase, the seventy or seventy-five 
 persons composing the clan of Jacob who had immi- 
 grated into Egypt, were represented by more than 
 600,000 fighting men, and at least four millions of 
 souls, all lineally descended from them, when Israel 
 had been in Egypt four hundred and thirty years. 
 
 " Also a great mixture [of people] went out with 
 them : and flocks and herds, even very much cattle/' 
 Exod. xii. 38. 
 
394 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The word in the original of this place is the name 
 common to all the nomade tribes of the desert of 
 Sinai. The distinctions of race which were so 
 strictly observed among the men of these very 
 remote times, seem to have been neglected by them, 
 probably through the necessities of their manner of 
 life, in the rugged and barren district over which 
 they wandered as merchants, with the products of' 
 the adjacent countries. For this reason they were 
 very. early named yiV Arab, "the mixed people ;*■' 
 and they retain the name to this day. These were 
 the hired servants and bond-slaves of the Israelites. 
 They were of both sexes. They were Egyptians, 
 Canaanites, and Cushites, — some, prisoners of war, 
 others malefactors, but all purchased in Egypt, and 
 accompanying their masters as part of their pro- 
 perty. It is in vain to attempt any conjecture as 
 to their number. The passage, as well as the na- 
 ture of the case, leave us to infer that it must have 
 been considerable. 
 
 It is evident from hence that the number in the 
 preceding sentence must be taken with its accom- 
 panying limitation in the strictest possible sense. 
 The 600,000 fighting men were all the lineal de- 
 scendants of Israel. Their servants and camp-fol- 
 lowers are not included in it, as some commentators 
 are disposed to imagine. 
 
 The Exodus was the last of the great movements 
 
THE EXODUS. 395 
 
 among the primitive families of man to which the 
 first impulse had been given on the plains of Shinar, 
 more than ] 500 years before. It admits of no com- 
 parison with the subsequent emigrations of man- 
 kind, by whatsoever motive they may have been 
 influenced. It is with those earlier and vaster 
 movements, when, impelled by the judgments of 
 God, and guided by the hand of God, men went 
 forth from one common centre by nations together, 
 to people the districts which the divine sovereignty 
 had assigned to them, that the comparison must be 
 instituted, if the parallel is to be either just or re- 
 levant. 
 
 Pharaoh Ramses made no mistake in his calcula- 
 tion of the increase of Israel. They far out-num- 
 bered his own people. The population of all Egypt 
 at no time exceeded eight millions. In this stu- 
 pendous display of the sovereignty of Jehovah over 
 the destinies of mankind, more than five millions 
 left its borders in one host, never to return ! 
 
 " It is a night of observances unto Jehovah who 
 brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. Yea 
 this is the night of Jehovah to be observed of the 
 children of Israel throughout many generations/' 
 Exodus xii. 42. 
 
 " Then Moses said unto the people, Remember 
 this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of 
 the house of bondage : for by strength of arm doth 
 
396 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Jehovah bring you out from hence. There shall be 
 no leavened bread eaten this day when ye came out 
 in the month Abib." Exod. xiii. 3, 4. 
 
 We had before been informed that the Exodus 
 took place on the 14th day of the month, or moon. 
 The name of the month is here specified for the 
 first time. It is the eleventh month of the Egyp- 
 tian calendar, which is written in the Coptic texts,- 
 Ephip. The Arabic transcription of the name used 
 in Egypt at this day is identical with the He- 
 brew of the place before us, n*ON. The Israelites in 
 Egypt used of course the Egyptian calendar, which 
 only differed from that of Noah and the patriarchs 
 in giving names to the months, instead of merely 
 enumerating them. The month was thirty days, 
 and the year twelve months, in both. This division 
 of time corresponds with the actual phenomena, 
 neither of the moon nor of the sun. The moon re- 
 volves round the earth twelve times in 354 days. 
 The earth moves once round the sun in 365^ days. 
 A year of 360 days agrees with neither. The con- 
 sequence would be that the year in both countries 
 was vague. It did not agree with the seasons. The 
 Nile would very rarely overflow in the month in 
 the Egyptian calendar marked for that event. The 
 moon and the almanack would in like manner be 
 constantly at variance. The mode of restoring the 
 agreement seems to us to have been at the time 
 
THE EXODUS. 397 
 
 now before us the same in both countries. A whole 
 moon was occasionally added at the end of the year 
 — the Veadar -nwi of the later Hebrews. We have 
 already stated that, according to the Greek chrono- 
 logers, a much more exact and systematic mode of 
 effecting this was invented by the Shepherd kings. 
 If such were really the case, it was too intricate for 
 general practice, for there is not a particle of monu- 
 mental evidence for its application at this epoch. 
 We do not make the statement unadvisedly, or 
 without having given the best attention in our 
 power to all that has been advanced in support of 
 the opposite opinion, especially by Dr. Lepsius.* 
 
 * Einleitung, pp. 123 — 245. — A wonderful display of learning, but a 
 very forced and inconclusive argument. If we rightly understand the 
 author's reasoning, it proceeds upon a mistake. According to the Greek 
 authorities which he follows, the year in Egypt began on the day that 
 the dog-star rose heliacally, that is, exactly at sun rise. But if the hiero- 
 glyphic calendar is to be regarded as authority, the year began on the 
 first day after the entire subsidence of the river, that is, about the end of 
 November ; and at this time the dogstar rises cosmically in Egypt, that 
 is, exactly at sun set. It is however very doubtful to us, that the dogstar 
 had anything to do with the matter. The Sothic cycles and other periods 
 of the Alexandrian astronomers of the second and third centuries after 
 Christ, are all evidently back-reckonings. If Sothis (or the dogstar), 
 had any connection with the beginning of the Egyptian year, it was regu- 
 lated by his cosmical rising, which is by much the easier to observe ; but 
 if this was the case, at the time of the Alexandrian astronomers, the 
 calendar had gone so long unadjusted by the epact, that the first day of 
 the year had receded to his heliacal rising, or thereabouts ; and without 
 any regard to the hieroglyphic names of the months, the philosophers 
 have assumed this to have been the original observation. Strange as this 
 
398 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Abib was made the beginning of months, throw- 
 ing hereby the Hebrew year two months in advance 
 of the Egyptian year, by express command, (see 
 above) The other names of the Egyptian months 
 were not adopted by the Israelites, nor indeed was 
 the name Abib, except in connexion with the pass- 
 over ; — the reason for its adoption is perfectly 
 obvious. The passover was the feast of celebration - 
 of the deliverance from Egypt. Equally obvious is 
 the reason why the Israelites rejected it in any 
 other association, together with the rest of the 
 Egyptian names of the months, after the Exodus. 
 They were the names of idols whom their supersti- 
 tion made to preside over the twelve months. (Lep- 
 sius, u.s.) To this superstition Israel was sufficiently 
 prone, without the aid of such a sanction as the 
 adoption of the whole calendar would have afforded 
 to it. 
 
 Israel, at the Exodus, used the patriarchal calen- 
 dar at the command of Jehovah. The months were 
 each lunations actually observed and named by the 
 numbers one to twelve. They appear still to have 
 retained for civil purposes the ancient computation 
 in which the Abib of the Exodus fell on the seventh 
 month. 
 
 may sound in the ears of modern philosophers, mistakes at least as ridi- 
 culous have nevertheless been made by their predecessors of the Alexan- 
 drian school. 
 
THE EXODUS. 399 
 
 " Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had sent 
 forth the people, that Grod led them not the way of 
 the land of the Philistines, although that was near : 
 for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent 
 when they see war, and they return to Egypt/' 
 Exodus xiii. 17. 
 
 The Philistines had attained a conspicuous place 
 among the confederated nations of Canaan, appa- 
 rently but a short time before the Exodus. Some 
 time afterwards they took advantage of the disasters 
 of the Exodus, and at the head of a vast alliance of 
 Canaanites invaded Egypt and held large possessions 
 in it for many years. The Israelites had not been 
 trained to military service in Egypt after the com- 
 mencement of the captivity ; they would therefore 
 have been unequal to the arduous service of cutting 
 their way through a warlike and powerful clan, 
 inhabiting a rough country abounding with strong- 
 holds. 
 
 " But God led the people about, the way of the 
 wilderness of the Red Sea. So the children of Israel 
 went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt/' v. 18. 
 
 The people went forth to prepare for the execu- 
 tion of the decree of God in the extirpation of the 
 Canaanite idolaters. Not then inured sufficiently 
 to the toils of war, it was the design of Jehovah to 
 train them in the wilderness forthe service he would 
 afterwards demand of them. How could they go 
 
400 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 forth on such a mission without arms ? It is truly 
 distressing to find modern commentators betrayed 
 into the unspeakable absurdity of an interpretation 
 of this passage, which deprives all the fighting men 
 of Israel of weapons, and for a reason which the 
 context expressly stultifies. " It is very impro- 
 bable/' say they, " that Pharaoh would have al- 
 lowed them the use of arms : '* But how was Pha- . 
 raoh to enforce the prohibition ? He and his people 
 were too happy to be rid of Israel on any terms ! 
 Such is the Scripture account of the Exodus. The 
 utter folly of the reading is so palpable that it- 
 is marvellous to see it proposed and advocated by 
 otherwise deservedly high authorities in Scripture 
 interpretation. 
 
 " And they [the children of Israel] took their 
 journey from Succoth and encamped in Etham in 
 the edge of the wilderness. 
 
 " And Jehovah went before them by day in a 
 pillar of a cloud, to lead them by the way ; and by 
 night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; travell- 
 ing day and night : he took not away the pillar of 
 cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before 
 the people." Ver. 20—22. 
 
 Having now no longer to imagine the sites of 
 Ramses and Succoth, the rest of the journey to the 
 Red Sea becomes divested of many of the difficulties 
 which had hitherto seemed to beset it. Etham DnN 
 
THE EXODUS. 401 
 
 on the edge of the wilderness, is the city called 
 Patumos by the Greeks. Its site is named Thoum 
 by the Arabs at this day. It stood just on the bor- 
 der of the arable land, a little to the north-east of 
 Heliopolis. (See Map.) Etham lay in the direct 
 line from Succoth to the Red Sea. 
 
 The order of march up to this point appears to 
 have been as follows. Succoth was the appointed 
 rendezvous for the tribes that dwelt in the western 
 portions of the Delta, and Etham for the great bulk 
 of the people, who had been living around the first 
 settlements in Goshen proper, which was the eastern 
 division of the Delta. At Etham, the whole host 
 united, and marched forward day and night under 
 the guidance of the token of the Divine presence to 
 the Red Sea. 
 
 Israel from this point entered upon a new dispen- 
 sation, of direct supernatural interference, of a far 
 more marked character than ever before. The or- 
 dinary laws of universal nature were reversed in 
 their behalf. To discuss this awful subject is no 
 part of our present design. We merely repeat the 
 caution which has been already so often suggested 
 to us. If we have succeeded at all in establishing 
 the truth of the Mosaic history, the miracles are a 
 perfectly inseparable element in that history. If 
 this history be true, the miracles cannot be poetry, 
 
 2 D 
 
402 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 or seeming, or jugglery. They are that which they 
 are declared to be, and nothing else. 
 
 The route by which Israel moved on in mystic 
 pomp from Egypt to the Red Sea has never been 
 forgotten. It is called to this day Wady-el-Tih, 
 " the Valley of the Wanderings," and Wady-Mousa, 
 " the Valley of Moses/' It commences in Egypt on 
 the southern side of the Gebel Mokattam, a hill in 
 the immediate vicinity of the modern city of Cairo, 
 at a desert-station now called Bassatin, about twelve 
 miles to the south of the mounds of Thoum, the 
 Etham of the Bible. The direct course of Israel 
 would have been due eastward, but the inspired 
 narrative expressly mentions that, on account of the 
 Philistines, by which term we are doubtless to 'un- 
 derstand the desert-rangers generally, their way 
 was made circuitous. The Wady-el-Tih is the north- 
 ernmost route that could with any propriety be 
 styled " the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea/' 
 as it is the first that imposes upon the traveller the 
 necessity, either of crossing the Red Sea, or of 
 making a long detour round the head of the Gulf 
 of Suez in order to reach the Peninsula of Sinai (see 
 Map). The several routes to the modern city of 
 Suez could only have been so named by an uncouth 
 prolepsis : for they do not lead the traveller jour- 
 neying to Sinai to the Red Sea at all : but point to 
 the Isthmus as his direct route. Such has never- 
 
THE EXODUS. 403 
 
 theless been the assumption of certain writers, in 
 order to support an infidel theory regarding the 
 passage of the Red Sea. The assumption has also 
 been taken up by Christian commentators, as we 
 think, somewhat too hastily. 
 
 ci Then Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Com- 
 mand the children of Israel to turn and encamp 
 before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the Red 
 Sea, over against Baal-zephon : before it shall ye 
 encamp by the sea/' Exodus xiv. 1, 2. 
 
 This was the first encampment of Israel. It 
 would occupy some considerable period in forming. 
 Moses and Aaron with the princes of the people 
 went first, marching day and night. Having reached 
 the shore of the Red Sea, they, by the command of 
 Jehovah, marked out the boundary of the camp. 
 The rest of the people, the women, the little ones, 
 the flocks, the herds, the provisions, the inconceiv- 
 ably numerous troop of beasts of burden, laden with 
 the baggage of this vast host, would follow at lei- 
 sure. The Wady-el-Tih, though very desolate, is 
 by no means absolutely desert, like the Sahara. 
 Green spots, and even groups of tamarisk-bushes, 
 may be seen here and there. There are also wells 
 of water there. The gazelles likewise bound over 
 its rocks and plains in vast numbers ; so that there 
 must be pasturings in it, with which the Israelites 
 
 would be acquainted. Through such a district the 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 migration of the host of Israel would be accom- 
 plished without difficulty ; and, with their supplies 
 from Egypt yet undiminished, without distress to 
 man or beast. 
 
 The termination of the Wady-el-Tih at the Red 
 . Sea fulfils exactly the conditions of the passage be- 
 fore us. To the northward it is hemmed in by a con- 
 spicuous mountain, terminating in a promontory, 
 which projects far into the sea, and perfectly jus- 
 tifies the ancient appellation Baal-zephon, flDS-bw 
 " promontory of the north/' The modern name is 
 (rebel- Ataka, " the mountain of deliverance/' in 
 commemoration of the Exodus. The mountain to 
 the southward is high, rocky, and precipitous. Its 
 appearance, a jagged steep of white limestone, in- 
 dented everywhere with caves and fissures, is also 
 faithfully described by its ancient name, rrwnTQ 
 " the mouths of the caverns/' Between these two 
 mountains is a sandy plain seven miles broad. The 
 Hebrew word Migdol, blM, means " a fortress/' It 
 has passed unchanged in sound or meaning from the 
 Hebrew to the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphic, 
 ~!j [2s\*fn @T migtol. Copt, meshtol It frequently 
 appears in the battle-pieces on the walls of the 
 temples, as the common appellative of the fortresses 
 on the north-eastern frontier of the kingdom. In 
 this sense it is evidently used in the present pass- 
 age. It was afterwards made the proper name 
 
THE EXODUS. 405 . 
 
 of a settlement on the Mediterranean coast of the 
 Isthmus ; Magdolum. The ancient versions have 
 confounded the two, to the grievous increase of the 
 previous difficulties of their geography of the Ex- 
 odus. The Migdol of our text appears to have 
 been a fortress built at the extreme point of the 
 promontory of Baal-zephon, on the narrow plain 
 between it and the sea, to defend this pass to the 
 Wady-el-Tih (which was the high road to Helio- 
 polis) from the desert tribes.* 
 
 The position of this first encampment of Israel is 
 thus described in another place of Holy Writ. 
 
 " Then they removed from Etham, and turned 
 again to Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon, 
 and they pitched before Migdol [the fortress] " 
 Numbers xxxiii. 7. 
 
 This is by no means difficult to understand. 
 Moses and Aaron, with the princes and elders of 
 Israel, encamped at the foot of Baal-zephon, close 
 under the walls of the fortress, with which they 
 were at peace. The rest of the host thronged the 
 whole of the valley up to Pi-hahiroth, and far in- 
 land. Here they remained in camp for three weeks 
 and upwards. This would afford an opportunity 
 for the stragglers, the weak, and the sickly to join 
 the main body. During this time they would be 
 
 * The Red Sea was not at this time navigated hy the Canaanites. 
 
406 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 abundantly supplied from Egypt with water and 
 provisions. 
 
 " Then was it told the king of Egypt that the 
 people had departed. Then the heart of Pharaoh 
 and his princes was made stout against the people ; 
 and they said, Why have we done this, that we have 
 let Israel go from serving us ? " Exod. xiv. 5. 
 
 Moses had already been forewarned of this occur- 
 rence. The change in the councils of Pharaoh had 
 taken place when the Exodus was nearly completed. 
 We may assume about three weeks as, probably 
 enough, the time that had actually elapsed. In 
 this interval the fearful consequences of the Exodus 
 would be often and painfully discussed in the coun- 
 cil-chamber of Sethos. All around them were fields 
 desolated by the plagues, and never again to be re- 
 stored to fertility by the hand of man, but to be 
 left to the stagnant pools of the receding river, and 
 to the sands of the desert. On every side of them 
 were temples and other public works in progress, 
 now never to be completed. The villages were with- 
 out inhabitants, and in the cities was left desola- 
 tion. Nor was the mischief that had befallen 
 the kingdom of Egypt limited even by a judg- 
 ment so fearful as the utter loss of two-thirds of her 
 inhabitants. Her riches were also gone, and, still 
 worse, the flower of every family that remained in 
 the land, had been cut down by the scythe of the 
 
THE EXODUS. 407 
 
 destroying angel. It would be in the midst of 
 deeply mortifying and gloomy speculations upon 
 these unparalleled circumstances of misfortune that 
 the tidings would reach Ramses, of the encampment 
 of Israel " over against Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol 
 and the sea/' A ray of hope, a vision of vengeance, 
 would arise to the fierce, untutored, impulsive spirit 
 of Sethos. Aha ! they are in the toils, " they are 
 entangled in the land, the wilderness doth hem 
 them in/' The deep blue sea is before them : on 
 their right is the waste howling wilderness of the 
 Red Sea, which they cannot traverse without per- 
 ishing. 
 
 " And Pharaoh made ready his chariot and took 
 his people [that is, his sons, his body-guard] with 
 him. Also he took six hundred chosen chariots, 
 together with all the chariots of Egypt, and three 
 men of valour over every one of them ; for Jehovah 
 had hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, 
 so that he pursued after the children of Israel, when 
 the children of Israel had gone forth with a high 
 hand. 
 
 " So Egypt pursued after them, all the horses and 
 chariots of Pharaoh, even his strong horses and his 
 mighty men, and overtook them encamping by the 
 sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon/' Exod. 
 xiv. 6 — 9. 
 
 This also Jehovah had done. He had spread the 
 
408 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 net, he had hidden the toils wherein his adversary 
 shall be snared and taken. 
 
 " Command the children of Israel to encamp 
 before Pi-hahiroth, over against Baal-zephon ; for 
 Pharaoh will say of them, They are entangled in 
 the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And 
 I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow 
 after them : and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, 
 and upon all his host ; that the Egyptians may 
 know that I am God. And they did so." ver. 2—4. 
 
 It is a fearful thing to fight against God. He 
 turns the counsels of men into foolishness. No 
 extent of earthly power, no subtilty of device, nei- 
 ther skill nor promptitude nor bravery of execu- 
 tion, avail ought against him. The councils of 
 Sethos on this occasion lacked none of these quali- 
 ties ; yet did they conduct him and all his host to 
 most inevitable destruction. 
 
 The design was a promising one. No time was 
 spent in the assembling of an armed force. Pha- 
 raoh himself with his body-guard, commanded by 
 his sons, and the princes and nobles of Egypt, 
 each also with their attendant, went forth at 
 once to the eastern border in chariots. The an- 
 cient Egyptians used the horse only for war, and 
 in no other manner than yoked by pairs in the 
 war-chariot, which held three men. The sons and 
 attendants on the nobles of Egypt accompanied 
 
THE EXODUS. 409 
 
 their chiefs in 'chariots, in the same manner as the 
 body-guard of Pharaoh. 
 
 The pomp and state of Pharaoh was always war- 
 like. He moved from place to place in his war- 
 chariot, armed to the teeth. His court accompanied 
 him similarly conveyed and accoutred. No time 
 was therefore required for the assembling of the 
 force with which he meditated the execution of his 
 daring stratagem. Neither was there any necessity 
 for disclosing it to his subjects, who would, proba- 
 bly enough, have resisted any further attempt to 
 brave the God of Israel : Pharaoh himself, his 
 princes and his councillors execute the device which 
 they themselves had planned ; no one below the 
 rank of noble was permitted to ascend the war-cha- 
 riot. The numbers which would be assembled on 
 this occasion may be safely computed at 3000 cha- 
 riots and 10,000 men, — Pharaoh, his sons and near 
 relatives, the princes and nobles, the men of might 
 and valour, chosen from among the entire popula- 
 tion, all trained together to the use of arms and 
 from their earliest infancy. This was no contemp- 
 tible force. They would scour swiftly over the 
 grassy plains of Groshen and over the sands of the 
 desert ; for the horses of Egypt were renowned in 
 the ancient world for courage, strength, and swift- 
 ness. They would cross the desert by different 
 paths, for the convenience of water and provender. 
 
410 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The gathering-place was Migdol, the tower at the 
 foot of Baal-zephon. Every man of the host was a 
 trained soldier, marching through a country with 
 which he was familiar : so that the army would 
 assemble at the rendezvous as in a moment ; and 
 the first notice of danger to the Israelites would be 
 the appearance of Pharaoh in his war-chariot, at 
 the head of the war-chariots of Egypt in battle 
 array, and in the act of giving the command to 
 
 charge, when the whole host abreast would burst 
 the feeble barriers of the camp, plunge into the 
 midst of the multitude unarmed, unprepared, and 
 in the act of retiring to rest for the night, and 
 slay without pity or remorse, regardless of age or 
 sex or condition, until the remnant surrendered 
 unconditionally. The assault had been well planned, 
 and hitherto skilfully and boldly executed. 
 
THE EXODUS. 411 
 
 " Now when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of 
 Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyp- 
 tians bent their bows against them, (??3) and they 
 were sore afraid : and the children of Israel cried 
 unto Jehovah. Also they said unto Moses, Because 
 there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us 
 away to die in the wilderness ? Wherefore hast 
 thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of 
 Egypt. Is not this the thing that we did tell 
 thee in Egypt, when we said, Let us alone that 
 we may be slaves in Egypt ? Yea, it had been 
 better for us to serve in Egypt than to die in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 te But Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, 
 stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which 
 he will shew you to-day : for the Egyptians whom 
 ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no 
 more for ever/' ver. 11 — 13. 
 
 Never were fears better grounded. Israel knew 
 full well the perfectly relentless character of the 
 vengeance of Egypt. Many a fearful picture of the 
 sufferings of the captives would arise before them. 
 They would see, moreover their own utter impo- 
 tence to resist the array that was coming against 
 them. And now the word is given : the earth 
 shakes beneath the hoofs of their bounding and 
 impatient steeds, and already the fierce eyes of the 
 warriors of Egypt gloat upon their prey, as they 
 
412 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 wave their glittering faulchions and draw the arrow 
 to the head. 
 
 " Then the angel of God, which went before the 
 camp of Israel, removed and went behind them : 
 also the pillar of the cloud went from before their 
 face, and stood behind them : yea, it came between 
 the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. It was a 
 cloud and darkness [to Egypt], but it gave light by ■ 
 night [unto Israel.] 
 
 " So the one came not near the other all that 
 night." ver. 19, 20. 
 
 The children of Israel arose that night, and 
 proceeded to strike their tents, to lade their beasts 
 of burden, and to complete the preparations for 
 their departure, by the light of God's own coun- 
 tenance : " for Jehovah did fight for them, and 
 they were silent and at peace/' 
 
 The Egyptian force passed the same eventful night 
 in darkness. Their horses felt the present deity, 
 and refused to approach the awful veil that waved 
 mystically over their onward course. The charioteers 
 were sore perplexed. To advance was impossible. 
 They feared to remain ; but they feared still more 
 to return discomfited, 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Lift thou up 
 thy staff, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, 
 and divide it : and the children of Israel shall go 
 on dry ground through the midst of the sea/' 
 
THE EXODUS. 418 
 
 "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, 
 and Jehovah caused the sea to part by a strong east 
 wind all that night, and made the sea dry, for the 
 waters were divided/' ver. 3 5, 21. 
 
 The gulf of Suez is about eight miles across, and 
 of considerable depth at the point of Gebel Ataka, 
 (Baalzephon). The act of God on this occasion was 
 a stupendous miracle. It is worse than trifling with 
 the sacred text, to attempt by any theory of tides to 
 reduce it to anything less. 
 
 The host of Pharaoh felt the terrible storm that 
 raged against them, they heard the surging and 
 boiling of the fiercely -agitated sea, but they saw 
 nothing. The wind did not dispel the blinding 
 mist that hung over them. 
 
 " Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Wherefore criest 
 thou unto me ? Speak unto the children of Israel 
 that they go forward. So the children of Israel 
 went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, 
 and the waters were a wall unto them on their 
 right hand, and on their left." ver. 15, 22. 
 
 The entire space between the mountains Ataka 
 and Abou Deradj was dry. At the former point the 
 gulf is eight miles across, at the latter more than 
 double that distance. The waters that had filled 
 this broad and deep chasm stood in two huge 
 mounds on the right hand and on the left. The 
 light of God shone brightly on the astonished mul- 
 
414 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 titude. The word was given, and they advanced 
 abreast ; awe-stricken, but quiet and confident. God 
 was before them to guide them on their steep and 
 tangled path. God was behind them to hide them 
 from their enemies. God was on their right hand 
 and on their left ; " he enlarged their steps under 
 them, so that their feet did not slip/' Thus, " by 
 faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry- 
 land." Heb. xi. 29. 
 
 The host of Jehovah had more than half accom- 
 plished the passage of the Red Sea, before the muf- 
 fling darkness that shrouded the Egyptian army 
 t was removed. The prey was escaped. They saw 
 Israel by the light that blazed from the cloud of 
 God's presence, journeying onward through the 
 chasm, and leisurely forming their encampment on 
 the opposite shore ; and as the fitful gusts of the 
 east wind swept past them, distant shouts of tri- 
 umph, and songs of thanksgiving smote upon their 
 ears. A frenzy from God seized upon Pharaoh and 
 his princes. They saw not the mounds of water 
 that stood quivering in heaps. Stung with dis- 
 appointment, mad with rage, they lashed their fiery 
 steeds, and rushed frantically down the yawning 
 gulf. ' 
 
 " Then the Egyptians pursued and went in after 
 them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, 
 even his chariots and his fleet horses. 
 
THE EXODUS. 4J5 
 
 " And it came to pass, that in the morning watch 
 Jehovah looked upon the host of Egypt from the 
 pillar of fire and of a cloud, and threatened [hum- 
 med in the ears of ] the host of Egypt. Also he 
 turned aside the chariot-wheels [upon the axles] so 
 that they drave heavily. Then said Egypt, I will 
 flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fights for 
 them against Egypt/' ver. 24, 25. 
 
 Pharaoh g,nd his princes had already reached the 
 rear of the host of Israel, where Moses stood, when 
 the morning dawned, and the Egyptians saw the 
 wrathful tokens, and heard the appalling voice, of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 The wheels of their chariots were at the same time 
 fixed, so that it was difficult to proceed. They 
 saw their mad folly. They turned to flee, but it 
 was too late. This was the most fearful of all ! 
 
 " Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out 
 thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come 
 again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and 
 upon their horses. 
 
 u And Moses stretched forth his hand over the 
 sea, and the sea returned in his strength as the 
 morning brake, and the Egyptians fled from it ; for 
 Jehovah shook Egypt [with fear] in the midst of 
 the sea. Then the waters returned and covered 
 the chariots, and the horses, and all the host of 
 Pharaoh that came into the sea after him, there 
 
416 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 remained not so much as one of them ; but the chil- 
 dren of Israel were walking [at the same time] upon 
 dry land, and the waters were a wall unto them on 
 the right hand and on the left. 
 
 " Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the 
 hand of Egypt. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead 
 upon the sea-shore/' ver. 26 — 30. 
 
 Thus fell Sethos II. It was his terrible destiny . 
 to leave to after-times the strongest exemplification 
 of daring wickedness and mad impiety in his life, 
 and of the vengeance of God in his death, that ever 
 was enacted on the earth. Never had such a judg- 
 ment befallen any nation, as his reign in Egypt. 
 Accordingly the memory of this fearful event has 
 never departed from among men. The gulf in 
 which he perished is named Bahr-Kolzoum, "the 
 sea of destruction/' to this day. 
 
 The misfortunes of the Exodus, to Egypt, were per- 
 fectly irretrievable. The monuments discourse this 
 truth silently yet eloquently. No temple remains 
 in all Egypt which was begun by any Pharaoh who 
 succeeded Sethos. There is but one to which his 
 successors made any large addition. The kings of 
 Egypt in these later times were poor both in revenue 
 and subjects. Seven or eight of them managed 
 with difficulty to excavate tombs for themselves in 
 the valley of the kings. These are the only monu- 
 ments of their reigns, and even this proved too 
 
THE EXODUS. 417 
 
 much for their successors, whose mummies were in 
 all probability interred in the vaults of their an- 
 cestors. So rare, in short, are the memorials of 
 nearly all these later kings, that with the reign of 
 Sethos II. the monumental history of the Pharaohs 
 well nigh ceases. 
 
 The memory and name of Sethos II. were in- 
 famous in Egypt, His tomb was desecrated, and 
 his sarcophagus publicly and judicially broken. The 
 vault seems to have been used as a burying-place 
 for slaves. The distinctive title of his name, Sethos, 
 has been mutilated on all the monuments of Egypt. 
 igjjj\ In Lower Egypt the mutilation has even been 
 fe extended to the same title in the rings of his 
 ^^ great-grandfather (Sethos I.), such was the 
 deep abhorrence in which the name had fallen, 
 after it had been borne by this wicked king.* His 
 is the only one in the whole range of the mo- 
 numental names of the kings of Egypt which has 
 suffered this mark of public infamy. The fact of 
 this mutilation of the name of Sethos has long been 
 well known to all the students of our subject. The 
 reason of it has not been before pointed out. 
 
 That the Greek tradition, as well as the monu- 
 ments, should also have preserved some notice of 
 the Exodus and its accompanying disasters to Egypt, 
 
 * e. g. the obelisco del Popolo at Home, which is from Heliopolis, the 
 Speos Arteinidos at Beni Hassan &c. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 ISEAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 would follow inevitably. An account of it, pro- 
 fessedly copied by Manetho from the temple records, 
 is related by Josephus.* Sethos is not mentioned 
 in it. The onus of the transaction rests upon his 
 father Amenephthis, whom it makes a very pious 
 monarch, and who, wishing to see the gods, as his an- 
 cestor king Horus had seen them, applied to a pro- 
 phet, his namesake, for information as to the mode 
 of attaining this blessing. He received for answer, 
 that it would be needful for him to expel all leprous 
 and unclean persons from the boundaries of Egypt, 
 and that this course would entail great misfortunes 
 on the kingdom. In compliance with this injunc- 
 tion he banished more than 80,000 such persons, 
 and employed them in the quarries on the eastern 
 bank of the Nile. Many Egyptian malefactors were 
 likewise in the same bondage. Sometime after- 
 wards he set these bondsmen to work to repair a 
 city in the eastern Delta, called Avaris. Here they 
 conspired together, made a leprous Heliopolitan 
 priest, named Osorsiph or Moses, their king, and 
 swore allegiance to him. He gave them laws op- 
 posed in all things to the customs of Egypt, and 
 commanded them to fortify Avaris against Amen- 
 ephthis. He also formed an alliance with the 
 Shepherds, who had been expelled from Egypt by 
 Tethmosis, in their city called Jerusalem, and by 
 
 * Cont. Apion I. 25. 
 
THE EXODUS. 419 
 
 their aid invaded Egypt with a force of 200,000 
 men. Amenephthis perceiving that all this had 
 been foretold by his namesake the prophet, resolved 
 not to resist the gods, but fled into Ethiopia, taking 
 his images and sacred animals with him, and also 
 his son, who was named Sethos, or Ramses. The 
 invaders then committed fearful havoc in all Egypt, 
 sacking and demolishing both public and private 
 buildings, so that their capital took its name from 
 having been built with " the spoils of temples " (lepov- 
 o-vXyj[a i. e. hpov o-vXa.) Thirteen years afterwards Amen- 
 ephthis and his son returned from Ethiopia with a 
 great force, and expelled the invaders from Egypt. 
 
 There are parts of this fable which in all proba 
 bility were invented at Alexandria about the times 
 of Josephus, for the purpose of mortifying the Jews 
 and amusing the Greeks, like the nick-names of the 
 Shepherd-kings. It rests nevertheless upon a cer- 
 tain framework of truth. 
 
 The event upon which it fables is the Exodus. 
 This is palpable and undeniable. The Exodus 
 therefore took place after the times of king Horus, 
 who was the last monarch of the 18th dynasty, as 
 Lepsius very acutely observes, in reply to Bunsen, 
 who assumes it to have taken place before : inas- 
 much as Horus was the king whose example Amen- 
 ephthis wished to follow. 
 
 The city of Moses in Egypt was Heliopolis. This 
 2 E 2 
 
420 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 is an important point, for Joseph also was of the 
 same city. 
 
 The statement that the expelled strangers were 
 leprous and unclean is repeated by so many other 
 Greek authorities, that it seems to have been made 
 for some better reason than that of mortifying the 
 Jews. Such would be a very probable consequence 
 of the hardships the Israelites underwent during 
 the captivity. The minute directions regarding 
 cutaneous diseases, in the Levitical law, seem also 
 to point at the same fact. Lepsius has noticed this 
 coincidence also. 
 
 Though, for the sake doubtless of misleading his 
 foreign readers, Manetho makes Amenephthis the 
 Pharaoh of the Exodus, it is nevertheless well 
 worthy of note that he afterwards makes him the 
 father of Sethos. They stand so connected on the 
 monuments. 
 
 The disasters of the Exodus, if recorded on the 
 temples of Egypt, would assuredly never be related 
 by the priests to strangers. To obliterate, as far as 
 possible, the remembrance of them, the narrative 
 confounds Amenephthis with Ramerri, the obscure 
 successor of Sethos II., and Sethos himself with 
 Ramses III. the son or successor of Ramerri. These 
 matters, however, bear not at all upon our present 
 subject. They belong to the history of Egypt, and 
 there we have discussed them. 
 
THE EXODUS. 421 
 
 This fable embodies, finally, another aggravation 
 of the sufferings of Egypt after the Exodus. Vast 
 numbers of Canaanites rushed across the Isthmus 
 on hearing the tidings of Israel's departure, and 
 Egypt suffered from them all the horrors of a foreign 
 invasion. The story makes this to have lasted fifteen 
 years. Our strong persuasion is that it continued 
 much longer. This fearful anarchy was at length 
 brought to an end by Ramses III., and he has re- 
 corded the exploit in a vast series of pictures on 
 the external walls of the palace of Medinat Abou 
 in Western Thebes. We are able, from a long and 
 close examination, to state the fact, that Ramses 
 never left the boundaries of Egypt in this his war, 
 and that the pen and treaties with the invaders had 
 really far more to do with the pacification in which 
 it terminated, than the sword and victories : not- 
 withstanding the vaunts of these designs. The 
 second invasion of the Shepherds, as it is called, 
 was in fact an immigration from Canaan to Egypt, 
 whereby after many years of anarchy and blood- 
 shed, the awful chasm which the Exodus had left 
 in the population of the kingdom was at length in 
 some measure filled up, and thereby Egypt was still 
 enabled, though miserably diminished in power and 
 glory, to maintain her independence. Without this 
 supply, she would inevitably have fallen a prey to 
 the savage tribes around her. The readiness of the 
 
422 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 Canaanites to embrace the religion of Egypt we had 
 before discovered. 
 
 It was doubtless on these same conditions that 
 they were naturalized in Egypt on this occasion. 
 We suspect the anarchy to have lasted more than 
 forty years, and that the discomfiture which the 
 Canaanites then underwent (as undoubtedly they 
 did) from Ramses III, arose as much from the dis- 
 asters which their brethren in Canaan were suffer- 
 ing from the sword of Israel, which cut off all 
 succours from thence, as from any other cause. 
 Numbers of fugitives would enter Egypt from Ca- 
 naan during these wars also. These all were ulti- 
 mately naturalized, though at first dealt with as 
 foreigners. It was with their forced services, far 
 more than with their prisoners of war, that Ramses 
 built his one temple at Medinat Abou. It was 
 moreover, by their labours that his tomb and the 
 tombs of his seven successors were excavated and 
 adorned. When they became naturalized, and no 
 longer liable to forced service, all great construc- 
 tions ceased in Egypt. 
 
 " And Israel saw that great work which Jeho- 
 vah did upon Egypt : and the people feared Jeho- 
 vah : yea, they believed Jehovah and his servant 
 Moses. 
 
THE EXODUS. 423 
 
 " Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this 
 song unto Jehovah : 
 
 " I will sing unto Jehovah, for he hath triumphed 
 
 gloriously, 
 The horse with his chariot hath he thrown into 
 
 the sea. 
 Jehovah is my strength and my song, he is unto 
 
 me for salvation. 
 He is my God, and he shall dwell within me 
 
 [in a temple*] ; my father's God, and I will 
 
 honor him [with worship.] 
 Jehovah is a man of war : Jehovah is his name. 
 
 Pharaoh's chariots with his strong men he 
 
 hath cast into the sea ; 
 His chosen men by threes together, they have 
 
 sunk in the Red Sea. 
 The roaring waves covered them, they sank to 
 
 the lowest depths like a stone. 
 Thy right hand, Jehovah, is glorious in power : 
 Thy right hand, Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces 
 
 the enemy. 
 In the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrow- 
 
 est them that rise up against thee. 
 Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them 
 
 as stubble. 
 Yea, with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were 
 
 heaped up [as corn on the threshing-floor.] 
 
 * n*)2 " dwelt in a temple as a god," like the Greek yaos " a shrine." 
 
424 ISRAEL m EGYPT. 
 
 The flowing waters stood upright in an heap. 
 Yea, the roaring waves congealed in the heart 
 
 of the sea. 
 The enemy said : 
 
 I will pursue, 
 
 I will overtake. 
 
 I will divide the spoil. 
 
 My lust shall be satisfied upon them. 
 
 I will draw the sword. 
 
 My hand shall lead them captive again. 
 
 Thou didst blow with thy wind, 
 
 The sea covered them : 
 
 They sank as lead in the mighty waters. 
 Who is like unto thee among the gods, Je- 
 hovah ? 
 Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fear- 
 ful in praises, doing wonders ? 
 Thou didst stretch forth thy right hand, 
 The [depths of the] earth swallowed them up. 
 [But] thou leadest [by the hand of] thy mercy, 
 This people which thou hast ransomed ; 
 Yea, by thy strength [right hand] shalt thou 
 
 bring them 
 Unto the habitation of thy holiness." 
 
 " The people shall hear and be afraid, 
 The inhabitants of Palestina shall assemble their 
 forces. 
 
THE EXODUS. 425 
 
 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed ; 
 
 The mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take 
 
 hold on them ; 
 All the dwellers in Canaan shall melt away. 
 Fear and dread fall upon them ; 
 At the lifting up of thine arm they are still as a 
 
 stone ; 
 Until thy people pass through thee, Jehovah, 
 Until thy people pass through, whom thou hast 
 
 purchased ! * 
 Thou shalt bring them in, 
 Yea, thou shalt plant them in the mountain of 
 
 thine inheritance, 
 The place, Jehovah, thou hast made for thee 
 
 to dwell in, 
 
 * The nations specified in this sublime passage were all the inhabitants 
 of the southern districts of the land of Canaan. The apprehensions so 
 powerfully described in it, and the tidings of the depopulated state of 
 Egypt, doubtless led to the vast emigrations from those countries across 
 the Isthmus, which the Egyptian priests have called the second invasion of 
 the shepherds. That Egypt was hereby saved from extinction, as a king- 
 dom, is one purpose of God in it, which we have already explained. It 
 also served another divine purpose. It saved vast multitudes of indivi- 
 dually unoffending members of the human race from the sword of the 
 avenger, which the accursed and cannibal idolatry of the land had at length 
 provoked the long-suffering, even of Jehovah, to draw against its inha- 
 bitants. Bad as was the mythology of Egypt which they then embraced? 
 miserably as it perverted the few religious truths it concealed, it was 
 nevertheless by no means the confection of human blood, and scarcely 
 human lust, which reeked to the nostrils of the foul idols of Canaan. 
 This purpose also will be seen very clearly by those who rightly appre- 
 ciate the character and attributes of the true God. 
 
426 ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 
 
 The sanctuary, Jehovah, which thy hands have 
 
 established. 
 Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever/' 
 
 Exodus xiv. 31 ; xv. 1 — 18. 
 
 Here our work is at an end. The labour will not 
 have been in vain should it produce or aid the con- 
 viction in the mind of any man, that the persons 
 mentioned in the Bible were men and not meta- 
 phors ; that the events it has recorded were actual 
 occurrences and not fables ; and that even the num- 
 bers which are found there (when they have not 
 been tampered with by weak and wicked altera- 
 tions) are real dates, and not geological indefinites. 
 
APPENDIX. 427 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 PRINCIPAL CANAANITE NAMES ON THE TEMPLES 
 OF EGYPT. 
 
 ^Ef^l^S rt ~ n H - e ^ ) - r^N Arvadites. Arab. 
 ruad. Arvad was one of the sons of Canaan. The 
 tribe was named after him. Gren. x. 10. They built 
 the city of Zidon, which they named after the first- 
 born of Canaan, who probably died childless (v. 15). 
 They afterwards built Tyre, (see Ezek. xxvii. 8.) and 
 still later the city which they named after them- 
 selves Aradus. They were the great trading power 
 of the ancient world. Herodotus the Greek his- 
 torian says, (lib. i.) that their intercourse with 
 Egypt was the earliest traffic of which any record 
 remained. The monuments of Egypt fully confirm 
 this statement. So great had been the immigration 
 of Arvad into Lower Egypt, that Saites married an 
 Arvadite princess : and on this account his king- 
 dom is named upper Arvad, and Memphis an Arva- 
 dite city, in the hieroglyphic account of the capture 
 of it. The same document leaves us to infer that 
 Arvad was the first of the Canaanite nations to 
 make peace with the Theban Pharaoh. In all other 
 hieroglyphic records, Arvad is in alliance and 
 
428 APPENDIX. 
 
 trading with Egypt, Herodotus tells us, that in his 
 day the commerce of Arvad with Egypt was very 
 extensive, and that a Syrian settlement existed in 
 the vicinity of Memphis, (lib. ii.) 
 
 i\^ thi Hebrew Wl the Hittites. The de- 
 scendants of Heth, the second son of Canaan. (Gen. 
 x. 15). The possessions of this powerful tribe were 
 in the south of Canaan. They had also large pos- " 
 sessions in Egypt at the time of the capture of 
 Memphis by Amosis. But in the days of his suc- 
 cessors (the 18th dynasty) they had been expelled 
 from the Delta by the Xoite kings confederate with 
 Arvad, and probably with Israel. In the preten- 
 sions of Heth, to those possessions in Egypt, origi- 
 nated the wars of Sethos and Ramses. 
 
 TiT.T\^\faj shasu. Hebrew nif the Zuzim ; pro- 
 bably a sept of the Hivites, inhabiting the moun- 
 tains of Siddim or the Dead Sea. They had been 
 among the first of the Canaanites to cross the 
 desert of Suez and form settlements in the Delta. 
 In the times of Abraham, they were on this ac- 
 count entitled "the Zuzim that dwelt in Ham/' 
 [i. e. Egypt.] Gen. xiv, 5. For this reason also 
 their name in the provincial language of Egypt had 
 become the common appellative of " shepherd/' with 
 all its degrading associations. This nation had 
 been dispossessed of their territory in Siddim by the 
 children of Lot, sometime before the Exodus. (See 
 
APPENDIX. 429 
 
 Deut. ii. 20, 21.) The monuments seem to indicate 
 that their possessions in Egypt also had been ceded 
 to Moab and Amnion. This war seems to have 
 taken place while Sethos reigned in Egypt In his 
 first year the Zuzim were a very powerful nation : 
 but in the wars of his son Rainses, they were much 
 diminished, and confederate with him against Moab. 
 ^-^krt^nJL, sht-n. The geographical identifica- 
 tion of the enemies of Egypt who bear this appellation, 
 with Moab in the mountains of Sheth, we published 
 long ago.* We are now in position to confirm this 
 identification unanswerably. In the long inscription 
 at Abu Simbel, the Shethites are declared to be 
 %^^Nfjy of "the race of the Mubith," that is, 
 rPDNb " Moabites " in Hebrew. In the decree of the 
 21st Ramses expelling Sheth from Egypt, the princes 
 of yi^L, Ar Moab (Num. xxi. 28 &c.) i#fT 
 Moab-Dannah (Jos. xv. 49.) and j^g §!*> ^X, Aroer, 
 (Jer. xlviii. 19.) represent the Shethites. We need 
 scarcely remind the reader, that all these are cities 
 of Moab, mentioned in the Bible. 
 
 These are the four principal Canaanite nations 
 mentioned on the monuments of ancient Egypt. 
 Many others are likewise named casually. We have 
 given them at length elsewhere. -f* 
 
 * Egypt: her testimony, pp. 130 — 136. 
 t Ubi supra. Also monumental history of Egypt, Vol. II. Trans. 
 R. S. L. &c. 
 
430 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 COREGENCIES IN EGYPT DURING 
 
 N,B.- 
 
 -The letters over each name refer 
 the figures, to their 
 
 LOWER, EGYPT. 
 
 C14 
 
 a 
 
 Othoes 6th dyn. 
 lists. 
 
 D 8 
 
 Saites son of Othoes : 
 
 conquered Memphis 
 
 (16th dyn. lists.) 
 
 C 15 
 
 Aphophis, Phiops, or Apappus, son 
 of Meris. Crowned king of Lower 
 £21 Egypt, and many years co-regent 
 with his father. Afterwards king of all Egypt. 
 Reigned for 61 years. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 THE SOJOURN OF ISRAEL. 
 
 to the planes of the chamber of Karnak, 
 succession there. 
 
 431 
 
 UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 Amuntimasus c 12 
 
 v 
 
 ^2 
 
 
 (12th dy. lists) 
 
 lost Memphis 
 
 to Saites. 
 
 Shepherds in Up. Eg. 
 Meris, father of 
 
 §Aphophis : expelled 
 Skeniophris from 
 C 16 Crocodilopolis. 
 f&\ Melaneres son of 
 \<=> Aphophis conquered 
 ^^ all Upper Egypt. 
 ^ 15 p r i nce viceroy of 
 I fl] Thebes, the son of 
 I lej Melaneres. 
 
 AmenemesIV. B 13 
 
 ST 
 
 co-regent and 
 
 successor to 
 
 Amuntimasus. 
 
 l£f 
 
 S,H1 
 
 gL° H 
 
 » 
 
 Mencherian Pharaohs. 
 
 B 14 
 
 r o s ^ Skeniophris 
 
 expelled 
 
 from the 
 
 Faioum 
 
 by Meris. 
 
 13th DYNASTY. 
 El 
 
 MenthesuphisII. 
 
 E2 
 
 erased. 
 
 E 3 
 erased. 
 
 E4 
 
 . .A 
 
 
 00 QJ 
 
 E5 
 
 II 
 
 AWAA 
 
 03 
 
 ® a; * 
 
 C 03 <j 
 
 E 6^. 
 ^-^ ° <=> 
 
 ' ©^ 
 
 .5 -a 
 
 fcf\ 
 
 ^^ 
 
432 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 The immigration of Israel late in the reign of 
 Aphophis, either in the 51st or 54th year. 
 
 ^i Iannes succeeds Aphophis at Mem- 
 phis, reigned 50 years (lists). 
 
 Six descents of Shepherds at 
 Abydos in friendly co-regency 
 with the 18th dynasty. 
 
 Asses : the son of 
 
 G 3 
 
 h 
 
 Son of H 5. 
 
 nr\ 
 
 Iannes, and for 
 
 many years his co -regent. Whole 
 
 reign 49 years lists. 
 
 Actual duration of the reigns of Iannes and Asses 
 
 60 years. — Asses probably perished in the attempt 
 
 to maintain Memphis against Amosis ; — about the 
 
 70th year of the immigration. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 433 
 
 UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 H 4 
 
 o 
 
 D 1 
 
 The bursting of the lake in 
 the reign of this king. 
 
 F l 
 
 
 F2 
 
 erased. 
 
 F3 
 
 erased. 
 
 F4 
 
 
 (101 
 
 H 5 
 
 ^ The father and father-in-law 
 of Amosis. 
 
 v_ 
 
 18th DYNASTY. 
 I. 
 
 fo\ (S\ Amosis, who expelled 
 
 aa 
 
 IPJ the Lower Egyptians 
 -^ from Memphis. 
 
434 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 Shepherds in Middle Egypt. Not in Lists. 
 
 G 
 
 DYNASTY Xoites. 
 
 Qu. the son of Asses, He devoted himself to 
 the worship of Sephris (Q -<£j the builder of 
 the 2nd pyramid, and took his name. 
 
 H8 
 
 r&\ This king 
 1^. conquered 
 I Q Memphis again. 
 
 Gl 
 G2 
 
 ^D 
 
 Thetombof one 
 v^S of the officers 
 j' J of this king at 
 
 Essiout. 
 
 No more names of the Xoite 
 Pharaohs known until Si Phtha. 
 They are named on the monu- 
 ments princes of Upper Arvad 
 and Moab. 
 
 G7 
 
 G8 
 
 erased. 
 
 The father-in-law 
 of Thothmosis, in 
 whom this line 
 merged. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 435 
 
 UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 18th DYNASTY Thebans. 
 I_ 
 
 U 
 
 AB 
 
 Chebron Amenophis. 
 
 ill 
 
 □ 
 
 u 
 
 IV 
 
 S? 
 
 io 
 
 Mesphres. 
 
 Achencheres. 
 
 Amenses. 
 
 Thothmosis, the final expeller 
 
 py inotnmosis, tne nnai expei 
 J* of the Shepherds, lists. — M 
 ^ ried the daughter of the Shep- 
 herd king of Abydos. Chamber of Karnak, and 
 recovered Heliopolis from the Lower Egyptians. 
 
 VII 
 
 m 
 
 VIII 
 
 Acherres. 
 
 Armais. 
 
 Perhaps expelled the Xoites 
 
 from Memphis. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 f°Yffi!\ ^ Ptlm the last of the Xoite kings. 
 
 He 
 
 married ^( ^ES] Thouoris the daughter 
 
 of Ramses II. in the 21st year of his reign. 
 
 The duration of the 18th and 19th dynasties was 
 tion of Israel to the capture of Memphis by Amosis. 
 years. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 437 
 
 UPPER EGYPT. 
 
 IX 
 
 ^UL 
 
 Amenophis-Memnon. 
 
 x 
 
 
 i-^ 
 
 *^l 
 
 Horus. 
 
 These ten kings reigned for 205 years. 
 
 19th DYNASTY I Thebans. 
 
 Ramses I. 
 
 Sethos I. 
 
 in 
 
 M 
 
 The King that knew not Jo- 
 • seph. 
 
 Amenenthis. 
 
 Sethos II. 
 
 Who perished in the Red Sea 
 
 at the Exodus. 
 
 365 years, which gives 65 years from the immigra- 
 Our calculation of the same interval makes it 67 
 
L, SEELEY, PRINTER, 
 THAMES DITTON. 
 
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