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EGYPT

THE BOOKS OF MOSES,

THE BOOKS OF MOSES^ ILLUSTRATED BY THE
MONUMENTS OF EGYPT =

WITH an appendix.

DR. E. W HENGSTENBERG,
PROFESSOR OF THEOL. AT BERLIN.

FROM THE GERMAN
BY R. D. C. ROBBINS,
ABBOT RESIDENT, THEOL. SEM., ANDOVER.

ANDOVER:
ALLEN, MORRILL AND WARDWELL.
NEW YORK: M. H. NEWMAN.
1843:

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
ALLEN, MOKRILL AND WARDWELL,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

S 4 \ kg

AND O TEE :
ALLEN, MORRILL AND WARDWELL,
PRINTERS.

PREFACE,

The recent interest in the subject of Egyptian antiquities
began with the publication of the works of Charapollion
the younger, about twenty years ago. Since his death, which
occurred in 1832, these researches have been prosecuted
with much zeal, by several of his scholars and other distin
guished archaeologists. Two ofthe learned men of Holland,
professors Reuvens and Leemans, have made important con
tributions to the subject, derived in part from the treasures of
the Leyden Museum. The results of the labors of Rosel-
lini, professor of oriental languages and antiquities at Pisa,
are of the highest value. In 1829, he and his brother
accompanied Champollion in the scientific expedition to
Egypt, which was undertaken under the joint auspices ofthe
governments of France and Tuscany. Champollion, just be
fore his death, committed to him the honorable office of
bringing before the world the result of their associated labors
and studies. The first part of the great work of Rosel-
lini, which is yet incomplete, appeared in 1832, at Pisa, in
folio, entitled, " I monument) dell' Egitto e della Nubia di-
segnati della Spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in
Egitto, distribuiti in brdine di materie, interpretati ed illus-
trati." Through the liberality of the Grand Duke of Tus
cany, it is brought out in the highest style of typography.

PREFACE.

It consists of a series of treatises which embrace the most
important results of the investigations into the history and
civil institutions of the ancient Pharaoh-dynasties under the
Pagan, Greek and Roman dominion. The contents of the
work are as rich as the plan is comprehensive. It abounds
in researches relating to the languages, civil history, and
history of the arts in the valley of the Nile. Rosellini
published in Rome, in 1837, in quarto, a valuable Egyptian
grammar, entitled, " Elementae Linguae Egyptiacae, vulgo
Copticae." In this interesting field of research, several Englishmen
have acquired high distinction. Among these are Dr. Young,
Major Felix, Lord Prudhoe and Sir Gardner Wilkinson.
Dr. Young shares with Charapollion the honor of having first
indicated the right method of deciphering the hieroglyphical
language. To Mr. Wilkinson justly belongs the encomium
which he has himself bestowed on Rosellini. " He is a
man of erudition and a gentleman, and one whose enthusi
astic endeavors, stimulated by great perseverance, are tem
pered by judgment, and that modesty which is the character
istic of real merit." Mr. Wilkinson's principal works on
Egypt are contained in nine volumes, namely, "A general
View of Egypt, and Topography of ThebeS," in two vols, (a
new edition was published in 1843) and " Manners and Cus
toms of the ancient Egyptians, including their private life,
government, laws, arts, manufactures, religion, and early
history," in two series of three volumes in each. A second
edition of the first series was published in 1842. These
works are full of most valuable materials, accompanied with
many fine illustrations. They everywhere exhibit that cau-

PREFACE.

tion, sound judgment, modesty and enthusiasm, which greatly
delight the reader. At the same time, the arrangement is
susceptible of improvement, while the style is somewhat
heavy, and wanting in precision and scholar-like finish. It
is delightful to observe the reverence with which the author
regards the sacred volume, and the gratification which every
undoubted illustration of its authenticity affords him. He
has now, for the fourth time, we believe, taken up his abode
in Egypt.
Another distinguished investigator in these fascinating
studies is Dr. Richard Lepsius, a native of Naumburg in
Prussia. He published, in 1834, a prize dissertation entitled
" Palaeographie als Mittel fur die Sprachforschung zunachst
am Sanscrit nachgewiesen." His studies led him to Turin
and then to Rome, where he was appointed one of the two
corresponding secretaries ofthe Archaeological Institute there.
In 1842, Dr. Lepsius was sent to Egypt by the Prussian gov
ernment, in connection with a number of other learned men.
He is reaping " a rich harvest on this earliest scene of the
history of mankind." If the results ofthe expedition corres
pond to the promises of the commencement, much new light
will be thrown on the ancient condition of Egypt.
These researches derive special importance from the light
which they cast upon the Old Testament records, especially
upon the Mosaic history. An incidental, undesigned, but
most valuable proof is thus drawn from witnesses that cannot
lie in favor ofthe trustworthiness of those records. " Paintings,
numerous and beautiful beyond conception, as fresh and per
fect as if finished only yesterday," exhibit before our eyes the
truth of what the Hebrew lawgiver wrote, almost five thou-

PREFACE.

sand years ago. The authenticity of the documents of our
faith thus rests, not on manuscripts and written records alone,
but the hardest and most enduring substances in nature have
added their unsuspecting testimony.
" Egyptian history and the manners of the most ancient
nations," Mr. Wilkinson remarks, " cannot but be interesting
to every one, and so intimately connected are they with the
scriptural accounts of the Israelites and the events of suc
ceeding ages relative to Judea, that the name of Egypt need
only to be mentioned to recal the early impressions we have
received from the study ofthe Bible."
It is the object of the present volume to collect and apply
the results obtained by these and numerous other authors
as far as they relate to the Books of Moses. This had not
•been done before the appearance of this work in 1840.
Even the most recent German commentators are sadly de
ficient in this respect. They have scarcely made any advance
upon the works of Spencer and Le Clerc, who wrote more
than a century ago. Some of the other works of the author
of this volume, Dr. E. W. Hengstenberg, are too well known
;in this country to render a statement of his general qualifica
tions for the work which he has here undertaken necessary.
It may, however, be proper to say that he has made the Penta
teuch a subject of special study, and probably no one in
Germany or elsewhere has devoted more attention to that
interesting, but too much neglected portion of the sacred vol
ume. His situation as Professor at Berlin also gave him access
to the rich collection of Egyptian antiquities in the Berlin
Museum, and the reader is left to judge whether he has not
made good use of his advantages.

PREFACE. Vll
The form of the work has been somewhat changed in the
translation. The references to authorities, which in the orig
inal volume were in the text, are thrown to the bottom ofthe
page. Nearly all ofthe italic headings have been inserted. In
a very few cases notes, which it was thought would add more
to the size than value of the volume to an English reader,
have been omitted or abridged. In one instance a long note
from another untranslated work of the author has been
inserted in the text. The very few notes at the end have
been added by the translator. It was his intention to insert
many more but they have been unavoidably omitted.
The translator is under great obligations to Prof. H. B.
Hackett of Newton Theological Seminary, who consented
to listen to a large part ofthe manuscript before it was print
ed, and make such corrections as his accurate knowledge
of the German language suggested. Much valuable advice
and assistance has also been received from Professor B. B.
Edwards of Andover Theological Seminary.
Andover, Sept. 1843.

CONTENTS

NEGATIVE PART.
Material used for Building in Egypt,
The Animals of Egypt and the Pentateuch, .
Use of Animal Food in Egypt,
Winds of Egypt,
Cultivation of the Vine in Egypt,
Origin of Civilization in Egypt,
Use of Iron in Egypt,

Page. 37
8
12
18 19

POSITIVE PART.
CHAPTER L-
The History of Joseph. Gen. chaps, xxxvii — xl.
Joseph carried to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, . _^_ 23
Joseph's Exaltation,  24
Joseph's Temptation and the Morals of the Egyptians, . . 25
The Dream of the Chief Baker of Pharaoh, .... 27
Pharaoh's Dream and the Magicians of Egypt, . . 28
The Hair and Beard-1— how worn in Egypt, .... 30
Dress and Ornaments of the Egyptians, .... 31
The 'Marriage of Joseph,  32
Joseph collects the Produce of the Seven Years of Plenty, 34
Famine in Egypt and the adjoining Countries, ... 35
Joseph, his Brethren, and the Egyptians, sit at an Entertainment, 37
The Practice of Divining by Caps,  38
The Arrival of Jacob and his Family in Egypt, and their Settle
ment in Goshen,  39

X CONTEXTS.
References of the Pentateuch to the Geographical Features of
Egypt.
The Land of Goshen,  42
Location of Pharaoh's Treasure-Cities — Pithom and Raamses, 47
The March of the Israelites from Raamses to the Red Sea, . 56
" Between Migdol and the Sea,'' ... v 60
History of Joseph — Continued.
Kings and Priests, the Possessors of the Land in Egypt, . 62
Embalming, Lamentation for the Dead, etc. . 70
CHAPTER II.
Exodus, Chapters I — VII.
The Fears of Pharaoh and his Severity to. the Israelites, . 79
Use of the Papyrus and Bitumen in Egypt, ... 86
The Daughter of Pharaoh finds the Child, Moses, ... 87
The Israelites directed to borrow ofthe Egyptians Ornaments, etc., 88
Moses's Rod, .... ..... 88
Writing, much practised in Egypt, . . 89
Preparation of Stone for Inscriptions, ..... 91
The Bastinado, .  92
The Shoterim of the Israelites, the same as the modern Sheikh
el-Beled, ..... • ... 92
The Duties of the Shoterim, ... 93
The Arrogance ofthe Pharaohs,  94
CHAPTER III.
The Signs and Wonders in Egypt.
The Connection of the Supernatural with the Natural in the
Plagues of Egypt, .  gg
Moses's Rod changed to a Serpent, .... 100
The First Plague—the Water of Egypt changed to Blood, . 106
The Second Plague — the Frogs, . . J 114
The Third Plague— the b as , Gnats, . ... 115
The Fourth Plague— the Flies, .... 116
The Fifth Plague— the Destruction ofthe Animals in Egypt, 119
The Sixth Plague— the Boils, .... 119

CONTENTS.

XI

The Seventh Plague— the Tempest,  121
The Eighth Plague — the Locusts, . 124
The Ninth Plague— the Darkness, .... 125
The Tenth Plague— the Death ofthe First-horn ofthe Egyptians, 128

CHAPTER IV.
Exodus,. Chapters XIV and XV.
The Military Force ofthe Egyptians, .
Musical Instruments among the Egyptians,

132136

CHAPTER V.
The .Materials and Arts employed in the Construction of the
Tabernacle and Priests' Garments.
Cultivation ofthe Arts among the Egyptians and Israelites, 140
The Art of Cutting and Setting precious Stones, . . 141
The Art of Purifying and Working Metals, . . . 143
Skill in Carving Wood,  145
Use of Leather,  146
Spinning, Weaving, and Embroidery, . . . 147
Preparation and Use of Unguents, .... 150

CHAPTER VI.
Egyptian References in the Religious Institutions of the Books
of Moses.
Law among the Egyptians and Israelites, .... 152
The Stuff and Color of the Priests' Garments, . . . 153
Urim and Thummim, . ... 158
The Cherubim and Sphinxes,  161
The Figure and Significance of the Sphinxes, . . . 162
The Cherubim — their Form and Import, .... 165
Leviticus, chap. xvi. Azazel, . ... 168
Numbers, chap, xix., .  184
Laws with Reference to Food, . . . 192
The Institution ofthe holy Women, . . . . 196
Tte Nazarites,  202

Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.'
Miscellaneous Passages.
The Genealogical Table in Gen. x., . ... 208
Abraham and Sarah in Egypt — Gen. xii., . . . 212
Genesis 13: 10, ... ... .214
Exodus 20: 25, . . . . 214
The Festival of the Golden Calf, etc. Exodus xxxii. and Lev.
17: 7, ... 215
Prohibition of Marriage between near Relatives. Lev. xviii., 218
Defilement with Animals. Lev. 18: 23. Exod. 22: 18, etc.. 219
Leviticus 24: 10—12,  . 220
Numbers 11: 4,  220
The Grass (helbeh), i^n,  221
The Fish, .  224
The Cucumber, .  224
Melons, t^l-pBSK, . . . . . 225
Onions, .'  . . 225
The Garlic,  226
Numbers 17: 2,  226
Deuteronomy 6: 9 and II: 20,  227
The Diseases of Egypt severe. Deut. 7: 15. 28: 27, 35, 60. Exod.
15:26, ... . .... 227
Cultivation of the Land in Egypt and Palestine. Deut. 11: 10, 11, 229
Deuteronomy 17: 16,  .234
Kind Treatment of the Israelites by Individual Egyptians. Deut.
23: 8 (7),  235
Deuteronomy 23: 12, 13,  236
Threshing with Oxen. Deut. 25: 4. .... 237
Deuteronomy 28: 56,  237
Deuteronomy 5; 15. 4: 20. 6: 20 seq. 7: 8, etc., ... 238

APPENDIX.
Manetho and the Hycsos.
I. Manetho, ......... 241
II. The Hycsos of Manetho, ... . . 260
Notes,  280

EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

NEGATIVE PART.
It is incumbent on us, first, in the. negative part of our
inquiry, to disprove the pretended " mistakes and inaccu
racies" ofthe author of the Pentateuch, in relation to Egypt.
By these, as has lately been asserted, he has betrayed, that
he lived out of Egypt and long after the lime of Moses.

Material used for Building in Egypt.
The author, says von B o h 1 e n,* comes under strong suspi
cion of having transferred to the valley of the Nile, many things
from upper Asia ; as, the Egyptians were accustomed to build
with hewn stone, and the great buildings of brick, Ex. 1: 14,
instead of being Egyptian, seem rather to have been bor
rowed from Babylonia.
We can scarcely trust our own eyes, when we read such
things. Is it possible that any one, who undertakes to com
ment upon the Pentateuch, and even ventures to accuse its
author of ignorance in relation to Egyptian affairs, can show
himself grossly uninformed in these same things, and make
assertions whose incorrectness is conclusively shown by the
first good compendium !
* Einleitung zur Genesis, S. LV.

2 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
In a case like the one before us, any one would first of all
have recourse to O. MiiHer's Archaeologia* There we
read: "Building with brick was very common in Egypt.
Private edifices were indeed generally of this material."
If we examine further, Herodotu st mentions a pyra
mid of brick, which is probably still standing.^
But we are literally overwhelmed with proofs ofthe abun
dant use of brick in Egypt, when we turn to those who, dur
ing the present century, have explored the Egyptian monu
ments. C h a m p o 1 1 i o n§, for example, speaks of a tomb built
of crude brick at Sais, and a temple of brick at Wady Halfa.||
R o s el 1 i n iff says : "Ruins of great brick buildings are found
in all parts of Egypt. Walls of astonishing height and thick
ness are preserved to the present time, as, for example, the
circumvallation of Sais ; also whole pyramids, as those of
Dashoor, and a great number of the ruins of monuments, both
great and small." W ilk in son** says: " The use of crude
brick, baked in the sun, was universal in upper and lower
Egypt, both for public and private buildings. Enclosures of
gardens and granaries, sacrech circuits encompassing the
courts of temples, walls of fortifications and towns, dwelling-
houses and tombs, in short, all but the temples themselves,
were of crude brick." The same author shows that building
with brick was practised even in very early times, since the
bricks themselves, both in Thebes and the neighborhood of
Memphis, often bear the names of the monarchs who ruled
Egypt in that early age.
*¦ § 226. t 2. 136.
t See Bahr upon the passage. Manner! Geog. 10. 1. S. 444, 67.
§ In den Briefen aus Aeg. S. 14 der. Deutsch. Uebers.
|| S. 83.
II I monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia, II. 2. p. 249.
** Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. London, 1842.
Vol. II. p. 96.

ANIMALS OF THE PENTATEUCH. 3
The Animals of Egypt and the Pentateuch.
The author, remarks v. B o h 1 e n further in the passage
referred to, supposes the existence of camels and asses in
Egypt. The allegation, as fully stated by him with his rea
sons,* is as follows : " The narrator mentions the animals
of his own native land, a part of which Abraham could not
receive in Egypt. Gen. 45 : 23. 47 : 17. Ex. 9 : 3. He
ascribes to him no horses which were native to Egypt, as
the relator indeed is aware, Gen. 41: 43. 47: 17; but,
on the other hand, he mentions sheep, which are found in
the marsh lands of Egypt as seldom as camels (hence these
last are denied to the country by the ancient writers) and
asses, which were specially odious to the Egyptians on ac
count of their color."
It is said in the passage designated: " And he [Pharaoh]
entreated Abraham well for her sake ; and he had sheep,
and oxen, and he-asses, and men servants, and maid ser
vants, and she-asses, and camels."
We inquire, first, why the horse is not also among the
presents. Even v. B o h 1 e n dares not assert that this cir
cumstance is accounted for, by supposing that the author did
not know how abundant horses were in Egypt. In the enu
meration of the animals of the Egyptians, in Gen. 47: 17,
horses stand first, also in Ex. 9: 3. The rearing of horses
is considered in the Pentateuch as so peculiar to Egypt, that
in Deut. 17: 16, it is represented as possible, that an Israel-
itish king, merely from love to the horse, might wish to lead
back the people to Egypt. If now the reason why horses
are not mentioned cannot be found on the part of the giver,
it must be found with the receiver. It appears that horses
were not yet in use among the Israelites, either in peace or
war, at the time of Joshua and the Judgesf. They were
* S. 163, upon Gen. 12: 16.
f See J. D. Michaelis, Mosaic Laws. Eng. Trans. Vol. II. p. 434

4 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
first commonly used in the time of the kings. But if the
horse was not yet used by the Israelites, at the time of Joshua
and the Judges, much less was it surely in the age of the
Pentateuch, when the main object, which the keeping of
horses subserved in Egypt, did not exist.* If now this is
the reason why the horse does not appear in the enumeration
of the presents, it is entirely in favor of the true historical
character and Mosaic origin ofthe narration. If it owed its
origin to the poetic tradition of the time of the kings, horses
would certainly have been mentioned, since we cannot sup
pose that the time of the introduction of them was accurately
known, and still less that the fiction was so carefully managed
for the sake of maintaining historical consistency. But we
need not stop with merely the present passage. The Pen
tateuch in other places continually implies that in the ancient
times with which it is concerned, there were no horses among
the patriarchs and their descendants. "Moses," says Mi
ch ae 1 i s, " repeatedly describes to us the riches of the Pa
triarchs, as consisting of their herds, among which, while
oxen, sheep, goats, camels and asses are enumerated, we
never once find horses mentioned."t The tabernacle was
drawn by oxen in the desert. Num. 7: 3. That a great
number of horses could not be conveniently kept in Egypt,
is implied in Deut. 17: 16. These facts, ' according to mo
dern views respecting the Pentateuch, are entirely inexplica
ble. They compel us at least to the assumption, that the
composition of the narration precedes the time of the com
mencement of the kingdom, while at the same time the
attempts to refer the substance of the history in the books

* Taylor's Illust. of the Bible from the monuments of Egypt. Lon
don, 1838. p. 5. " From the monuments we learn that horses were
used exclusively [more accurately, preeminently] in war, especially
for drawing chariots, in which the most distinguished Egyptian war
riors rode to battle."
t Midi. Mos. Laws. Eng. Trans. Vol. II. p. 436. Compare Gen.
20: 14. 24: 35. 26: 14. 30: 41. 32: 6, 8, 15, 16.

ANIMALS OF EGYPT AND THE'PENTATEUCH. 5
of Joshua and Judges to later times, have also a formidable
obstacle in the apparently trivial circumstance, that in them
the horse is not represented as in use. Let it be borne in
mind here, that we find nowhere a historical notice of the
time of the introduction of horses, that they were in all pro
bability introduced gradually, and that the Israelites did not
probably know that which a scholar of the last century, by a
laborious comparison of many scattered passages, has made
entirely certain.
It has occurred to no one before v. Bohlen to deny,
that there were asses in Egypt. All of the authors who
speak of the hatred of the Egyptians to this animal, imply
that it existed there.* How, also, could they otherwise have
been sacrificed to Typhon. Swine too were considered un
clean in Egypt, yet they were kept.t He and she-asses ap
pear in great numbers on the monuments. The former were
commonly used for riding — we find them represented with
rich trappings, — the latter as beasts of burden. £ A single
individual is represented on the monuments, as having 760
of them, which makes it evident that they were very nu-
merous.§ The assertion that sheep were not found in Egypt, every
modern manual of Geography confutes. Ukert|| says,
"Sheep are found in great numbers in Egypt. Their wool
is an important article of trade, and their flesh is the most
common which comes upon the table."fl Ancient authors
often mention the sheep of Egypt. According toHerodo-
t u a,** rams were considered sacred by the Thebans, and
* Compare the passage in Schmidt, de sacerd. et sacrif. Aeg. p. 283.
t Herod. 2. 47, 48. Schmidt, p. 269. t Taylor, pp. 6, 7.
§ Wilkinson, Vol. III. p. 34.
|| Nordhalfte von Afrika, S. 169.
IT Compare, on rearing sheep in Egypt, Girard in the Description,
t. 17. p. 129 seq.
** 2. 41 and 2. 42. 1*

6 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
sheep were sacrificed by the inhabitants of the Mendesian
nome in the Delta. Plutarch says, the Lycopolites ate the
flesh of sheep, and according to D i o d o r u s*, the sheep pro
duced their young twice in a year and were twice shorn.
Sheep appear on the monuments often and in great numbers.
Large herds of them were kept especially in the neighborhood
of Memphis. Sometimes the flocks consisted of more than
two thousand.!
That the camel existed in ancient Egypt is indeed proba
ble from the analogy of the present time.| It is acknow
ledged that they have not yet been found delineated on the
monuments,^ except those scattered traces which M i n u to-
1 i || thinks that he discovered on the obelisks of Luxor. But
this circumstance, at most, only proves that camels were not
very abundant in Egypt, and even that not with entire cer
tainty. The Pentateuch itself also intimates the same thing,
since in the passage under consideration, camels are men
tioned last, and in chap. 45: 23, not at all. A multitude of
objects which can be demonstrated to have existed among
* 1. 36 and 87.
t See Wilk. Vol. II. p. 368. Champollion, Briefe, S. 51, accord
ing to whom the treading down of the ground by rams is represented
in the grottoes of Beni Hassan, 53.
X Ukert, S. 169. Girard in the Description, 1. 17. p. 128, says:
" The camels which are used in Said for the transportation of all
kinds of freight, unless it is sent by water upon the Nile or upon the
canals, are inferior in size and strength to those in Lower Egypt.
The raising of these animals is one of the chief employments of the
Arabs who dwell upon the borders of the valley of Egypt. They
furnish the- markets of different provinces with them. The camels
which are used for the transportation of the harvest do not always
belong to the husbandman. He hires them as he needs them. Dur
ing the remainder of the year, he makes use of the ass. There is no
land-owner who does not possess several asses," etc. According to
t. 15, p. 215 ofthe Descr. the cameU ofthe Delta are less valued than
those of the provinces which border upon the desert.
§ Wilk. I. p. 351, H Reise, S. 293.

USE OP ANIMAL FOOD. 7
the ancient Egyptians are wanting in their paintings. In
the numerous hunting scenes, for example, the wild boar is
not seen, although it is a native of Egypt. The wild ass,
which is common in the deserts of Thebaid, is also not met
with.* Even fowls and pigeons, which Egypt had in so
great abundance, do not appear, while " geese are repeatedly
introduced."! Of other objects which, although they cer
tainly existed, are not found upon the monuments, the same
author speaks on page 254, Vol. Ill, with which compare
too what is said on page 344 of the same Vol. concerning
the great deficiency ofthe monuments.
Use of Animal Food in Egypt.
"The author," says v. Bohlen.f "represents Joseph,
Gen. 43: 16, in most manifest opposition to the sacredness
of beasts to prepare flesh for food." In his commentary|| it is
said : " The Egyptians partake, at most, of consecrated flesh-
offerings, and the higher castes, especially the priests with
whom Joseph was connected by marriage, abstain entirely
from animal food." Further :§ "The hatred of this people
to foreign shepherds is founded on the inviolableness of ani
mals, especially of neat cattle, goats and sheep (the author
forgets he has denied the existence of these animals in
Egypt), which were killed by the shepherds, but accounted
sacred by the Egyptians."
Our astonishment at the condition of our great critic's
knowledge of Egypt is here again not a little increased, and
the credulity, with which so many use such an author's work
on India as good authority, becomes, after the successive de
velopments of his ignorance, unaccountable to us. No one
before v. B o h 1 e n has ever thought of asserting that the
Egyptians abstain from all animal food. The contrary is
* Wilk. III. p. 21. t Wilk. p. 35.
f S. LV. § S. 397, upon Gen. 43: 16.
|| S. 399.

8 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
found in all works of acknowledged authority. H e e r e n,*
for example, says : " Oxen are commonly used for food and of
ferings." And Beck:t "The Egyptians abstain from the
flesh of several animals, some of them sacred, as the cow,
and some of them otherwise, as from swine's flesh." How
also can any one doubt that the Egyptians ate flesh, when
Herodotus alone furnishes abundant proof of the fact'?
According to 2. 18, cows only, not oxen, were sacred among
the Egyptians; in 2. 168, the quantity of the flesh of oxen
received daily, by each Egyptian warrior, is mentioned. Ac
cording to 2. 69, even crocodile's flesh was eaten by the in
habitants of Elephantine ; but the most important passage is
2. 37, where it is said that the Egyptian priests receive each
day a large portion of flesh.:}: Even P o r p h y r y§ himself
merely says, that at certain times the Egyptian priests abstain
from animal food. In this stateof things we scarcely need
to take the trouble to mention, that upon the monuments, in
kitchen scenes and the delineation of feasts, animal food ap
pears in abundance.|| The Winds of Egypt.
"The author," we read further in v. Bohlen,1J "mis
takes so materially with regard to the natural phenomena of
the country, that he transfers there the scorching east wind
of Palestine," Gen. 41: 6, and represents the ebb in the
Red Sea as produced by this same wind. In his commen
tary** on the passage above referred to, it is said, When
there is a cool and refreshing east wind along the Arabian
* In den Ideen, Aegypten, S. 170.
t In der Weltgeschichte, 1,1. S. 763.
X ICal xQtarv §oLuiv «al jpipiwv uXij&oe %i indaxuj ylvsxai nollov
I'/fiioeg endorrjt-
§ In Schmidt, p. 62. || Wilk. Vol. II. p. 368.
IT S. LVI. ** S. 383.

WINDS OF EGYPT. 9
Gulf in Egypt, it is cnt off from the Nile by the eastern
mountain range, the Mokattam, and cannot even press in,
much less then scorch the ears of corn.* On the contrary,
it is the south which is the hot wind in Egypt.f A simi
lar error is found in Ex. 16: 13, where the locusts should
be represented as coming with the south wind out of Nubia.
We will first examine Gen. 41: 6,f where the seven thin
ears, and " blasted with the east wind," are mentioned.
The quotation from A b d o 1 1 a t i p h, by which it is said to
be proved, that there is no east wind in Egypt, is not con
clusive. That author himself shows§ that he does not in
tend to be understood as speaking of all of Egypt, and par
ticularly not of the part with which we are here concerned,
the Delta: "For this reason without doubt the ancient
Egyptians chose for the residence of their kings, Memphis
and the places which like Memphis are most remote from
the eastern mountains."
It is conceded, that there is seldom a wind directly from
the east or west in Egypt. || But there is oftentimes a south
east wind, which is precisely the one to produce the effects
which are here ascribed to the east wind ; and besides, it
blows commonly at the time in which these things are under
stood to have taken place, before the corn harvest, which in
Egypt is in March and April.^J
Ukert** thus sums up the accounts of modern travellers
with regard to the east wind : " In the spring the south wind
oftentimes springs up towards the south-east, increasing to a
whirlwind, etc. The heat then seems insupportable, although
the thermometer does not always rise very high. The south
wind is called Merisi, the south-east' Asiab or Chamsin. As
long as the south-east wind continues, doors and windows
* Abdollatiph, p. 16. Hasselquist, 254. t Abdollatiph, p. 19.
} Compare verses 23, 27 ofthe same chap.
§ P. 5. De Sacy. ||-Ruppell in Ukert, S. 113.
IT Nordmeier calend. Aeg. oecon. p. 29. ** S. 111.

10 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
are closed, but the fine dust penetrates everywhere ; every
thing dries up ; wooden vessels warp and crack. The ther
mometer rises suddenly from 16 — 20 degrees up to 30, 36,
and even 38 degrees of Reaumer. This wind works de
struction upon everything. The grass withers so that it en
tirely perishes, if this wind blows long."
V o 1 n e y* says : " The south and south-east wind produce
no dew, since they come from the African and Arabian
deserts. But the north and west winds bring the evapora
tions of the Mediterranean to Egypt. In March the south
east, the due south and the south-west winds prevail. Then
they become sometimes westerly and sometimes northerly
and easterly."
That this south-east wind is here designated by the word,
tP"7p, which commonly signifies, east wind, is not surprising,
since the Hebrews had terms only for the four principal
winds, and besides, if a more accurate designation had been
possible, it would still have been entirely unsuitable here in
relating a dream. But we can even quote a traveller who
does not scruple to designate the south-east as merely the
east. W a n s I e b+ says : " From Easter to Pentecost is the
most stormy part ofthe year ; for the wind commonly blows,
during this time, from the Red Sea, from the east."
So much upon Gen. 41: 6. We do not trouble ourselves
with Ex. xvi, since the assertion, that the east wind is not
the appropriate one, depends upon the arbitrary supposition,
that the passage ofthe Red Sea took place at the time ofthe
ebb tide. There is therefore now remaining to us only
Ex. 10: 13.
V. B o h I e n is not the first who has thought the mention
ing of the east wind here a suspicious circumstance. B o-
c h a r tf, as long ago as his time, supposed that D'HjJ must in
this place signify the south wind, since the east wind could

* Voyage En Syrie et in Egypte, t. 1. pp. 54, 55.
t In Paulus Reisen Th. III. p. 18. X Hieroz. 3. p. 287.

WINDS OF EGYPT. 11
bring locusts hither only out of Arabia, while the south wind
would bring them from Ethiopia, which produces them in far
greater numbers. Eichhorn* says: "Since the locusts,
from blind instinct, always move from south to north, without
ever turning to the. east -or west, their swarms never come
out of Arabia to Egypt, but always from Ethiopia."
It is certain, without argument, that the author has here
neither used d'H^ with the signification of south wind, nor
inadvertently named the east, where the south should be ;
but that, on the contrary, with clear knowledge of the natu
ral relations of Egypt, he meant to say, that the locusts came
hither from the east, from the Arabian Gulf. This is clear
from verse 19: "And the Lord turned a mighty, strong
west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into
the Red Sea." The west wind, which is expressly repre
sented as the opposite of d"1"];?, carries the locusts directly
back to the region whence they came.
It cannot, therefore, be asserted . that the author betrays
himself, and incautiously transfers a condition which belongs
to Palestine to Egypt. But it is yet asked, Can the locusts
possibly come to Egypt from the east, from beyond the Ara
bian Gulf?
The argument which Eichhorn urges against this, that
the locusts always travel from south to north, is not tenable.
Credner,t who in his commentary on Joel decidedly sub
stantiates the correctness of the statement in our passage,
has shown that they come with every wind. It also can be
no objection to this opinion, that the swarm coming from the
east must pass the Arabian Gulf. For C r e d n e rf has shown,
that the flight of the locusts is successfully made, not merely
over smaller channels, as the Straits of Gibraltar, the Red
Sea,§ etc., but over larger bodies of water, as the Mediterra-
* De Aeg. anno mirabili, p. 26. t S. 286. t S. 288.
§ Niebuhr remarks that, the wind drives the swarms of the locusts
over the Arabian Gulf in its broadest part. Beschr. S. 169.

12 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
nean Sea, in case they are favored by the wind. As soon as
this fails them, changing to a storm, or when a calm suc
ceeds, the whole numberless swarm is precipitated into the
sea, just as it here occurred after the locusts had accom
plished the work of the Lord upon the Egyptians.
If it is true, that the locusts come from the east not less
than from the south, and that the sea is no hindrance to
them, and if it is further settled that Arabia is one of the
principal places, where the locusts are found, it is also cer
tain that they come from there to Egypt not less than from
Nubia. A single case of this kind, a plague of locusts of
peculiar severity, which came from the east upon Egypt,
is described by a Syrian writer, the continuator of B a r-
he brae us:* "In the year 1774 (1463, A. D.) many locusts
came from the east. They advanced even to Egypt, de
stroyed the crops," etc.
The Cultivation ofthe Vine in Egypt.
Ignorance of the condition of Egypt is also said to appear
in the dream of the chief butler of Pharaoh.t In reference
to this, v. B o h 1 e n | remarks : " An important specification
of time for the late origin of the narrative, is contained here
in the dream of the butler, in which the existence of the vine
in Egypt is implied. For, after Psamaticus, consequently
just about the time of Josiah, had its cultivation first been
commenced, in a small degree, and could, in a low country,
which at the time of the ripening of the grape is overflowed,
find entrance only at some few points. The Egyptians used
for drink a kind of beer, in speaking of which, Hero dot u s
explicitly adds that no vines grow in the land. Among the
orthodox Egyptians it is considered as the blood of Ty-
* In dem neuen Repert. von Paulus, Th. I. S. 67.
t Gen. 40: 10, seq. f s. 373.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 18
phon. They did not drink it, says Plutarch, before the time
of Psamaticus, and they also did not offer it in sacrifice."
Tuch* shares with v. B o h 1 e n unbounded regard for
every disconnected saying of Plutarch, which, if we take into
view the whole character of this writer, appears to have very
poor foundation. He also, as well as the author before men
tioned, has no regard to the information which the monu
ments have furnished, since the beginning of this century,
upon the question concerning the cultivation of the vine in
Egypt. He does not even seem to have noticed that which
Heeren has adduced from the Description of the French
scholars.t In vindication ofthe author ofthe book of Gene
sis, he assumes that there is no mention made of wine in the
passage, but of drinking the newly expressed, unfermented,
unintoxicating juice of the grape. The procedure described
in the chapter supposes an evasion, consequently the con
tinued existence of the prohibition of wine, and an observ
ance of this prohibition ; and it is an escape from a difficulty
which besides him, Rosen m u el 1 er has also borrowed
from J. D. M i c h a e 1 i s,| for whom it was exceedingly con
venient, but yet it is nothing more than an escape from diffi
culty. It rests upon the fact that one does not pay attention
to what passes in dreaming, and it does not take into ac
count that the words, " I took the grapes and pressed them
into Pharaoh's cup," if they are separated from their connec
tion with the dream, show a procedure in the preparation of
the royal drink, which has nowhere else any analogy. Be
sides, the employment of cup-bearer, as a distinguished office
at court, could scarcely exist, where the drink and its pre
paration are so extraordinarily simple — the latter such as is
elsewhere practised only by children. Still further, if the
passage in Plutarch be allowed to have any force, we cannot
* In dem Comm. zur Genesis, S. 513. t Ideen, Aegypt. S. 362.
X Mos. Laws, Vol. III. p. 120.
2

14 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
even by this explanation free ourselves from difficulty. For,
according to Plutarch, wine was considered by the Egyptians
as the blood of Typhon, inasmuch as it was the product of
the vine, and not in consequence of its having previously
undergone a fermentation.
Even the accounts of ancient authors permit us not to
doubt, that from the most ancient times, the vine was cul
tivated in Egypt. Herodotus in many ways contributes
to this proof. Thus, according to him, dried grapes appear
among the things which are placed in the body of the bul
lock offered to Isis, together with bread, honey, etc.* The
grapes can only have reference to the domestic culture of
the vine. Also the identification of Osiris with Bacchus in
Herodotust is an argument for the origin of the cultiva
tion of the vine in Egypt. Bacchus and wine stood, at least
according to the popular idea which is all that is here im
portant, in indissoluble union. Diodorus,| in like man
ner, not only asserts the identity of Osiris and Bacchus, but
also expressly attributes to Osiris the discovery of the art of
cultivating the vine.§ " But it is said that he first discovered
the vine near Nysa, and after having acquired skill in the
management of its fruit, first made use of wine himself,
and taught other men the planting of the vine-stock, the
gathering of the grapes, the drinking of wine, and its pre
servation." But the authority of D i o d o r u s is of itself
sufficient to outweigh that of Plutarch. Further, ac
cording to Hellanicus in Athenaeus, the cultiva
tion of the vine was first discovered in the Egyptian city
Plinthinus.|| But these passages of ancient authors have no
longer much interest for us, since we have upon the monu-

* " Quae pertinent,'- remarks Creuzer, Comm. 1, p. 115, "ad fru-
menta inventa vitesque cultas," etc.
t 2. 42 and 144. } In Book I. chap. 11. § 1. 15.
|| Compare this and other passages quoted in Jablonski, Opusc.
II. p. 119 seq. 1. 432, 72.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 15
ments a testimony for the origin of the culture of the vine in
Egypt far more sure, and sufficient in itself. How little that
assertion of Herodotus* agrees with these was first re
marked in the Description.f Since then, the proofs from the
monuments for the cultivation of the vine have very much
multiplied, and the fact may now, since the appearance of
Champollion's Letters and the Works of Rosellin i
and W i 1 k i n s o n, be considered as fully settled. According
to Champollion there are found in the grottoes of Beni
Hassan, "representations ofthe culture ofthe vine, the vin
tage, the bearing away and the stripping off of the grapes,
two kinds of presses, the one moved merely by the strength
of the arms, the other by mechanical power, the putting up
of the wine in bottles or jars, the transportation into the
cellar, the preparation Of boiled wine," J etc. R o s e 1 1 i n i§
has a separate section on grape gathering and the art of
making wine.
"Numerous," says he, "are the representations in the
tombs, which relate to the cultivation of ihe vine, and these are
found, not merely In the tombs of the time of the 18th
and some later dynasties, but also in those which belong
to the time ofthe most ancient dynasties." " The described
pictures,"|| it is said, " show more decidedly than any ancient
written testimony, that in Egypt, even in the most ancient
times, the vine was cultivated and wine made." In the in
scriptions of the time of the Pharaohs, at least seven different
kinds of wine are represented, among which is the wine of
* 2. 77.
t T. 6. p. 124. ecL Paneret. lt is there said: "Among the nume
rous details given by Herodotus concerning the diet ofthe Egyptians,
this is found: As they have not the vine, they drink beer (2. 77)-
Our paintings prove, conclusively, that the Egyptians cultivated the
vine, aBd also made wine. Many critics have previously remarked,
that this dbservation of Herodotus wants accuracy."
t S. 51. § Vol. II. 1. p. 365 et seq. || Page 37a

16 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
Lower Egypt and the wine of Upper Egypt.* Wilkin-
sont gives the engraving and description of an Egyptian
vineyard, and the different kinds of labor bestowed on it. In
a paintingf from Thebes, boys are seen frightening away
the birds from the grape clusters. In one from Beni Hassan,
the kids appear which are allowed to browse upon the vines
after the vintage. The substance of what is communicated
by R o s e 1 1 i n i and W i 1 k i n s o n, with the necessary plates,
can be found in T a y I o r.§
The assertion of Herodotus, that there is in Egypt no
vine, must be considered as an entire mistake. The attempt
made first by Dupuy|| and Larcher,ff finally also by
Ba.hr, to rescue his authority, without disparaging the wit
nesses who attest the existence of the cultivation of the vine
in ancient Egypt, by saying that Herodotus speaks only
of a part of Egypt, the cultivated part, has been already set
aside as inadmissible by Rosellini. "Certainly," says
he,** "Herodotus speaks only of fertile Egypt, but only
there coujd the vine be cultivated, and most certainly was
cultivated. The remainder was either desert or swamp. "tf
The many representations on the monuments of wine-
offerings, which the kings present to the gods, show how
little reliance is to be placed on the assertion of PI u t ar ch,
that before the time of Psamaticus wine was neither offered
* Page 377. \ Vol. II. p: 143 et seq.
t Page 149. § Page 48 et seq.
|| In the Mem. de 1' Acad. d. Inscr. t. 31. Hist. p. 20,
¥ Upon Herod. 2. p. 333. ** Page 374.
tt Even Bahr says, in remarking upon the words, ol fiev tccqI tijv
cnegofiivifV Aiyvitrov olxiovm, in the beginning of C. 77. B. II:
" Est enim Aegyptus ad Nili utramque ripam sita per aliquot dierum
itinera fertilis frugibusque colendis apta, quam rustici incolae habi
tant; quae sequuntur regiones pastorum potius sunt atque nomadum
neque frugum capaces." k See also Heeren, S. 146 ff.

CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 17
nor made use of as drink.* This is one of those numerous
fabrications, by which the Egyptians attempt to give aston
ished foreigners an idea of the nobility and piety of their
ancestors. Even Herodotus does not think of anything
at all like this. If wine had been considered as the blood of
Typhon, how could it be explained, that even in his time,
the priests received a regular allowance of wine.t Their
practice would surely have corresponded to their theology, if
indeed the kings and the people had been led astray by Gre-
¦cian customs.
When v. Boh 1 en asserts, that the vine could not have
found entrance into Egypt, except at some few points, on
account of the inundation, we can against this refer to Mi-
chaud among others, who says, vines flourish in Egypt in
the water like water-plants.f And when J. D. Michaelis
alleges, that the Delta is in August and September, the
months of the wine-harvest, entirely overflowed, we, in op
position to him, refer to Hartmann,§ according to whom
the grape-gathering takes place in part even in July, and is
finished in August, while the inundation, as a general thing,
does not begin until the end of August, and never before the
middle of that month. fi
* Comp. Ros. S. 376. Wilk. II. p. 164 et seq. According to Wil
kinson, p. 168, men are seen in the sculptures who, unable to walk
from excess in drinking, are carried home from a. feast by servants.
For proof, that the prohibition of wine and other intoxicating drinks
to the priests who were to perform the service of the sanctuary, in
Lev. 10, V'. 8 seq., was not inappropriate among a people who had
come from Egypt, where both wine and other intoxicating drinks
were much loved, see yVilk. Vol. III. p. 172 seq.
t Comp. 2. 37.
X T. 7, der Correspondenz aus dem Orient, p. 12. Compare also
concerning the cultivation of the vine in the Delta, Hartmann, Aegyp-
ten, S. 187.
§ See passage above referred to. || Page 214 — 15.
•S Page 118.
S 2*

18 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
We add here, in conclusion, an explanation from Egyptian
antiquity, of some objections, which, although they have not
yet been, easily might be made to the credibility of the Pen
tateuch.

The Origin of Civilization in Egypt.
It has often been confidently affirmed in modern times,
that colonization and civilization descended from Ethiopia
down the Nile to Egypt. From this view one can hardly-
avoid a certain suspicion of the notices respecting Egypt in
the Pentateuch. Already, in Abraham's time, we find the
seat, not of a, but of the flourishing Egyptian kingdom in
Lower Egypt, whither colonization and civilization could
scarcely, at that time, have been carried. Zoan or Tanis
in the Delta appears in Numbers 13: 23, as one of the oldest
cities in Egypt.
But this position is entirely hypothetical, and its inadmis
sibility, as is now more and more acknowledged, appears,
even when we for the present leave the Pentateuch, out of
the account. From antiquity arises a distinguished witness,
Herodotus, who* derives the civilization of Ethiopia from
the deserters from the army of Psamaticus. Among the
moderns, J o m a r dt has most thoroughly confuted this po
sition. " Nubia," he remarks, " consists almost entirely of
barren rocks. Such a land, where the most urgent wants of
man can only be supplied with the utmost exertion, is not
the cradle of the fine arts. Accordingly the majority of
French travellers have not embraced the opinion, that the arts
have descended further and further from the mountains of
Ethiopia." " So soon as I received information of the true
character of the antiquities of Nubia, when I in the pictures
* 2. 30.
t In the Descript. of the Scholars who accompanied the French
Expedition into Egypt, t. 9. p. 163 et seq.

THE USE OF IRON. 19
and sculptures saw the same objects which are represented
on the monuments of Thebes, it was clear to me, that most
of the monuments of Nubia are far later than those of Thebes,
and by no means served as models for them. The climate is
different in the two lands, the productions of the vegetable
kingdom are not the same, the most distinguished plants
which the Egyptian artists have so often represented, — the
lotus, the papyrus, the vine, etc., are not found in this high
region, and the reed and the date tree but seldom. The
arts, already cultivated and perfected, could have been
brought to these shores, but their inhabitants could not have
transplanted the arts, for which their country offered no
natural type, to the shores of the Lower Nile." Wilkin
son* represents the hypothesis of the origin of culture
in Ethiopia as entirely exploded by modern investigations.
The specimens of art which remain in Ethiopia are not
merely inferior in conception to those of Egypt, but bear far
less the stamp of originality. He thinks it probable, though
not demonstrable, that civilization was carried from Thebes
to Lower Egypt. He declines, however, the task of defend
ing this hypothesis with those who oppose him. It seems
almost as if this asserted probability were founded entirely
upon a misconception, namely, upon the circumstance that
the monuments of Upper figypt, in consequence of their situ
ation, are in a far better state of preservation than those of
Lower Egypt, where even the traces of them are for the most
part obliterated. We are much too readily disposed to con
sider that a thing, which now appears noble in the ruins, was
originally the most noble and ancient.
The Use of Iron in Egypt.
One further difficulty : according to Gen. 4: 22, Tubal-
cain was the father of all forgers of brass and iron. Against
* Vol. I. p. 4.

20 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the working of iron so early, it might be argued, that among
the ancient Egyptians, all implements in common use, wea
pons, household-furniture, instruments, were made of cop
per hardened by an alloy of tin. But, on the other hand,
Wilkinson* remarks: "The constant employment of
bronze arms and implements is not a sufficient argument
against their knowledge of iron, since we find the Greeks
and Romans made the same things of bronze long after the
period when iron was universally known-" From the great
proficiency in metallurgy in Egypt, it cannot be supposed,
that the art of working iron was unknown. The extensive
use of brass (it is not to be overlooked that also in our pas
sage brass occupies the first place) must be first on account
ofthe greater ease of procuring and working it. The same
authort says, that it is scarcely supposable, that without tem
pered iron the hieroglyphics could have been cut deep into
hard granite and basaltic rocks. But there is a yet stronger
argument for the use of iron in ancient Egypt from Hero
dotus^ who, after relating how great an expense the sup
port of the laborers on the Pyramids of Cheops occasioned,
remarks : " How immense, therefore, must have been the sum
which was expended on the iron with which they worked,"
unquestionably implying that the Egyptians, even in this ear
ly age, made use of iron as they did in his own time. Upon
the sculptures in Thebes, W i 1 k i n s o n§ also found battle-
axes, which, if we may judge from their color, were of steel.
By these remarks, the other passages|| of the Pentateuch,
* Vol. III. 245. Compare also 246. - t Vol. I. p. 60.
X Book 2. 124.
§ Vol. I. p. 324. Compare, concerning other probable indications
ofthe existence of iron on the sculptures of the early Pharaohs, Vol.
III. p. 247 (241—55) ; and concerning the use of iron generally in
ancient Egypt, Rosellini, II. 2. p. 301 seq.
|| Num. 35: 16. Deut. 3: 11. 4: 10. 27: 5.

EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES. 21
in which iron implements are mentioned, are vindicated at
the same time with those which have been noticed.
The problem of our negative part is solved.* We have,
we hope, conclusively proved, that Egyptian antiquity fur
nishes no evidence against the Books of Moses. By this,
much is already gained. Were the Pentateuch really, what
according to the views of modern criticism it must be, such
evidence would necessarily appear against it, since the events
narrated, so many of them, transpired on Egyptian ground.
The negative part, therefore, acquires no inconsiderable po
sitive importance. It now belongs to us, in the positive part,
to inquire what evidence Egyptian antiquity furnishes in
favor of the Books of Moses.
* We have reserved the consideration of some objections which
might seem appropriate here, for the positive portion of our work,
because, in the cases referred to, the positive element predominated
over the negative.

POSITIVE PART

CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH.— Gen. Chaps. XXXVII-XL.
Joseph carried to Egypt and sold to Potiphar.
According to chap, xxxvii, Joseph is sold by his brothers
to an Arabian caravan who are going to Egypt with mer
chandize, and they sell him in Egypt, An argument for the
early commencement of trade by caravans with Egypt is fur
nished by the fact, that the king Amun-m-gori II. , of the
16th dynasty, erected a station in the Wady Jasoos, to com
mand the wells which furnish water for those passing through
the desert.* The same author shows that slaves were pro
cured by the Egyptians, not only in war, but also by pur
chased The master of Joseph, chap. 37: 36, is designated as Poti
phar, the eunuch of Pharaoh, chief of the body-guard (lite
rally, the. executioners). A eunuch in the literal sense can
not be meant. The term in this place is equivalent to
court-officer. But the transferred signification rests upon
the employments in which real eunuchs engaged,! and thus
it follows from this designation of Potiphar, that there were,
in the opinion of the author, eunuchs, even in Egypt. Now
v. Bohlen asserts, that it cannot be proved, that there
* Wilkinson, Vol. I. pp. 45 and 46. X Vol. I. pp. 403 and 4.
t Herod. 8. 105 : Ttagd rotoi jiaQ^aQowi rifuohsgoi slot ol evvov%oi,
nidTios eivsxa ii/S ndaqg, -tow £voo%hsv.

24 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
were eunuchs in Egypt, and that the author is justly sus
pected of transferring that, which belonged to the Hebrew
court, to Egypt. But this suspicion is removed by what
Rosellini* says of the existence of eunuchs in Egypt.
Men are sometimes represented, he remarks, on the Egyptian
monuments with evident marks of fulness, especially of the
chest and stomach, which is unusual among the Egyptians
in this hot climate. Their complexion is almost a medium
between the brown and yellow by which men and women
are generally distinguished from one another. These marks
are characteristic of eunuchs. The employments of these
men are also in favor of this opinion. They are repeatedly
represented as attendants of the women, then as musicians,
and finally as servants, who are entrusted with the important
duties of household management. It is evident from H e r o-
dotust, that the kings of Egypt had a guard who in addi
tion to the regular income of the soldier, also received a se
parate salary. In the paintings of marches and battles on
the monuments, these royal guards are commonly seen to be
employed in protecting the person of the king, and are dis
tinguished by a peculiar dress and weapons.^ During the
reign of the Ptolemies, who in general adhered to the usages
ofthe ancient Egyptians, the office of the commander of the
body-guard§ was a very important one. They possessed the
confidence of the king, and were often employed in the most
important business transactions. || Finally, the superintend
ence of executions belonged to the most distinguished of the
military cast.ff Joseph's Exaltation.
According to chap. 39: 4 and 5, Potiphar placed Joseph
over his house and over all his substance, and the Lord
* Vol. II. 3. p. 132 seq. f 2.168.
{ Ros. II. 3. p. 201. § aQxtooifiarorfilai,. ,
|| Comp. Rosellini, p. 202. V p. 273.

THE OFFICE OF STEWARD IN EGYPT. 25
blessed him, for the sake of Joseph, in all which he had in
the house and in the field. Joseph had also, after his exalta
tion, a man who was over his house.* A peculiar and
characteristic Egyptian trait ! " Among the objects of til
lage and husbandry," says Rosellini, "which are por
trayed in the Egyptian tombs, we often see a steward, who
takes account and makes a registry of the harvest before it
is deposited in the store-house." " In a tomb at Kum el
Ahmar, the office of a steward with all its apparatus is repre
sented ; two scribes appear with all their preparations for
writing, and there are three rows of volumes, the account
and household books of the steward," etc.t The same au
thor remarks in reference to a painting in a tomb at Beni
Hassan : " In this scene, as also in many others which ex
hibit the internal economy of a house, a man carrying imple
ments for writing,^ — the pen over his ear, the tablet or paper
in his hand, and the writing table under his arm, — either fol
lows or goes before the servants."! According to the in
scription, this is the overseer of the slaves or the steward.
Compare also the representation in Wilkinson of an
Egyptian steward in his employment, •" overlooking the tillage
ofthe lands. "§
Joseph's Temptation and the Morals of the Egyptians.
With impudent shamelessness Potiphar's wife seeks to se
duce Joseph.|| How great the corruption of manners with
reference to the marriage relation was among the Egyptians,
appears from Herodotu s,*\\ whose account L a r c he r has
compared with the one under consideration. The wife of
one of the oldest kings was untrue to him. It was a long
time before a woman could be found who was faithful to her
* Gen. 43: 16, 19. 44: 1. t II. 1. p. 329.
"t II. p. 403, 4. § II. p. 136.
, || Chap, xxxix. TT 2. 111.
3

26 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
husband. And when one was, at last, found, the king took
her without hesitation for himself. From such a state of
morals, the Biblical narrative can easily be conceived to be
natural. The evidence of the monuments is also not very
favorable to the Egyptian women. Thus, they are repre
sented, as addicted to excess in drinking wine, as even be
coming so much intoxicated as to be unable to stand or walk
alone, or "to carry their liquor discreetly."*
Potiphar's wife avails herself of the opportunity when her
husband and the rest of the men of the house were gone out,
and Joseph had come in to perform some duty.f It has lately
been affirmed, that an error against Egyptian customs is here
detected. V. B o h 1 e n says : " Since eunuchs are supposed
to exist, Joseph could not so much as come into the presence
of the women, still less into the harem ;" and T u c h re
marks: "The narrator abandons the representation of a
distinguished Egyptian, in whose house the women live
separately, and descends to a common domestic establish
ment," etc. The error, however, lies here, not on the
side of the author, but on that of his critics. They are
guilty of inadvertently transferring that which universally
prevails in the East to Egypt, which the author avoids, and
thereby exhibits his knowledge of the condition ofthe Egyp
tians. According to the monuments, the women in Egypt
lived under far less restraint, than in the East, or even in
Greece.^ The delineations of Egyptian social intercourse are espe
cially appropriate here. T a y I o r,§ collecting in few words
the results as they are, without reference to our passage,
says: "In some entertainments, we find the ladies and gen
tlemen of a party in different rooms ; but in others, we find
them in the same apartment, mingling together with all the
social freedom of modern Europeans. The children were
* Compare Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 167. t Comp. v. II.
t See the proof in Wilk. Vol. II. p. 389. § p. 171.

MANNER OF BEARING BURDENS. 27
allowed the same liberty as the women ; instead of being
shut up in the harem, as is now usual in the East, they were
introduced into company, and were permitted to sit by the
mother or on the father's knee."

The Dream of the Chief Baker of Pharaoh.
According to chap. 40: 16, the chief baker, in his dream,
carries three wicker baskets with various choice baker's
commodities on his head. Similar woven baskets, flat (which
the circumstance that the three are placed one upon another
here implies) and open, for carrying grapes and other fruits,
are found represented on the monuments.* The art of bak
ing was carried to a high degree of perfection among the
Egyptians. Rosellini says, after describing the kitchen
scenes upon the tomb of Remeses IV. at Biban el Moluk:
" From all these representations, it is clear that the Egyptians
were accustomed to prepare many kinds of pastry for the ta
ble, as we see the very same kinds spread out upon the altars
and tables which are represented in the tombs. They made
even bread, in many and various forms. These articles are
found in the tombs kneaded from barley or wheat, in the
form of a star, a triangle, a 'disk, and other such like things. "+
But the custom of carrying on the head is most peculiar and
characteristic of Egypt, and it is so much the more to be re
marked, as it is mentioned incidentally, and the author does
not characterize it as a custom peculiar to the Egyptians.
Herodotusf mentions the habit of bearing burdens on the
head by the men, as one by which the Egyptians are distin-
tinguished from all other people: "Men bear burdens on
their heads, and women on their shoulders." Examples of
* Wilk. II. 151—2.
t Vol. II. 2. p. 464. Compare the representation of these differ
ent kinds of pastry, etc., in Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 385.
X 2. 35.

28 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
this custom are frequently found upon the monuments.* To
be sure, the monuments also show, what is evident without
argument, that the custom was not universal. t
Pharaoh's Dream and the Magicians of Egypt.
In the account of Pharaoh's dream, chap. 41 : 1 seq.,
we are first struck with the use of the word irwj (Achoo),
Nile-grass, — an Egyptian word for an Egyptian thing. In
the next place, the seven poor and the seven fat kine attract
our attention. The symbol of the cow is very peculiar and
exclusively Egyptian. Upon the signification of this symbol
we have two important passages, one from Plutarch:!
"They consider the cow as the image of Isis and the earth,"
i. e. the symbol of them.§ The other is found in C 1 e-
m e n s :|| " The cow is the symbol of the earth itself and its
cultivation, and of food." Now, therefore, since the cow is
the symbol of fruitfulness, it appears entirely natural, that
the difference of the year in respect to fruitfulness was repre
sented by the different condition of the kine — that unfruitful
years were denoted by lean kine. It is scarcely conceivable
that a foreign inventor should have confined himself so closely
to the peculiar Egyptian symbols. The circumstance that
the kine come up out of the Nile, the fat and also the lean,
has reference to the fact that Egypt owes all its fertility to
this stream, and that famine succeeds as soon as it fails.
* Compare drawings in Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 151 — 2 and Vol. III.
p. 385, where a man is carrying bread or cakes to the oven upon a long
board. t Costaz in the Descr. t. 6. p. ,138. Wilk. as above. Rosellini,
II. p. 453.
t In Bahr upon Herod. 2. 41.
§ Bovv yaQ ' IoiSos sixova v.ai yr/v vofittovm, upon which Bahr:
Manet vacca Isidis signum procreatricisque naturae symbolum.
|| Strom. B. V. p. 671. Potter.

PRIESTS, THE MAGICIANS IN EGYPT. 29
According to chap. 41: 8, Pharaoh calls " all the magicians
of Egypt and all the wise men thereof," that they may inter
pret his dream, by which he is troubled. These same magi
cians appear also in Ex. 7: 11: "Then Pharaoh called
the wise men and the sorcerers ; and they also, the magicians
of Egypt, did in like manner by their enchantments ;" and they
are also represented in Ex. 8: 3, 14, 15— (7, 18, 19.) 9: 11,
as the wise men of the nation, the possessors of secret
arts. Now we find in Egyptian antiquity, an order of persons,
to whom this is entirely appropriate, which is here ascribed
to the magicians. The priests had a double office, the prac
tical worship of the gods, and the pursuit of that which in
Egypt was accounted as wisdom. TheJirst belonged to the
so-called prophets, the second to the holy scribes, isgoyga/ir-
[iaTug. These last were the learned men of the nation ; as in
the Pentateuch, they are called wise men, so the classical
writers named them sages* These men were applied to for
explanation and aid in all things which lay beyond the circle
of common knowledge and action. Thus, in severe cases of
sickness, for example, along with the physician a holy scribe
was called, who from a book and astrological signs deter
mined whether recovery was possible.f The interpretation
of dreams, and also divination belonged to the order of the
holy scribes-! In times of pestilence, they applied them
selves to magic arts to avert the disease. § A passage in
Lucian|| furnishes a peculiarly interesting parallel to the
accounts ofthe Pentateuch concerning the practice of magic
arts : " There was with us in the vessel, a man of Memphis,
one of the holy scribes, wonderful in wisdom and skilled in
all sorts of Egyptian knowledge. It was said of him, that he
* Compare Jahlonski, Panth. Proll. p. 31 seq. Drumann, Inschrift
von Rosetta, S. 122, ff.
t Drumann, S. 129. , X S. 130.
§ S. 130. || In Jahlonski, p. 95.
3*

30 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
had lived twenty-three years in subterranean sanctuaries, and
that he had been there instructed in magic by Isis."*

The Hair and Beard — how worn in Egypt.
When Joseph is called before Pharaoh he shaves himself,
chap. 41: 14. Even the most prejudiced, as for example,
v. B o h 1 e n, must, in this incidental notice, recognize a
purely Egyptian custom. Even Her odotu st mentions it
among the distinguishing peculiarities of the Egyptians, that
they commonly were shaved, but in mourning they allowed
the beard to grow-! The sculptures also agree with this re
presentation. " So particular," says W i 1 k i n s o n,§ " were
they on this point, that to have neglected it was a subject of
reproach and ridicule ; and whenever they intended to con
vey the idea of a man of low condition, or a slovenly person,
the artists represented him with a beard." "Although for
eigners," says the same author, 1 1 " who were brought to
Egypt as slaves had beards on their arrival in the country,
we find that as soon as they were employed in the service of
this civilized people, they were obliged to conform to the
cleanly habits of their masters; their beards and head were
shaved; and they adopted a close cap." According to Ro
se 1 1 i n iff the priests shaved not the beard only, but also the
head ; and others, if they did not shave it with a razor, were
accustomed to wear the hair very short ; the abundant and
long hair which often covers the head of the figures on the
monuments was probably false like our wigs. The same
* "Ervytv rjfuv ovfj-nXiov Msficpio-qg dvi/g, zojv itpwv ygafiftariaiv,
&avfidmoe tr,v ' ooiplav y.al tr(V rrtuSiiav iraoav si&iibe ripi jityi'itTtw
iliytro Se rgta xal el'xooiv try iv rotgaSvcoig vnoystoig (oxijxivai,
(.lays-deiv muSsvoftevos iiro Tijg"Iocdog.
t Chap. 2. 35. J See Bahr upon this passage, S. 558.
§ Vol. III. p. 357. || III. p. 358.
IT Vol. 1. 2. p. 486 seq.

BYSSUS  NECKLACES, ETC. 31
author remarks, that this was considered, by the neighboring
nations, and especially by the Asiatics, as a peculiar and
distinguishing characteristic ofthe Egyptians.*
Dress and Ornaments of the Egyptians.
According to chap. 41: 42, Pharaoh put upon Joseph at
the time of his advancement, his signet-ring, and arrayed
him in garments of byssus, and put the gold chain (the arti
cle shows that it was done in reference to a custom common
in such a case) about his neck. As the gift of the seal-ring
is not peculiar to Egypt, but common in the East, we do not
delay upon it. But the garments of byssus belong necessa
rily to the naturalizing of Joseph. Garments of cloth from
the vegetable kingdom, linen and cotton, were considered
by the Egyptians as pure and holy, and were in high es
timation among them ; the priests wore these only, accord
ing to H e r o d o t u s, 2. 37, where the term linen in opposi
tion to woollen includes also cotton.t And even among the
rest ofthe Egyptians, these were the most valued garments.
Herodotus says: "They wear woollen garments which
are ever newly washed,"!Jand the woollen garments which
they commonly wore for outer garments were thrown off as
soon as they entered the temple.^ In reference to the third
mark of distinction, the putting on of the necklace, the monu
ments furnish abundant explanation. In the tombs of Beni
Hassan, || many slaves are represented, each of whom has in
in his hand something which belongs to the dress or orna
ments of his master. The first carries one of the necklaces
with which the neck and breast of persons of high rank are
generally adorned. Over it stands: Necklace of Gold. At
"• Vol. II. 2. p 395. Jf- t Heeren, p. 133.
| Herod. 2. 37.
§ Herod. 2. 81 , and Heeren in the passage above referred to.
|| Rosellini, II. 2. p. 404.

32 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
Beni Hassan there is also a similar representation in another
tomb of a noble Egyptian.* By the form of the necklace,
it is remarked,! the distinction of individuals in regard to
rank and dignity was probably denoted. Men of the com
mon order seldom wear such ornaments, while the pictures
ofthe kings and the great are always adorned with them-!
The remark of v. Boh 1 en upon Gen. 41:42: "It is
however scarcely necessary to mention that these objects of
luxury, especially polished stones, belong to a later time,"
has interest only as it shows how far the investigations ofthe
Rationalists, in reference to the Pentateuch, fall short of the
present advanced state of knowledge respecting Egyptian
antiquity. It is now far too late for such remarks.

The Marriage of Joseph.
According to chap. 41: 45, Pharaoh gives to Joseph, Ase-
nath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, in marriage.
The name Potiphera, Petephra, he who belongs to the sun,
is very common on the Egyptian monuments.^ This name
is especially appropriate for the priest of On or Heliopolis.
Since Pharaoh evidently intended by this act to establish the
power bestowed on Joseph upon a firm basis, it is implied in
this account: first, that the Egyptian high-priests occupied a
very important position, and secondly, that among them the
high-priest of On was the most distinguished. Both these
points are confirmed by history. The following words of
Heeren|| will show how conspicuous the station of the
high-priests in general was : " The priesthood belonging to
each temple were again organized among themselves with the
* Ros. II. 2. p. 412. t Ros. II. 2. 420.
X See concerning the necklaceB of the Egyptians, which in like
manner also pertained lo the costume ofthe gods, Wilkinson, Vol. II.
p. 215 and Vol. III. p. 375—6 with the plate, 409 M.
§ Rosellini, 1. 1. p. 117. || S. 128.

PRIESTS OF ON. 33
greatest exactness. They had a high-priest, whose office
was also hereditary. It is scarcely necessary to mention,
that the stations of the high-priests in the principal cities in
Egypt were first and highest. " They were in a manner he
reditary princes, who stood by the side ofthe kings, and en
joyed almost the same prerogatives. Their Egyptian title,
Piromis, was, according to the explanation of Her odo t us,*
equivalent to the noble and good (xaXbg xaya&bg) ; which
however does not refer perhaps to moral character, but to nor
bility of descent. Their statues were placed in the temples.
When they are introduced into history, they appear as the first
persons of the State." The passage of Bihrt onHerodo-
tus, 2. 3, (where the priests of Heliopolis are described as
the most learned among all the Egyptians,) shows, that among
the Egyptian colleges of priests, the one at On or Heliopolis
took the precedence ; consequently the high-priest of On was
the most distinguished. The great antiquity of religious
worship at On is also attested by the monuments. Wil
kinson says: "During the reign of Osirtasen (whom he
makes contemporary with Moses), the temple of Heliopolis
was either founded or received additions, and one of the
obelisks bearing his name attests the skill to which they had
attained in the difficult art of sculpturing granite."! -
V. Bo h 1 e n has attempted to make out a contradiction in
this account, which accords in so remarkable a manner with
the state of affairs in Egypt. " An alliance of intolerant
priests," says he, " with a foreign shepherd is entirely op
posed to the character ofthe Egyptians. "§ But the connec-
* 2. 143.
t Videntur fuisse tria omnino potiora Aeg. sacerdotum collegia
Memphiticum, Thehaicum et Heliopolitanum, in quibus Heliopolitae
primum locum obtinuerunt, si quidem vera retulit Strabo, 1. 17. p. 1158
D., solis templum una cum aedibus sacerdotum accurate describens
et pluribus de illorum doctrina et disciplina disserens.
% Vol. I. p. 44. § p. 388.

34 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tion took place in obedience to the command of the king,
and the high-priest of On the less dared to disobey the king,
since according to the result of modern investigations, the
Pharaohs themselves at all times were invested with the high
est sacerdotal dignity,* and consequently possessed not an
external authority merely, over the priesthood. The tran
saction assumes an entirely different aspect when we con
sider that Joseph did not by- any means marry the daughter
ofthe high-priest while a foreign shepherd, but after he had
been fully naturalized by the king, had assumed the Egyptian
dress, taken an Egyptian name, etc. Chap. 43: 32 shows,
that Joseph had formally withdrawn from the community of
his own people, and connected himself with the Egyptians.
In the circumstance that this is represented as necessary, as
well as in the fact that Pharaoh believed it important to give
a firm basis to the position of Joseph by a union with the
daughter of the high-priest of On, we plainly recognize the
traces of that Egyptian intolerance, which v. Bohl en fails
to perceive here, and which in later times certainly appears
to have very much increased. To this we shall have occa
sion hereafter to advert.

Joseph collects the Produce of the Seven Years of Plenty.
The labors of Joseph described in chap. 41: 48, 49, in
building store-houses, are placed vividly before us in the
paintings upon the monuments, which show how common
the store-house was in ancient Egypt. In a tomb at Elethya
a man is represented whose business it evidently was to take
account ofthe number of bushels which another man acting
under him measures. The inscription is as follows: The
writer or registrar of bushels, Thutnofre. Then follows the
transportation of the grain. From the measurer others take
it in sacks and carry it to the store-houses. In the tomb of
* Leemans, lettre to Mr. Salvolini, p. 14.

FERTILITY OF EGYPT AND PALESTINE. 35
Amenemhe at Beni Hassan, there is the painting of a great
store-house, before whose door lies a large heap of grain, al
ready winnowed. The measurer fills a bushel in order to
pour it into the uniform sacks of those who carry the grain
to the corn-magazine. The carriers go to the door of the
store-house and lay down the sacks before an officer who stands
ready to receive the corn. This is the overseer of the store
house. "Near by stands the bushel with which it is measured
and the. registrar who takes the account. At the side of the
windows there are character's which indicate the quantity of
the mass which is deposited in the magazine. Compare with
this the clause,* "Until he left numbering," in verse 49.
By these paintings, light is also thrown upon the remark in
Ex. 1: 11: "And they [the Israelites] built for Pharaoh
treasure-cities."f

Famine in Egypt and the adjoining Countries.
The declaration that famine seized at the same time upon
Egypt and the adjoining country, appears at first view suspi
cious, and indeed with reference to this also, v. Bohle n! has
very confidently charged the author with ignorance of the na
tural condition of Egypt. The climate and tillage of Egypt do
not stand in even the most remote connection with Palestine.
In Egypt fertility depends, not as in Palestine, on the rains, but
entirely onthe overflowing ofthe Nile. But on a closer ex
amination the suspicion changes into its direct opposite.
The account of the author is shown to be entirely in ac-

* Rosellini, II, p. 324 seq.
t According to Champollion, Briefe, S. 228, the wide halls of the
great palace at Thebes, which are surrounded by large colonnades, all
have the name Manosk, according to the Egyptian inscription, i. e.
the place of the harvest, and hence is derived, the place where corn
is measured. Is this Manosk probably the same as the Hebrew,
X S. 421.

36 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
cordance with natural phenomena, and the reproach of " ig
norance respecting the country of Egypt" comes back upon
him who made the accusation. Had the author known
Egypt only by hearsay, he would probably have written in
the manner that v. B oh 1 e n demands of him. The fruitful
ness of Egypt depends, it is true, upon the inundations of the
Nile. But these are occasioned, as even - Herodotus
knew, by the tropical rains which fall upon the Abyssinian
mountains.* These rains have the same origin with those
in Palestine. "It is now decided," says Le Pere,f "that
the Nile owes its increase to the violent rains which proceed
from the clouds that are formed upon the Mediterranean
Sea, and carried so far by the winds, which annually at
nearly the same time blow from the north. There are not
wanting also other examples of years of dearth which were
common to Egypt with the adjoining countries. Thus M a-
c r i z i! describes a famine which took place in Egypt, on ac
count of a deficiency in the increase of the Nile in the year
of the Hejra 444, which at the same time .extended over
Syria and even to Bagdad.
Butv.Bohlen goes so far as even to impute it to the
author's " ignorance of the natural condition of Egypt," that
he represents a famine as coining upon this country at all.
The overflowing of the Nile never fails to take place alto
gether, or for several years in succession, and the Delta is fruit
ful even without it, etc. And yet there is scarcely a land on
the earth in which famine has raged, so often and so terribly as
in this same Egypt, or a land that so very much needs the
measures which Joseph adopted for the preservation of the
people. Macrizi could write a whole volume on the fa
mines in Egypt ! The swelling of the Nile a few feet above
or below what is necessary proves alike destructive.^ Parti-
* Ritter Erdk. 1. S. 835. t Descr. t. 7. p. 576.
X In Quatremdre, Mem, s. 1' Eg. t. 2. p. 313.
§ Le Pere, Descr. 18. p. 573.

INSTANCES OF FAMINE IN EGYPT. 37
cular instances of famine which history has handed down to
us, are truly horrible, and the accounts of them are worthy of
notice also, inasmuch as they present the services of Joseph in
behalf of Egypt in their true light. Abdollatiph* relates
thus: "In the year 569 (1199) the height of the flood was
small almost without example. The consequence was a ter
rible famine accompanied by indescribable enormities. Pa
rents consumed their children, human flesh was in fact a very
common article of food ; they contrived various ways of pre
paring it. They spoke of it and heard it spoken of as an
indifferent affair. Man-catching became a regular business.
The greater part of the population were swept away by death.
In the following year also, the inundation did not reach the
proper height, and only the low lands were overflowed. Also
much of that which was inundated could not be sown for
want of laborers and seed, much was destroyed by worms
which devoured the seed corn ; also of the seed which
escaped this destruction, a great part produced only meagre
shoots which perished," Compare with this account the
"thin ears and blasted with the east wind," in chap. 41: 6.
M a e r i z i t has given an account of the famine in 457, which
was not at all less severe than that of 596. The calif himself
nearly perished with hunger.

Joseph, his Brethren and the Egyptians sit at an
Entertainment.
According to chap. 43: 32, at the entertainment to which
Joseph invited his brethren, they sat apart from the Egyp
tians, while Joseph was again separated from both. The author
shows the reason of this in the remark : " Because the Egyp
tians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an
* Page 332 seq. De Sacy.
t In Quatremere, t. 2. p. 401 seq.
4

38 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
abomination to the Egyptians." Herodotus* also re
marks, that the Egyptians abstained from all familiar inter
course with foreigners, since these were unclean to them,
especially because they slew and ate the animals which were
sacred among the Egyptians. " Therefore (since the Egyp
tians honor much the cow) no Egyptian man or woman will
kiss a Greek upon the mouth, they also use no knife or fork
or kettle of a Greek, and will not even eat any flesh of a clean
beastt if it has been cut up with a Grecian knife." The
circumstance that Joseph eats separately from the other
Egyptians is strictly in accordance witfi the great difference
of rank, and the spirit of caste which prevailed among the
Egyptians. It appears from chap. 43: 33, that the brothers of Joseph
sat before him at the table, while according to patriarchal
practice they were accustomed to recline-! I* appears from
the sculptures,, that the Egyptians also Were in the habit of
sitting at table, although they had couches.^ Sofas were
used for sleeping. In a painting in Rosellini, || "each
one ofthe guests sits upon a stool, which in accordance with
their custom took the place of the couch."

The Practice of Divining by Cups.
The steward of Joseph, chap. 44: 5, in order to magnify
the value of the cup which his brothers were said to have
stolen, designates it as that out of which he divineth. J a ni
hil chu s, in his book on Egyptian mysteries, mentions the
practice of divining by cnps.^f That this superstition, as
* 2. 41.
t From this passage it may be inferred with how much propriety
v. Bohlen has asserted, that the Egyptians abstained from all animal
food. X See chap. 18: 4, "rest yourselves." § Wilk. 2. p. 201.
H Ros. II. 2. p. 439, T. 79. IF 3 Part, § 14. p. 68.

A SCENE FROM BENI HASSAN. 39
well as many others, has continued even to modern times, is
shown by a remarkable passage in Nor den's Travels.*
When the author with his companions had arrived at Derri,
the most remote extremity of Egypt, or rather in Nubia,
where they were able to deliver themselves from a perilous
condition only through great presence of mind, they sent one
of their company to a malicious and powerful Arab, to threat
en him. He answered them : "I know what sort of people
you are. I have consulted my cup and found in it that you
are from a people of whom one of our prophets has said :
There will come Franks under every kind of pretence to spy
out the land. They will bring hither with them a great mul
titude of their country-men, to conquer the country and to
destroy all of the people."

The Arrival of Jacob and his Family in Egypt, and their
Settlement in Goshen.
A remarkable parallel to the description of the arrival of
Jacob's family in Egypt, chap, xlvi, is furnished by a scene in
a tomb at Beni Hassan,: " strangers" who arrive in Egypt, t
They carry their goods with them upon asses. The number 37
is written over them in hieroglyphics. The first figure is
an Egyptian scribe, who presents an account of their arrival
to a persoii in a sitting posture, the owner of the tomb and
one of the principal officers of the reigning Pharaoh.! The
next, likewise an Egyptian, ushers them into his presence,
and two of the strangers advance, bringing presents, the wild
goat and the gazelle, probably as productions of their country.
Four men with bows and clubs follow leading an ass, on
* Vol, III. p. 68. Edit. Langles, quoted from Burder in Rosenm.
Alt. u. Neu. Morgenl. Th. I. S. 212.
t Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 296 and 7, and plate.
t Comp. the phrase, "Princes of Pharaoh," in chap. 12: 15.

40 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
which there are two children in panniers, accompanied by a
boy and four women. Last, another ass laden and two men,
one of whom carries a bow and club, and the otheT a lyre,
which he plays with the plectrum. " All the men have beards,
contrary to the custom of the Egyptians, although very gene
ral in the East at that period, and represented in their sculp
tures as a peculiarity of foreign uncivilized nations." Some
believe that this painting has a direct reference to the arrival
of Jacob with his family in Egypt. On the contrary, Wil
kinson* remarks, the expression, "captives," which ap
pears in the inscription, makes it probable that they are of
the number of prisoners so frequently occurring, who were
taken captive by the Egyptians during their wars in Asia.
But in his more recent work, he considers this circumstance
as no longer decisive. " The contemptuous expressions," he
says, " common among the Egyptians in speaking of for
eigners, might account for the use of this word." In fact,
it speaks very decidedly against the idea of their being pri
soners, that they are armed.t Whether this painting has a
* Egypt anc' Thebes, p. 26.
t Rosellini, who speaks at length on this representation, in a sepa
rate section, Vol, III. 1. p. 48 seq., " Concerning a picture of the
tombs of Beni Hassan, representing some foreign slaves which are
sent by king Osirtasen II. as a present to a military chieftain," con
siders it certain, that these individuals are captives, since they are so
designated in the inscription. But even the inscription, when it is
allowed to have its just and certain significance, gives no support to
this opinion, since the epithet, captives, as Wilkinson supposes, may
be adequately accounted for by the pompous style of the Egyptians,
and their disdainful arrogance, which would not allow them to speak
of foreigners except in connection with victory and captivity. At
any rate, the picture is more to be relied on than the inscription, and
in this, in addition to the fact that they are armed, which has already
been mentioned, the circumstance, that the persons delineated bring
gifts and play on musical instruments, things which captives are not
and cannot be found represented as doing on the Egyptian monu
ments, is decisive.

HATRED OF SHEPHERDS IN EGYPT. 41
direct reference to the Israelites will of course ever remain
problematical, but it is at any rate very noticeable, as it fur
nishes proof that emigration with women and children, into
fhe Egyptian State, and formal admission, took place even
in very ancient times, or more correctly yet, in these times.
Joseph charges his brothers, chap. 46: 34, that they shall
say to Pharaoh, that they are shepherds, in order that they
may obtain a residence apart from the Egyptians in the land
of Goshen. " For," adds the author, "every shepherd is an
abomination to the Egyptians." The monuments even now
furnish abundant evidence of this hatred of the Egyptians to
shepherds. The artists of Upper and Lower Egypt vie with
each other in caricaturing them.* In proportion as the cul
tivation ofthe land was the more unconditionally the founda
tion of the Egyptian State, the idea of coarseness and bar
barism was united with the idea of a shepherd among the
Egyptians.t The region in which the Israelites received their residence,
the land of Goshen, is designated, Gen. 47: 6, 11, as the best
of the land. This statement has occasioned interpreters
some perplexity, but it is justified by what Wi 1 kin son,
without reference to this passage, says of the nature of this
eastern district : " It may not be irrelevant to observe, that
no soil is better suited to many kinds of produce than the
irrigated edge ofthe desert, (it is generally composed of lime
mingled with sand,) even before it is covered by the fertiliz
ing deposit of the inundation."!
Since the reference of the Pentateuch to the geographical
relations of Egypt are most numerous in the chapters now
under consideration, it will appear proper that we make
them the subject of a connected examination in this place.
* Wilk. II. p. 16.
t Concerning the causes of this hatred of the Egyptians, see espe
cially Rosellini, I. 1. p. 178^eql, also Heeren, S. 149.
X Wilk. I. p. 222. ~ 4*

42 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
The bearing and importance of these separate notices can be
correctly understood only when thus seen in connection.

REFERENCES OF THE PENTATEUCH TO THE GEO
GRAPHICAL FEATURES OF EGYPT.
The Land of Goshen.
The references of the Pentateuch to the geographical fea
tures of Egypt, as we should naturally expect in a book of
sacred history, are neither numerous nor particular ; yet
enough of these references exist to show that its author pos
sessed an accurate knowledge of the topography of the coun
try to which he alludes. And the more scattered, incidental
tind undesigned these notices are, the more certain is the
proof which they afford, that the author's knowledge was of
•no secondary character, was not laboriously produced for the
occasion, but on the contrary, natural, acquired from his own
personal observation, and was such as to preserve him from
every mistake, without the necessity of his being constantly
on his guard.
Let us direct our attention, first, to what the author says
ot the land of Goshen. He nowhere gives a direct and mi
nute account of the situation of this land. But it is evi
dent that this must be referred to some other cause than
his ignorance, since he communicates in reference to it, a
.great number of separate circumstances which, although
some of them appear at first view to be entirely at variance
with each other, are yet found to be entirely consistent when
applied to a particular district.
The land of Goshen appears, on the one hand, as the eastern
border-land of Egypt. Thus it is said, Gen. 46: 28 : " And
he [Jacob] sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his
face unto Goshen." That Jacob should send Judah before

THE LAND OF GOSHEN. 43
him, to receive from Joseph the necessary orders for the re
ception of those entering the country, is entirely in accord
ance with the regulations of a well-organized kingdom, whose
borders a wandering tribe is not permitted to pass uncere
moniously. This account also agrees accurately with the in
formation furnished on this point by the Egyptian monuments.*
That Jacob did not obtain the orders of Joseph until he was
at Goshen, shows that this was the border-land. We come
to the same result also from chap. 47: 1 : " And Joseph came
and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren are
come out of the, land of Canaan, and behold they are in the
land of Goshen." It is most natural that they should remain
in the. border-province until the matter was laid before the
king. This is also confirmed by Gen. 46: 34 : " And ye
shall say, Thy servant's trade hath been about cattle — from
our youth even until now — that ye may dwell in the land of
Goshen ; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the
Egyptians ;" for this passage can only be explained on the
supposition that Goshen is a frontier province, which could
be assigned to the Israelites without placing them in close
contact with the Egyptians, who hated their manner of life.
Finally, the circumstance, that the Israelites under Moses,
after they had assembled at the principal town of the land,
had reached in two days the confines of the Arabian desert,
points to Goshen as the eastern boundary.
On the other hand, Goshen appears again as lying in the
neighborhoods of the chief city of Egypt. Thus in Gen.
45: 10 : " And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and
thou shalt be near to me" (to Joseph who dwelt in th,e prin
cipal city of Egypt).t The Pentateuch nowhere expressly
mentions which was this chief city of Egypt, just as the sur
name of no one of the reigning Pharaohs is mentioned by
Moses, and for the same reason. Yet the necessary data for
* See remarks upon Gen. xlvi. p. 39 seq.
f So also in chap. 46: 28, 29.

44 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
designating this city are found. It must at any rate have
been situated in Lower Egypt, for this appears in the Penta
teuch generally as the seat of the Egyptian king. But the
remarkable passage, Num. 13: 23: "And Hebron was built
seven years before Zoan of Egypt," points us directly to Zoan
or Tanis, and at the same time plainly shows that the rea
son why the author did not mention the chief city by name,
can be sought in anything rather than in his ignorance con
cerning it. That Zoan is here directly named by way of com
parison, implies, first, that it was one of the oldest cities in
Egypt.* Secondly, that it held the first rank among the
Egyptian cities, and stood in the most important connection
with the Israelites. Hebron, the city of the patriarchs, could
be made more conspicuous only by a comparison with the
chief city of Egypt, arrogant and proud of its antiquity, and
there was no motive for such a comparison, except with a
city which by its arrogance had excited the jealousy of the
Israelites. The designation, Zoan of Egypt, which means
more than that the city lay in Egypt, also indicates that this
was the chief city. What is here only intimated is expressly
affirmed in Ps. 78: 12, 43; where it is said, Moses performed
his wonders " in the field of Zoan." In accordance with
the foregoing intimations, which bring us into the neighbor
hood of the chief city, Moses is exposed on the bank of the
Nile, Ex. 2: 3, and at the place where the king's daughter
was accustomed to bathe, v. 5, and the mother of the child
lived in the immediate vicinity, v. 8. They had fish in
abundance, Num. 11: 5; they watered their land as a gar
den of herbs, Deut. 11: 10.
Further, the land of Goshen,. on the one hand, is described
as a pasture-ground. So in the passage above referred to,
Gen. 46: 34, and also in chap. 47: 4: "They said moreover
* That Tanis already existed in the time of Remeses the Great,
appears from ths monuments yet existing among its ruins. Wilk.
Vol. I. p. 6. Rosellini, I. 2. p. 68.

THE LAND OF GOSHEN. 45
unto Pharaoh, 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."
On the other hand, the land of Goshen appears as one of
the most fruitful regions of Egypt, chap. 47: 6 : "In the
best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell."
Also in verse II of the same chap. : "And he gave them a
possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in
the land of Rameses." TheTsraelites employed themselves
in agriculture, Deut. 11: 10, and obtained in rich abundance,
Num. 11: 5, the products which Egypt, fertilized by the
Nile, afforded its inhabitants.
All these circumstances harmonize, and the different points,
discrepant as they njay seem, find their application, when
we fix upon the land of Goshen as the region east of the
Tanitic arm ofthe Nile as far as the Isthmus of Suez or the
border of the Arabian desert, Ex. 13: 20. Goshen then
comprised a tract of country very various in its nature. A
great part of it was a barren land, suitable only for the pas
turage of cattle. Yet it also had very fruitful districts, so
that it combined in itself the peculiarities of Arabia and
Egypt. To it belonged a part of the land on the eastern
shore ofthe Tanitic branch of the Nile ;* also the whole of the
Pelusiac branch with both its banks, which as late as in the
time of Alexander the Great was navigable — through it his
fleet pressed into Egypt, — but is now almost entirely filled
up with the sand of the desert, while the Tanitic arm, being
further removed from the desert, has sustained itself better.!
Between two branches of the Pelusiac canal lies the island
Mycephoris, which in ancient times was inhabited by the
Calasiries, or a part of the military caste. Of this island
" On which see Bitter also, Afrika, S. 827.
t See Malus, Memoire sur 1' etat ancien et moderne des provinces
Orientales de la basse Egypte, Descr. 18. 2. p. 18.

46 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
R i 1 1 e r* says : " At this present time it is a well cultivated
plain full of great palm-groves and opulent villages." " Gene
rally," continues the same author, " the country here is by
no means barren ; the water of the canal diffuses its blessings
everywhere. Thus there lies upon the canal about fifteen
miles below Bustah, the little modern village Heyeh, sur
rounded by rich palm-groves, which is almost entirely un
known to recent Geographers, but in its vicinity is a luxu
riance of vegetation which makes the country appear like a
European garden. "t So is it even now with this region,
notwithstanding the great bogs and sand heaps which have
been here formed in the course of a hundred years-! Even
in the interior ofthe ancient land of Goshen, there is still a
large tract of land good for tillage, and fruitful. There is,
for example, a valley which stretches through the whole
breadth of this province from west to east, and in which, as
we shall hereafter see, the ancient chief city of this province
lay. This tract of land, from the ancient Blibastis on the
Pelusiac arm of the Nile even to the entrance of the Wady
* S. 824. t Comp. Deut. 11: 10, " as a garden of herbs."
X Ritter, S. 834. Prqkesch, (In den Erinnerungen aus Aegypten
und Kleinasien, Th. 2. S. 130,) says : " There is no country that can
not better dispense with the arts of civilized life, than Egypt. By
them it can be made a paradise, and without them a desert. During
the century, of modern Greek, Arabian, Mameluke and Turkish do
minion, when, with the exception of some short intervals, nothing
was done for the eountry, the inhabitants lived upon the inheri
tance which descended from the flourishing centurj\under the Pha
raohs, Ptolemies and Romans. It is no merit to them that desert
and morass have not swallowed up all of their arable land. The ca
nals and dykes existed and still exist on such a foundation and in so
great numbers, that a thousand years would not be sufficient to make
of Egypt what the country between the cataracts is at this day. The
tillable land of Egypt has by degrees decreased in quantity, as the
public works of the ancients have gradually crumbled, until half its
extent has gone, but the remainder is yet sufficient to furnish suste
nance for a people proportionally less than formerly."

THE TREASURE-CITIES, PITH0M AND RAAMSES. 47
Tumil at, is, according to Le Per e,* even now under full
cultivation, and is annually overflowed by the Nile. Also a
great part of Wady Tumilat is susceptible of cultivation,!
and likewise the eastern part of the valley which is very
accurately delineated upon the chart of Lower Egypt in the
Atlas of R i 1 1 e r's Geography, the tract from Ras el Wady to
Serapeum, furnishes not merely pasture grounds, but also
land suitable for cultivation-!
It is certain, that the Pentateuch in the intimations, evi
dently undesigned, which it gives of the position and nature
ofthe land of Goshen in the most disconnected passages, is
always consistent with itself, as, for example, in one whole
series of passages, it alludes to the fact, that the Israelites
dwelt upon the Nile, and in another, that they dwelt in a bor
der-land in the direction of Arabia. This fact, as also the cir
cumstance that all its allusions to the position and nature of
the land are substantiated by actual geography without the
most distant reference to an imaginary land, are not explica
ble, if the author was dependent on uncertain reports for his
information. On the contrary, the whole serves to impress
us with the conviction, that he, as would be the case with
Moses, Wrote from personal observation, with the freedom
and confidence of one to whom the information communi
cated comes naturally and of its own accord, and from one
who has not obtained it for a proposed object.
The Location of Pharaoh's Treasure-Cities, Pithom and

We go further. In Ex. 1: 11 it is said ; " And they built
for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses." There
can be no doubt that in the view of the author, these cities,

* Memoire sur le canal des deux mers, in the Descr. t. 11. p. 116.
\ Le Pere, p. 117. t Le Pere, p. 121.

48 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
upon whose fortifications the Israelites were compelled to
labor, were situated in the land of Goshen. It is most natu
ral to suppose that the Israelites built where according to the
foregoing account they dwelt; moreover all doubt is pre
cluded, since one of these cities, Raamses, is afterwards re
presented as the place of rendezvous from which the Israel
ites commenced their departure from the land. The ques
tion now is, whether these cities really lay in the land of
Goshen, or did the author probably, out ofthe number ofthe
names of Egyptian cities known to him, take two at random 1
Before we answer these questions, we remark, that even
the circumstance that the author represents the king of Egypt
as building treasure-cities in the land of Goshen, is in favor
of his knowledge of Egypt, or rather of his credibility as a
historian. Nowhere are the treasure-cities more in place,
than precisely there. That they were fortified, even the
Seventy understood, for they translate the Hebrew word here
directly, walled cities. The same thing is evident from
2 Chron. 8: 3 — 6, according to which they were placed in
the particularly insecure border land (Hamath), and are
designated as " fenced cities, with walls and gates and bars."
Compare 11: 12, where the store-cities are spoken of in con
nection with castles. But that such walled cities provided
with stores of provisions were nowhere more needed than on
the eastern boundary of Egypt, is indeed evident from the
circumstance, that according to the accounts of profane
writers, just upon this border, the most exposed of all, the
military power of the Egyptians was concentrated. " It is
clear from Herodotus," says Heeren,* "that almost
the whole military force of Egypt was stationed in Lower
Egypt; four and a half districts within the Delta were pos
sessed by the Hermotybies, and twelve others by the Cala-
siries. On the contrary, only one district was possessed by
1 S. 37.

THE TREASURE-CITIES, PITHOM AND RAAMSES 49:
each of these in all Middle and Upper Egypt, namely the dis
trict of Chemmis and Thebes." Of the land on the east
side of the Tanitic arm of the Nile, R i 1 1 e r* says : " This
is believed. to be the land of the ancient Calasiries who were
here to guard the ancient ports of Egypt against irruptions
from Asia."t
We will now endeavor to determine the position of the two
cities named. With regard to the first, this can be determin
ed without difficulty. It will be denied by no one, that it lay
within the land of Goshen. Pithom is incontestibly, and by
universal admission, identical with the Patumos of Her odo-
t u s.! Speaking of the canal which connected the Nile with
the Red Sea, this author says: "The water was admitted
into it from the Nile. It began a little above the city Bubas-
tis, near the Arabian city Patumos, but it discharged itself
into the Red Sea."|| According to this, Patumos was situ-
* S. 829.
t The declarations of ancient writers with regard to the chief sta
tions of the military caste in Egypt, are of no small importance respec
ting another passage ofthe Pentateuch. They show{ how appropriate
it is, when the author in Ex. xiv, represents the Egyptian host as ready
forthwith to pursue after the Israelites, and as- able to overtake them
in a short tiine. " In Mosaic times," says Heeren, S. 37, " the mili
tary caste first make their appearance in Lower Egypt. The sudden
ness with which the Pharaoh who then ruled could assemble the ar
my with which he pursued, the-Israelites in their Exodus, shows dis
tinctly enough, that the Egyptian military caste must have had their
head-quarters in just the same region- in which Herodotus places
them." X Book 2. c. 158.
|| rHxT<u Se and tow Netlov to iSojg & a.Hxi,v rjxtai. St xarijiteg&e
otiyov BovpdaTioe rcolioe, Kaqd Jldrovfwv tijv Agaplryv nohv ¦ iot-
XstSi eg trjv igv&gijv ddiaoaav. Larcher wishes arbitrarily to place
a point after itohos, and reject the St after Mxsi- Lange follows his
example. Bahr, on the contrary, says : Quidni enim Herodoto dicere
licuit : ductum esse canalem paulo supra Bubastin urbem, juxta Pa-
tiimon, Arahiae urbem (quam sc. urbem praeterfluat), ah ea autem
haud procul in mare exire. But Bahr has not been able to entirely
5

50 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
ated on the east side of the Pelusiac arm ofthe Nile, not far
from the entrance of the canal which unites the Nile with
the Red Sea,* in the Arabian part of Egypt.t The Itine-
rarium A n t o n i n i furnishes a further limitation. It can
scarcely be doubted that the Thum which is mentioned is
identical with Patumos and Pithom. The LX is merely the
Egyptian article-! Now this Thum was twelve Roman miles
distant from Heroopolis,|| whose ruins are found in the region
of the present Abu Keisheid. All these designations are
appropriate, if with the scholars who accompanied the French
Expedition we place Pithom on the site of the present Abba-
seh, at the entrance of the Wady Tumilat, where there was
at all times a strong military post.
Let us now seek to determine the location of Raamses.
That the author supposed it lay in Goshen we have, in "addi
tion to the general reasons already referred to, a particular
one. It is said in Gen. 47: II : " And Joseph gave them a
possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the
land of Rameses." The same land which is everywhere in
the preceding and succeeding context called the land of Go-
free himself from the error of Larcher. From his inclination towards
it comes the entirely arbitrary addition of,ab ea haud procul. Hero
dotus gives no such information as this : Patumos is situated near
the place where the canal discharges itself into the Red Sea. Ac
cording to him, Patumos lay rather., near the commencement of the
canal : it began above Bubastis and near Patumos, and ended in the
Red Sea.
* If the passage from Herodotus is correctly understood, Patumos,
situated near the beginning of the canal, cannot be identical with
Heroopolis, as is erroneously asserted by some.
t Compare Bahr upon the passage : Arabiae dicitur urbs, quod om-
nes Aegypti urbes a Nilo Arabiam versus sitae hoc nomine vulgo af-
ficiuntur. The Seventy translate -jsjj in Gen. 45: 10, by reoip *A-
Qtt.pla$,. just as Herodotus calls Patumos an Arabian city. ,
X Champollion 1'Egypte sous les Pharaons t. 2. p. 58.
II ltin. Ant.

THE TREASUEE-CITIES, PITHOM AND RAAMSES. 51
shen, is here designated as the land of Rameses, or the land
whose chief city is Rameses;* and this is entirely in accord-
* According to the common opinion, the so called land Rameses in
this passage. is not the same as the city Raamses in Ex. 1, 11. But
the reason which is relied upon in favor of this difference, (see for ex
ample Miehaelis Supplem. p. 2256,) the dissimilarity of punctuation,
(which is however very trifling,) is of little force. The Raamses in
Ex. 1: 11 is evidently only the fuller sounding pause-form. But that
also in Gen. 47: 11, the city Raamses is spoken of, is favored by the
following argument. In three passages ofthe Pentateuch besides Ex.
i., in Ex. 12: 37 and Num. 33: 3 and 5, Raamses is undeniably the
name of a city. (It is true that some have wished to make it even in
these last two passages the name of a province ; so has even v. Rau-
mer, in The Exodus ofthe. Israelites, S. 11. But it is perfectly clear
lhat this cannot he. Let us look at the passages a little more minute
ly : " And the children of Israel removed from Rameses and pitched
in Suecoth, and they departed from Succoth and pitched in Etham."
If Succoth and Etham are names of a single district, not of an entire
province/ so must Rameses also be.) On the contrary, Rameses is
found in no other passage as the name of a province. Accordingly
then the presumption is, that Rameses in Gen. 47: 11 is the name of a
city. If the author did not intend to be so understood, he ought to have
explained himself more minutely. But Rameses cannot properly be
the name ofthe province in Gen. 47, since this before and after is
called Goshen. — Rosellini is also ofthe opinion, I. 1. p. 300, that the
Rameses in Gen. 47 is identical with the one in Exodus I. The au
thor of the book of Genesis, he supposes, intends to say that Joseph
placed his father and his family in the region in which the city Raam
ses was afterwards built. It is improbable, even when we leave
Ex. 1: 11 out of the account, (that this passage is not in favor of the
previous non-existence of Raamses, Miehaelis has already remarked,
Suppl. p. 2256) that this city was already in existence in the time of
Joseph. The name furnishes an argument against it. Raamses
means : consecrated to the sun (see I. 1. p. 117) and it is very com
mon among the Egyptian kings, especially those of the Mosaic pe
riod. The city evidently derived its name from one of these kings.
But according to ancient authors and the monuments, the name Re-
meses was given to no one before the eleventh Pharaoh of the eight
eenth dynasty, whose reign was considerably subsequent to the time
of Joseph.

52 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
ance with Ex. 12; 37 and Num. 33: 3, 5, where Rameses,
since the departure of the Israelites commences there, is
clearly designated as a central point iri the land of Goshen.
Now with reference to the inquiry whether Raamses was
really situated where the author of the Pentateuch places it,
the proof which alone is sure, is furnished by the Alexandrian
translation of Gen. 46: 28, 29. While the original text names
simply Goshen, the translator has in verse 28 : " But Judah
he sent before him to Joseph, that he might come to meet
him at Heroopolis in the land of Rameses" (avvuvrrpat, av-
to> xa& 'Hqiitav -Tiokiv tig yrjv 'Panso-o-ij,) and in v. 29 : " And
Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his
father, at Heroopolis" (xaxr' rjgtbav noliv). It is certain that
" at Heroopolis in the land Rameses" is no arbitrary conceit
of the Seventy. They took the designation " land Rameses"
instead of Goshen from Gen. 47: 11, where the author him
self substitutes, for Goshen, the land of Rameses. In the
phrase " at Heroopolis," for the name Rameses, which had
gone out of use, Heroopolis, the current name in their time,
was substituted. The city Raamses was to them the same
as Heroopolis, the land of Rameses therefore was situated in
the vicinity of Heroopolis.
This, which is as good as a direct declaration of the Seventy
that Raamses is identical with Heroopolis, seems of no small
importance when we consider that the Greek name, Heroopo
lis, cannot be older than the time ofthe Greek dominion over
Egypt, while the Alexandrian translation of the Pentateuch
was made as early as the first period of this dominion ; so
that the earlier name of the city could scarcely be unknown
to the translator. According to Mannert,* indeed, the
city is not supposed to have existed before the time of the
Greek dominion, and accordingly had no earlier name. " It
was," he says very confidently, " a new Grecian city, built

* S. 576 der alten Geographie von Aegypten.

THE TREASURE-CITIES, PITHOM AND RAAMSES. 53
merely on account of the canal, and for the sake of trade.
Neither Herodotus nor any writer before the age of the
Ptolemies was acquainted with it, hence its Greek name."
But even the name itself, as will directly appear, carries us
back to remote antiquity ; and what is most important, if it
was entirely new, how could the Seventy have identified it
with Heroopolis.
The agreement of the two names indicates also that the
Seventy have justly identified the Heroopolis of their time
with the ancient Raamses, just as in chapter 41: 45 they have
placed for the On ofthe original text, Heliopolis, the Greek
name. That the city Raamses borrowed its appellation from
one of the honored rulers of that name is not surely now
doubted by any one ; the etymology proposed by Jahlon
ski, which entirely leaves out of the account the connection
between the city and the rulersof the same name, is wholly
unworthy of notice. When we now see from the monuments
how much the Egyptians employed the name Remeses, and
what associations they connected with it, the Greek name
Heroopolis, city of Heroes, seems a very suitable translation
of the ancient Egyptian name.
.Now it is admitted by all the authorities respecting the lo
cation of Heroopolis, that it was situated in the ancient land
of Goshen. For our immediate object therefore we need not
enter upon a more accurate determination of its position.
Yet it is of so much importance for the geographical investi
gation concerning the Exodus of the Israelites to which we
shall next direct our attention, that as a preparation for that,
we must endeavor to settle more accurately its position.
The ancient geographers until the time of the French ex
pedition, following the [inaccurate] statements of several an
cient writers, looked for Heroopolis directly on the Arabian
Gulf.* Against the admission of this opinion, the following
* Mannert, S. 514, adhering to this view, still looks for Heroopolis
at the end ofthe canal which united the Nile with the Red Sea, be-
5*

54 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
reasons are especially important. First, Heroopolis, as we
have already seen, is identical with the ancient Raamses.
But this could not lie on the Arabian Gulf, since the Israel
ites did not arrive in the neighborhood of the Arabian Gulf
until the end ofthe second day's march which they commen
ced: at Raamses. Secondly, The passage Gen. 46: 28, 29,
according to the Alexandrian version, is entirely inexplicable
on the supposition that Heroopolis was on the Red Sea.
How could the Seventy then represent Joseph as going out
to meet his father, Jacob, in the neighborhood of this city,
which lay so far out of his course in coming from Canaan
into Egypt 1 This reason is of great importance. The Al
exandrian translator must necessarily have known the posi
tion of Heroopolis. His authority exceeds in importance
.that of the most accurate of the Greek Geographers. Third
ly, The statement in the Itinerarium A n t o n i n i, according
to which Hero = Heroopolis lay between Thum = Patumos
and Serapium, about twelve Roman miles distant from each,
is also entirely at variance with the older hypothesis.
The correct position of Heroopolis was first determined by
tween the Bitter Lakes and the northern point of the Arabian Gulf,
since, he remarks, " all ancient writers who speak of this city, place
it in the interior angle ofthe Arabian Gulf, not far from the city Arr
sinoe." But Mannert is obliged to remark, first, S. 514, in reference
to the considerable ruin of Saba Biyar : " 1 cannot give an explana
tion of it." Secondly, S. 515, he concedes that the ruins of his He
roopolis cannot be found. Thirdly, he remarks S. 516, in reference
to the passage of the Seventy which we shall examine farther in the
text : " Now it certainly is the most improbable explanation of all,
which makes the city to have been situated, not far to the south, but
on the direct road which passes through Abu Keisheid. But the
whole statement is a mere error of the translator ; the Hebrew text
knows nothing of Heroopolis ; Joseph came to Goshen to meet his fa
ther." As if anything were accomplished by this ! Whether the
Seventy translated correctly or not, is just the same. It is sufficient
that they mention the city Heroopolis in a connection in which a city
on the Arabian Gulf cannot properly be plaeed.

THE TREASURE-CITIES, PITHOM AND RAAMSES. 55
the scholars of the French Expedition, and the view in which
the majority of them have united, has obtained almost uni
versal assent. " The, researches of the members of the E-
gyptian Commission," says Champollion,*" have furnish
ed the. certain and acknowledged result that Heroopolis lies
between the Pelusiac arm of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes
to the northwest of these lakes, at a place which is now cal
led Abu Keisheid, from the Arab tribe which roves about on
the Isthmus.
The most accurate and vivid description of the situation of
Heroopolis is given by D u-B o i s-A y m e, in his treatise " Up
on the ancient bounds ofthe Red Sea.t'f The valley Seba-Bi-
yar, called by the Arabs Wady, begins about two myriame-
tres from Belbeis, It runs from east to west. The Nile in
its greatest rise sometimes reaches even to this place. Sweet
water is always found here by digging from twelve to fifteen
decimetres deep. The soil is ofthe same nature and appear
ance with that directly on the Nile. But since the land is
seldom overflowed, it has less depth of fertile soil deposited
by the flood. It is not more than two decimetres deep. Un
der this lies a light clay, mingled with sand. The canal
which conveys the water of the Nile thither runs to a distance
of about one and a half myriametres to the declivity which
incloses the valley on the north. This makes the conveyance
of the water necessary for culture very easy for the inhabi
tants. But sometimes the Nile does not reach a height for
several years ..sufficient to supply water for the eanal ; and
then they make use of wells for irrigation. At the entrance
ofthe valley lies the village Abbaseh,! near which is a lake
* L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, t. 2, p. 89.
t Descr. t. 11. p. 376.
X The same, on whose site as .has been previously shown, the an
cient Pithom or Patumos lay. The two fortified cities named in con
nection with one another in Ex. 1: 11 were situated therefore in the
same yalley and the fortifications which Pharaoh commanded to be

56 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
called by the Arabs Birket el-Fergeh, or Birket el-Haj el-
Kadem. This last name, which signifies the ancient Pil
grim's pool, leads to the conjecture that in the earliest term
of pilgrimage to Mecca, the great caravan which now passes
by Adsherad, went through the valley Seba Biyar, in order
to turn to the head of the gulf. — At two myriametres from
Abbaseh the canal is interrupted. There ends the Wady
Tumilat. It takes this name from the Arab tribe Tumilat,
who occupy this region. The valley Seba Biyar stretches yet
two myriametres further to the east ; and in about the middle
of this part of the valley there is an extensive heap of ruins
which indicate the position of an ancient city; the Arabs
name this place Abu Keisheid. Upon the point of a little
hill which is formed by these ruins, there lies a great granite
block, upon which in relievo are hewn out three Egyptian
deities," etc* Compare also upon the site of Heroopolis at
the place where are now the ruins of Abu Keisheid, upon the
canal which connects the Nile with the Arabian Gulf, in the
middle of the Wady, L e Pere in his treatise oh the canal
ofthe two Seas.t
The March ofthe Israelites from Raamses to the Red Sea.
Through the just determination of the position of Heroop
olis and consequently of Raamses, the narrative of the depar
ture of the Israelites has received an unexpected light, and
the credibility ofthe Pentateuch a wonderful confirmation.
On the second day after their departure, the Israelites came
built around both had probably the common object of obstructing the
entrance into Egypt, which this valley furnished to the enemy from
Asia. Pharaoh had so much the more occasion for the construction
of these fortifications, since he believed that he had reason to fear, that
the Israelites would readily make common cause with the enemies
pressing in from this quarter. See Ex. 1: 10.
* In the Description, t. 11. p. 376. t Descr. 1. 11. p. 291 seq.

THE DESERT OP ETHAM. 57
into the region about the northern point ofthe Arabian Gulf.
Their first station was Succoth, the second Etham, whose
position is designated in Ex. 13: 20, and in Num. 33: 6 by
the words : " which lies at the end ofthe desert." That by
" the desert" here, no other than the Arabian desert, begin
ning at the northern point ofthe Red Sea,* can be meant, is
evident from the following reasons: 1. Although the phrase
" the desert" is sometimes used with a more unrestricted re
ference, as for instance in chap. 1 4: 3, where Pharaoh says,
" They are entangled in the land, the desert hath shut them
in," and in verses 11 and 12 of the same chapter; so that
the Egyptian part of the desertt is also included, yet this is
* Very correctly J. H. Miehaelis says : nempe qua Aegyptum at-
tingit. t What Ruppell says (Reise S. 209) shows that the Eastern part of
Egypt deserves this name, as well as Arabia Petraea. The west coast
ofthe Gulf of Suez and its continuation to Cosseir may be said to be
without inhabitant, and the almost entire- want of drinkable water
along the coast of the sea is a cause sufficient to prevent settlements
there. But it is specially important to compare the treatise " de la
geographie compareeet de l'ancien etat cotes de la mer rouge," by
Roziere, in t. 6 of the Descr. p. 267 : The contrast with the adjoining
region first arrests the attention when the traveller enters upon the
Isthmus of Suez. As long as he is in Egypt, notwithstanding the
heat of a scorching sun, he beholds a fresh plain, permeated by flow
ing water, shaded by palm-trees, clothed with grass, flowers, or the
golden harvest ; a smiling and animated region, where everything
reminds him of only abundance and fruitfulness. When he comes
upon the Isthmus under the same sky, how great the change ! There
is no trace of cultivation or of inhabitant, no shade, no verdure, no
flowing water, in a word, nothing which can sustain life. So as he
proceeds farther, he seeks with anxiety some more fertile spot of
ground in the distance, hut the eye glances over the whole unending
expanse of the horizon in vain ; eyen to both seas, on every side is a
dry, leafless land, barren rocks, glimmering sand, a plain bare every
where. We find just the same contrast between Egypt and the de
sert in Ex. 14: 12 : " Because there were no graves in Egypt hast
thou taken us away to die in the desert ? Wherefore hast thou dealt

58 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
to be considered only as an exception to the general rule.
" The desert" is generally the Arabian desert. 2. The
phrase, " which lies at the edge of the desert" was evidently
designed to show that the Israelites had already arrived at
the border of Egypt, when they reached Etham. The ex
pression, " They encamped in Etham at the edge of the de
sert" is followed in both places by the declaration that the
Israelites turned back, i. e. instead of crossing the boundary,
they went again further into Egypt, as in Num. 33: 7 : " And
they removed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth,"
etc. But the words do not correspond to their evident de
sign, unless by the desert, the Arabian is specifically under
stood. 3. The passage Num. 33: 8 is entirely decisive. Yet
in order to perceive its full force it must be considered in
connection with what goes before.: verse 5, " And the chil
dren of Israel removed from Rameses and pitched in Sac-
coth." Verse 6, " And they departed from Succoth, and
pitched in Etham, which is in the edge ofthe desert." Verse
7, " And they removed from Etham and returned to Pi-hahi-
rpth, which lies before Baal-zephon, and pitched before Mig-
dol." Verse 8, " And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth,
and passed through the midst of the Sea to the desert, and
went three days' journey in the desert of Etham, and pitched
in Marah." According to verse 8, the part of the Arabian
desert which lies on the eastern shore of the Arabian Gulf
bore the name of the desert of Etham. How can this well
be otherwise explained than by supposing that the place from
which the desert takes its name lies at the north end of the
Arabian Gulf, and consequently on the borders of the desert
named from it ? The sense is evidently this : At the end of
the second day they had already arrived at the borders of the
thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt ? Is not this what we did
tell thee in Egypt, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians ;
for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians, than- to die in the wil
derness."

RAAMSES, THE PRESENT ABU KEISHEID. 59
Arabian desert, at Etham, from which the tract of country ly
ing next to Egypt receives the name, desert of Etham. But
instead of advancing directly into the desert, they turned
down again farther into Egypt to the Arabian Gulf. After
wards, instead of going round the sea, they proceeded through
it unto the desert bfJEtham.
Supposing it now certain, that the Israelites at the end of
the second day's march had reached the northern point of the
Arabian Gulf, we are then, according to the common hypo
thesis, that the Raamses from which the Israelites began their
march lay in the region of Heliopolis, brought into no small
difficulty. The distance is then far too great. It amounts
from the Nile to the Red Sea to twenty-six hours,, if we sup
pose with S i c a r d and von R a u m e r* that they passed
through the Valley of Wandering, and to as much, at least,
if, with N i e b u h r they are allowed to have taken the com
mon caravan route at -the present day which leads from Cairo
by Suez to Sinai. Niebuhrf says: " We spent twenty-
eight hours and forty minutes, deducting the time of resting,
on our Way from Birket el Haj (four hours from Cairo)."
Evidently- much too great a distance for so heavily laden a
train as was that of the Israelites.
But if we place Raamses on the site of the present Abu
Keisheid, this difficulty entirely vanishes. The distance
from this place to the Red Sea is about thirteen French
leagues-! This distance appears not too great, but just suf
ficient, if it is considered that the Israelites departed " in
haste." We remark further, that the opinion of the French scho
lars who look for Etham on the site of the present Bir Su-
* See von Raumer, S'. 11, and Hitter, S. 859.
t Beschreibung von Arabien, S. 408.
X See Le Pere in the Description, 1. 1. p. 84, who also on pages 74
seq. gives a description ofthe way from Abu Keisheid to Heroopolis.

60 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
weis has much probability.* This place is described by L e
Peret in the following manner: "The traveller comes
finally out ofthe valley and reaches the plain of Suez. The
city as well as the sea is in sight, and a gentle declivity leads
down to Bir Suweis or thewells of Suez ; these wells are
only an hour from Suez." Etham must have been situated
somewhere in this region, on account of the designation,
"which is at the edge ofthe desert." What Du Bois
Ay m e says applies especially to Bir Suweis : " Sweet wa
ter is very scarce in this whole region, and the wells must
determine the stations ofthe caravans."
" Between Migdol and the Sea."
Finally also, Ex. 14: 2 deserves a discussion in our geo
graphical section : " Speak to the children of Israel that they
turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol
and the sea over against Baal-zephon, before it shall ye en
camp by the sea." Compare with Num. 33: 7 : " And they
removed from Etham and returned back to Pi-hahiroth which
is before Baal-zephon, and they pitched before Migdol."
An insuperable difficulty appears to lie here in the phrases
" between Migdol and the sea," and " they pitched before
Migdol." Migdol is, doubtless, as even the Seventy perceiv
ed, identical with Magdolum. But this place lies, according
to the declaration of the Itinerarium Antonini, only twelve
Roman miles southward from Pelusium. The general cor
rectness of this declaration is confirmed by Ex. 29: 10. 30:
6, where in the words from " Migdol to Syene," these places
are opposed to each other ; Syene as being the most southern
border of Egypt, and Migdol the most northern, also by the
passage in Herodotus where Magdolum as the acknow
ledged border town of Egypt towards Palestine is interchan-
* See for example Du Bois-Ayme in a treatise : On the residence of
the Hebrews in Egypt, Descr. t. 8.. p. 113. t p. 61.

" BETWEEN MIGDOL AND THE SEA." 61
ged with Megiddo.* If Migdol was so far distant from the
place where the Israelites were encamped — nearly the whole
breadth of the Isthmus of Suez lies between — how can it
be said, that the Israelites " encamped between Migdol and
the sea," and " pitched before Migdol ?"
The difficulty here is removed by the remark, that " be
tween Migdol and the sea," and " before Migdol," do not
serve for the geographical designation ofthe place where the
Israelites were encamped, bat rather call attention to the pe
ril to which they exposed themselves by their foolish march.
That Migdol was a fortress, the name itself shows, since
it signifies tower or fortress. Probably the border garrison
against Syria, which in later times was removed to the neigh
boring Daphne, was stationed here. Herodotus says:
" Under king Psamaticus guards were stationed at Elephan
tine against the Ethiopians, as in the Pelusiac Daphne against
the Arabs and Syrians, and in Marea in like manner against
Lybia. And even to this hour Persian guards are stationed
at the very same places where they were under Psamaticus ;
fer Persians are on guard at Elephantine, and also in Daph
ne."* Upon the phrase " between Migdol and the sea" is found
ed the saying of Pharaoh, " The desert has shut them in."
They ought to have sought to free themselves as soon as pos
sible from this unfortunate dilemma — to go around the north
end of the Arabian Gulf before the garrison marching Out
from Migdol could Mock up their way — and they had already
nearly escaped. Then they thrust themselves, through an
inexplicable misunderstanding, again into the midst of dan
ger. Thus also here, that which appears at first view to be op
posed to the author's knowledge of Egypt, is a proof of it,
when more particularly examined.
* 2. 159 Kal 2-uqoibi nsty o Nexok ov(i{takvi> IvMaySolm hixTpe.
\ B. 2. chap. 30. 6

62 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
HISTORY OF JOSEPH, CONTINUED.
Kings and Priests, the Possessors ofthe Land in Egypt.
We proceed now, after finishing our inquiry concerning
the references of the Pentateuch to the geographical features
of Egypt, in the explanation ofthe Egyptian allusions in this
portion of sacred history, in the order of the chapters. We
first turn our attention to Gen. 47: 13—26.
Joseph, according to this account, purchased for Pharaoh
of his subjects the right of possession to their land, so that
the whole country henceforth belonged to Pharaoh: " Only
the land of the Priests bought he not ; for the priests had a
portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion
which Pharaoh, gave them ; wherefore they sold not their
lands," verse 22. The land was divided out to its former pos
sessors by lease ; they were compelled to pay a fifth of its
yearly produce. " And Joseph made it a law over the land
of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part,
except the land of the priests only, which became not Pha
raoh's," verse 26.
Among the accounts of profane writers which extend over
this same ground, those of Herodotus and D i o d o r u s
are of particular importance. The first of these authors says :
" The same king (Sesostris) had also divided the whole land
among the Egyptians, they said, and had given to each one a
square portion of equal extent, and in this way he obtained
his income, for he collected from each individual a yearly
rent. And when the flood took away something from the
portion of one, he must come to the king and make a repre
sentation ofthe calamity. The king then sent some of his
servants to examine it and measure how much less the land
had become, that the tenant might pay from what remained
in proportion to the whole amount of the imposed rent."*
* B. 2. c. 109.

THE PEASANTS, NOT LAND-OWNERS. 63
According to Diodorus,* all the land in Egypt belonged
either to the priests or the kings, or the military caste.
An important point of agreement between the Biblical ac
count and profane writers comes here directly into view.
There is an entire accordance with regard to the prominent
thing, namely, that the cultivators were not the possessors of
the soil. S t r a b ot also says that those who were employed
in agriculture and trade held their land subject to rent. In
the sculptures, as Wilkinsonf shows, only kings, priests
and the military order are represented as land-owners. Con
tracts of sale lately discovered, according to which towns
seem to have had their separate territories, || belong to a very
late condition of things, (a certain, although a limited right
of possession will always arise in process of time from the
condition of tenants,) and at most warrant only the assertion
that the rule was not without exceptions. § " We can affirm
with certainty," says Heeren,^ " that if not all, yet surely
the greatest and best part of the land belonged to the king, the
temples, the priests and the military order. It is further cer
tain that these lands were cultivated by tenants, whose pre
cise condition, whether they were fee-farmers or temporary
occupants of the land, we do not know. Their condition
may have been similar to that ofthe present Fellahs, who by
no means have full ownership of land.** But it cannot be
* 1. 73. t 17, p. 787. X I. p. 263.
|| Bockh Erklarung einer Aeg. Urkunde, S. 27.
§ Anything further is not desired by Bockh. That Herodotus
does not recognize any special cast of cultivators, he explains by the
fact that the peasants were not land owners, and consequently could
not constitute a special caste. He supposes that the kings, priests
and soldiers all possessed real estate in the country, and a part of that
in the towns, but that the inhabitants of towns in their very limited
provinces also had possessions in land.
IF S. 142,
** We will here quote what Girard says in the Description, t. 17, p,

64 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
doubted that the culture ofthe soil, if it was not entirely, yet
was certainly for the most part performed by tenants. These
therefore constituted the Egyptian peasantry," etc.
The narration in Genesis, and the consequent accurate ac
quaintance of the author with the condition of Egypt con
tended for by us, receive further confirmation from profane
writers, since they attribute to the priests possessions in land
as their own, and consequently rent free. " So much is cer
tain," remarks Heeren,* " that a greater, perhaps the great
est and best part of the land was in the possession of the
priests." But on the other hand, there are important apparent con
tradictions between our narrative and the accounts of profane
writers :
1. Herodotus, it might be said, ascribes the partition
ofthe land to king Sesostris ; but he cannot possibly be the
king in whose time the administration of Joseph falls. But,
although H e e r e nt seeks to sustain this statement of H e-
rodotu s, it must be considered as a fixed result of modern
investigation, that Sesostris is not a historical but a mythic
personage,^ to whom it was the custom to trace back all the
important measures and the great successes of the ancient
189, " upon the right of possession in Egypt," since it aids in the ex
planation of the meanmg of our passage : Such is also the condition
of that which they here call private possessions. They remain in the
same family less by tight of inheritance than as a testimony of the
favor of the ruler, in whose handlt always remains to dispose of them
according to his will. These possessions are, as it seems, only a kind
of revertible and therefore entirely unalienable fief. We cannot here
then with the expression, ' Sale of real estate,' connect the idea of an
invariable and absolute abdication, hut merely that of a temporary
mortgaging for a sum of money which is borrowed. The real estate
will belong to the lender until the repayment of the money. Then
the owner receives the avails ofthe land which he had abandoned.
¦* S. 131. t S. 142.
X Bahr upon Her. IV. S. 563.

THE LAND OF THE MILITARY CASTE. 65
Pharaohs. And this Heeren himself has also more recent
ly acknowledged.*
If, further, Herodotus appears to know nothing of an ori
ginal possession of the land by the Egyptian cultivators, but
rather considers the king as the original possessor, the ad
vantage is so decidedly on the side of the book of Genesis,
that the contradiction of Herodotus confirms its credibil
ity and places in a clearer light, the author's knowledge of
Egypt, which extends back far beyond the time approached
by profane writers. The fact confirmed by Herodotus,
that the king was possessor of the land occupied by the cul
tivators implies a historical fact through which it was brought
about. That the king should be the original possessor of the
whole land is not conceivable, and is contrary to the analogy
of history, in a country like Egypt, not obtained by conquest.
2. According to the representation in Genesis, there were
only two classes of land-owners, the kings and the priests.
D i o d o r u s on the contrary, whose declaration is confirmed
by the monuments, mentions three classes, kings, priests and
the military caste. But Herodotus furnishes us with the
data for reconciling this apparent contradiction. According
to him the real estate of the military order differed from that
ofthe peasants, since it was free of rent ; but otherwise be
longed to the kings, and was given by them in fee to the sol
diery. According to book 2. chap. 141, the land ofthe mili
tary order was given to them by the kings, and taken away
by one ofthe same, named Sethon. That this land was in
stead of pay is said in chap. 168 : " They alone, of all the E-
gyptians except the priests, had the following special privi
lege, namely : each one had twelve acres of good land, free
of rent:"
3. It appears from the account in Genesis, verse 22, that
the priests received their support from the king. On the
contrary, Herodotusf says, as, at least, it is affirmed by
~~ * Gott. Anz. 1834. S. 39. t 2. c. 37.
6*

66 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
H e e r e n,* whom most in modern times, as for example
D r u m a n n,+ Rosenmuellerf and B a h r|| follow : The
support of the priests is obtained from the revenues of the
land belonging to the temples, from the temple-treasures.
This contradiction would disappear of itself, if we could
with v. B o h I e n§ translate verse 22 differently from what we
have done above : " Only the land of the priests he did not
purchase, for that is a legacy to the priests on the part of
Pharaoh, and they enjoyed their privilege which Pharaoh
gave to them, therefore they sold not their land." Accord
ing to this interpretation there is indeed no account in this
passage of the daily portion which the priests received from
the king. The reason that Pharaoh did not purchase the
grounds of the priests, is this : they were already themselves
crown-lands. But we could not well avail ourselves of this
advantage. In the place of the contradiction removed, a new
one would immediately arise. In oppositidn to other decla
rations, and to the whole situation!, of the Egyptian priests,
all possessions in land, properly so called, would be denied
them in this passage.
Moreover this explanation is wholly inadmissible.fi Ac-
* S. 132. t Ueher die Inschrift zu Rosette, S. 158.
X Alt. u. Neu. Morgen. 1. S. 222. || Zu Herod. B. 2. c. 37:
§ S. 60.
IT The Hebrew word p'n is also used to designate an allowance of
food in Prov. 30: 8, and 31: 15. The word that is arbitrarily inserted
by v. Bohlen. The phrase, " the land ofthe priests," when compared
with verse 20, can mean only the land which belongs to the priests as
their own property, and also the expression " except the land of the
priests alone, became not Pharaoh's," in verse 26, shows that the land
-of the priests was in the fullest sense their own. After comparing
the words C|?n—ris sVss* with verse 18 seq., according to, which the
Egyptians sold their land in order to procure food, no one will inter
pret them by " they enjoyed their privilege." Finally, it cannot,
from the nature of the case, be supposed, that the same author who
makes the Egyptian peasants land-owners, will deny to the priests
all such possessions.

SUPPORT OF THE PRIESTS. 67
cording to sound interpretation, the passage can mean only
as follows : only the land ofthe priests he did not purchase ;
for the cause, which compelled the remaining Egyptians to
sell their land, did not affect them, since they received an al
lowance from Pharaoh, so that, so long as he had bread, they
also had it.
But the contradiction may be removed in another way, and
become perfect agreement. In the passage of Herodotus*
especially relied on, the meaning is not what it has been af
firmed to be. It is there said : " And yet many thousand oth
er usages, I might say, must they observe. But for this there
is also much favor shown them. For neither their means of
support nor their other expenses are derived from their own
wealth. But they have their holy bread baked, and each one
receives a great quantity of goose and neat's flesh every day ;
wine is also given them." The distinction is not here be
tween the "common treasures" and " private wealth" ofthe
priests, but between their own property and that which they
receive in common with others out of the public treasures,
from the king. It is precisely the distinction between the
wealth ofthe priests existing in lands, and their salary made
up of natural productions, which appears in Genesis ; so that
this passage of Herodotus, very far from contradicting our
representation, serves rather as a strong confirmation of it.
The phrase, " For neither their means of support nor other
expenses are derived from their own wealth, "t then leads de
cidedly to this conclusion. For, since in what precedes the
passage quoted, individual priests are not spoken of, but
priests in general,' so it is entirely arbitrary to understand by
" their own wealth" the private property of individuals. The
wealth of the priesthood, in distinction from the allowance
which was given them as a reward for their service can alone
* 2. 37.
X Ovts Tt ydg wiv oixtjtui TQijUovai, oi'rs dantavtoiKCcu,.

68 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
then be designated here. This declaration : " There is much
favor shown them," (lit. they suffer much good),* contributes
further to this argument. For, since the party receiving, the
suffering subjects are the priests in general, the activity must
come from some other source than from themselves. Just so
this : " There is to them," " there is given them." But did
there any doubt remain with regard to the correctness ofthe
foregoing explanation, it would be cleared away by the ex
planation of Herodotus himself in another place. He
says,t The soldiers alone besides the priests receive a salary
from the king. Now, since the land ofthe priests was their
own property, their salary could consist only ofthe portion
which was given them.
But other accounts also show that the priests received their
support from the king. " The thirty judges," says Dru-
m ann,"| priests of Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis were
maintained by the king,|| and, without doubt, the sons ofthe
priests also, all of whom over twenty years of age were given
to the king as servants, or more correctly to take the over
sight of his affairs.§ As a general rule, every one in the im
mediate service of the court is maintained by the king; for
example, the two thousand soldiers who alternating yearly,
formed the bodyguard of the king. "ft. The ministers of
court were in Egypt the priests, just as the State was a the
ocracy, and the king was considered as the representative and
incarnation of the Godhead.
Diodorus says indeed that the whole maintenance of
the priests, as also the expenses for the offerings, etc., were
derived from the revenues of the lands. But this is true, at
any rate, only of latqr times, when the priesthood had lost
*" IIio%ovoi Si xal aya&d ovx bltya. t 2. chap. 168.
X S. 159.
|| Diodorus 1. 75. ^vvrd^tig Se tiuv avayxaiwv Ttagd rov paoiXdwg
tocq pAv Sixaorcug ixaval Ttgog Siargocprp ixogTjyovvTO T<j< Se ag%i8i-
xeunfj TioXlaaiKdmoi- § Diod. 1. 70. Tf Herod. 2. 168.

MOSAIC AND EGYPTIAN INSTITUTIONS. 69
much of their income and of the respect previously shown
them.* We have hitherto shown that the author exhibits in the
narrative which we are considering the most accurate know
ledge ofthe condition of Egypt — such a knowledge as Moses
may more easily be supposed to possess than any other one.
But we cannot stop here. We must also show that the Egyp
tian usages here referred to were the groundwork of those
of the Israelites under discussion in the Pentateuch, and that
a copying of them can only be accounted for when the legis
lation attributed to Moses truly proceeded from him, since
it was,natural that he and ho law-giver of more modern times
should have regard to the Egyptian institutions in forming
his laws. We will here quote what has been already said in
another placet upon this point. "Michaelis| indeed
finds a reference in the two tenths in Gen. xlvii. to an Egyp
tian law. ' In Egypt,' he says, ' the lands all belonged to
the king, and the husbandmen were not the proprietors of
the fields which they cultivated, but farmers or tenants who
were obliged to give to the king one fifth of their produce.
Gen. 47: 20 — 25. ' Just so Moses represents God, who hon
ored the Israelites by calling himself their king, the sole pos
sessor ofthe soil ofthe promised land, in which he was about
to place them by his special providence ; but the Israelites
were mere tenants , who could not alienate their land forev-
er.|] In fact, they were obliged to give God, as also the
gyptians Pharaoh two tenths,' etc. Indeed the copiousness
of the account must awaken the supposition of some design,
and if we compare Lev. xxv. it can scarcely be doubted that
the representation of the relation in which Egypt stands to

* Drumann, S. 159 ff.
t Th. III. der Beitr&ge zur Einl. ins Alt, T. S. 411, 412.
X Mos. Laws, vol. I. § 73.
|| Lev, 25; 23. Compare verses 42 and 55.

70 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
its visible king is applied to the relation of Israel to its invi
sible king, theking who is also God," As Pharaoh, we also
add, furnished support for the priests out of the fifth which
he received, so also did Jehovah.

Embalming, Lamentation for the Dead, etc.
In Gen. 50 : 2, 3 it is said : " And Joseph commanded
his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the phy
sicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for
him ; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed,
and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days."
This passage gives occasion for the following remarks :
1. The phrase, " Joseph commanded his servants, the phy
sicians," is not to be understood to mean that all the physi
cians of Joseph took part in this operation. The command
was rather obeyed by those among the physicians of Joseph
to whom this business belonged. It is remarkable that we
find among the domestics of Joseph a large number of phy
sicians. Even W ar bur ton has compared with this ac
count what Herodotus* says of the healing art among the
Egyptians : " the medical practice is divided among them as
follows : each physician is for one kind of sickness, and no
more, and all places are crowded with physicians ; for there
are physicians for the eyes, physicians for the head, physicians
for the teeth, physicians for the stomach and for internal dis
ease." Therefore, remarks Warburton, it ought not to
appear strange that Joseph had a considerable number of
family physicians. " Every great family, as well as every
city must needs, as Herodotus expresses it, swarm with
the faculty. A multitude of these domestics would now ap
pear an extravagant piece of state even in a first minister.
But then we see it could not be otherwise, where each dis
temper had its proper physician. "t The medical men of
* 2. 84. \ Warhurton's Divine Legation, Book IV. 3. 83.

EMBALMING IN EGYPT. 71
Egypt were renowned in ancient times. Cyrus had a physi
cian sent him from Egypt,* and Darius always had Egyptian
physicians with him.t
2. That the custom of embalming was very ancient in E-
gypt, is shown from the practice of cutting the bodies with
an Ethiopian stone.f Some mummies also bear the date of
the oldest kings. \\
3. The embalming is here performed by the servants of
Joseph, the physicians. According to the accounts of clas
sical authors on the contrary, the embalmers were a heredi
tary and organized class of men in Egypt, in which different
duties were assigned to different persons. According to D i-
o dor us the Taricheuta were the most distinguished among
them.§ If a-proper distinction of time is observed, there is
no contradiction here. It is entirely natural to suppose that
in the most ancient times this operation was performed by
those to whom each one committed it. But afterwards, when
the embalming was executed more according to the rules of
art, a distinct class of operators gradually arose.
4. The embalming continued, according to the declara
tion of the author, forty days, the whole mourning seventy
days, in whiph the forty days ofthe embalming are evidently
included. The account of Diodorus agrees in a remark
able manner with this. With reference to embalming he
says, " They prepare the body first with cedar oil and vari
ous other substances, more than thirty (according to another
reading,, forty) days ; then, after they have added myrrh and
cinnamon and other drugs which have not only the power of
preserving the body for a long time, but of imparting to it a
* Herod. 3. ] . t Ibid, 3. 129.
X Herod. 2. 86. Diod. 1. 91. || Rosellini, II. 3. p. 306.
§ Rosenm. Alterthumsk.il. 3. S, 352 ff. Upon this difference
Zoega remarks, De Obeliscis, p. 263 : At that time the college of Ta-
fccheutajseems not to have been formed, but embalming was perform
ed by slavesi

72 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
pleasant odor, they commit it to the relatives of the deceas
ed."* Of the mourning the same author says : " When a
king died, all the Egyptians raised a general lamentation,
tore their garments, closed the temples, offered no sacrifices,
celebrated no festivals, for seventy-two days."t Herodo-
t u s,J in opposition to both these accounts, seems to limit the
time of retaining the body in natron alone to seventy days.
But if the passage referred to is more closely examined it
shows that he limited the whole time in which the body was
under the embalmers to seventy days. Since this time began
with the death and ended with the burial, while the mourn
ing began and ended at the same time, there is the most per
fect agreement between this passage of He rodotus and
ours, which limits the time of lamentation to seventy days.||
* 1.91. t 1. 72. t 2.86.
|| Herodotus says : tavra 3s Tton'ieaHrtf, ragiysvovoi lltQiu, xqxj-
ifiavrsg yfiiqas ipSof&ijxovra- itXavvai Si Tovrirnv ovx escort- ragl-
%svsiv. That these seventy days of Herodotus have reference not
merely to the time of retaining the body in natron, but to the whole
time of the embalming and mourning, has been asserted by some who
are by no means guided by a respect for the Mosaic account, as for
example, by Zoega, De Obeliscis, p. 253, and by Heyne, Spicilegjum
antiquitatis mumiarum, in Commentt. Gotting. III. p. 85. The time
is not only too long for retaining the body in natron, but it is also im
probable that Herodotus would give the time of salting , which was so
far from being the prominent thing that Diodorus does not mention
it at all, and not that of embalming and of the whole operation. Be
sides, seventy, as a round and sacred number, is much more suitable
for the whole than o, single, proportionally unimportant part, which
under the embalming in its restricted sense, of which alone the Pen
tateuch makes mention, (the Bin means according to the Arabic, bo
nis odoribus condivit mortuum, and consequently designates the ope
ration of which Diodorus speaks,) held so inferior a place. But Creu-
zer, to whom Bahr accedes, has attempted to prove that the explana
tion which is most in accordance with the facts in the case, is incon
sistent with the words. " Ego si quaeris," he says in Gomment. upon
Herodotus, p. 45, " vereorut hae explieationes conciliari queunt cum
verbis Herodoti, qui quidem h. 1. diserte dicit toqixsi'ovoi llrqia, quod

THE MOURNING FOR JACOB. 73
5. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob according to the
aboye passage, seventy days. In verse 4 it is said : "And
when the days of his mourning were past," etc. In verses
10 and 11 : "And they came to the threshing floor of Atad,
which is beyond Jordan and mourned there with a great
and yet:y sore lamentation ; and he made a mourning for his
father seven days, and the inhabitants of the land, the Ga-
naanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad and said,
" This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians ; wherefore the
name of it was called Abel Mizraim (mourning of Egypt)."
The classical writers also show that the Egyptians appointed
for themselves a very solemn mourning -for the dead, espe-
posterius vocabulum cogitando videtur repeti debere cum ad sequerjs
ttQvxpavrss, tuniad Tagidnilsiv, ita ut irapufsisiv h. 1. proprie salitionem
videatur significare." According to Creuzer therefore we must trans
late : "When this is done, they lay it in natron and leave it therein
70 days, but they are not allowed to salt it longer." But this inter
pretation is not admissible, much less then necessary. With
it(>vi{iuvtse,MTQ<# cannot be implied, for the dead body was not put
into the natron, but that was applied to it. Tagiieveiv without Xkqia
can the more appropriately be taken in a general sense, since it is j
always so used in what precedes and follows. Compare c. 85 ¦.
ovtoj is xffv Taqiytvaiv xofutovoi, c. 86 : mSs zd aitovSaiorara tuqi-
%ev'ovaif c. 89 : rag Se yvvacxae tOjV inMpaviorv dvSgcuv, eni-Av rsXsv-
Tt'juwot, ou tfagavvixa ScSovat toqi%si5uv, — ov'tco nagaSiSovm rdtg m-
Qi%£vovob. Compare upon the meaning of ioqi%svhv, primarily to
salt . and then to embalm in general, Creuzer p: 10 seq. ; Heyne p.
81. We must translate: "When this is done, they embalm it in
natron, having concealed it (in all) 70 days ; but it is not permitted to
embalm it longer." The expression "having concealed it 70 days"
refers to the whole time in which the dead body was removed from
the view of the relatives, and was under the operation of the em-
palmers. The phrase "They are not allowed to embalnwit longer" is
explained by the remark, that to the taql^vaiq the treatment with
natron also belonged, which began after the embalming in its more
limited sense was at an end, and continued until the burial, or to the
end of the mourning. 7

74 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
cially for those of high rank. Herodotus* says : " Lam
entations and funerals were celebrated. When a man died in
a house, that is, one, of rank, all the females of his family
covering their faces with mud, and leaving the body in the
house ran through the streets, girded up, and striking their
bare breasts and uttering loud lamentations. All their female
relations joined them. The men beat their breasts in like
manner and also girded up their dress." D i o d o r u st says :
If any one dies among them, all his relatives and friends
cover their heads with mud and go about the streets with
loud lamentations, until the body is buried. In the meantime
they neither use baths nor even take wine, or any other
than common food ; they also do not put on beautiful gar
ments." The same author gives an account of the lamen
tation of the Egyptians on the death of a king. Men and
women to the number of 200 or 300 went around in companies,
sung twice every day the funeral dirge, honored him with
eulogies, and repeated the virtues of the dead. In the mean
time they neither tasted meat or wheaten bread, and abstained
from wine and every species of sumptuousness. No one
used the bath or ointments or a soft bed, but every one was full
of the deepest sorrow, as if a beloved child had died, and
spent the prescribed time in sorrow. Meanwhile everything
which pertained to the burial was made ready, and on the
last day they placed the coffin which contained the body
before the entrance of the tomb," etc.}: The monuments§
also show how violent and solemn the lamentation was among
the Egyptians. Many of the ceremonies of mourning have
been transmitted even to the modern Egyptians.||
In chap. 50: 4, we read : "And when the days of his
*B. 2. c.85. tB. 1. c. 91.
§ See the Representation of a mourning scene, from Thebes, in Wil
kinson Vol. 1. p. 286. t Diod. B. 1. c. 72.
|| Heyne p. 81, and De Chabrol, Essai s. les moeurs des habitans
modemes de l'Egypt. Descr. t. 18. p. 180.

FUNERAL PROCESSIONS. 75
mourning (the mourning for Israel) were past, Joseph spake
unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, " If now I have found
grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh,"
etc. It is worthy of remark here, that Joseph makes not his
request directly to the king, but has recourse to the house of
Pharaoh, while at other times he goes directly to Pharaoh;
and even his brothers and his father were brought before
Pharaoh, so that the fact cannot be explained on the ground
of the hatred of the Egyptians to strangers. The correct
explanation is as follows : It belongs to the Egyptian sense of
propriety to go with shorn head and beard, and only so is it
allowed to appear before the king. Compare chap. 41 : 14,
where Joseph shaved himself and changed his garments
before he went to Pharaoh, and the remarks upon that passage
above.* But while mourning they were not permitted to
shave. Herodotust says : "Among other nations it is the
custom in mourning for the relatives to shear the head, but
the Egyptians, when an individual dies, leave the hair which
was before cut off, to grow both upon the head and chin."
Such peculiar customs are especially suited to fix the opinion
with regard to the relation of the Pentateuch to Egypt.
In chap. 5fJ: 7 and 8 it is said : "And Joseph went up to
bring his father; and with him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of the house, and all the elders of the
land of Egypt. And all the house of Joseph and his breth
ren," etc. "The custom of funeral trains," says R o s el 1 i n i,f
"was peculiar to all periods, and to all the provinces of Egypt.
We see the representations of funeral processions in the oldest
tombs at Eilethyas, and similar ones are delineated in those
of Saqqarah and Gizeh ; we also find others of a like nature
in the Theban tombs, which belong to the eighteenth, nine
teenth and twentieth dynasties," When we behold the
representations of the processions for the dead upon the
*p. 30. tB. 2. c. 36. t II. 3. p. 395,

76 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
monuments, we seem to see the funeral train of Jacob.*
The distinction between the elders of the house of Pha
raoh, his court-officers, and the elders of the land of Egypt,
the state-officers, is also worthy of notice. According to
other accounts the court of the Egyptian king was made up
of the sons of the most distinguished priests ; those called
Nomarchs and Toparchs by the Greeks belonged to the state-
officers. t
In chap. 50: 26 it is said, "And Joseph died, — and they
embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." Com
pare with this what Her odotusf says: " Now the rela
tives take away the body and make a wooden image in the
shape of a man and place the body in it. When it is thus
inclosed, they placed it in the apartment for the dead, setting
it upright against the wall." A doubt with regard to the Egyp
tian knowledge of the author might be awakened by the fact
that he permits Joseph to be placed in a wooden sarcopha
gus,^ while one of stone would be expected. But a closer
examination shows that this expression is directly in favor of
the credibility of the pentateuch ; coffins made of wood
in Egypt, as indeed the passage already quoted from H e j o d-
o t u s shows, were the common ones, and those of basalt a
rare exception ;|| and in the case of Joseph, his order that
* See in Taylor, p. 182. t Heeren, Ideen S. 337 ff.
fB.2.86. § The Hebrew word ¦pStt designates such a one. Plutarch employs
the entirely synonymous word MgvaQ the same thing to designate.
See Zoega de Obeliscis p. 330.
|| "Sarcophagi," says Heyiae p. 8&,"ebasalte lari'ssiimet ditissimoium
fere ; plerique e sycamoro, (compare upon the Sycamore wood as the
common material of coffins for the dead, Creuzer Comm., Herod, p 61,)
ad formam corporis facti, ex uno caudice dimidiato, ut altera pars pro
capuli fundo, altera pro tegumine sit ; alii e pluribus asseribus coas-
sati." Compare upon the quality of coffins for the dead, Rosellini II.
3. p. 344. But the most copious collections upon wood as the very
common material of the Egpytian sarcophagi are found in Zoega, p.

CHANGE IN THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE. 77
the children of Israel should at a future time carry his bones
with them to Canaan, furnishes a separate reason for giving
the preference to wood rather than stone. Besides the custom
of putting the dead in sarcophagi was by no means a general
one, only rich and distinguished persons received this honor.
Compare Heyne* and notice that the Egyptian knowledge
of the author appears here, since he permits Joseph to be a
sharer in this honor that belongs to those who are highly
esteemed. At the close of this chapter, we would also call attention
to the wonderful change in the spirit of the Egyptian people,
which appears in the narrative of the Pentateuch. Abraham
found an easy entrance into Egypt and a friendly reception,
and no distinction between him and the Egyptians is mani
fested. In the time of Joseph the spirit of the Egyptian
people had acquired a more decided character ; already are
317 ; latissime autem patere videmus consuetudinem mortuos inclu-
dere in areas oblongas cadaveris staturae accommodataB, et sic sub
terram condefe, aut in sepiilcro reponere super solo exstructo, aut vero
basi suffultas collocare sub divp. Ligni ad, hoc usus frequentissimus ;
eoque Aegyptii ut plurimum contenti fuisse videntur, dum et syco-
morus arbor, ejus regionis incola, materiem praeberet diuturnae
durationis, et loca ubi condere solebant cadavera ab aere atque humore
ita essent praeclusa, ut qUodvis lignum in iis perdurare potuisse
videatur; Ideoque non alias quam ligneas areas commemorat Herod
otus. The same author says, p. 333 : lntelligimus et hinc in magno
honore apud Aegyptios fuisse areas ligneas cum arte factas et pulcre
exornatas dum^ipsum Osiridein hujusmodi conditorio delusum et
captum inqvre eo sepultum traderent ; quare et regum cadavera ligneo
loculo intra lapideum inclusa fuisse conjicio. The coffin of king
Mycerinus discovered in the year 1837 in the third pyramid of Mem
phis is of sycamore wood. Compare Lenormant, Eclaircissemens s. le
Cercuil du Roi Mycerinus, p. 4, Paris 1839.
* De sarcophago olim ita tradi solebat acsi omne mumiae sarcophago
conditae essent ; atqui paucissimae ei inclusae sunt nee nisi in quas
major impensa facta. Compare Maillet in Rosenm, A. u. N. M. Th.
I. S. 257. 7#

78 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the shepherds an abomination, and Joseph must be freed
from the ignominy of his origin by an alliance with the
daughter of a priest of the highest rank. But still that such
an alliance is possible shows that the repulsive severity of the
Egyptians against strangers had not yet reached its greatest
height. The manner in which Pharaoh answers the request
of Joseph for the admission of his family into Egypt proves
the same thing. But just at the beginning of the Exodus
we see the hatred and contempt of the Egyptians against all
foreigners, and their strong national egotism, which is so con
spicuous in the circumstance that the term man is used exclu
sively for their people, designating them as of the highest
rank.* Every one must confess that this gradual develop
ment is perfectly in accordance with nature, and that the
representation of the Pentateuch carries with it the proof of
its authenticity and credibility.
*Salvolini Campagne de Rhamses, Paris 1835,^p. 261.

THE ARABS IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER II.
EXODUS, Chapters I— VII.
The Fears of Pharaoh and Ms Severity to the Israelites.
In chap. 1:10, Pharaoh says to his people : " Come on,
let us deal wisely with them, (the people of the children of
Israel,) lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there
fallethout any war, -they join also unto our enemies, and fight
against us, and so get them uprout of the land." These
words are spoken perfectly in accordance with the state of
things in Egypt. Fruitful and cultivated Egypt has for its
natural enemies the inhabitants of the neighboring deserts,
and it is never in greater peril than when these enemies find
allies among its own inhabitants. The history of the Arabian
Bedouins in Egypt shows how very confident the Egyptian
king might be that he had ground for his fears, and that he
must make regulations in accordance with them. Of these
Bedouins P r o k e s c h* says : " They made common cause
with the Arabs against the communities who possessed the
land, and who were the enemies of the Arabs as soon as the
latter became themselves land-tillers. They fought against the
Saracen dynasty in Egypt, against the Turkomans as soon
as they had acquired the ascendancy, against phe Memlook
Sultans who were the successors of the Turkomans, and they
have been at war with the Osmanlies without intermission,
since they first set foot upon Egypt more than three hundred
years ago."
The measures which Pharaoh adopted for the oppression
of the Israelites are entirely in accordance with the spirit of
* Erinnerungen aus Aeg. und Kleinas. Th. 2. S. 231.

80 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the Pharaohs, whose proud severity against hated and de
spised foreigners knew no bounds. According to Diodo-
r u s,* Sesostris placed upon all his buildings erected by
captives an inscription showing, that no native citizens had
been engaged in ' this servile employment. According to
P 1 i n y,t Sesostris harnessed captive kings to his chariot.|
Upon the sculptures, in the temple at Medeenet Haboo, repre
senting the triumphal return of Remeses III,. after his con
quests in the Eastern war, three captives appear tied under
the axle of his chariot, while others bound by ropes walk by
the side of his horses as an offering to the deity of the place.§
According to chap. I: 14, Pharaoh embittered the life of
*he Israelites with hard bondage in mortar and brick. We
see from chap. 5: 7,1| that straw was used in the preparation
of these bricks. 1. We have already shown that the use of
brick Was very general in Egypt, as is here implied. U 2.
Bricks were made in Egypt under the direction of the king or
some privileged person as appears from the impressions found
upon many of them.** A great multitude of strangers were
-constantly employed in the brick fields of Thebes and other
.parts of Egypt. 2. But the most remarkable agreement with
the Pentateuch is in the fact, that a small portion of chopped
straw is found in the composition of the Egyptian bricks.
* 1. 56. 1 33.. 15.
t Sesostri Aegypti rege tam superbo, ut prodatur annis quibusque
sorte reges singulos e subjectis jungere ad currum solitus, atque ita
triumphare. Diodorus also relates the same thing, 1. 58.
§ Wilkinson 1. p. 106 and plate.
|| Luther has incorrectly translated in chap. 5: 7 •¦ That they might
Tmrn brick, from which the false opinion might easily arise that the
straw served as fuel. It should be : Ye shall no more give the people
straw to Ttmlce brick with, etc.
IF See p. 1 — Also concerning the use of brick in Egypt, Quatremere
de Quincy, etat de l'Architect, Egypt, p. 64. seq.
** Wilkinson II. 97.

HEBREWS MAKING BRICK. 81
This is evident from an examination of those brought by
R o s e 1 ! i n i from Thebes on which is the stamp of Thothmes
IV., the fifth king of the eighteenth dynasty.* " The bricks,"
remarks Rosellini,f "which are now found in Egypt,
belonging to the same period, always have straw mingled with
them, although in some of those that are most carefully made,
it is found in very small quantities." According to Rosel-
1 i n i, straw was used in order that the bricks, (they were not
for the most part burned, but dried in the sun,) might be
more firm, especially those of coarse clay and more roughly
formed. Prokesch| says, " The bricks (of the first pyramid
at Dashoor) are of fine clay from the Nile mingled with
chopped straw. This intermixture gives the bricks an aston
ishing durability." The inquirer will not leave unnoticed
such little and entirely undesigned circumstances as these.
We are carried much farther by the comparison of our
history with a picture discovered in a tomb at Thebes, of
which R o s e 1 1 i n i§ first furnished a drawing and an expla
nation: "Explanation of a picture representing the Hebrews
as they were engaged iii making brick." We will first give
an abstract of the account of R o s e II i n i. "Of the laborers,"
says he, "some are employed in transporting the clay in
vessels, some in intermingling it with the straw, others are
taking the bricks out of the form and placing them in rows,
still others with a piece of wood upon their backs and ropes
on each side carry away the bricks already burned or dried.
Their dissimilarity to the Egyptians appears at the first view ;
the complexion, physiognomy and beard permit us not to be
mistaken in supposing them to be Hebrews. They wear at
the hips the apron which is common among the Egyptians,
and there is also represented as in use among them a kind of
short trowsers after the fashion of the ff'DiSn. Among the
Hebrews, four Egyptians, very distinguishable by their mien,
*Ros. II. 2. p. 252. 1 11. 2. p. 259.
t In der Erinn. Th. 2. S. 31. § II. 2. p. 254 seq.

82 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
figure and color, are seen ; two of them, one sitting and the
Other standing, carry a stick in their hand ready to fall upon two
other Egyptians, who are here represented like the Hebrews,
one of them carrying on his shoulder a-vessel of clay, and the
other returning from the transportation of brick, carrying his
empty vessel to get a new load. The tomb belonged to a
high court-officer of the king, Rochscere, and was made in
the time of Thothmes IV, the fifth king of the eighteenth
dynasty. The question, "How came this picture in the tomb
of Rochscere V R o s e 1 1 i n i answers as follows : " He was
the overseer of the public buildings and had, consequently, the
charge of all the works undertaken by the king. There
are found represented therein still other objects of a like
naiure ; two collossal statues of kings, a sphinx and the
laborers who hewed the stone, — works which he by virtue of
his office had caused to be performed in his life-time.
To the question, "How came the representation of the
labors of the Israelites at Thebes ?" it is answered : " We
need not suppose that the labors were performed in the very
place where they are represented, for Rochscere was overseer
of the royal buildings throughout the land, and what was
done in the circuit of his operations, could, wherever per
formed, be represented in his tomb at Thebes. It is
also not impossible that the Hebrews went even to Thebes.
In Exodus 5: 12, it is said, that they scattered themselves
through the whole land of Egypt in order to procure straw.
So far Rosellini. The agreement of this painting
with our account in many very striking points, appears at
first view. We, consequently, select from them only two.
1. It is said in the narrative, the Israelites were subjected
to severe labor in mortar and brick. Just so this servile
labor appears throughout the painting as twofold, some are
employed upon the clay from which the bricks were made, and
some upon the finished brick. 2. We have in this painting
an explanation with regard to the Egyptians who accompa-

EGYPTIANS OF LOW CASTE. 83
nied the Israelites in their Exodus. Of these Egyptians we
read, first, in Exod. 12: 38, "And also a great rabble (an ans>)
went up with them." In Num. 11:4," The mixed Egyptian
populace (fiDBDNn) led astray the Israelites in the desert to
discontentment." In Deut. 29, 10(11) — let it be observed
how accurately these remote and disconnected passages agree
with each other — the Egyptian aliens appear as very poor, as
the lowest servants, as hewers of wood and drawers of water.
The designations rabble and populace in the first passages,
also show, that these attendants of the Israelites belonged to
the lowest grades of society. Just such people we should
naturally expect to find in Egypt. Their existence is the
necessary consequence of strongly marked castes in society.
The monuments indeed place vividly before us most manifest
distinctions in station. A part of the people appear to be in
the deep degradation which now presses upon the Fellahs.*
According to Herodotusf the caste of swine-herds, a
native tribe, was unclean and despised in Egypt. All inter
course with the rest of the inhabitants, even entrance into a
temple, was forbidden, and they were as much despised as
the Parias in India,"! The contempt . in which they were
held was not certainly the consequence of their occupation,
but their occupation of the disdain which was felt for them.
Already unclean, they had no reason for avoiding the care
of unclean animals. But full light first falls upon these
notices of the Pentateuch through our painting. We see
upon it Egyptians who are placed entirely on an equality with
the hated and despised foreigners. What is more natural
than that a considerable part of these Egyptians, bound close
to their companions in sorrow by their common misery,
should leave with them their native land, such now to them
only in name.||.
* Wilk. Vol. I. p. 285. t B. 2. c. 47. f Heeren, S. 150.
|| Compare upon the bondmen of Egypt, who like the Helots in
Sparta, were in ignominious servitude, Bockh, Erkl&rung Einer Aeg.
Urkun.de S. 27, 28.

84 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
He who has carefully examined the engraving in Rosel-
1 i n i, the great importance of which has been acknowledged
by such historians as Heeren,* perceiving its striking
accordance with the Pentateuch, will ask first of all, whether
then this picture is really genuine, whether it is not probably a
supposititious work, prepared after the Pentateuch was written.
This question, almost sufficiently answered by the condition
of the painting itself, is, by the judicious Wilkinson, who
made a new examination on the spot, decided entirely in
favor of the picture. This decision is the more to be relied on,
since W i 1 k i n s o n,+ while he questions whether the painting
has direct reference to the labors of the Israelites, does not
deny the significance of it for the Pentateuch. But the
arguments with which he contends against its referring to
Israelites, are of so little importance, that we can scarcely
avoid thinking that he is influenced by something foreign from
the thing itself; and they are decidedly outweighed by the
evident Jewish bearing and cast of physiognomy, which can
be traced even in the common wood cuts such as are found
in Taylor.| Wilkinson, first, makes the place where the
*He says, Gott. Anz. 1835, S. 1328 : If this painting represents the
servitude of the children of Israel in these labors, it is equally impor
tant for exegesis and chronology. For exegesis, because it would be
a strong proof of the great antiquity of the Mosaic writings, and
especially of the book of Exodus which in chapters one and five
gives a description that applies most accurately to this painting, even
in unimportant particulars. For chronology, since it belongs to the
eighteenth dynasty, under the dominion of Thothmes-Moeris, about
1740 before Christ, and therefore would give a fixed point both for
profane and sacred History.
t Vol. II. p. 98 seq : " It is curious," he remarks, " to discover other
foreign captives occupied in the same manner, overlooked by similar
' task-masters,' and performing the very same labors as the Israelites
described in the Bible ; and no one can look at the paintings of Thebes,
representing brick-makers, without a feeling of the highest interest."
*p.7D."

JEWISH PHYSIOGNOMY. 85
painting is found, a matter of importance. That it cannot
represent work done in another part of Egypt, the hiero
glyphic inscription shows. According to this, the bricks are
made for a building in Thebes. But at least as given by
R o s e 1 1 i n i,* the inscription does not so definitely affirm
this ; and even if it did, what valid objection is there to the
assumption that the Israelites were carried even as far as
Thebes for the sake of their work? That Egypt in all
times, even the most ancient, formed one kingdom, is now,
since the witness of the Holy Scriptures in this respect has
received so strong a confirmation from, the monuments,
generally acknowledged.! It was for the interest of the
oppressor to scatter the Israelites as much as possible through
his whole land. Even now, the Fellahs are often collected
in troops from the most remote provinces in Egypt, when
any great work is to be executed. Secondly, the beard is
wanting, which is so marked in the, people of Syria on the
Egyptian monuments and in the case, of the prisoners of
Sheshonk. But in one individual the beard is certainly
represented, and if it is wanting in the case of the others, it is
easy to account for it by supposing that they were compelled to
accommodate themselves to Egyptian customs.! There is a
plain difference between the Israelites and those just made
captives, who naturally appear upon the monuments in the
costume of their own nation. Thirdly, the argument from
*II. p. 262. Comroendamento, che rechino — i-mattoni? verso le
eonstruzioni della diyina casa [del tempio] del — Dio.
t Compare Plath, Quaestiones Aegypt. Gott. 1829, Rosellini, Wil
kinson and others.
I Even W*Ik>nson! Vpl. III. P- 358, says : "Although foreigners
who were brought to Egypt as slaves, had beards on their arrival in
the country, we find that as soon as they were employed in the
service of this civilized people, they were obliged to conform to the
cleanly habitsof their masters ; their beards and heads were shaved,"
etc. 8

86 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
Jewish physiognomy is not decisive ; for the Egyptians, who
generally did not give the same attention to the countenance
as to costume, weapons, etc., but rather, for the most
part, employed a certain general style of features, .for
the inhabitants of a particular region * have adopted the
same characteristics for all the inhabitants of Syria, as
appears from the sculptures. Assuming the correctness of
this position, which seems to us very doubtful, would the
Egyptians, since the Jewish cast of physiognomy throughout
can by no means be denied, have borrowed the type for the
Syrians generally, from the Jews 1 This at least is certain, that
a people from, the region in which the Israelites dwelt were
found in Egypt in the circumstances represented in the paint
ing, and by a comparison of the picture with the account of
Moses, we should be perfectly justified in the assumption that
these persons were real Israelites.
It is also characteristic of Egypt, when in this same four
teenth verse, it is said that the life of the Israelites was also
embittered "through all manner of service in the field."
There is scarcely a country in which the cultivation of the
land requires so much peculiarly servile labor as in Egypt.
Irrigation especially, is here very laborious.!
Use of the Papyrus and Bitumen in Egypt.
According to chap. 2: 3, the mother of Moses taking a
chest of papyrus smears it with bitumen and pitch, lays the
child in it and puts it down among the reeds on the shore of
the Nile. That the author names the papyrus as the material
of the chest, is a strong argument in his favor. In Egypt, and
there only, was the papyrus employed in the manufacture of
many articles of use. Mats, baskets, sandals and various
* Wilkinson I. p. 386.
t See the more recent Commentators on Deut. 11: 10.

PAPYRUS AND BITUMEN. 87
other things were made of it.* Even boats were constructed
of it.t The use of the papyrus belongs to the earliest times.
Even in the most ancient sculptures it is found with writing
upon it.| Bitumen was one of the principal ingredients in
embalming in Egypt.§ In a passage in the Travels of
Minutoli,|| giving a description of the " analysis of the
resinous composition of a black shining finger from the body
of a mummy" by John, it is said : " The resinous mass is com
posed of the pitch-wood mentioned in a preceding note, and
of a kind of bitumen which the Egyptians might have
obtained from the Dead Sea, Babylon, Susa or even from
Phoenicia, or at least of an entirely analogous substance."
John also found bituminous substances in the embalming
materials in connexion with a child-mummy.fl According to
RosMlini,** there have been found in the tomb ofUsirei,
or Menephthahtt many small statues of wood in the form of
a mummy, covered with a stratum of bitumen-!! That pitch
was known at this time in Egypt, we cannot doubt, since it
is found in objects which belong to the oldest times.
The Daughter of Pharaoh finds the Child, Moses.
According to chap. 2: 5, the daughter of Pharaoh finds
the child, Moses, as, accompanied by her maidens, she goes
to bathe in the Nile. That the women in Egypt were far less
restrained than in the rest of the East, as this fact implies,
we have already shown.|||| That the king's daughter went
to the Nile to bathe is explained by the Egyptian notion of the
* Wilkinson, Vol. III. pp. 62, 146.
t Herod. 2. 96. Plut. de Is. etOsir. p. 395 ; according to which Isis
is borne upon a boat of papyrus. Wilk. Vol. III. p. 61. Ros. II. 3.
p. 124.
% Wilk. III. 150. § Diod. 19. chap. 99. || S. 373.
IT S. 344. ** Vol. I. 1. p. 249.
tt Ros. II. 3. p. 350 seq. XX Wilk. Vol. III. p. 186. ||||p. 26.

88 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
sacredness of the Nile. Of this we shall speak in a subsequent
part of this volume. A representation of an Egyptian bathing
scene — a lady with four female servants who attend upon her
and perform various offices, is found in W i 1 k i n s o n.*

The Israelites directed to borrow of the Egyptians
Ornaments, etc.
In chap. 3: 22, and the parallel passage where the Israel-
itish women are directed to borrow of their Egyptian neigh
bors gold and silver ornaments, it is implied that such
ornaments were even then in very general use among the
Egyptians. This has been fully confirmed by late discoveries.
On the monuments, remarks Rosellini,t vases of costly
metals are found, not merely in the representations of reli
gious ceremonies and the offerings of kings to the gods, but
also among the objects of household use. Very many such
things are found in the tombs of mere private individuals.
Therefore it is clear, that not the great only, but all who
possessed any wealth had such articles among their house
hold furniture-! Moses' Rod.
According to chap. 4: 2, Moses carries a rod, and this we
find to be afterwards his inseparable companion. That he
follows an Egyptian custom in this, is evident from chap.
7: 12, where each of the magicians carries his rod. Accord
ing to the monuments, the Egyptian nobles generally car
ried a stick from three to six feet long when they went out.
One of them, preserved to our time, is of cherry-wood ; but
they generally preferred, as it appears, the acacia wood.§
* Vol. III. p. 389. t II. 2. p. 345.
X Wilkinson, Vol. III. p. 223. § Wilk. III. 386-8.

WRITING UPON GARMENTS. 89
Egyptian priests and other persons of rank are represented
as walking with sticks.*

Writing much practised in Egypt.
The name of the Israelitish officers, which the task-mas
ters of Pharaoh placed over them, tPntairi, the writers, is de
rived from the verb noiS , to write.f This is highly charac
teristic of the state of things in Egypt. In no land of the
old world was facility in writing so great, and the materials
for writing by any means so perfect, as in Egypt. " Stone-
workers were accustomed," says R o s e 1 1 i n i,! "to engrave
upon each square block an inscription in hieroglyphics; an
impression was made upon the bricks, (which besides very
frequently bore inscriptions, )§ — even oxen were represented,
— the steward of the house kept a written register. They pro
bably wrote more in ancient Egypt, and on more ordinary
occasions, than among us." "The Egyptians," says the
same author, || " differ specially from all other people, in that
they constantly cover the interior and exterior of their houses,
and the walls of all the innumerable apartments, of their
wonderful subterranean burial places with images and writ
ing." " Upon the implements, and even garments of the
Egyptians, the name of the owner is frequently wholly or in
part inscribed." "The proper name of the profession of the
men is written upon them on the monuments, the name of
animals upon their representatives, and that of implements
of every sort upon thefigures which represent them." " We
must shut our eyes against the clearest light, if we would
deny that the art of reading and writing was generally stud
ied and practised in ancient Egypt, to as great a degree at
* Wilk. III. 386.
t See the arguments for this in Th. II. der Beitrflge zur Einl.
S. 449 if.
X II. 3. p. 241. § p. 252. 3. II P- 239.

90 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
least as it now is among us." Proof from the monuments is
also furnished by R o s e 1 1 i n i,* that in judicial transactions,
everything was transacted in writing. The scribes, who
meet our eyes wherever we look, act an important part.t
The judges of the under-world all carry upon their heads the
symbolic peri of truth and justice.! The passion for writing
was so incorporated with the business of Egypt, that even
now the last remains of the Egyptians, the Copts, are in ex
clusive possession of all secretaries' posts, and as it were, form
a nation of scribes.§ These Cbptic scribes compose a nu
merous community, with a kind of hierarchy. These re
ferences show, that these and the remaining passages of
the Pentateuch which imply a great extension of the art of
writing among the Israelites in the time of Moses, || only
make known what cannot have been otherwise, and thus
are a strong confirmation of the narrative. These passages,
so far from witnessing against the Mosaic period, have now
become just so many proofs for the same. The little foun
dation there is at the present time for the argument against
the authenticity of the Pentateuch, from the non-existence,
or at least the limited diffusion of the art of writing, is
shown by such facts as this, that SalvoIiniU allows that
the manuscript of S a 1 1 i e r, containing a description of the
expedition of Rerheses the Great against the Scheta and their
allies, was written about the year 1565 Defore Christ!
Whether in this particular case he is in error or not, is, for
our argument, a matter of indifference. For, it is sufficient
that an inquirer so generally esteemed for discrimination,
¦can suppose such a date possible, — that he did not even con-
* Vol. II. 3. p. 272 seq. t Ros. p. 272 seq.
X Ros. II. 500.
§ See e. g. Girard in the Descr. t. 17. p. 192.
|| They are found collected in Th. 2. der Beitrage S. 457 ff.
IT Campagne de Rhamses, Paris 1835, p. 123.

EGYPTIAN PAPER. 91
sider it necessary to question whether writing existed at that
time in Egypt.
We will here make some additions to our Essay concern
ing writing materials in the Mosaic period.* The Egyptians
wrote with reddish ink.t The common material on which
they wrote was paper made of the papyrus, plant, which is
found in great quantities in the common tombs. The great
abundance of coarse and fine paper which, from the dates,
belonged to the different dynasties of the Pharaohs, at least
as far back as the 18th, make it certain that the use of paper
in Egypt at the time of Alexander was very old, and therefore
refutes the declarations of P 1 i n y. The Egyptians also wrote
with ink and red chalk upon cloth. We have in our possession,
wrappers of mummies of byssos, written over with the ritual
for the dead-! They also wrote catalogues, accounts, and
other such like things with ink upon wood, vessels of Ter
ra Cotta, pieces of lime-stone, e'tc.§ Finally, they also wrote
oh parchment. ||
Preparation of Stone for Inscriptions.
The passage, Deut. chap, xxvii, according to which the
stones to be written upon were to be first covered with lime,
has already been explained and verified from the antiquities
ofEgypt.fi We here add also, a reference to Wilkin
son, Vol. III. p. 300, where the sand-stone of the Egyptians
is said to have had a kind of stucco spread over it before the
paintings were made, and even granite was covered with a
similar composition. P r o k e s c h** says : "I saw one,(among
* Th. 2. der Beitrage, S. 481 ff.
t Ros. II. 2. p. 207, with which, in order to call to mind that the
use of ink is implied in Num. 5; 23, compare what was said on this
passage, Beitiag, Th. 2. S. 489.''
X Ros. p. 237. § Ros. p. 228.
If Wilk. Vol. III. p. 152. IT Beitrage, Th. 2. S. 464.
** Erinnerungen aus Aeg. und Kleinas, Th. 2. S. 31.

92 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the tombs in the pyramids of Dashoor,) where a red mortar is
first laid upon the stone, and then the hieroglyphics and a
figure of the apis are impressed upon this coating.

TJie Bastinado.
The scene in chap. 5: 14, where the officers of the chil
dren of Israel, whom the Egyptian overseers of Pharaoh
placed over them, were beaten because those under their
charge had not performed their task in brick-making, is
placed vividly before our eyes in the representation of an
Egyptian bastinado in Wilkinson.* With this compare
another representation^ where "the laborers are stimulated
to work by the persuasive powers of the stick." The first
painting shows conclusively, that the mode <of inflicting
stripes described in Deut. 25: 2, (the guilty person is laid
down flat upon the ground-before the judge and beaten,) was
precisely the Egyptian mode. Wilkinson describes it in
the following words : " Men and boys were laid prostrate. on
the ground, and frequently held by the hands and feet, while
the chastisement was administered."!

The Shoterim of the Israelites, the same as the Modern
Sheikh el-Beled.
Analogy, for the taking of officers from the oppressed peo
ple themselves, who are made responsible for the performance
of prescribed labor, may be found in modern Egypt. This
same thing is done among the Arab fellahs, whose condition,
under the government of the Turks, as the description of
* Vol. II. p. 41. t Wilk. II. p. 42. -
f Compare Rosellini, II. .3. p. 274, and concerning the presence of
a magistrate at the execution of tlie punishment, the same author,
p. 278.

THE OFFICE OF THE SCRIBE. 93
Michaud,* for example, shows, agrees in many respects
remarkably with that of the Israelites. In each village, one
of the Arabs, under the title of Sheikh el-Beled, occupies the
place of mediator between the government and the people.
He must see that the men perform the prescribed labor, and
collect from them the taxes which the government imposes
upon them. The Sheikh el-Beled is often seen under the
stick of the Kaim-makam, the Kashif or the Mamoor, in the
place of^some individual of the common people, of whom he
in turn afterwards takes vengeance.t
The Duties of the Shoterim.
Since we are now occupied with the Shoterim, we will
also add, that the position, hitherto not properly understood,
which they, according to the precepts in Deut. 20: 1 seq.,
must have held with reference to warlike affairs, (they had
the care of levying soldiers, and excusing those unable to
perform military service, and they delivered the troops over
to the military chiefs, the " captains of the armies^" in verse
9th,) is explained by the post which the scribes occupy
in the same sphere in modern Egypt, and in all probability
the whole institution of the Shoterim^ as it is entirely alien to
patriarchal customs,- is of Egyptian origin. The scribes in
the representation of Egyptian warlike scenes act an impor
tant part. In levying soldiers, for instance, they write down
the names of those who are brought before them by their
commanders.! ' They count, in the presence of the king,
the hands of the slain which have been cut off, and some
times also their tongues and other members of the body ;
they make a statement of the weapons, the horses and the
rest of the booty, and present it to the king,§ and they per
form whatever such like things there are to be done.
* Correspondance, t. 5. p. 254. i Ros. II. 2. p. 257.
t Ros. II. 3. p. 218. § Wilk. I. p. 393.

94 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

The Arrogance of the Pharaohs.
The insolent pride with which Pharaoh received the mes
sage communicated by Moses, as : f Who is Jehtivah, that I
should hear his voice, to lei Israel go ?" "I know not Jeho
vah and will not let Israel go," in chap. 5: 2 ; the obstinacy
which he afterwards exhibits, when the divine punishments
fall upon him, one after another, in deciding to go to de
struction with his land and people, rather than yield, are
proved on the monuments in various ways, to be in accord
ance with the genuine spirit of a Pharaoh. A comparison of
the representation of the victory of Remeses Meiamun, in
Thebes, explained by C h a m p o 1 1 i o n,* is of special inter
est in this connection. The Pharaoh, it is there said, at
whose feet they lay down these trophies of victory, (the sev
ered right hand and other members of the body,) sits quietly
in his chariot, while his horses are held by his officers, and
directs a haughty speech to his warriors: " Give yourselves
to mirth; let it rise to heaven. Strangers are dashed to the
ground by my power. Terror of my name has gone forth;
their hearts are full of it ; I appear before them as a lion ;
I have pursued them as a hawk ; I have annihilated their
wicked souls. I have passed over their rivers ; I have set on
fire their castles; I am to Egypt what the god Mandoo has
been; I have vanquished the barbarians; Amun Re, my
father, subdued the whole world under my feet, and I am
king on the throne forever." It is said that we mistake the
whole character of C h a m p o 1 1 i o n 's work, if we assert the
literal truth of this translation; but the spirit which the
speech breathes may always be recognized from it.
The ancient Egyptian kings named themselves in their
pride, Kings of the whole world,t and what is yet more, they
^in this arrogance claim divine honors for themselves. This
* In den Briefen aus Aeg. p. 227. t Champollion, p. 231.

ARROGANCE OF THE PHARAOHS. 95
can be proved by a multitude of arguments, of which we will
here give only a few. The Menepbtheum at Thebes has a
double character,* that of a temple and palace. It is in all
its plan destined for the dwelling of a man, and yet it re
minds one by its decorations, of the consecrated residence of
a god. Even the name Pharaoh is a monument of this idea.
It cannot be doubted that it designates the king, as the incar
nation of the sun, which the Egyptians named Phre. The
proof of this R o s e 11 i n i t furnishes, relying specially upon
the fact thaj: among the royal emblems, a disk, representing
the sun, takes the first place. This is, accordingly, the first
title which all the kings of Egypt bore. Phre also occurs,
Gen. 41: 45, in the name of the priest at On or Heliopolis,
city of the sun, Potiphera, that is, consecrated to Phre.
This name is also very common on the Egyptian monuments.!
* Champollion, p. 257. t 1. 1. p. 115.
X See also Wilkinson, Egypt and Thebes, p. 5, note, and Manners
and Customs, Vol. I. p. 43.

96 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

CHAPTER III.
THE SIGNS AND WONDERS IN EGYPT.
The Connection of the Supernatural with the Natural in the
Plagues of Egypt.
The part of Exodus which we now proceed to examine, is
of great importance for our object, first and principally in
that the supernatural events described, all find a foundation
in the natural phenomena of Egypt, and stand in close con
nection with ordinary occurrences, and also on account of
the many separate References in the narrative, which show
how very accurate the author's knowledge'of Egypt was.
As respects the first point, many have wished to make the
connection of the wonders with the natural phenomena of
Egypt, an argument against the Pentateuch. So indeed the En
glish deists have done, as, for example M o r g a n.* — Among
those more recent, v. B oh 1 ent is conspicuous. Moses, he
remarks, in order to avoid the suspicion of self deception, was
at least obliged to express himself in the mildest manner pos
sible among his contemporaries, who were so well acquainted
with Egypt, if he wished to make the commonly observed
natural phenomena avail as miracles. But it is perfectly
clear, that these occurrences as they are related, notwith
standing their foundation in nature, always maintained their
character as miracles, and consequently are sufficient to prove
what they are intended to prove, and—to accomplish what
they did accomplish. Attempts to merge the supernatural
in the natural, such as have been made by Du Bois
* Comp. Lilienthal, die gute Sache der gSttl. Offenb. Th. 9. S.33.
t S, 56. der Einl.

THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE PLAGUES. 97
Ay me,* and then by Eichhom,t will not accomplish
their design. Indeed, the unusual force in which the com
mon exhibitions of nature here manifest themselves, and
especially their rapid succession, while at other times only a
single one exhibits itself with unusual intensity, as well as
the fact that E i c h h o r n, notwithstanding all the unnatural
misrepresentations in which he allowed himself, yet found ma
terial for a treatise on the wonderful year of Egypt, — if we
at the same time consider these events in connection with
the changing cause of them, and also take into account the
exemption of the Land of Goshen, — bring us to the limits of
the miraculous ; for the transition to the miraculous is reached
by the extraordinary in its highest gradation.!
But we are brought into the sphere of the miraculous itself,
by the circumstance that these things are introduced and per
formed by Moses, that they cease at his request, and a part
of them at a time fixed upon by Pharaoh himself.§ Hence
the connection with natural phenomena can be made to avail
against the Pentateuch, only when, going beyond the present
narrative, we limit what in it can be explained by the natural
occurrences of Egypt, and establish the presumption, that
the remainder belongs to fiction. But this assumption wants
all foundation. Not until the historical character of the
Pentateuch is disproved, is it necessary, in conformity with
* Notice sur le sejour des Hebreux en Egypte, Description, t. viii.
1 In his Treatise, De Aegypti Anno mirabili.
,t Even Du Bois Ayme in a manner acknowledges this. He says,
Descr. t. 8. p. 110 : " Que 1' on ecarte done de la description des
plaies d' Egypte lesexaggerations poetiques permises a celui, qui de-
crit avec transport les phenomenes qui ont servi a la delivrance de
son peuple, et 1' on verra tout prestige s' evanouir ; mais le concours
de tant d' evenemens extraordinaires quoique naturels, et leur resul-
tat sur le cour, endurci du Pharaon, pourrout neanmoins etre con
sidered comme une preuve frappante de la protection divine."
§ See Ex. 8: 5 seq. 9

98 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the natural philosophy of Egypt, to separate truth and fiction
from one another, although it is then better to transfer the
whole narrative to the province of rnythology, since the natu
ral in it acquires its significance merely through its connec
tion with the supernatural. And so soon as it shall be se
parated, we can no longer comprehend how Moses could
make use of this to prove anything, and how it produced the
consequences ascribed to it.
But, that the natural is in itself a presumption against the
supernatural, and thus furnishes an argument against the
historical veracity of the Pentateuch, cannot be affirmed.
If we exert ourselves to bring forward any one tenable rea
son for this, we shall soon see that we have allowed an en
tirely arbitrary assumption. On the contrary, that the con
nection with the natural serves for confirmation to the super
natural, is clear from the following reasons.
Since we have shown that the natural ground-work of these
wonderful events cannot be made an argument against the-
Pentateuch, it belongs to us also to point out how far it is in
favor of the same. Here comes into view, first, the fitness of
this character of the miracle to the end designed. The su
pernatural presents generally in the Scriptures, no violent
opposition to the natural, but rather unites in a friendly al
liance with it. This follows from the most intimate relation
in which natural events also stand to God. The endeavor to
isolate the miraculous can aid only impiety. But there was
here a particular reason also for uniting the supernatural as
closely as possible with the natural. The object to which all
of these occurrences were directed, according to chap. 8: 20,
was to show that Jehovah is Lord in the midst of the land.
Well-grounded proof of this could not have been produced
by bringing suddenly upon Egypt a succession of strange
terrors. From these it would only have followed that Jeho
vah had received a momentary and external power over Egypt.
On the contrary, if the events which annually return were

THE SUPERNATURAL AND THE NATURAL. 99
placed under the immediate control of Jehovah, it would be
appropriately shown that He was God in the midst of the
land, and the doom of the false gods which had been placed
in his stead would go forth, and they would be entirely driven
out of the jurisdiction which was considered as belonging to
them.* Further, later fiction would, aim specially at the dissolution
of all connection between the supernatural and the natural,
on the supposition that the dignity of the former would be
marred, and that the omnipotence of the Lord and his love
for Israel would be obscured, through this connection. It
would make it an object to concentrate upon Egypt the
strangest terrors. The consideration of the significance of
the connection of the supernatural with the natural, which
has just been pointed out, would not be sufficient to counter
balance this advantage, even if it could be supposed that this
delicate manner of considering the subject,' so far removed
from common observation, would have been understood.
And even aside from this view, a fictitious account could
never succeed in sustaining so accurately the Egyptian cha
racter in connection with the supernatural, in preventing the
obtrusion of an element which was not Egyptian. Were it
even probable that individual Israelites of later times had an
accurate acquaintance with Egypt, it would be of little ad-
* Even the earlier commentators have occasionally hinted at this
reason for a connection of the supernatural with the natural, yet with
out giving to the thought its full importance. Thus, Calvin, for ex
ample, in his remarks upon the account of the plague of frogs, says :
Aegyptios ante quasi precario vitam duxisse ostendit deus, quia sin-
gulari beneficio protexerat ab incursu ranarum. Scimus Aegyptum
ob multas paludes et lentum ac prope stagnantem Nilum multis ranis
et venenatis bestiis fuisse refertam. Nunc quum subito erumpunt
ingentes turmae, agrorum superfieiem obtegunt, penetrant etiam in
domos et cubicula, denique in regium palatium conscendunt: facile
apparet fuisse ante cohibrtas sola dei manu alqueita. deum Hebraeorum
fuisse regni illius praesidern et custodem.

100 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
vantage, since the thing would necessarily not take its shape
from them merely, but far more from the prevailing igno
rance of Egypt. Thus, therefore, the connection of the su
pernatural with the natural, throughout the whole, is an ar
gument for the credibility of the narrative, for its Composition
at the time it purports to have been made, and consequently
for its Mosaic origin.

Moses' Rod changed to a Serpent.
After these general remarks, we turn to particular explana
tions. A sign which is of a harmless nature, precedes, in Ex.
7: 8 — 13, the signs which are comprehended in the number
ten as a perfect number, and which are also plagues. Trial
is first made, whether Pharaoh, in reference to whom Cal
vin* so strikingly says, " There is presented us in the per
son of one abandoned, an example of human arrogance and
rebellion," will not become wise without severe measures.
Moses' rod is changed into a serpent, the Egyptian magicians
accomplish, at least in appearance, the same thing ; but Mo
ses' rod swallows up their rods. This counter-wonder of the
Egyptian magicians is founded on the peculiar condition of
Egypt; much more is the Mosaic sign, — the same by which
indeed Moses had already, by the divine command, proved his
commission from God, among the elders of his people. Mo
ses was furnished with power to perform that which the
Egyptian magicians most especially gloried in, and by which
they most of all supported their authority.
The incantation of serpents has been native to Egypt from
the most ancient even to the present time.t The French
*-Nobis in unius reprobi persona superbiae et rebellionis humanae
imago subjicitur.
t Compare Aelian, 17. 5, and the summary of the accounts of the
ancients, concerning the Psylli, in Quatremere, Memoires sur 1" Egyp
te, 1. 1, p. 202 seq.

THE PSYLLI IN EGYPT. 101
scholars, in their Description, have given the most accordant
accounts of it. Even those who entered upon an examina
tion of the subject with most absolute unbelief, have been
forced to the conviction that there is something in it, — that
the Psylli are found in possession of a secret charm, which
places them in a condition to bring about the mast wonder
ful consequences. " We confess," it is said, that we, " far
removed from all easy credulity, have ourselves been wit
nesses of some things so wonderful, thaf we cannot consider
the art of the serpent-tamers as entirely chimerical. W
believed at first that they removed the teeth of serpents and
the stings of scorpions, but we have had opportunity to con
vince ourselves of the contrary."* "I am persuaded," says
Q.uatremere,t "that there were a certain number of
men found among the Psylli of antiquity, who by certain se
cret preparations, put themselves in a condition, not to fear
the bite of serpents, and to handle the most poisonous of
them uninjured." "In Egypt and the neighboring coun
tries," says the same author, " there are men and women,
who truly deserve the name of Psylli, and who uninjured
handle the cerastes and other serpents, whose poison pro
duces immediate death."! That they do not probably break
out the poisonous teeth, Hasselquist also testifies, from
personal observation. According to the account in the De-
scription,§ the art passes from father to son. The Psylli form
an association claiming to be the only individuals who are able
to charm serpents, and to free houses from them. Never does
any other than the son of a Psylli attain to this ability. Ser
pents in Egypt often, conceal themselves in the houses, and
then become very dangerous. When anything of this kind
is suspected, they have recourse to the Psylli. The French
* In a Treatise, De V art des ophiogenes ou enchanteurs des ser
pens, in t. 18. of the Descr. p. 333 seq.
t As above quoted, p. 204. X Quatremtire, p. 210.
§ T. 24. p. 82 seq.

102 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
commander-in-chief wished at a certain time to examine the
affair to the bottom. He called for the Psylli, arid com
manded them to produce from the palace a serpent, which,
from traces discovered, was supposed to be there. The moist
places were especially examined. There the Psylli called, by
imitating the hissing, sometimes of the male and sometimes
of the female serpent. After two hours and a fourth a serpent
truly presented itself. In the religious festivals, the Psylli
appear entirely naked, with the neck, arms and other parts of
the body coiled around by serpents, which they permit to
sting and tear their breast and stomach, and effectually defend
themselves against them with a sort of frenzy, pretending to
wish to eat them alive. Their sleight of hand is very various.
They are able, according to their assertions, to change the
Haie — i. e. the species of serpent which they especially make
use of for their tricks — into a rod, and compel them to feign
themselves dead. When they wish to perform this operation,
they spit in the throat of the animal, compel it to shut up its
mouth, and lay it down upon the ground. Then, as if in
order to give a last command, they lay their hand upon its
head, and immediately the serpent, stiff and motionless, falls
into a kind of torpor. They wake it up when they wish,
seizing it by the tail and rolling it roughly between the
hands." DuBoisAyrne* gives his testimony to the same
thing. That which is related to us of the condition of modern
serpent charmers in the practice of their sleight of hand, is
entirely sufficient to give an insight into the condition of the
Egyptian magicians who withstood Moses. The state of these
last, no less than the first, was certainly that of the highest
enthusiasm, and cannot be attributed to a merely deliberate
attempt to deceive ; although deception, as is shown to be the
case with the modern Egyptian Psylli, is by no means exclu
ded by enthusiasm, but rather often goes hand in hand with it.
* Page 108.

tNCANTATION OF SERPENTS. 103
That the condition of the Psylli is one of ecstacy is indeed
clear from the passages already quoted. According to M i n-
u t o 1 i,* " the people consider them as holy. At certain
festivals, e. g. on the day before the departure of the great
caravan to the Holy Caaba, they go forth in procession with
live snakes- around their necks and arms, having their faces
in contortions like an insane person, until foam falls from
the mouth. They sometimes also tear the serpents with their
teeth. When they are in this condition, the people press
around them, especially the women, in order if it is possible,
to touch their foaming mouths with their hands." The same
author describes one of the Psylli, who had been sent for to free
a house from serpents, in the following manner : "The appear
ance of this man was that of a true magician. In the begin
ning of his operation he stripped himself naked even to a little
apron about his hips ; upon his breast hung a chain of black
coral ; his head was shorn to a bunch of hair which stood up
like bristles upon the top of his head ; his body was dark
brown and muscular. Rolling his eyes, and with the rod of
divination in his hand, he now walked forthwith a grave
demeanor, and in the meantime, whilst casting forth louder
and louder imprecations, and thrusting against the ceiling and
walls with his divining rod, he searched thoroughly the
chambers and corners, now of the upper and now of the
lower story. His fumigations of meal, sulphur and onion
parings were at last so stupifying that a hard cough often
interrupted the formula of incantation, and he was several
times obliged^ to invigorate himself by smoking a pipe of
tobacco." It is entirely contrary to the spirit of antiquity in genera],
and of Egyptian antiquity in particular, to explain the
phrase, " This is the finger of God," chap. VIII, as meaning,
" This is accomplished by God," so that the magicians say,
* S. 266, ff. der Reise.

104 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
that until now they have contended with Moses and Aaron
upon earthly ground, with human means, and there they have
overcome, but now God appears.* It should rather be
explained : By ,the power of God have they obtained the
victory. They certainly also ascribe to Elohim (not Je
hovah) their former success ; the whole contest was a contest
of God, Gen. 30: 8, and therefore their present inability must
be to them of just so much greater significance.
It deserves to be noticed also, that the present condition of
the Psylli in Egypt is entirely one' of decay. It is torn loose
from its natural connexion, the soil of natural religion from
which it originally sprung. It exists in a land in which even
now modern illumination has variously exerted its influence
and hindered its freedom. Accordingly nothing is more
natural than that very much that is artificial should be added
to the exstatic condition, and that very much charlatanry
should creep in. But what now remains of ecstacy is entirely
sufficient to convince us of the intensity of it, as it existed in
the time of the glory of the Egyptian religion and priesthood.
The opinion expressed upon the proceedings of the modern
Psylli, which we find among observers who are most free
from prejudice, and also among those who on the other hand
are decidedly under the dominion of prejudice, guide us in
explaining the fact, that the author of the Pentateuch does
not speak definitely upon the nature and origin of the results
produced by the Egyptian magicians. Were the thing so
simple as it is generally considered to be, were it either
common jugglery or something really miraculous, performed
by the permission of God through satanic influence, then the
author of the Pentateuch would not, it may be presumed, fail
to express an opinion upon it. But, since the ground on
which these things rest — a very dark and difficult one — is
* Calvin says : Digitum dei opponunt suae solertiae et peritiae.
Pudebat enim fateri quenquam mortalium scientia praecellere.

THE MAGICIANS VANQUISHED. 105
not yet indeed but. imperfectly explained by the most thorough
investigations, it was preferable to remain standing at the
outer edge without going deeper into the nature of these
results.* As respects the thing itself, a further insight into
the nature of these consequences avails nothing. What
ever opinion they had of it, this is certain, that even in
the first three signs, the superior power of the God of
Israel made itself sufficiently known to any one who did
not studiously seek a support for his unbelief and rebel
lion. They change, it matters not whether really or in ap
pearance, their rods into serpents, but the rod of Moses
swallows up their rods; they also change, at least on a small
scale, water into blood, but they are not able to restore the
blood to its -former state; in like manner, imitating on a
small scale the miracle.of Moses, they brought up frogs upon
the land, but they were not able to free it from the plague
of frogs. " For the punishment of the Egyptians," says
Theodoret, " God gave also to magicians power, but not for
removing punishment ; since the king had not enough of his
plagues, but even commanded the magicians to increase the
chastisement, so God also punished him through these : Thou
art not yet satisfied with the punishment inflicted by my ser
vants, so punish I thee also by thine own." And the relative
power of the Egyptian magicians in the beginning, must serve
to show in so much clearer light their entire impotence as it
was first exhibited in the little gnats and then continued
invariable. The contest was first intentionally carried on in
ca sphere in which the Egyptian magicians, as we certainly
know with reference to the first sign, had hitherto shown
their principal power. After they had there been vanquished,
* The word errata in chap. 7: 22 and 8: 3, 14, in which it is often
affirmed that a verdict of the author upgn this matter is found, con
tains no such thing; and the whole contest is a vain one, since
there is nothing existing which can give us any information concern
ing his opinion.

106 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
the scene was changed to a sphere in which they could not at
all further contend, and the doom which in this way came
upon them, fell through them upon their gods.*
The first Plague — the Water of Egypt changed to Blood.
We turn now to the second sign which is also the first
plague. It consists in changing the waters of the Nile, and
the other waters of Egypt into blood. It appears from Joel
3: 4, according to which, the moon shall be changed into
blood, that there is no reason to suppose that literal blood is
here meant. On the contrary the change into blood can
properly only have reference to the blood red color ; so that
the blood here is the same as the water red as blood in 2
Kings- 3: 22. The designation is here evidently chosen for
the sake of the symbolic character which this plague bears,
as also the water red as blood in the passage referred to in
the book of Kings has a symbolic significance, announcing
destruction to the enemies of Israel. To the Egyptians shall
the reddened water be blood, reminding them of the innocent
blood which they have shed, and pointing to the flowing guilty
blood to be shed. In this characteristic this plague is coupled
with the darkness which afterwards covered the whole land,
as both also appear connected in Joel 3: 4 : " The sun shall
be turned into darkness and the moon into blood." In
the symbolic colors arranged by the Egyptians, black was
the color of death and mourning, — for that which is base and
its author, the red color was chosen, probably as the color
of blood. t
That there is found something analogous to this plague in
the natural phenomena of Egypt has already long ago been
said. The water of the Nile, a short time before the inun
dation, takes a green, and at the beginning of the inundation
*Ex. 12: 12.
t Drummann, Ueber die lnschriftin Rosette, S. 108, 109.

WATER CHANGED TO BLOOD. 107
a red color. The cause of this change of color has not yet
been sufficiently investigated.* According to A n t e st the
inhabitants name the water when the flood has reached its
highest point of increase, f+2*) =sLo (ma ahmar), red water.
In the year 1673 the Nile reddened as early as the beginning
of July and continued of a red color to the end of December,
when it assumed again its usual hue-!
- In common years, the water when it is green and red is
drinkable. S o n n i n i§ says : " During the continuance of
my journey, I with my companions had no other drink than
the unmingled water of the Nile. We drank it without any
one of us experiencing inconvenience, at all seasons of the
year, even when the inundation so fills it with slime that it is
thick and reddish, and appears truly loathsome."
But sometimes, in years of great heat, this peculiarity of
water becomes a great calamity. Thus A bdoll atiph||
relates : " In the year 596 (1199) the increase of the Nile
was smaller than had ever been known. About two months
before the first indications of the inundation, the waters of
the river assumed a green color. This increased by degrees,
and it became putrid, and offensive to the taste. Sick people
* Le Pere Aine in the Memoir sur la Vallee du Nil, in the Descr. t.
18 p. 571 says : " The water at Cairo is found by analysis to be five
times purer than that of the. Seine at Paris. It, however, has this
degree of purity only at the time when the inundation begins to
diminish. The noxious qualities which are attributed to it, at the
time when the water is low and stagnant, and when it begins to
increase, appear to proceed from an innumerable multitude of insects
which the heat generates in it. The causes which destroy the
purity of the water at different seasons df the year, are not yet suffi
ciently investigated. The red color originates, probably, from the
earthy particles' which the flood brings along with it from Sennaar."
t la De Sacy upon Abdollatiph, p. 346.
X Hartmann, Aegypten, S. 128.. § Th.2. S. 13.
|| De Sacy, p. 332,

108 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
avoided drinking from it and drank well-water.* By boiling,
its smell and taste became worse. There also appeared in it
worms and other animals which live in stagnant water."
That in our account the common plague existed in an
entirely uncommon degree is evident, since the ordinary
means of purification did not at all take effect,, verse 19.
The Egyptians could not drink at all from the river, verse 21,
and the fish also died in it, verse 18. Of this last effect there
is no other example on record. But what passes beyond the
boundaries of the barely extraordinary and carries the occur
rence into the region of the miraculous, is, that the changing
of the waters took place not merely suddenly while it com
monly is gradual,t but it also was in accordance with the
prediction of Moses, and just at the moment when he lifted
his rod.
The circumstances which are also sometimes referred to
as proof of the difference between this change of the water
and the one which is common, namely, that it occurred at an
entirely unusual time, and that it also ceased far more sud
denly than common, are shown on closer examination to be
without foundation. For with reference to the time of this
first plague, there is nothing said in the account, and it is
therefore most probable that in this respect it offered nothing
extraordinary. The reason which De Wette! adduces,
that the first plagues, in reference to time, must border near
ly on the last which took place some time between the end
of February and the beginning of April : ' They must follow
each other at short intervals if they shall produce wonder and
fear,' has little force. For the facts were of a kind, that
could not fail to make a deep impression, if they were
separated from one another by even longer intervals ; and
* See Ex. 7: 24.
t Compare the interesting cases of the change of water to a red
color in other countries. Rosenm. A. u. N. Morgenl. Th. 1. S. 281 ff.
X Krit. der Isr. Gesch. S. 193.

water changed to bloods 109
besides, it had a peculiar significance, if Jehovah went
through, as it were, an entire course with the Egyytians —
following now with his miracles, the customary," revolving
circle of nature in their land. Let it be remarked, as the
account says nothing of the time of the first plagues, the as
sumption of v. B ohl e n : " Since the Exodus of the Israel
ites was in the month Abib, just at the time of the Passover,
the roost of these plagues, which first appear in midsummer
can be devised only by one who has a merely casual acquain
tance with the land," is baseless. But were such specifica
tions of time found, it would be pertinent to call attention to
the fact, that the author nowhere asserts that those extraordi
nary events are confined to the time in which the common
events belong. The second asserted difference is founded on
verse 25 ; " And seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord
had smitten the river." But we have no right to infer* from
this, that that condition of the Nile lasted only seven days.
The words are rather to be closely connected with what fol
lows, and the meaning is only, that seven days after the be
ginning of the first plague, concerning the end of which
nothing is related, the announcement of the second follows.
Although it belongs not to our immediate purpose, yet we
wish to remark here, briefly, upon the ridiculous contradic
tion which has been found in this narrative. How could the
Egyptian magicians, it is said, after Moses has changed all
the waters to a red color, do the same. Setting aside all
forced solutions, this objection is easily and simply annulled
by the remark that, the pressing of the word all, upon which
this contradiction entirely rests, stands in opposition to the
usage in the Hebrew historical writings in general, and es
pecially in narrating the great deeds of the Lord in Egypt,
concerning which the heart, full of gratitude and astonish
ment, was allowed to have no little influence. That no rule
* With Jonathan who supplies : Et postea sanavit verbum domini
fluvivtm. 10

110 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
is without exceptions appears to the writer so self-evident,
that he supposes there is no necessity to avoid the full ex
pression, on account of exceptions, which with him are entire
ly in the back-ground. So he proceeds throughout. Accord
ing to chap. 9: 25, for example, all the trees of the field were
broken by the hail. According to 10: 5, the locusts eat all
the trees. If we here press the significance of the all, we
shall have a contradiction for the explanation of which even
the most boundless carelessness is not sufficient.
Besides this most prominent Egyptian reference, already
noticed, several others are found. We will begin with the
one most striking among them, which is contained in verse
19. It is there said, Blood shall be in all of Egypt, "both in
wood and stone," (Luther : both in vessels of wood and
stone). These words have at first view something very re
markable, and they lose it only when they are explained by
the Egyptian customs, to which they refer, as has already
been remarked.* In common times they are accustomed to
purify the turbid water of the Nile in vessels of wood or
stone, generally in the latter. When it is desirable to purify
it quickly, a ball of crushed almonds is thrown in ; when there
is time for the purification, it is done without them. The
purification with almonds is particularly described by Pros
per Alpinus, Pococke,t and S a vary. Of the sim
ple process speaks H e 1 f r i c h, as quoted by H a r t m a n n :!
"He! f rich remarks, that the water in large vessels of
wood, earth and also of unburned clay, even without the ad
dition of almonds, settles in two or three days. According
to others this is done even quicker." And then M a y r§ says :
"The water which comes upon the table is passed through
vessels of a kind of earth which forthwith permits the liquid
to filter through." Le B r u y n|| says that it is considered as
* In den Beob. a. d. Orient, Deutsch von Faber, Th. 2. S. 315.
t 1- 312. X p. 130. § Reise, Th. 2. S. 19.
|| Tom. It p. 103. Thevenot, t. 1. p. 245, 60.

THE WATERS OF EGYPT, 111
very fortunate, to be in possession of such a vessel of white
earth. It is also said that the water becomes so putrid that
it admits no purification. But it is of far more importance,
than that the author knows the common method of purifying
water among the Egyptians, to consider the precise manner
in which he speaks of it. He does not obtrude this know
ledge. He supposes that a mere hint is enough for his im
mediate readers, who were themselves acquainted with the
peculiarities of Egypt, and it does not occur to him as neces
sary to add anything of explanation. Certainly these two
words wood and stone are of no small importance with respect
to the authorship of the Pentateuch.
The same verse furnishes us also another proof of the au
thor's acquaintance with Egypt. The Lord commanded
Moses to take his rod and stretch out his hand, " upon the
waters of Egypt, upon its streams, upon its canals, upon its
pools and upon all its collections of water." The classification
of the waters of Egypt which is here given, appears to be en
tirely accurate and complete. The streams, nhn? , says
Fiber,* are the arms of the Nile ; the ditches, WlAl , are
the artificial canals ;t the pools, traajx , are the stagnant
ponds, which the Nile makes, called in Egypt, Birke, — of
these there are many ; the collections of water, D'H !-n j>a~b3 ,
are all the other standing water, or that which is left be
hind by the Nile, the lakes and puddles, from which the
peasants who live at a distance from the Nile, water their
land ; and indeed, .even the inhabitants of Cairo are compelled
to pay for and drink this water, since the carriers bring it to
them on camels, instead of the Nile water which is farther off!
* Zu Harmar, S. 326-7.^
1 Compare upon &i"ie«i , with the signification of canals, Ges.
Thes. B. v. ; '
X Thevenot, t, 1. p. 173. In reference to the Egyptian lakes, Hart-
mann, S. 146, may be compared. He remarks: " Also upon them,
the inundation of the Nile has a considerable influence, supplying

112 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
The threat of Moses and the described inconveniences
which its fulfilment brought upon the Egyptians, is founded
on the importance which the Nile water has for the Egyp
tians, and upon the enthusiastic love of the inhabitants of
Egypt for it. The Nile water is almost the only drinkable
water in Egypt. For the water of the few wells is distasteful
and unwholesome. The Turks, according to M a s c r i e r,
find the water so pleasant that they eat salt in order to be
able to drink more of it. They are accustomed to say if
Mohammed had drank thereof, he would have asked im
mortality of God, so that he might always drink of this water.
If the Egyptians undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca, or travel
elsewhere, they speak of nothing but the delight which they
shall experience when on their return they again drink of the
Nile water, etc.* It is very justly said, after these circum
stances have been referred to, " He who has never under
stood anything of the pleasantness of the Nile water, and
does not know how much of it the Egyptians are accustomed
to drink, will now find in the words of Moses, 'The Egyp
tians shall loathe,' etc., a meaning which he has not before
perceived. The sense is, they loathe the water which they
at other times prefer before all the water in the world, even
that which they have previously longed for. They prefer to
drink well-water, which in their country is so unpleasant."t
In verse 15, it is said : " Go to Pharaoh in the morning,
behold he goeth out to the water, and meet him on the banks
of the Nile." In like manner in chap. 8: 16 (20) : " Rise
up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh ; behold
them with water where they are dry, and increasing it where any
yet remains." See also Le Pere, Mem, a. les Lacs de la basse Egypte,
in the Descr. t. 16. p. 199 seq.
* See Maillet, t. 2. p. 103.
t In den Beob. a. d. Orient, S. 311. Compare also Oedmanns
verm. Sammlungen, Th. 1. S. 130. Rosenm. A. u. N. Morgenl. Th,
I. S. 276 ff.

THE NILE DEIFIED. 113
he goeth forth to the water." Both passages are founded on
the divine honors which the Egyptians paid to the Nile.
Moses is commanded to meet Pharaoh, with a commission
from the true God, whom Pharaoh wickedly resists, just
when he is preparing to bring his daily offering to his false
gods. In the first passage, this moment appears to be the
more fitly chosen, since the threatened demonstration of the
omnipotence of Jehovah is exhibited directly upon the false
god. The Egyptians, even in the most ancient times, paid
divine honors to the Nile. Especially was he zealously
honored, according toChampollio n,* at Nilopolis, where
he had a temple. Herodotust mentions the priests of
the Nile. " What the head is to the body," says H o r a p o 1-
1 o,! " the Nile is to the Egyptians." " He is," continues the
same author, " according to representations whose antiquity
cannot be determined, identical with Osiris§ and the highest
God.]|" L u c i a nU says : " Its water is a common divinity to
all of the Egyptians." The monuments bear witness to the
same effect as the ancient authors, they indeed very particu
larly represent, that even the kings paid divine honors to the
Nile. According to C h a m p o 1 1 i o n,** there is in a chapel
at Ghebel Selseleh (Silsilis), a painting of the time of the
reign of Remeses II, which exhibits this king, "offering
wine to the god of the Nile, who in the hieroglyphic inscrip
tion, is called, Hapi Moou, the life giving father of all exist
ences." According to the inscription, this chapel is specially
* Eg. sur les Pharaons, t. 1. p. 321.
t In B. 2. c. 90: Ot fyies avrol oi toS Niikov, See Bahr on this
passage. X Bei Drumann, Inschrift. von Rosetta, S. 100.
§ Plut. de Is. et Osir. p. 363 D.
|| Heliodorue, Aeth. 9. p. 435. Athen. 5. 203: " AiyvitTin tzu
If In the Jupiter Tragoed. opp. t. 2. p. 699. Edid. Reitz.
** In den Briefer aus Egypten, S. 121, D. Uebers.
10*

114 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
dedicated to this god. Remeses is called in it, " beloved of
Hapi Moou, the father of the gods." "The passage which
contains the praise of the god of the Nile, represents him at
the same time as the heavenly Nile, the primitive water, the
great Nilus, whom Cicero* declares to be the father of the
highest deities, even of Ammon ; and of this I am myself also
convincedt from other inscriptions on the monuments."
Yet far more convincing than the knowledge of Egyptian
affairs which the author exhibits, is here also the unpremedi
tated manner in which he exhibits this knowledge, and the
want of every explanatory remark, resting upon the sup
position, that such a thing is not necessary for his immediate
ireaders. The Second Plague — the Frogs.
The account of the second plague, the frogs, furnishes us
far less abundant spoil than that of the first. It is implied in
the account itself, in chap. 8: 5, that the waters of Egypt,
even in ordinary circumstances, contain many frogs ; and
from the nature of these waters, we could scarcely imagine
it to be otherwise. The statements of travellers in regard to
this are, however, very scanty. Hasselquist! mentions
frogs among the Mosaic plagues which even now visit both
natives and foreigners. According to S o n n i n i,§ the stag
nant waters about Rosetta are filled with thousands of frogs,
which make very much noise. ||
* De nat. Deor.
t " Anaglyphum in vico Karnak reperturn," remarks Creuzer, (in
'Comm. Herod, p. 212,) who also, pp. 186 — 188, treats expressly of
the divine honors paid to the Nile, " terna Pharaonis initia exhibit.
Etenim primo loco sacerdotes eum aspergunt lustrantque sacra unda
Nili," etc. Compare also upon the deity of the Nile, Jabl. P.anth.
t. 2. p. 171.
X p- 254. § Th. III. S. 365.
|| An account of the different kinds of frogs in Egypt "is found in
the Descr. t. 24. p. 134 seq.

DESTRUCTION BY ANIMALS. 115
That a sudden appearance of animals, — which though al
ways present in a land, ordinarily are scarcely noticed at all,—
in untold numbers so as to become a plague, has not been
unknown in Egypt at other times, is shown by what M a-
c r i z i* says of the destructions by worms : " In 791-2, the
worms which destroyed books and woollen cloth, multiplied
in a wonderful manner. A credible man assured us, that
these animals ate 1500 pieces of cloth — more than fifteen
camel loads. I was persuaded from what I myself saw, that
this declaration was not exaggerated, and that the worms
had destroyed in the region of the sea, a great quantity of
wood and cloth. I saw at Matariah, garden-walls which
were entirely pierced through by these little animals. About
the year 821, this plague made its appearance in the quarter
of Hosainiah, just out of Cairo. The worms, after they had
consumed provisions, cloth, etc., which caused an incalcula
ble loss to the inhabitants, seized upon the walls of the
houses, and gnawed the rafters until they were pierced en
tirely through. The owners quickly tore down the buildings
which the worms had spared, so that the quarter near was en
tirely laid waste. These animals carried their devastations
even to the houses which stand hard by the Gate of Conquest
and Victory."

The Third Plague — the US 3 , Gnats.
As respeets the third plague, it is now generally agreed,
that by d3 3, kinnim, gnats are meant. These are even in
ordinary years very troublesome in Egypt. Herodotus,!
as early as his time, speaks of the great trouble which the
gnats cause, and of the precautions which are taken to guard
against them. The passages in modern travellers are collected
in O e d m a n n,! — according to the testimony of M a i J 1 e t
* In Quatremere, t. 1. p. 121. t B. 2. c. 195. X I- S. 74 ff.

116 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
and Pococke, they often darken the air in Cairo, —
inHartmann,* and last in E i chhorn.t Hartmann
comprises the results in the following words : " All travellers
speak of these gnats as an ordinary plague of the country.
In cool weather they are especially bold. They pursue the
men, prevent them from eating, disturb their sleep, and cause
swellings which are sensibly painful. What S o n n i n i! says
of these gnats, in his account of his abode in Rosetta, is of
peculiar interest: "It is asserted that the multitude of gnats,
with which the streets and the inside of the houses were then
filled, owe their origin to this employment (the drying of rice
about the end of October). Indeed, there are fewer of them
at other times. After the rice harvest, they go forth in mul
titudes from the overflowed fields in which the preceding
generation laid their eggs. They come to trouble men, they
make wounds, in order to suck their blood, not less burning
than those of the Maringonins of South America." These
passages show that the time of the extraordinary public ca
lamities corresponded merely to that of the extraordinary
plague. The first plague, the changing of water to blood,
transfers us to the period of the increase of the Nile, the
gnats begin to multiply at the end of the inundation.
The Fourth Plague — the Flies.
The animals which constitute the fourth plague are desig
nated by 3ns, arob. This word originally can scarcely have
any other signification than the mingling, but it was second
arily applied to a distinct species of animals, which in Egypt
especially compose the vermin or insects. That they were
flies is argued: 1. From the authority of the Septuagint,
which translates 3nj>, by dog-fly, KwoymSm. % From the
appropriate connection of gnats and flies. 3. From the fact
that flies belong to the common inconveniences of Egypt.
* S- 250. t S. 17, 18. % Th. 1. S. 246.

THE DOG-FLY IN EGYPT. 117
How troublesome flies are in Egypt even in ordinary cir
cumstances, is most clearly shown by the description of S o n-
nini:* " The most numerous and troublesome insects in
Egypt are the flies (musca domesticaL.) Men and animals
are grievously tormented by them. It is impossible to form aft
adequate conception of their fury when they wish to fix them
selves upon any part of the body. If they are driven away,
they light again the same instant, and their pertinacity wea
ries the most patient. They especially love to light in the
corners of the eyes, or on the edge of the eyelids, sensitive
parts to which they are attracted by a slight moisture." The
description of the dog-fly by P h i 1 ot is, for substance, en
tirely in accordance with this account. By this name in
sects incredibly monstrous are often designated. Aside from
a little exaggeration, it is impossible to disbelieve in P h i 1 o.
The name, dog-fly, is probably chosen to distinguish these
insects from another very widely diffused species of flieS,
which is smaller and less troublesome.! Abdollatiph§
says : " In consequence of the great dampness of the air, bugs,
flies and fleas continue here a great part of the year." In
Jomard,|] just as here, flies and gnats are associated to
gether, as plagues of Egypt : "The remark also that these
cold seasons free the land from the plague of innumerable
flies and gnats, whose bites are so troublesome and painful."
As the threatened plague made its appearance, Pharaoh
caused Moses and Aaron to be called and said to them :
" Sacrifice to your God in the land." But Moses answer
ed : " It is not meet to do so ; for we shall sacrifice the abom
ination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, will they
not stone us "" Ex. chap. 8: 22(26). That there is here a
reference to Egyptian customs has always been acknowledged.
* Th. 3. S. 226. t See in proof of this Michaelis Suppl. p. 1960.
X Sonnini, S. 227. § p. 5. De Sacy.
|| In the Descr. t. 18. p. 2. 512.

118 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
According to the common theory, the very bitter exasperation
to be apprehended by the Israelites from the Egyptians, was
because the latter sacrificed animals which the former consid
ered sacred. But there are two arguments against this supposi
tion: I. The designation, abomination, is not appropriateto the
consecrated animals. This indicates that the animals which
the Israelites slaughtered were not too good, but too bad for
offerings. 2. The animals which were commonly taken among
the Israelites for offerings were also among the Egyptians not
sacred. The only one of the larger domestic animals which
was generally considered as sacred, the cow,* was also among
the Israelites except in the casein Num. xix, which is entirely
by itself, not offered. The animals most commonly sacrificed,
oxen, were also both sacrificed and eaten by the Egyptians.
The offence is rather that the Israelites omit the inquiry
concerning the cleanness of animals, which is practised with
the greatest caution by the Egyptians. That only clean
animals were sacrificed by the Egyptians, Herodotus
says, in 2. 45, where he acquits the Egyptians from the im
putation of offering human sacrifices : " For since they are
not allowed to sacrifice any animals except the swine and
the bullock, and calves, namely, those that are clean among
them, and the goose, how can they offer men ?" What stress
is laid upon cleanness, and how truly it is considered as
an abomination to offer an unclean animal, is seen from
Herodotus.t Only a red ox could be offered, and a single
black hair rendered it unclean. They also placed dependence
upon a multitude of marks besides this; the tongue and tail
were accurately examined, etc. Each victim must, after a
prescribed examination in confirmation of its fitness, be sealed
on the horns. To offer an unsealed ox was prohibited on
penalty of death.!
* Compare Herod. B. 2. c. 41. Heeren, S. 363.
t B. 2. u. 38. See also Bahr on the passage.
X The intolerant fanaticism of the Egyptians, which the answer of

THE BOILS OF EGYPT. 119

Fifth Plague — the Destruction of the Animals in Egypt.
In reference to the fifth plague, the destruction of the cattle,
there is not much to be said, since travellers have bestowed
little attention upon the diseases of animals in Egypt. Only
single scattered passages are found in the Description, and
these indeed very general, so that it cannot be determined
whether diseases make their appearance in Egypt, by which
all kinds of the larger domestic animals are seized in like
manner. It is said* that murrain breaks out from time to
time in Egypt with so much severity that they are compelled
to send to Syria or the islands of the Archipelago, for a new
supply of oxen. It is also said,t since about the year 1786
a disease very much diminished the number of oxen, they
began to make use of the buffalo in their place for watering
the fields, and the practice is continued in later times.
That in the enumeration of the animals on which the plague
shall seize, chap, ix, horses are assigned the first place, and
that too without further remark, is again one of the little things,
which in such an inquiry as the one before us, is of so great
importance, so soon as the scattered items are collected,
and thereby rescued from the contingency to which each is
subject. The sixth Plague — the Boils.
That the sixth plague, the boils, was miraculous only in
extent, is shown by a comparison of Deut. 28: 27, where the
Moses implies, is also proved from other sources. Herodotus says, in
B. 2. c. 65 : " If any person kills one of these animals intentionally,
he expiates his crime by death ; if unintentionally, he must pay
the fine which the priest imposes. But whoever kills an ibis or a
hawk, whether intentionally or not, must die."
* Descr. t. 17. p. 126. t Descr. p. 62.

120 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
same disease under the name oiboils of Egypt is represented as
of common occurrence there. But a more exact defining of
the nature of this sickness is difficult. Rosenmueller*
considers it the elephantiasis which, according to L u cre-
t i u st aud Pliny,! was peculiar to Egypt. But the appellation
boil§ does not seem to be proper for this disease, still less
the expression, "breaking out in blains" in Ex. 9: 9, Besides,
the. elephantiasis does not attack cattle. E i c h h o r n appeals
to, a remark in Granger|| (T our tech ot) : "In autumn
sores come upon the thighs and knees, which remove the pa
tient in two or three, days." These notices seem however to
h.aye reference to the plague, but it is uncertain whether this
nialady existed so anciently, and indeed it does not answer
the circumstances, for the reference is evidently to a very
painful, but not absolutely, dangerous sickness. Only a dis
ease attended by feverish cutaneous eruptions can be meant,
one which amid the variety of diseases does not easily admit of
definition. But the destruction which small-pox and plague
makes in Egypt, shows how very much the climate there
disposes to such diseases. We are almost disposed to think
of a disease which Theveno.t describes: " There is he-.
sides," he says, " a sickness, or rather inconvenience, for it
is more inconvenient than dangerous, which makes its ap
pearance when the waters of the Nile begin to rise. Then
hot pustules which are very troublesome, and sting terribly,
appear upon the whole body, and when the patient thinks to
comfort and refresh himself with drink, he feels while drinking,
and afterwards, stings as painful as if he were pierced with
two hundred needles all at once."fl But this disease which
* Upon Deut. 28: 27. t B. 6. 112-13.
} He calls it in book 26, c. 5 : Aegypti peculiare malum.
§ VT? f™111 ")>"£¥ i in the dialects, incaluit, inflammatus est.
|| Voyage de l'Egypte, p. 21.
II Voyage du Levant, L. II. c. 80, p. 831.

THUNDER IN EGYPT. 121
Thevenot, perhaps, described with some exaggeration,*
cannot be meant, since pustules are not referred to, but a
sore ) and this disease is not the object of the curse as our sick
ness appears to. be in Deut. chap, xxviii. Besides the lan
guage in Deut. 28: 35, "With sore botch which cannot be
healed," is not appropriate to the disease, as well as what is
related in the passage before us, that the magicians are not
able to stand, and the cattle no less than men were attacked
with it. See upon diseases which are common to men and
animals, M a y n e r' s Anthropology. t
The seventh Plague — the Tempest.
The seventh plague was a severe.tempest attended with hail
and rain. In the narrative itself, Ch. 9: 18, 24, it is said that the
phenomenon was unexampled only in degree, and it is implied
that it is not uncommon in Egypt in a milder form. Other ac
counts agree with ours in showing that tempests in Egypt are
not unfrequent, and that they in general differ from the one un
der consideration, only in severity. These notices are expla
natory of our account in so much as they represent' that tem
pests are most abundant just at the time in which, according to
verse 31, the tempest here described occurred. The accounts
of ancient travellers concerning tempests in Egypt, in January
and March, are found carefully collected in Nordmeyer!
and especially in Hartmann:§"Mansleben and Man-
cony s heard it thunder during their stay at Alexandria, the
former on the 1st of January and the latter on the 17th and
18th of the same month ; on the same days it also hailed
there. Perry|| also remarks that it hails, though seldom,
in January and February at Cairo. An account in the No-
* See other authors upon this same blotch in Hartmann, S. 59.
t Th. 2. S. 279.
X Calendarium Aeg. Oecon. p. 11, 12, 20, 27. § S. 41
|| p. 255. 11

122 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tices* bears witness to the occurrence of the same thing in
February. Pococke even saw hail mingled with rain fall
at Fium in February ; compare Exodus' 9: 34. Kortealso
saw hail fall. B r u c et heard in Cossir during the roaring of
the winds through the whole of February, also afterwards on
the Arabian Gulf, the crasfrof thunder. In March tempests
are not uncommon at Cairo." During Thevenot's resi
dence in Egypt a tempest discharged itself, killing a man-!
The residence of the scholars of the French expedition in
Egypt, was not continued long enough to make complete
observations of this kind. Du Bois A'yme§ affirms that
during the two years which he spent in Egypt, he did not hear
a clap of thunder but once, and that was so faint that several
persons with him did not notice it. C6utelle|| says:
" Natural phenomena succeed each other in this land with a
constant uniformity. The same winds return regularly at
the same time, and continue equally long. In the Delta it
does not rain at all in summer and scarcely at all in winter.
We have very seldom seen it rain in Cairo. Rain in Upper
Egypt is a wonder. A higher temperature than that desig
nated below, a harder frost, and more copious rains are
extraordinary occurrences." J o m a r dfl upon the climate of
Cairo says : " Rain falls by no means so seldom in Egypt
as is commonly asserted. First of all, Lower Egypt must
evidently be excepted, as it covers a much more extended
surface than the rest of the country, and lies where its greater
or less proximity to the sea produces a more variable climate
than that of Said. All phenomena with the exception of hail
and snow follow there as in other countries, which are washed
by the Mediterranean Sea. I have several times seen even hail
at Alexandria. At Cairo the state of the atmosphere begins
* I. 260. t 1. 267(?), II. 117. X I: 344.
§ 1. u. p. 135.
|| In Obss. Meteorologiques in the Descr. t. 19. p. 457.
11 In Descr. 18. 2. p. 510 seq.

KINDS OF GRAIN IN EGYPT. 123
to be more settled, and in Upper Egypt, it is almost invaria
ble." The account of this plague comprises also other separate
but very striking references to Egypt. One is found, first,
in chap 9: 19; where Moses says to Pharaoh : " Send there
fore now and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the
field ; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in
the field and shall 'not be brought home, the hail shall come
down, and they shall die." According to this verse, the
cattle were not, found in the stall but in the field, when the
tempest commenced; verse 31 confirms this fact. With this
agrees accurately our other accounts, — an agreement so
much the more sigificant, since the time that the cattle were
turned out was so short. N i e b u h r* says : " In the months
January, February, March and April the cattle graze,
whereas during the remaining months they must be supplied
with dry fodder; " The author of the Egyptian calendart
shows the same thing. Also according to the Description,!
the cattle get green food only four months of the year, the
rest of the time, dried fodder.
Not less important is the parenthetical remark of the
author in chap, 9: 31, 32: "And the flax and the barley were
smitten ; for the barley was in the ear and the flax was boiled.
But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten, for these come
to maturity later." In surveying what was destroyed and
what was to be destroyed in case of persevering obstinacy,
there is here named ; -First, the products on which the weal
and woe of ancient Egypt depended. Compare respecting
spelt as one of the most important products of ancient Egypt,
the corn from which they prepared their bread, Hero dot u sf§
with the" remarks of B a h r. There are representations of the
* Reisebeschr. I. S. 142.
f In the Notices et Extraits, t. 1. p. 252. See also Nordmeyer, p.
37 ; Hartmann, S. 232 ; Le Bruyn, I. 570.
X Tom. 17. p. 126, § B. 2. c, 36, and also c, 77.

124 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
flax harvest in Rosellini.* The cultivation of the Dur-
rah, from which the bread is made, upon which the common
people for the most part live, is recent in Egypt.t Of the
cultivation of rice there is scarcely a single certain trace
found, and it cannot at least have been general! Secondly,
The author shows the most accurate knowledge of the time
of the harvest in Egypt. Flax and bailey are nearly ripe,
when wheat and spelt are yet green. T heop hr as t u s§
and PI i n y|| say : In Egypt barley was harvested in the sixth
month after sowing, wheat in the seventh month- Son-
nini,5J after remarking that with the cultivation of wheat,
that of barley is very important, says : " It comes to matu
rity about a month earlier than wheat, and its harvest is
especially abundant." Wheat and spelt come to maturity at
about the same time.** Flax and barley were generally ripe
in March, wheat and spelt in April. Such circumstances are
not in keeping with the character of a mythic historian.

The eighth Plague — the Locusts.
The narrative itself indicates, Ch. 10: 6, 14, that the animals,
which constituted the eighth plague the locusts, were at other
times somewhat common in Egypt, and that only the abun
dance of them was unprecedented. Other accounts also con
firm this fact. H a r t m a n ntt has collected the notices of an
cient travellers, among whom Nordenff has particularly
described what he saw in the following words : " In common
with Syria and other regions of Asia, Egypt suffers from the
locust3, yet no account can be found of their producing such
terrible desolation here as in Syria, Arabia," etc. But of espe-
* Vol. II. p. 333 seq.
t De Sacy upon Abd. p. 120. X Sonnini, I. S. 251 ff.
§8.3. ||18.7. II Th. 2. p. 261.
** See Hartmann, S. 207. tt S. 249. XX S. 119,

LOCUSTS AND THE CHAMSIN. 125
cial interest is D e n o n' s* account of a flight of locusts ob
served by him.: "Two days after this calamity, (they had been
suddenly overtaken by a heavy chamsin) we were informed that
the plain was covered with birds, which flew in dense flocks
from east to west. We in fact saw from a distance, that
the fields seemed to move, or at least that a long current
flowed through the plain. Supposing that they were strange
birds which had flown hither, in such great numbers, we
hastened our pace in order to observe thern. But instead of
birds, we found a cloud of locusts which made the land bald ;
for they stopped upon each stalk of grass in order to devour
it and then flew further for spoil. At a time of the year
when the corn is tender, they would have been a real plague ;
as lean, as efficient and as lively as the Arab Bedawin, they
are also a production of the desert. After the , wind had
changed its course, so as to blow directly against them, it
swept them back into the desert."
This account presents a striking agreement with ours, in
three particulars : 1. In both passages, the locusts and cham
sin appear in immediate connection with each other. 2. In
both the flight is from east to west, which is even so much
the more worthy of remark, since some, as recently v.
B o h 1 e n,t have imputed it to the author, as a fault, that he
represents the locusts as coming with the east wind. 3.
In both, the locusts, by a change of the wind, are driven
back whence they came.
The ninth Plague — the Darkness.
In the ninth plague, the darkness, it is scarcely possible
to mistake the similarity to natural phenomena, since it has
many other characteristic traits besides the one rendered
* Vol. I. p. 287, London Edition.
f Compare page 8 seq.. of this volume.
11*

126 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
most conspicuous here. The partial prominence given to
the darkness in this plague is explained from the symbolic
significance, which the occurrence has in this particular. The
darkness which overshadowed Egypt, and the light which
shone upon the Israelite^, were symbols of God's anger and
favor. It cannot be doubted that the foundation in nature
for this ninth plague is to be sought in the chamsin, whose
effects in a higher or lower degree, all travellers who have
visited Egypt, have experienced.
Hartmann* has collected what is said by ancient au
thors. " The inhabitants of the cities and villages," it is
there said, " shut themselves up in the lowest apartments
of their houses and cellars ;t but the inhabitants of the desert
go into their tents or into the holes which they have dug in
the ground-! There they await, full of anxiety, the termination
of this kind of tempest, which generally lasts three days.
The roads during this time are entirely vacant, and deep
stillness, as of the night, reigns everywhere."
Among modern writers we first refer to D u Bois
A y m e,§ who compares the Mosaic darkness to the chamsin.
The phenomena of the latter he describes in the following
mariner : " When the chamsin blows the sun is pale yellow,
its light is obscured, and the darkness is sometimes so great,
that one seems to be in the blackest night, as we experienced
in the middle of the day at Cene, a city of Said." A
second description we quote from S onn ini :|| " The at
mosphere," he says, " was heated and at the same time ob
scured by clouds of dust ; the thermometer of Reaumur stood
at 27 degrees. Men and animals breathed only vapor, and
that was heated and mingled with a fine and hot sand.
Plants drooped, and all living nature languished. This wind
also continued the twenty-seventh ; it appeared to me to have

* S. 46 ff. f Volney. j Pococke.
§ p- HO. H Th. 3. p. 35 ff.

THE CHAMSIN. 127
even increased in force. The air was dark on account of a
thick mist of fine dust as red as flame." But of special im
portance for our object is the description of D e n o n :* "On
the eighteenth of May in the evening, I felt as if I should
perish from the suffocating heat. All motion of the air
seemed to have ceased. As I went to the Nile to bathe, for
the relief of my1 painful sensations, I was astonished by a new
sight. Such light and such colors I had never seen. The
sun, without being veiled with clouds, had been shorn of its
beams. It gave only a white and shadowless light, more
feeble than the moon. The water reflected not its rays, and
appeared disturbed. — Everything assumed another appear
ance ; the air was darker, a yellow horizon caused the trees to
appear of a pale blue. Flocks of birds fluttered about before
the clouds. The frightened animals ran about in the fields,
and the inhabitants who followed them with their cries could
not collect them. The wind, which had raised immense
clouds of dust and rolled them along before itself, had not
yet reached us. We thought that if we went into the water,
which at this moment was quiet, we should avoid this mass
of dust which was driven towards us from the south-west ;
but we were scarcely in the river, when it began suddenly to
swell as if it would overflow its banks. The waves broke
over us, and the ground heaved under our feet. Our gar
ments flew away when seized by the whirlwind, which had
now reached us. We were compelled to go to land. Wet
and beaten by the wind, we were soon surrounded by a ridge
of sand. A reddish, dusky appearance filled the region ;
with wounded eyes, and nose so filled that we could hardly
breathe, we strayed from one another, lost our way, and found
our dwellings with great difficulty, feeling along by the walls.
Then, we sensibly felt how terrible the condition must be,
when one is overtaken by such a wind in the desert. On the
Vol. I. 285.

128 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
followino- morning the same cloud of dust was driven, in like
circumstances, along the Lybian desert. It followed the
mountain range, and when we believed ourselves free from it,
the west wind turned it back. Lightnings shot feebly through
these dark clouds ; all the elements appeared to be in com
motion ; the rain mingled with the lightning gleams, with
wind and dust ; everything seemed to be returning to chaos
and old night."*
The severity of the chamsin is very different in different
years.t Dsc he m al edd in describes in the Chronicle
quoted by Rosenmueller in his Commentary, cases
which seen merely in general, are considerably like those
with which we are concerned. In reference to the one which
took place in the eleventh century, it is said : " There occur
red a great and violent storm, accompanied by darkness ;
edifices were destroyed and houses demolished ; moreover at
the same time Egypt was covered with so thick a darkness
that all believed that the resurrection had come." -In the ac
count of another wind of this kind in the twelfth century,
he says : " There occurred such a darkness in Egypt that
the whole air was obscured with dimness4 at the same time
there arose so heavy a. wind, that the men all expected the
resurrection." The time in which the three days' darkness falls is just that
in which the chamsin generally blows-!

The tenth Plague — the Death of the First-born of the
Egyptians.
It may be proper to remark here, before we proceed with
the tenth plague, that the phrase " all of the first-born" must
not be pressed too far.§ The whole tenor of the narrative is
* See other descriptions in Mayr, Reise, S. 245, and in Miehaud,
Th. 7. S. 11.
t Hartmann, S. 51. i Hartmann,, S. 47. § See p. 109

EPIDEMICS IN ECYPT. 129
opposed to such a proceedings and particularly the declara
tion : " There was no house where there was not one dead,"
in chap. 12: 30 ; since in every house there was not a first
born. It must not be inferred that none of the first-born re
mained alive in the land, or that none besides the first-born
died.* If we take into view the time in which the last plague,
the destruction of the first-born occurs, and farther also that
it follows immediately the chamsin, we cannot deny that we
find something analogous to it in a pestilence described by
M i n u t ol i.t It is not material, whether it be allowed that
the plague raged at so early a period, or that another similar
ly destructive disease existed in its place. The plague, he
says, commonly makes its appearance at Cairo about the end
of March, or at the beginning of April. The miasma is com
municated merely by contact. Local causes, however, increase
its malignancy, and even the prevailing winds have an im
portant influence. With an uninterrupted chamsin the plague
increases frightfully, and speedily takes off those who are at
tacked by it.
Legh also gives a similar account : "A salutary influence
(on the pestilence then raging) was also expected from the
Nokia, or the rise of the Nile which begun on the eighteenth
of June. The unhealthiness of the season of the year pre
ceding this month is ascribed to the chamsin, or the wind
from the desert, which commonly begins to blow about Eas
ter-Monday and continues fifty days, and to the stagnant con
dition of the Nile. This notion is so settled among the
Arabs that they are accustomed when it jjeases to congratu-
* The account of an especially destructive plague in Egypt, in the
Description, t. 15. p. 180, may be compared : " Howls and shrieks
were heard in every house ; funeral processions met one at every step.
Several dead bodies were oftentimes put together on the same bier,
and I saw men who bore them, give over their burden to others and
lie down upon the ground with all the symptoms of the plague,"
t S. 224.

130 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
late each other on account of having survived this period. —
The two or three months before the summer solstice are es
teemed so unhealthy, that it is said, that the plague always
rages during this time, even in Cairo. During the same pe
riod the small-pox is also very dangerous J'* Compare also
the Description,t where in accounting for this sickness it is
imputed mainly to the chamsin, and it is remarked that great
inundations which leave numerous morasses, always precede
destructive epidemics.
That the Egyptians are swept off by an epidemic is indeed
probable, and much more than probable, from chap; 9: 15.
What the Lord there says he had long been able to do, that,
he now really does ; since the reasons here given in verse 16,
which, until now, have prevented him from proceeding to
this last resource, have now ceased; since, in short, he has
by a series of acts sufficiently unfolded his omnipotence and
grace. For the sparing of the Israelites, certain things in nature
analogous may be referred to, but they by no means serve to
obscure the divine favor in the preservation, since this divine
favor insured nothing less than absolute safety. Here may
be quoted, first, what M i n u t o 1 i says in reference to the
plague : " It is remarkable that fear increases the suscepti
bility to it, but fearlessness protects against it." Further,
what Prokesch! says of the Egyptian Bedawy, is ap
propriate here: "His health is unalterably good. Some
ascribe the disease of the eyes in Egypt, which rages among
the Fellahs, and even in the cities, to the dew and dust of
the desert. But the Bedawy sleeps in the open air, and
ranges from desert to desert, and this pest has never spread
among these tribes." With this agrees what M i c h a u d
says : § " The Bedawin are in general very temperate.
* Reise in Aeg. D- Weim. 1818. S. 142. t 1. 15. p. 179.
X Erinnerungen, Th. 2. p. 244. § Th. 7. p. -29.

ANALOGY OF NATURE. 131
They have no physicians and little sickness. The disease
of the eyes, which is so prevalent an evil in Egypt, is almost
unknown in the desert. The plague seldom extends its ra
vages among them."
Those who are disposed to take offence at the analogies in
nature, which we have adduced for the plagues, are referred,
first, to what we have said in the beginning of this chapter,
concerning the miraculous character of these occurrences,
notwithstanding the analogy of nature. They are also re
minded, that it cannot be denied that similar analogies are
generally allowed to exist in relation to the wonders of the
desert, the manna and the quails. But we wish the advo
cates of the mythic interpretation of the Pentateuch to know,
that precisely that part of it which appears to them the
strongest bulwark for their view, is most decidedly opposed
to it.

132 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

CHAPTER IV.
EXODUS^ Chapters XIV and XV.
The Military Force of the Egyptians.
In our section on the references of the Pentateuch to the
geographical features of Egypt, we have spoken of some
things which come within the range of our inquiry in con
nection with these chapters of Exodus. We have pointed
out the agreement of the fact, that a considerable army stood
ready at the command of Pharaoh to pursue the fugitive Is
raelites, with the declarations of Her odot us, which show
that the principal stations of the military caste were in the
vicinity of the scene of these transactions, in the Delta.* It
remains for us to make here the following remarks.
1. " Wherever," says R o s e 1 1 i n i,t " the armies are re
presented on the great monuments of Egypt, they are com
posed of troops of infantry, armed with the bow or lance,
and of ranks of chariots drawn by two horses." Chariots
appear also in Homer! as the principal strength of the
Egyptian army. Upon the Egyptian monuments, says the
same author,§ neither a king nor any other person of conse
quence is represented in any other way, than on foot, upon
a chariot or throne, or in a litter. The few figures upon
horses almost all belong to foreigners. Wilkinson||
* Page 48, 57 seq. Compare in reference to this last fact also Rosel-
lini, II. 3. p. 200.
t II. 3. p. 232.
X Iliad, 9. 383, where it is sai<l of Thebes : Al& exarofinvlot hoi,
OiTjxooioi o dv ixdartjv 'Avtyas e1-oi%vevai fsiv 'lititoimv xaX o%£<s<pw.
% II. 3, p. 240. || Vol. I. p. 288, 335.

EGYPTIAN CHARIOTS OF WAR. 133
agrees with R o s e 1 1 i n i in the principal point, namely, that
chariots composed the main military force of the Egyptians,
and the cavalry took only a subordinate place. That the
Egyptians had no horsemen at all he does not admit, — al
though he concedes that no representations of them are found
on the monuments, — relying upon the authority of Herodo
tus, 2. 162, where Amasis appears on horseback, (the more
important passage, chap. 108, he omits,) the declaration
of Diodorus, according to which Sesostris had, besides
27,000 who fought upon chariots, also 24,000 horsemen, and
the fact that in the hieroglyphics the "command of the ca
valry" is represented as a very honorable post, generally occu
pied by the most distinguished among the sons of the king*
This last argument, however, Rosellinit attempts to set
aside, by remarking that the designation is properly overseer
of horses, and probably has reference to the care of the breed
of horses. C h a m p o 1 1 i o n! says of the war chariots :
" This was the cavalry of the age, cavalry properly speaking
did not exist then in Egypt,"
It is accordingly certain, that the cavalry, in the more an
cient period of the Pharaohs, was but little relied on, and it
is doubtful whether it generally existed. The question now
is : What relation the declarations in our passage have to this
result 1 Were the common view, according to which riding
on horses is superadded with equal prominence to the cha
riot of war, in our passage, the right one, there would arise
strong suspicion against the credibility of the narrative. But
a more accurate examination shows, that the author does not
mention Egyptian cavalry at all, that according to him the
Egyptian army is composed only of chariots of war, and that
he therefore agrees in a wonderful manner with the native
Egyptian monuments. And this agreement is the more mi-
* Wilk. Vol. 1. p. 292. t II. 3. S. 259..
X Page 442 of the German Translation of his Letters. Brussels Ed.
12

134 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
nute, since the second division of the army represented upon
them, the infantry, could not, in the circumstances of our
narrative, take part in the pursuit.
The first and principal passage concerning the constituent
parts of the Egyptian army which pursued the Israelites, is
that in chap. 14: 6, 7: " And he made ready his chariot, and
took his people with him ; and took 600 chosen chariots,
all the chariots of Egypt and chariot warriors upon all of
them." Here Pharaoh's preparation for war is fully de
scribed. It consists, first, of chariots, and secondly of cha
riot warriors. Cavalry are no more mentioned than infantry.
This passage, which is so plain, explains the second one,
verse 9, where the arrival of this same army in sight of the
Israelites is plainly and graphically described, in order to
place distinctly before the reader the impression which the
view made upon the Israelites: "And the Egyptians fol
lowed them and overtook them, where they were encamped
by the sea, all the chariot-horses of Pharaoh and his riders
and his host." If riders here be understood in the common
sense, (chariot-warriors rather than riders upon horses might
so much the sooner be mentioned, since the Egyptian war-
chariot was very small and light,) where then are the cha
riot warriors 1 The author would not leave them out, since
it is to his purpose to be minute, and since he evidently in
tended to accumulate circumstances as much as possible.
Also in verse 17: "I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and
upon all his host, upon his chariots and upon his riders,"
the riders again correspond with the chariot-warriors in verse
7. If there were then chariot-warriors and riders, how
strange that they are never spoken of together. In verse 23 :
" And the Egyptians pursued them and went in after them,
all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots and his riders," the
three constituent parts of the Egyptian warlike preparation
are fully designated. If riders were here understood in the
common way, it would be surprising that horses and chariots

CHARIOTS OF EGYPT. 135
were named, and that chariot-warriors, who are most impor
tant, were left out. Finally, the meaning of the passage, chap.
15: 1 : " Horse arid his- rider hath he thrown into the sea,"
is clear from verse 4 of the same chapter, where only the
overwhelming of the chariots and chariot-warriors is spoken of.
2. The number of chosen chariots of Egypt is limited in
chap. 14: 6 (7) to 600. If we compare with this other de
clarations with regard to the strength of the Egyptian hosts of
war, we shall be the better prepared to appreciate these
moderate statements, so inappropriate in a mythic representa
tion. Josephus adds, from his own resources, to the 600
chariots which Pharaoh brought into the field, 50,000 horse
men and 200,000 footmen. The Jewish tragic poet, E z e-
k i e\, says that the Egyptian hosts of war amounted to a
million. According to Diodorus,* Sesostris had 600,000
footmen, and 24,000 horsemen, and 27,000 chariots of war.
He gives an equally extravagant number in chap. 45: 47.t It
is^certain that the 600 chariots are not the whole force with
which Pharaoh pursued the Israelites. Besides, the 600 cho
sen chariots were also the chariots of Egypt. But the num
ber of the last must also be fixed according to the analogy of
the first.
3. The author in verse 7 makes a difference between the
chosen chariots and the chariots of Egypt. The first evi
dently compose the guard of the king. We have already
proved the existence of a royal guard in Egypt from Hero
dotus and the monuments.! . From Herodotus :§ " But
they (the warriors) enjoyed these privileges in turn, never all
at once — -a thousand of the Calasaries and as many of the Her-
motybies were the yearly guard of the king, and to these was
given, in addition to their land, each day," etc., it is certain
that at least in early times, these guards changed each year.
* 1. 54. t Compare Rosellini, Vol. II. 3. p. 231 .
X Pages 24, 67. § 2. 168,

136

EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

It is however true, that this must not be understood as im
plying that the soldiers all succeeded to this employment,
without selection, in successive divisions; but the rotation
took place rather, only among chosen troops.
4. It may perhaps appear remarkable, that the Israelites,
notwithstanding their very great numbers, at the appearance
of the not very numerous Egyptian hosts of war, considered
themselves as absolutely lost, and that the thought of with
standing them did not even occur to them. A remark in
Wilkinson* assists in explaining this fact : "The civil
ized state of Egyptian society required the absence of all
arms except when they were on service." If the Israelites
were entirely unarmed when they departed, they could not
think of making resistance.
Musical Instruments among the Egyptians.
According to chap. 15: 20, 21, after they had passed
through the sea, Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,
took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed af
ter her with timbrels and dances, and Miriam answered them
(Moses and the children of Israel) : " Sing to the Lord, for
he hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and the rider hath
he thrown into the sea." Analogies for this scene, in more
than one respect, are found upon the Egyptian monuments.
First, we find upon them, as here, separate choirs of men
and women. Champolliont discovered in the grottoes
of Beni Hassan, " a picture which represented a concert of
vocal and instrumental music; a singer is accompanied by a
player upon the harp, and assisted by two choirs, one of
which is composed of men and the other of women; the lat
ter beat time with their hands."
* Vol. 1. p. 347. Compare a minute discussion of this circum
stance, p. 402.
t S. 53. der Briefe.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 137
Further ; the timbrel or the tambourine was, according to
the representations of the monuments, commonly the instru
ment of the women, as the flute of the men.* A description
and drawing of the tambourine is given by Wilkinson.t
We also find upon the Egyptian monuments, as here, the
playing of the tambourine even unaccompanied by other in
struments, in connection with the dance and singing. " Wo
men," says W i 1 k i n s o n,! in describing a scene in Thebes,
" beat the tambourine and darabooka drum, without the ad
dition of any other instrument, dancing or singing to the
sound." Finally; the monuments and descriptions show,
that among the Egyptians generally, music had a decidedly
religious destination.^ Moreover, the tambourine was used
among them in sacred music. || Religious dances were per
formed in Egypt in the worship of Osiris.ff
We will here add those things which the examination of
Egyptian antiquity furnishes in explanation of the remaining
passages of the Pentateuch, where music is mentioned.
According to Num.10: 2 seq., two silver trumpets, ri-iXiKt":,
were ordered to be made for calling together the congregation,
to give the signal for breaking up the camp, for use in war,
(see Num. 31: 6, where in the war against Midian the trum
pets are taken,) and for festal occasions. By the blast of
another kind of trumpets, called "iBTB , according to Lev.
25: 8 seq., the year of jubilee was announced. From Joshua,
chap. 6, verse 4, where the same instrument is interchange
ably called trumpet and born, we see that this last instrument
had the form of a horn, and accordingly the thatsotserah must
be the straight trumpet.
Among the Egyptians, remarks Wilkinson,** trum-
* Wilk. Vol. II. p. 253, 314. Ros. II. 3. p. 37 seq.
t Vol. II. p. 254.
t Vol. II. p. 240, where a representation of this scene is found.
§ Rosellini, II. 3. p. 78. || Wilkinson, II. p. 316.
U Ros. II. 3. p. 96. ** Vol. I. p. 297.
12*

138 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
pets were already in use in the earliest times of the Pharaohs.
The sculptures at Thebes show this. Trumpeters are there
often represented iii the battle scenes, sometimes standing still
and summoning the troops to form, and at other times leading
them- to a rapid charge. Rosellini says: " The Egyp
tians were acquainted with the real straight trumpet, and
made use of it for warlike purposes, as far as the monuments
show, as the Tyrrhenians make use of it only in war." See
the description of this trumpet in Wilkinson,* who also
remarks that it was especially used in war. The crooked
trumpet is not found on the Egyptian monuments, but Eu-
stathius makes mention of an instrument in the fashion of
a crooked trumpet, whose invention he ascribesto Osiris,
and whose Egyptian name he gives, remarking that it was
used for assembling the people to sacrificed It is remarka
ble that, as among the Egyptians, so also among the Israelites
in the Mosaic times, only the straight trumpet was in general
use, and especially among both, this only was made use of in
war." In Gen. 4: 2, Jubal is represented as the father of all
who play the lute and the pipe, accordingly the invention of
these instruments is referred to a primitive age. It serves
indeed as a commendation of this passage, that it represents
music as beginning with its natural beginning, the invention
of stringed instruments.! But the great antiquity of stringed
instruments in general, and especially of those named, re
ceives special confirmation from the monuments. Among
the Egyptians, we find even in the most ancient times very
curiously constructed stringed instruments, especially a three
stringed guitar, which implies a long succession of imperfect
* II. 260, 262.
t Upon the Iliad, 2. 219, ed. Lips, t iv. p. 65 : Sivrioa fj orgoyyi'Xi;
(odkmy!;) n«q Alyvnrioig, rpi "Ootpig svqs ; xaXovfiivv, (pad, %vovt],
XOiwrai, o aiJtTJ nqdg &vo£av, xaXovvreg rovg ox^ovg dl aizfjg.
X Buraey in Wilk. II. p. 226.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 139
attempts. Such instruments indeed are represented in the
pyramids.* " The oldest perhaps," says the same author,t
" found in the sculptures, are in a tomb near the pyramids of
Gizeh, between three and four thousand years old." Ac
cording to R o s e 1 1 i n i,! there is represented in the tomb of
Imai, at Gizeh, an eight stringed harp, which must belong
to the times preceding the last fifteen dynasties. In another
very ancient tomb at Gizeh, there are represented players on
a similar harp. Indeed, upon the oldest monuments instru
ments are found with the most diverse number of strings, and
any advancement in the art of constructing them cannot be
traced,§ * Wilk. II. p. 230. t Wilk. p. 271.
X II. 3. p. 13. § p. 12, 13.

140 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

CHAPTER V.
THE MATERIALS AND ARTS EMPLOYED IN THE CON
STRUCTION OF THE TABERNACLE AND PRIESTS'
GARMENTS.
Cultivation of the Arts among the Egyptians and Israelites.
It has been adduced as an argument against the historical
character of the Pentateuch, that the construction of the
tabernacle and the priest's garments, implies a cultivation of
the arts and an abundance of costly materials, such as we
could not expect to find among the Israelites when they left
Egypt. These materials consisted not merely of gold, silver
and brass,, but also of costly stuffs, furs and spices, things
which a nomade people are not accustomed to carry with
them in their wanderings. It is accordingly argued that the
whole description of the tabernacle belongs not to history
but to fiction.* The assertion was made with so much con
fidence that it has by degrees become established and tra
ditional. The foundation for its confutation, we have indeed previ
ously laid,t by showing that the prevalent view concerning the
^condition of the Israelites in Egypt, according to which they
merely continued their nomade life, is a false one, since they
there availed themselves of the advantages of Egyptian
culture and civilization, and in some respects attained to
considerable prosperity. To complete the structure, there
* See Vater, Abhand. S. 648, De Wette, Beitr. I. S. 259. II. S. 260.
Von Bohlen, S. CX1I.
t Beitrage Th. 2. S. 430 ff.

PRECIOUS STONES. 141
is now nothing further requisite, than to show that the
materials which were used in making the tabernacle and
priestly robes, were at that time already in use in Egypt, but
most especially that the arts and contrivances which come
into consideration, were there already in existence and known.
For the material and intellectual resources of the Egyptians
we justly consider as common to the Israelites with them.
But to furnish this information is not our only design in
this chapter, We also aim at a more positive object beyond
this. While we show that the Israelitish arts are connected
with the Egyptian by many characteristic peculiarities, we
prove that the situation of things is just such as it must be, if
we suppose that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, or at
least that it is historically accurate, while later fiction or ficti
tious narrative could not have originated or sustained this
Egyptian relationship.
We begin with a general declaration of one of the most
distinguished investigators of Egyptian antiquity. " It is a
wonderful fact, that the first information which we have with
regard to the history and manners of the Egyptians, shows us
a nation which is far advanced in civilized life. The same
customs and inventions which prevailed in the Augustan era
of this people, at the commencement of the eighteenth dy
nasty, are also found even in the far distant age of Osirtasen,
the contemporary of Joseph."
The art of Cutting and Setting precious Stones.
The materials which were used in the construction of the
tabernacle and priest's garments were a part of them hard,
and a part soft. Among the former, precious stones take the
first place. B e z a 1 e e 1, is spoken of in Ex. 33: 36, as distin
guished among other things for his skill " in the preparation
of stones for setting." Precious stones, on which the names
of the Israelites were engraven in the character engraven on

142 EGYPT AND THF, BOOKS OF MOSES.
the signet ring, were placed, according to Ex. 28: 9—11, 17,
seq., in golden encasements upon the ephod and breastplate
of the high priest.
The art of cutting precious stones, generally very early dis
covered, was practised in Egypt even in very ancient times.*
" There are several necklaces of gold and cornelian in the
new gallery of Egyptian antiquities opened at the British
Museum, whose exquisite workmanship could scarcely be sur
passed by modern artists, though as we see from the engra
ving, the apparatus of the jeweller was as simple as could
well be imagined. This is still the case in Hindoostan, where
the native jeweller, travelling from house to house with his
little furnace and blow pipe, produces ornaments of consid
erable beauty."t How very much genuine precious stones
were valued is indeed evident from the circumstance that
imitations of them were made in considerable numbers.
The Theban artists were particularly distinguished in this
employment of counterfeiting. As, then we find it common
for the Egyptians to imitate the ornaments of the rich in
cheaper materials for the use of the lower classes, it is very
evident that the spirit of luxury, which belongs to an ad
vanced state of civilization was already at an early period
widely diffused in Egypt-! That the art of the engraver was
native to Egypt, is manifest from the data which Wilkin
son has furnished with regard to the Egyptian signets. Of
many of them he has also engravings.^ There, for example,
is described the signet yet preserved, of one of the earliest
of the Pharaohs, Upon one side of the plate the name of
the king is engraved ; upon the opposite, a lion with the
motto : " The lord of strength," which is applied to the king ;
* See quotations from Winkelmann, Mttller and others in Biihr
Symbol, Th. II. S. 103,
i Taylor, p. 88. X Taylor, p. 88,
§ Vol Til. p. 373—4

PURE GOLD. 143
on one side is a scorpion, and on the opposite a crocodile.*
Moreover, various other inscriptions are found engraved on
Egyptian rings."t

The art of Purifying and Working Metals.
Among the hard materials, the metals hold the second place.
Of Bezaleel it is said in Ex. 35: 32, he had power to devise
curious works, to work in gold and silver and brass." With
this compare what Ros&llini! says: "From all such
articles, as they are represented in the Egyptian tombs, it is
manifest, how anciently the art of casting and working metals
was practised in Egypt" — And : " The greater part of
Egyptian metallic articles are of bronze, not a few of gold,
a smaller number of silver, very few of lead and those made
of iron are seldom found. "§
The gold which was ordered to be used about the sanctu
ary is commonly designated as pure gold, j) A painting in the
tomb at Thebes which bears the date of Thothrnes IV., ap
pears to represent the fusion and purifying of gold.fl Many
ornaments are found in the Egyptian collections which are
made of the purest gold. The monuments furnish clear evi
dence that gold was purified, and thus of course distinguished
from that which was unwrought and not purified. Incorrectly,
therefore have some, referring to some one old ornament,
made of impure gold, denied to the Egyptians the art of
preparing pure gold.** According to Ex. 25: 11, the ark of
testimony, and according to 26: 29, all the boards of the
* The assertion of Pliny, 33: 6 : " Non signat Oiiens aut Aegyptus
etiam nunc, literis cdntenta solis," is by these discoveries shown to
be false.
t Compare Wilk. III. p. 376. f II. 2. p. 297.
§ Ros. II. 2. p. 298.
|| See Ex. 25: 11, 17, 24, 29 and other passages.
It Rosellini II. 2. p. 278. ** Ibid. p. 280.

144 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tabernacle were to be overlaid with gold. "We find," says
W i 1 k i n so n,"t that in Egypt substances of various kinds
were overlaid with gold leaf, at the earliest periods of which
the monuments remain even in the time of the first Osirtasen."
Even the mummies were gilded,!
According to Ex. 39: 3j the high priest's ephod was inter
woven with threads of gold. We find even gold wire attached
to rings bearing the date of Osirtasen the first; and silver
wire existed in the days of the third Thothmes.§ Some of
the colored Egyptian dresses represented in the paintings
are probably woven with gold threads, ||
In the two upper golden rings of the breastplate, wreathed
golden chains were inserted, for fastening the breastplate
to the ephod.fi Golden chains were very common among
the Egyptians, and are often, for example, represented as
necklaces.** The golden candlestick was ornamented with flowers of
gold, Ex. 25: 31 seq. Representations of flowers were
also probably made on the variegated cloths of the taberna-
cle.tt The Egyptians had an extraordinary love for flowers,
both natural and artificial. The Lotus and other favorite
flowers are found everywhere worn as ornaments. According
to Pliny!! they made artificial flowers which received the
name of "JEgyptiae."||||
In Exodus, chap. 35: 22, among the free will offerings
which both the men and women of Israel brought for the
sanctuary, "nose rings and ear rings, and signet rings and
t Vol. III. 224.
t See Pettigrew, History of Egyptian Mummies, London, 1834,
p. 63. § Wilk. III. p. 129. || Wilk. 111. p. 131.
IT Ex, 28: 22 seq. Bilhr Symbol. Vol. II. S. 105.
** Wilkinson, Vol. III. p. 376, with the engraving, 409, M.
tfBahrTh. I. S. 314. ff 21: 2.
|||1 Wilk. Vol. II. p. 183. -

METAL MIRRORS COMMON IN EGYPT. 145
pendants," all jewels of gold, first mentioned. Astonishment
at this abundance of ornaments is at an end, when we read
what R o s e 1 1 i n i* says upon this point : " Costly and elegant
ornaments abounded, in proportion as clothing in general was
simple and scarce among the Egyptians. Girdles, necklaces,
armlets, rings, earrings and amulets of various kinds sus
pended from the neck, are found represented in the paintings
and in fact, still exist on the mummies. Figures of noble
youth, are found entirely devoid of clothing, but richly orna
mented with necklaces," etc.
The brazen laver according to chap. 38 : 8, was made
of the brazen mirrors which the holy women offered.t
"One of the principal objects of the toilet," says Wilkin
son,! "was the mirror. It was of mixed metal, chiefly
copper, most carefully wrought and highly polished ; and so
admirably did the skill of the Egyptians succeed in the com
position of metals, that this substitute for our modern looking-
glass was susceptible of a lustre which has even been par
tially revived at the present day, in some of those discovered
at Thebes, though buried in the earth for many centuries."
The mirror was nearly round, inserted into a handle of wood,
stone or metal of various forms.§ See also the same author||
upon looking-glasses discovered at Thebes, and upon the
whole subject, R o s e 1 1 i n i,fi according to whom, the
Egyptian name of mirror like the Hebrew, signifies, the view
of the face. Skill in Carving Wood.
The third hard material is wood. The circumstance that
the same kind of wood which was employed about the sanc-
* Vol. II. 2. p. 419—20. t Th. 3. der Beitrage, S. 133.
X Vol. III. p. 384.
§ Engravings of them are found in Wilk. III. 385 — 6.
|| Vol. III. p. 253. IT Vol. II. 2. 528 seq.
13

146 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tuary, the acacia, (tamarisk, sant,)* was also commonly
used in Egypt is of but little importance, since this is the
only wood which the desert furnishes. The Egyptians were
greatly skilled in joiner and cabinet work. t Rosellini
says, on p. 38:- according to tlje monuments, the saw was
known and in use 2000 years before our era.

Use of Leather.
Leather holds the first place among the soft materials.
The covering of the tabernacle, which lay directly over that
of goat's hair, according to Ex. 26: 14, was to consist of
ram's skins colored red. Above that, was a covering of an
other kind of handsome leather, which cannot be accurately
defined. The preparation of leather, says W i 1 k i n s o n,!
was an important branch of Egyptian industry. The fine
ness of the leather of the straps of a mummy discovered at
Thebes, and the beauty of the figures which are stamped up
on it, show conclusively the skill of the artist who prepared it.
Some of these pieces of leather bear the name of the kings of
the oldest times. Rosellini^ also gives an account of the
art of making leather. In the tombs at Thebes, a shop
filled with leather-workers is found represented. They made
bottles, quivers and pouches of different colors, and orna
ments, shoes and sandals, shields, etc., of leather. " The
wood of the Egyptian harps was sometimes covered with
colored leather. In the museum of the Louvre, at Paris, an
Egyptian harp is preserved, -whose wood is covered with a
kind of green morocco, cut in the form of a lotus blossom. "||
* Compare Herod. B. 2. c. 122. Jablonsky, Voce. Aeg. ap. Script.
Vett., s. v. Sant and Sittim, Rosellini, II. 2. S. 33. Wilk. Vol. HI.
p. 168.
t Compare Ros. II. 2. p. 32, and Taylor, p. 106 seq.
X Vol. III. p. 155. § Ros. II. 2. p. 355,
|| Ros. II. 3. p. 16-

THE WEAVERS OF EGYPT. 147

Spinning, Weaving and Embroidery.
We now turn our attention to their cloths of the tabernacle
and priests' garments. Many passages mention the twisted
byssus.* In the tombs of Beni Hassan, the process of pre
paring the thread and twining it, in preparation for weav
ing, is exhibited. t They were accustomed to beat the yarn
with clubs so as to make it softer and more suitable for twin
ing ; they also boiled the thread in water to increase its soft
ness, and at the same time give it greater consistence, and
thus make it better for twisting and weaving. The byssus in
particular was treated in this way. The inscription on a
part of an Egyptian wall-picture is interpreted by R o s e 1-
1 i n i :\ The preparation of the yarn of byssus. Then follows
the representation of the twisting itself, which is performed,
partly by men and partly by women, and indeed in different
ways, which Rosell ini describes.^
The skill of the Egyptians in weaving, and the great re
nown of their cloths in all antiquity, is recognized and con
firmed by the fact, that the ancient writers attribute to the
Egyptians the invention of this art. ||
H e r o d o t u sfi mentions as one of the points in which the
Egyptians differ from other nations, that among them the
women perform the out-of-door's work, and the men weave,**
Other ancient writers bear, testimony to the same thing.
"In ancient times the weavers of Panopolis, in Upper Egypt,
were especially distinguished, in later times, those in Arsinoe,
Pelusium and Alexandria."tt Also very many men are seen

* Ex. 26: 1, 31, and other passages. t Ros. II. 2. p. 13, 14.
Xp. 16. § p. 16 and 17.
|| Aegyptii textilia (invenerunt) . Plin. B. 7. c. 56.
T Chap. 2.35 Compare c. 105 : Ol 8h avSqsg xav olxovg iovrsg
** Heeren, S. 388.
ti Strabo, 17, 813. Drumann Inschrift von Rosette, S. 170.

J48 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
on the monuments employed in weaving,* and when we not
unfrequently also see women weaving,t this can, in view of the
testimony of ancient writers, yet be considered only as the
exception which destroys not the rule. — Now, in most perfect
agreement with these notices of ancient writers, the prepara
tion of the cloth for the sanctuary and the sacerdotal robes is
represented throughout as under the care of men.!
The women, on the contrary, performed the spinning,^
and this work generally belonged to them in Egypt. || Wil
kinson gives engravings of women who are employed with
the spindle. Yet this was not exclusively their work.fi
It is evident from Ex. 35: 25, according to which the Is-
raelitish women brought of the purple which they had spun,
that the colored fabrics which were employed about the taber
nacle, were dyed before weaving. The same thing was also
done among the Egyptians, In M i n u t o I i** it is said :
"From many experiments upon the ancient Egyptian cloth
it appears that the byssus was colored in the wool before
weaving, which also is shown by Ex. 25; 4. 26: 1. The pro
cess which P 1 i n ytt describes for impressing different colors
all at once upon the web after it is finished by the use of va
rious preparations, appears therefore to be a later advance
ment in Egyptian art." Wilkinson!! also shows that
cloth was colored in the thread among the ancient Egyptians.
The colored figures in the cloth of the Israelites were
partly the product of the weaver in colors, aprt , whose art
* See, e. g. Minutoli, t. 25.
t Ros. II. 2. p. 30, and Wilk. Vol. III. p. 134, and the engravings,
Vol. II. p. 60.
t See the phrase, » work of the weaver," in Ex. 28: 32. 39: 22, 27;
" work of the artificer," in 28: 6, 15. 26: 31, but especially ch. 35: 36.
§ Ex. 35: 25. || Herod. 2. 35, and Wilk. 2. 60.
It Wilk. Vol. III. p. 133. The same author also gives an engrav
ing of Egyptian spindles, p. 136.
** S. 402. tt Hist. nat. p. 35, 42. XX Vol. III. p. 125.

LINEN ARMOR. 149
appears the superior, and partly that of the embroiderer in
colors, DjJ.h-* Both methods are reproduced on the monu
ments, so that the objection which has been brought forward
against rendering the word rokem by embroiderers, that the
art of embroidering was generally unknown in earlier ages,
and particularly among the Hebrews, is to be regarded as
entirely groundless. " Many of the Egyptian stuffs," says
Wilkinso n,t " presented various patterns worked in colors
by the loom, independent of those produced by the dyeing
or printing process,, and so richly composed, that they vied
with cloths embroidered with the needle." The Egyptian
sails, says the same author,! were some of them embroidered
with fanciful devices, representing the phoenix, flowers and
other emblems. This, however, was confined to the plea
sure boats of the nobles and king. That this was done even
in the early ages, is evident from the paintings at Thebes,
which show sails ornamented with various colors of the time
of Remeses III. The devices are various, the most common
one is the phoenix.§
In Ex. 28: 32, it is said of the outer garment of the high
priest : " And its opening for the head shall be in the middle
of it, a border shall there be to the opening round about, of
woven work, like the opening of a habergeon shall it be, so
that it be not rent." No other than a linen harbergeon can
be meant ; for no other would need a binding. The linen
armor of thet Egyptians was renowned in all antiquity. H e-
rodotus| | mentions a linen habergeon (or corselet), orna
mented with many animals, and worked with cotton thread
and with gold, which Amasis sent to the Lacedemonians as
* Compare the "passage in the Lxx, and the proof that ejj'-i signi
fies embroiderers, in opposition to Hartmann, Gesen. and others, in
Bahr Symb. I. S. 267.
f Vol. III. p. 128. X Ibid, 210.
§ See engravings in Wilk. HI. 210. || 3. 47.
13*

150 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
a present, and also another which the same king dedicated
to Minerva at Lindus. He designates this last as a "linen
corselet worthy of admiration."* It is acknowledged, that
the linen corselet was not peculiar to Egypt alone.t But
yet an importance such as is here implied, the linen corselet
had nowhere except in Egypt.

Preparation and Use of Unguents.
We also remark, that what is said in Ex. 30: 22 seq., con
cerning tile holy ointment and its preparation, has received
abundant explanation and confirmation from investigations
in Egypt. Unguents were very much used among the Egyp
tians. This is evident in part from representations in the
paintings, and in part from the vases for containing them which
yet exist. Some of them still retain their odor. As far as
can be determined from these last, unguents appear some
times to have been made of nut oil, but it is probable, that
animal as well as vegetable oil was used for this purpose,
while the other ingredients depended on the taste of the mak
er or purchaser.!
It is worthy of notice, that in the description of the holy
ointment, the hin is first used as a measure, which afterwards
often appears in the Pentateuch. It has no discoverable He
brew etymology, and furthermore it appears probable that
the name is not of Hebrew origin, since it is found, out of the
Pentateuch, only in Ezekiel, in the description of the temple,
where, like so many other words,' it is not taken from the
current language of the day, but from the Pentateuch. Ac-
* 2. 182. See also Wilk. HI. 127 seq.
t Ajax is designated in the Iliad, 2. 529, as, kivo&xiqrj^. Compare
the passages collected and referred to in Perizonius upon Sueton.
Galba, c. 19.
% Wilk. 11. p. 214, and III. 378.

THE HIN AS A MEASURE. 151
cording to Leem an,* the word is borrowed from the Egyp
tian language. The hini he asserts, was originally the gene
ral name for a vessel which then was transferred by the He
brews and Egyptians to a certain measure of variable com
pass. Hitherto we have occupied ourselves only with the mate
rials of the tabernacle and priest's garments, and the arts
which are known to have been employed upon them. Now,
we will also show, that even in the religious institutions of
the Books of Moses, Egyptian references cannot be denied,
notwithstanding the opposition of those who in modern times,
combating the practice so hostile to sound criticism, of find
ing such references wherever there is the least semblance of
a reason for it, have wholly denied their existence.
* Lettre aM. Salvolini sur les Monumens Egyptiens, Leyden 1838.

152 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

CHAPTER VI.
EGYPTIAN REFERENCES IN THE RELIGIOUS INSTI
TUTIONS OF THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
Law among the Egyptians and Israelites.
The complicated character of the legislation of the Penta
teuch directs us, in a general way, to Egypt.* j3o complex
a code of laws could not have been given to a people who
had not indeed from former circumstances been accustomed
to a law regulating the whole life. If we fancy the Israelites
as still occupying the position of the patriarchs, they are a
complete enigma to us. Egypt was preeminently a land of
law, and especially of written law. " There can be no
doubt," says Heeren,t "after all that we know of Egyp
tian antiquity, that legislation in its main branches was there
carried, as far at least as in any other land of the East."!
But especially was the religious polity of the Egyptians car
ried out into the most minute details. H e r o d o t u s§ says
of the Egyptian priests : " The priests shave the whole body
every third day — ; the priests also wear a linen garment and
shoes of papyrus, and they are not permitted to put on any
other clothing, and no other shoes. They bathe themselves
in cold water twice a day, and twice every night. And yet
many thousand other usages, I might say, they must observe."||
* In den Beitragen, Th. 3. S. 623-4. t S. 167.
X Concerning the Books of Legislation among the Egyptians, see
Diod. I. 94, and Zoega, De Obeliscis, p. 520.
§ B. 2. c. 37.
|| AXXat re &Qrjaxias imtekiovai (ivqlag, cus ehtstv loyy.

priests' garments. 153
If we take into view the people from among whom the Is
raelites were removed, the complicated character of the Mo
saic polity, very far from being an argument against its gen
uineness, must rather appear to us a necessary condition of
it. For a people which had been in such a school, a simple
polity was by no means suitable.
In the following institutions of the Books of Moses, special
Egyptian references-can be shown, or at least made probable.*
We begin with those things which are closely connected
with the preceding chapter, without properly belonging to it.

THE STUFF AND COLOR OF THE PRIESTS GARMENTS.
The similarity which is found to exist between the Israei
itish and Egyptian priests' garments in respect to color and
material, is of no small importance. It is clear from many
passages, that the Israeiitish priests were clothed in white
linen and byssus ;t and that the Egyptians were also so clothed,
is evident from Herodotus:! " But the priests wear merely
linen clothing, and are not allowed to put on any other." In
this passage linen includes also byssus.<§
Two arguments have been made use of to show that this agree
ment between Egyptian and Israeiitish antiquity is merely
accidental. First, it is asserted, that these priests' garments
* We satisfy ourselves with the statement of the really tenable
Egyptian references, for those which have been claimed as untenable
by those who have preceded us, we refer to the " Symbolik des Mo-
saischen Cultus," by Bahr, where their inadmissibility has been shown
oftentimes in a striking manner.
t As Ex. 28: 39—42. 39: 27, 28. Lev. 6: 10. Compare BTaun
de Vestitu Sacerdotis magni, I. p. 93 : Vestes totius coetus lineae
erant praeter balteum, qui ex lana et lino mixtus.
X 2. 37.
§ Compare Heeren Ideen, 1. 1. S. 107. II. 2. S. 133. Drumann,
Ueber die Inschrift von Rosette, S. 169. Pliny, Hist. nat. 19. 1, ves-
tis ex gossypie sacerdotibus Aeg. gratissimae.

154 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
did not probably belong to the Israelites and Egyptians alone,
but they are rather the same which were diffused throughout
the old world ; a sure proof, that one people cannot be sup
posed to have adopted them from another, that they were
rather, from the nature of the case, everywhere used.
Bahr* says : "Everywhere from India to Gaul, the priests'
wear garments of vegetable material, consequently, of linen
or cotton, and of white, if possible, of brilliant white color. It is
the less necessary to refer to individual documents concerning
these well known facts, as they have been already collected
by several authors."
But among those quoted, Spencer and Braun, in the
passage cited,t speak only of the white color. The former
directly shows that linen clothing is, with the exception of the
Israelites, peculiar only to the Egyptian priests. S a u b e r t,!
only undertakes to prove that the priests everywhere have been
accustomed to clothe themselves with white linen garments.
But the passages which the inaccurate collector quotes, all
have reference either to Egyptian or Israeiitish antiquity.
The color taken by itself, is indeed not without some im
portance. It is allowed that white priestly apparel is common
among other nations of antiquity. But in this exclusiveness
it is peculiar only to the Egyptians and Israelites. Rosen-
m u e 1 1 e r§ remarks : "Among the Greeks and Romans the
color of the pontifical robes was different according to the
different gods to whom they sacrificed, and white garments
were put on only when they offered to Ceres."|| (?)
But if we look at the material of the priests' robes in con
nexion with the color, an accidental agreement of Israeiitish
with Egyptian antiquity, can no longer be thought of. That
* In der Symbolik, Th. II. p. 87.
1 1. 179. X De Sacrificiis, 1. c. 9. p. 188.
§ In dem. A. & N. Morgenl. Th. 2. S. 190.
|| Ovid's Festb. 6. 619.

PREFERENCE OF LINEN GARMENTS. 155
their priests were clothed in linen, was considered in all
antiquity as a remarkable and exclusive peculiarity of the
Egyptians. The documents have already been so fully quoted
by S p e n c e r,* that we only need to refer to him. A priest
hood clothed only in linen, cannot be shown to have existed
elsewhere in all heathen antiquity ; and if the new Pythago
reans, appealing to the alleged example of Pythagoras himself,
gave the preference to linen clothing, instead of woolen,t this
can certainly be accounted for only by supposing an imitation
of Egyptian customs.
Bahr! adduces a second argument against the dependence
of the priestly robes of the Israelites upon those of the Egyptian.
" In Egypt," he says, " the byssus was chosen in preference,
and mainly on account of its origin, 'out of the indestruct-
"* p. 683 seq. He says : Addere liceat auctores illos antiquos, qui
de veste linea sic loqui solent, quasi sacrificulis Aegypti propria esset
et peculiaris. Nam linigeri tanquam proprius et peculiaris character
sacerdotum Aegyptiacorum apud antiquos, poetas inprimis, frequen
ter usurpatur. Ideo enim Juvenali giex liniger, Ovidio linigera turba,
Martiali linigeri calvi, qui et Senecae Unteati senes appellantur.
Herodotus aliique sacrum lineae vestis usum inter nativos et antiquos
Aegypti mores referunt. Compare the copious collections upon linen
as the peculiar dress of the Egyptian priests, in Perizonius upon
Suetonius, Otho, c. 12.
t According to Philistratus, p. 1. ed. Olearii, Pythagorus would wear
no clothing which was prepared from animal stuffs. Sic infra, remarks
Olearius upon this passage, Pythagoricae disciplinae initiatus~ Apol-
lonius Xivov ioxHjra d[n,7tla%STai,, Ttaqantjadfuvog zfjv dnb tmmv. Et
1.1. 32, a Pythagora se habere ait yr/lvm sqlw rovrty iora'X&aij quod
lana ex terra nata vestiatur. In B. 6. c. 11 of the Pythagorean phi
losophy, Apollonius says: Sectatorem suam nee lagna essefoven-
dum, nee lana quae animatis depecti solet. Olearius refers also to
other passages. The passages which Braun refers to in one of
various places before cited (I. p. 103,) in proof of the incorrect
position : " Ejusdem quoque materiae plerumque fuerunt ethnicorum
vestimenta sacra," can relate only to the Pythagoreans.
X Symbol. 2. S. 90, 91.

156 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
ible earth,' while they despised animal clothing, since it is
obtained from a creature subject to death, or since it implies
the death of the animals which they suppose unallowed.
The byssus garments of the Egyptian priests are therefore
most intimately connected with the fundamental principles
of the Egyptian natural religion, of which there is not the
least trace to be found in the Mosaic law. Supposing there
fore that the Egyptian priests only, besides those instituted
by Moses, had worn the byssus garment, in consequence of the
entirely different significance it had among them, it could yet
furnish no proof of a borrowing or copying."
But allow that it is shown that the import of the gar
ment of byssus was entirely different among the Egyptians
and the Israelites, yet the latter might very properly have
borrowed the custom. What good objection is there to the
supposition that they applied to a form borrowed from the
Egyptians a new significance 1
But the assertion that the reasons for the preference of this
kind of garment both among the Israelites and Egyptians are
entirely different, is in the highest degree uncertain. That
among the Israelites cleanliness is the ground of the use of gar
ments of linen only, and the prohibition of woolen is evident,
from Ex. ch. 44: 17, 18, The same thing is shown by B ah r
himself. To the same cause Herodotus, the oldest wit
ness, traces back the use of linen garments among the Egyp
tian priests. Both that which goes before the clause already
quoted : " The priests wear only linen garments." and also
that which follows, has reference to the cleanliness, which in
the estimation of the Egyptian priests was a matter of so much
importance. It is said before: The Egyptians are exces
sively religious above all other people, and consequently
practise the following usages : They drink from brazen cups
which they wash out thoroughly every day. They wear
linen garments always newly washed, with regard to which
they take peculiar care. They also practise circumcision

GARMENTS OF THE PRIESTS. 157
for the sake of cleanliness, and prefer neatness to decorum.
Moreover, the priests shave the whole body each third day, lest
either a louse or any other vermin, may be found on them,
while they are engaged in the service of the gods." After
follows : " They bathe twice a day in cold water and twice
every night."
Plutarch* who lived so much later, upon whom Bahr
relies for support in his claim for the most intimate connex
ion of the linen garments of the Egyptian priests with their
peculiar theology, reasons evidently on his own way, without
reference to the priests, and as the comparison with P h i 1 o s-
t r a t u s shows, more in the sense of the new Pythagoreans,
than of the Egyptian priests. Besides, he also represents the
linen as a pure garment which least of all generates vermin. t
But the reason assigned by B a h r is not even reconcilable
with the Egyptian law. The contempt for animal material
iu itself, accords not with the divine honor which in Egypt
was shown to animals. That the killing of animals in gen
eral ifi Egypt was considered as unallowed, is entirely
incorrect. Animals were sacrificed and eaten in Egypt
without scruple.
How one can suppose in his zeal for the vindication of the
Bible, that it is necessary to contend against the dependence
of the Israeiitish upon the Egyptian priests' garments, can
scarcely be conceived. The more original, independent and
peculiar the Israeiitish religion was in spirit, the less necessity
had it to avoid with timid care, every external contact with
the religions of other nations, the more- freely could it appro
priate to itself the suitable existing forms, and the more un
trammelled might it avail itself of the advantages which
familiarity with the religion of Egypt offered.
But we consider it certain that the Israeiitish priests'
garments in respect to material and color, were made in im-

* De Iside et Osir. p. 352.
t Ka&apdv laSrnta ijxiora tp&uqoiioiQv:
14

158 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
itation of those of the Egyptian priests. Their independence
of each other is excluded, since in reference to these particular
circumstances, these two nations stand alone in all antiquity.
The thought of an inverted order of things is, in addition
to the general reasons already given, impossible, since the
priesthood in Egypt, according to expressions in the Penta
teuch itself, had already long existed when that of the Israel
ites was instituted, the material of the clothing is peculiarly
Egyptian, and the garment of byssus even in the time of
Joseph, appears as the most common Egyptian clothing.*
Thus, we have an important result in favor of the Pentateuch.
Such a reference to Egyptian customs can only be supposed,
if the priesthood was instituted in the circumstances given
in the Pentateuch ; and modern views of the origin of the
Israeiitish priesthood must appear as entirely untenable, since
in the time to which this is referred, so close a connexiondid
not exist between the Israelites and Egyptians as to render it
possible for the former to borrow from the latter.

URIM AND THUMMIM.
The Egyptian reference in the Urim and Thummim, is
especially distinct and incontrovertible. Of them it is said :
"And you shall put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim
and the Thummim (the light and the truth) ; and they shall
be on Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord ; and
Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon
his heart before the Lord continually," Ex. 28: 30. According
to A e 1 i a n,t he high priest among the Egyptians, as superior
judge, wore around his neck an image of Sapphire, which was
* Gen. 41: 42.
t Var. Hist. L. 14. c. 34 : AlytlTtrioi' (petal naq' 'Equov zd vo/ufia
ex/iovow&ip'ai.- Sixaaral Si to dq%aiov nap* Alypnzioig ol Itqug tjaav
t)V Si toiItwv aqxojv 6 7rpsa^ilrarog xai ISixatev aitavtag. "ESsi Si

URIM AND THUMMIM. 159
called truth. Diodorus* also confirms this fact. Accor
ding to him the chief judge (also according to Diodorus the
office of judge belonged to the priests,t) wore around his neck
an image of costly stones, suspended upon a gold chain which
was named truth. After both of two contending parties have
laid open their case the high priest must touch one of them
with the image of truth. The same author! in describing
an Egyptian wall-picture shows us in the midst of the judges,
the chief judge, "who wears suspended from his neck the
truth with closed eyes." By this it is shown that the chief
judge must see only the truth. These declarations of the
ancients have received confirmation from the new discoveries
in Egypt. In proof of the statement of Diodorus, Rosel-
1 i n i§ says : "Among the monuments of the tombs, repre
sentations of persons are found who filled the office of chief
judge, and who wore the common little image of the goddess
Thmei suspended from the neck. W i 1 k i n s on|| gives from
the Theban monuments an engraving of the goddess who was
honored under the double character of truth and justice, and
was represented with closed eyes.
That a connection here exists between Egyptian and
Israeiitish antiquity, even the Seventy probably perceived,
since in Ex. 28: 30, they translated Urim and Thummim,
by revelation and truth, SrjXaKng xal akq&ua. This relation
also forced itself even upon the ancient theologians. B r a un,fi
for example, supposes that the Egyptians probably borrowed
this symbol from the Israelites.
But recently Bah r** has denied that there is any connec-
avTov elvai Sixcuoravov dv&p(o7twv xal aajsiSioraTOV sly,s Si xal
ayakfia napl xbv av%£va Ix oanqmlpov li&ov xal ixaXeito to ayakfia
dXij&sia. *B. 31. c. 75. t See Wesseling on this passage.
$B.1.«.48.- §11. 3. p. 500. H II. p. 27.
11 De Vestitu, p. 598. ** Symb. II. S. 164.

160 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tion between the two. The agreement, he asserts, depends
on no other ground than the acknowledged false translation
of Thummim by the Seventy, as meaning truth. But this
"acknowledged false translation" since the word means per-
fectness or blamelessness in the moral sense, is proved on
closer examination to be as completely correct, as the explana
tion given by B a h r is on the other hand false.*
Besides, remarks Bahr, there is nothing more incongru
ous than the significance of the Urim and Thummim when
compared with that badge of the judge, which evidently points
to impartiality as his first duty. But the moral significance
which later Greek writers, according to their custom, give
the symbol is not certainly the first and most important one.
That symbol has first and principally a promissory significance.
It refers to the special aid of the goddess of truth, and justice,
which the high-priest and chief judge enjoyed. On the other
hand the promissory significance does not exclude the moral
one in the Israeiitish symbol. Upon the promise follows of
itself rather the admonition. How intimately both are con
nected is shown hy Deut. 33: 8, 9, in which the Urim and
Thummim given to the tribe of Levi is considered as a pledge
that God will guide him in the decisions given in his name,
•According to him, (See S. 165,) the word cp must mean com
pleteness, and CtoP in connection with C^-ns is a subordinate, acces
sory idea, both together meaning perfect illumination. The suppo
sition of such a hendyadis, besides that it is in itself very harsh, and
confirmed by no entirely analogous example, is excluded by Deut.
33: 8, where e^teri stands first : " Thy Thummim and thy Urim belong
to thy holy one." The Urim (the plur, is the plur. majest., compare
Beitrage Th. 2. S. 258,) therefore, refers to divine illumination, the
Thummim to the perfect rectitude of the decision given by him, and
integrity and truth are the designations of the same thing considered
from a different point of view. The circumstance that B">1!|8 is used
unaccompanied by Thummim is very easily explained also by the
moral element comprehended in the latter. Light has right and truth
as its necessary concomitants, so that the Urim comprehends the
Thummim in itself.

VR1M AND THUMMIM. 161
and then it is said : " who says unto his father and to his
mother, I savMhee not, and his brother he recognizes not, and
his children he does not know," words which in a striking
manner, remind one of the Egyptian image of the goddess of
justice with closed eyes, and of the, statues of the judges at
Thebes mentioned in Plutarch* without hands with their
president at their head, having his eyes directed to the
ground. How any one could ever suppose that a denial of the affin
ity of these Egyptian and Israeiitish symbols is of any impor
tance in the vindication of the truth, can hardly be conceived.
Through the outward similarity the internal difference is
more clearly exhibited. As among the Egyptians the author
of truth appears to be a mere personified abstraction, an
image of their own fancy which can never have a true and
perfect power over its own producer, on the contrary, among
the Israelites he is the only, the living, the one God manifest
among his own people.
It is an important difference, that among the Egyptians the
symbol appears to have referred merely to judging in its nar
rower sense, while: the Urim and Thummim was a symbol of
the judicial office in a broader sense, promising generally to
the high-priest divine assistance in difficult and important
decisions, especially such as have reference to the weal and
woe of the whole people.

THE CHERUBIM AND THE SPHINXES.
The affinity of the cherubim with the Egyptian Sphinxes
is more doubtful, yet it is so only just so long as we consider
the thing merely by itself, and leave out of the account the
numerous other points of contact between the Pentateuch
* De lsid. et Os. See Wilk. II: 28.
14*

162 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
and Egypt. If these are taken into view, the similarity is
sufficient to warrant here also such an alliance.

The Figure and Significance of the Sphinxes.
We begin with some remarks upon the figure and signifi
cance of the Egyptian sphinxes. As respects the figure, it
was the current belief, in all antiquity, that the sphinx was com
posed of the lion and a young female, and recently, Bahr*
has argued, on this supposition, against the affinity of the
cherub with the sphinxes. This opinion has also been yet
more confirmed by the scholars of the French expedition, who,
while indeed Herodotust speaks of the man-sphinx, as
sert! that all the sphinxes with human heads which they
saw, except one near the-pyramids, had the head of a female.
This is also in accordance with A e 1 i a n. On the contrary,
the latest investigations of Egyptian antiquity have come to
the result, that the Egyptian sphinxes are never female, like
those of the Greeks, but always have the head of a man and
the body of a lion. W i 1 k i n s o n§ asserts this very confi
dently ; as also R o s e 1 1 i n i,|| who remarks : with the excep
tion of a very few cases the sphinxes have a beard. It is
consequently not true, as some affirm, led into error by the
Greek and Roman sphinxes copied from those in Egypt, that
these symbolic animals have the face of a female. They are
rather of male sex, which accords with their symbolic import.
The few exceptions are accounted for by supposing, that they
symbolize a queen who reigned at the time. Each of these
symbolic figures bears on the breast or some other part of
the body, the name and title of the king whom they designate,
and whose features the human head exhibits. The sphinxes
without inscriptions are the work of Grecian or Roman artists.
* Th. 1. S. 358. t B. 2. ^. 175.
X See Descr, t. 2. p. 575. § Vol. III. p. 23.
|| II. 2. p. 177-8.

IMPORT OF THE SPHINXES. 163
Even before both these authors, M i n u t o 1 i* had remarked :
"The sphinxes have either bodies of lions with human faces,
without however a trace of the female figure, or the Heads
of rams."
We will now speak of the import of the sphinxes. It is
acknowledged that the Egyptian animal combinations, in
general depending upon a symbolic significance, designate
the union of different characteristic properties which, by each
part, the animal made up will represent. So says J o m a r d :t
" They have excelled not less in the combination of differ
ent figures of animals, in order to compose chimerical beings,
expressing without doubt the reunion of the properties attri
buted to each of these figures." C r e u z e?! also remarks :
" Upon this Egyptian coin of the time of the emperor Adrian,
we see the beardless sphinx with the lotus on its head. The
front part of its body is covered with a veil down to the feet.
Out of its breast there is leaping forth the inverted head of a
crocodile, under its feet crawls a serpent, and upon its back
a griffon appears with the wheel ! There are, therefore, here
the different attributes of the godhead ; that of strength and
wisdom, that of secret control) the idea of eternity and of a
beneficent guardian angel, etc., united in this remarkable
way; and this representation may be designated by the
technical term Pdntheum."
Now, therefore, the sphinx can designate nothing else than
the union of strength and wisdom, and this import has also
been attributed to it from ancient times until the present,
with no inconsiderable agreement.^
* S. 257. t In the Descr. t. 1. p. 311. X Vol. I. p. 499.
§ Thus Clemens, Alex. Strom. L. 5. c. 8. p. 671, says: " dXxijc
xal poifiyg ovfijlokov avTolg 6 Xiotv. — *Ahti/g ts av fisrd avviosojg q
0<pty£> T° f*sv ouj/^a itav Kiovzog, to itqiaomov Si dv&qumov h'xovaa.
it is however granted, that it has not always this significance ; on
the contrary, in c. 5. of the same Vol. p. 664, its import is different.
Synesius, De Regno, p. 7, designates the sphinx as the sacred symbol

164 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
According to this whole view then, the sphinx symbolizes
merely the union of the two designated qualities ; whilst the
possessor of these is not indicated by the symbol itself, but
can be known only by the position in which the sphinx is
found. If they are found, as they commonly are, at the en
trance of a temple, where they form entire rows* on each
side, they designate the union of these properties in the deity
to wliom the temple is dedicated. If they are found around
the throne of the king, then the king' is the possessor of these
attributes. On the contrary, Rosellini and Wilkinson assert,
that the sphinx designates not merely qualities, but also the
king as the possessor of them. But the defenders of this
modern view have not attempted to substantiate its claims
in opposition to the old theory, and we do not see how they
can succeed in controverting the reasons which declare for
the latter. How can the sphinx, in its usual position before
the entrance of a temple, designate the king ? How can the
human face be understood to be personal, whilst the lion's
body, and all those things which in many cases are added to
it, as the hawk and vulture hovering over the sphinx, be
symbolical 1 How can it be reconciled with this supposi
tion, that besides the common sphinx or the Andro-sphinx, the
Crio-sphinx and the Hieraco-sphinx, the lion's body with
the ram's or hawk's head, are found ?t That which is ad-
ofthe union of the virtues, the strength of the animal and the insight
of man. Zoega, De Obeliseis, p. 598, says : Mens cum robore con-
juncta primus et obvius Aeg. sphingis significatus, Champollion,
Briefe, S. 229, gives <¦ similar explanation : The monarch (Remeses
Meiamun), adorned with all the insignia of royalty, sits upon a beauti
ful throne, which the golden images of justice and truth cover with
their outstretched wings: the sphinx, a symbol both of wisdom and
strength, and the lion, the emblem of courage, stand near the throne,
and seem to be its guardians.
* See Descr. t. 2. p. 505 seq. Creuzer, I. S. 498.
t Wilk. Vol. 111. p. 27.

THE CHERUBIM. 165
duced as positive proof for this theory, is anything but deci
sive. It rests upon the supposition that all sphinxes bear
the name and title of a king. Allow that this is so, when
the sphinx is intended to represent royal qualities, cannot the
name and the title serve directly to designate the possessor of
these symbolized qualities, not designated by the symbol it
self!* But where the sphinx has a religious import, there
the inscription may appropriately immortalize the name of the
king who built the temple. Were it true, that the human
faces of the sphinxes represent the countenances of the kings
whose name they bear, it might be accounted for, by suppos
ing that they "considered the face of the king as the most np-
ble representative of the human face.

The Cherubim — their Form and Import.
We turn to the cherubim. That this symbol, as such,
aside from its significance, which includes a real, original,
Israeiitish element, did not spring up on Jewish ground, ap
pears probable from the merely scattered notices of it which
are found. We cannot, however, appropriate to ourselves
the argument which Bauer has adduced in favor of its
foreign origin, namely, that ' the cherubim was not first intro
duced by Moses, since the law speaks of it in a manner that
it could not do, except on the supposition that it was already
definitely known among the people ;' for indeed, at the time
in which the law was written down, cherubs with all the ac
companying things,- for which B a u e rt argues in like man
ner, had already existed a long time, — a circumstance which
could not fail to modify the record, and cause the thing to

* The crown also and other symbols of royalty, which according to
Wilk. Vol. III. p. 362, are said to be often represented on the sphinx
es, are for the same purpose.
i Rel. des Alt. Test. Th. I. S. 300.

166 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
appear, in various ways, as if it were well known at the time
of its introduction.
We are specially guided to the Egyptian origin of the che
rubim, since of all the people with whom the Israelites in
ancient times were closely connected, only among the Egyp
tians are compound animals found in history. "Among the
Phoenician animal combinations," says B a h r,* " we only
recollect Moloch." But the information that the image of
Moloch had a bullock's head is found in R. Simon H a d-
darschan, A. D. 1310! ! t And in like manner, it, is of
no importance what is found in the same author! concerning
compound animals among the Carthaginians.
But the real similarity of form between the Hebrew che
rubim and the Egyptian sphinxes is of greater importance.
Even in the cherub of Ezekiel, this -agreement is still in a
considerable degree perceivable. Two of the same elements,
lion and man, are found here and ia^fhe^sjphinx. But it is
generally agreed that the form of the cherubim in Ezekiel is
not the original one, but that the prophet, as from his whole
character Cannot be supposed improbable, expanded variously
the symbol.§ In what the additions and changes consisted
is difficult to determine, since we possess only so very imper
fect notices of the figure of the Mosaic cherubim. || But
we can show, with great probability, from Ezekiel himself,
that the changes have reference to just those things in which
the cherubim of Ezekiel are unlike the Egyptian sphinxes.
Thus, while the cherubim in Ezek. 1: 10 appear to be made
* I. S. 358. t Compare Munter Relig. der Caithag. S. 9.
X S. 68.
§ See, e. g. among the ancient writers, Witsius Egyptiaca, p. 158,
among those of modern times, Bahr, S. 311 ff.
|| Witsius remarks correctly, p. 155: Moses speaks of the form as
only twofold, primum quod passas habuerint alas sursum versus quod-
que suis alis obtexerint propitiatorium, dein quod facies habuerint ob
versus sibi mutuo itemque conversas ad propitiatorium.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHERUBIM. 167
up of four elements, and have four faces, that of a man, an
ox, a lion and an eagle; in Ez. 41: 18 — 20, only two faces,
that of a man and of a lion, are ascribed to them. Now we
may certainly, with L i g h t f o o t and M i c h a e 1 i s* assume
that the two other faces are to be considered as existing, but
not in sight,t an assumption which receives confirmation
from Ez. 1: 10, according to which the ox and the eagle
were on the reverse side. But yet this at least remains in
force, that in the cherubim of Ezekiel, the man and the lion
were in front, and therefore when placed against the wall
they only came in sight. This leads us to the result, that
the change before spoken of by Ezekiel, consisted in his ad
dition of the element of the ox and the eagle, just as also in
the sphinxes, to the original and principal elements, the lion
and man, in many cases others are also added.! Thus, the
form of the cherubim is reduced almost to that of the sphinx.
The only remaining difference of importance, namely, that
the simple cherub yet has two faces, while the sphinx, al
though composed of two elements, has only one, is probably
also to be set to the account of Ezekiel. That the Mosaic
cherub had only one face has been rightly shown§ from Ex.
25:20: "And their faces shall be towards one another ; to
wards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be."
As respects the significance of the cherubim, their real
agreement in this particular with the Egyptian sphinxes can
not be doubted, and the difference and opposition respects not
so much the import of the symbol, as rather the possessor of the
qualities signified by them. " The cherub," remarks Bahr,
* Bibl. Heb. on this passage.
t Alias quatuor, quia hie duae tantum in piano apparebant. Duae
itaque aliae facies concipi debent quasi parieti obversae et ab eo ob-
scuratae. Latuit facies vitulina a sinistris et facies aquilina a tergo.
X See the passage cited from Creuzer, S. 159.
§ See, e. g. Ges. Thesaurus, same word.

168 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
who of all writers has comprehended most correctly and tho
roughly the nature of this symbol, "is such a being as stand
ing on the highest grade of created existence, and containing
in itself the most perfect created life, is the best manifestation
of God and the divine life. It is a representative of creation
in its highest grade, an ideal creature. The vital powers
communicated to the most elevated existences in the visible
creation are. collected and individualized in it." Accord
ingly the difference would perhaps consist only in this, that
in the cherubim, the divine properties were only indirectly
symbolized, so far as they came into view in the works of
creation, whilst in the sphinx, directly, a difference which
cannot be considered important.

LEVITICUS, CHAP. XVI. AZAZEL.
An Egyptian reference, it appears to us, must necessarily
be acknowledged in the ceremony of the great atonement day.
But in order to exhibit this reference, we must first substan
tiate our view of "the meaning of the word bTNJS, Azazel,
which is, that it designates Satan. And this can only be
seen at a right point of view, if we in the first place, in a
general survey of the whole rite, point out definitely the posi
tion which the word Azazel takes in it.
First, in verses 1 — 10 the general outlines are given, and
then follows in v. 11 seq. the explanation of separate points.
It is of no small importance for the interpretation, that this
arrangement, a knowledge of which has escaped most inter
preters, be understood. Aaron first offers a bullock as a
sin-offering for himself and his house. He then takes a fire
pan full of coals from the altar, with fragrant incense, and
goes within the vail. There he puts the incense on the fire
before the Lord, and " the cloud of the incense (the embodied
prayer) covers the mercy-seat which is upon the testimony,

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 169
that hedie not." Aaron then takes of the blood of the bullock
and sprinkles it seven times before the mercy-seat. After he
has thus completed the- expiation for himself, he proceeds to
the expiation for the people. He takes two he-goats for a sin-
offering, riNErjb , for the children of Israel, verse 5. These
he places before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, verse 7. He casts lots upon them, one lot for
the Lord, StlfTb , and one lot for Azazel, bt&rtsb , verse 8.
The goat upon which the lot for the Lord, trirpb, fell, verse
9, he offers as a sin-offering, brings his blood within the vail,
and does with it as with the blood of the bullock. In this way
is the sanctuary purified from the defilements of the children of
Israel, their transgressions and all their sins, so that the Lord,
the holy one and pure, can continue to dwell there with them.
After the expiation is completed, the second goat, the one on
which the lot for Azazel, bTNWb, fell, is brought forward,
verse 10. He is first placed before the Lord to absolve him,
¦pbs> "iB3b.* Then Aaron lays both his hands upon his
head, and confesses over him the (forgiven) iniquities, trans
gressions and sins of the children of Israel, puts them upon
his head, and gives him to a man to take away, in order that
he may bear the sins of the people into a solitary land,t verse
22, into the desert, for Azazel, verse 10. Then Aaron of
fers a burnt-offering for himself, and one for the people.
Now, in respect to language, there can be no objection to
interpreting Azazel as meaning Satan. The exposition be
low shows this conclusively.!
* Verse 10, with 16 and 18.
t HITS yi.lT'V)* j literally, in terrain abscissam, sc. a terra habitata.
The Seventy c els yyv aftotTOV. Vulgate : in terram solitariam. / / /
X That the Hebrew root Vt» corresponds to the Arabic \ ¦£,
as was asserted by Bochart as early as his time, and afterwards by
Schroder in Scheid and Groenewood, Lex. Hebr. II. 397, is now gen
erally acknowledged. Vf.HtS (for VjVts) belongs to the form which
15:"

170 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
But this explanation, as far as facts in the case are con
cerned, is in like manner exposed to no well grounded ob
jections. The doctrinal significance of the symbolic action,
so far as it has reference to Azazel, is this, that Satan, the
enemy of the people of God, cannot harm those forgiven by
God, but they, with sins forgiven of God, can go before him
with a light heart, deride him and triumph over him.
The positive reasons, which favor this explanation and
oppose every other, are the following :
1. The manner in which the phrase bu*wb, for Azazel,
is contrasted with rtirVb , for Jehovah, necessarily requires
that Azazel should designate a personal existence and if
so, only Satan can be intended. 2. If by Azazel, Satan
is not meant, there is no reason for the lots that were
cast. We can then see no reason why the decision was
referred to God, why the high priest did not simply as
sign one goat for a sin offering, the other for sending away
repeats the second and third radicals. In reference to this form
Ewald in his smaller Grammar, § 333, remarks : " The form indeed
also expresses general intension, but the idea of continual, regular
repetition, without interruption, is also especially expressed by the
repetition of nearly the whole word.'' In reference to the meaning
/ / /
of the word we are referred to the Arabic. The word J.'C signi
fies in that language, semovit, dimovit, removit, descivit ; in the pass.
remotus, depositus fuit ; and the part. JjvC means, a ceteris se se-
5 / c£ 5 i c *
jungens. In like manner, .VCl , ij^r**0 sign'fy> semotus, re
motus, abdicatus. Accordingly two explanations of VtKTS relating
to Satan are furnished, either the apostate (from God) or the one en
tirely separate. It is in favor of the latter, 1. that the signification,
descivit, is only a derived one, and 2. that it is appropriate to the
abode in the desert. The goat is sent to Azazel, in the desert, in the
divided land (terram abscissam). How could he then be designated
by a more appropriate name than the separate one ?

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 171
into the desert. The circumstance that lots are cast, implies
that Jehovah is made the antagonist of a personal existence,
with respect to which it is designed to exalt the unlimited power
of Jehovah, and exclude all equality of this being with Jeho
vah. 3. Azazel, as a word of comparatively infrequent form
ation and only usedhere, is best fitted for the designation of
Satan. In every other explanation, the question remains,
why then (as it has every appearance of being) is the word
formed for this occasion, and why is it never found except
here ?
4. By this explanation the third chaper of Zechariah comes
into a relation with our passage, entirely like that in which
chap.7 iv. of the same prophecy stands to Exod. chap. 25: 31.
Here as there, the Lord, Satan and the high-priest appear.
Satan wishes by his accusations to destroy the favorable
relations between the Lord and his people. The high-priest
presents himself before the Lord not with a claim of purity,
according to law, but laden with his own sins and the sins of the
people. Here Satan thinks to find the safest occasion for his
attack, but he mistakes. Forgiveness baffles his designs ;
he is compelled to retire in confusion.* It is evident that
the doctrinal import of both passages is substantially the same,
and the one in Zechariah may be considered as the oldest
commentary extant on the words of Moses. In substance
we have the same scene also in the Apocalypse, 12: 10, 11 :
" The accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuses
them before our God day and night, and they overcome him
by the blood of the Lamb."
5. The relation in which, according to our explanation,
Satan is here placed to the desert, finds analogy in other
passages of the Bible, where the deserted and waste places
appear as peculiarly the abode of the evil spirit. See Matt,
12: 43, where the unclean spirit cast out from the man is repre-
* Christol. Th. S. 33 seq.

172 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
sented as going through "dry places," Luke 8: 27, and Apoc
alypse 18: 2, according to which the fallen Babylon is to be
the dwelling of all unclean spirits. 6. To the reasons already
given the Egyptian reference which the rite has according to
this explanation, may be added — a reference which is so re
markable that no room can remain for the thought that it has
arisen through false explanation.
Among the objections to this explanation the one which is
most important, and has exerted the most influence is this,
that it gives a sense which stands in direct opposition to the
spirit of the religion of Jehovah. , It was this, objection which
made so many of the ancient theologians disinclined to inter
pret the passage as we have done;*
The objections which so many in modern times, even as
late as Bahr have chenshed against this interpretation, pro
ceed almost entirely from this point. Most of -its opposers
expressly declare themselves as of the same opinion with
Baumgarten-Crusius, who in his Biblical Theologyt
says : "In fact, could an offering properly be made to the evil
spirit, in the desert, which the common precepts of religion
in the Mosaic law as well as the significance of this ceremony
entirely oppose?"
Now, were it really necessary to connect with the expla
nation of Azazel as meaning Satan, the assumption that
sacrifice was offered to him, we should feel obliged to abandon
it, notwithstanding all the reasons in its favor. Especially in
* Deyling, e. g. who after he has been candid enough to remark, in
the Obss. Sac. 1. p. 50: Lamed Jehovae etAzazeli prefixum casum
eundem, nempe dativum notat, nee possunt ei significationes diversae
5n eodem commate attribui,yet, p. 51, shrinksback from the explanation
of Azazel as meaning Satan, with these words : Quid fingi potest
ineptius absurdiusque, quam deum ex duobus hircis alterum sibi,
alterum diabolo destinasse et often jussisse. Nonne Lev. 17: 7, sacri-
ficare daemonibus expressis verbis vetat ? Lund also gives a similar
explanation, S. 1032.
t S. 294.

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 173
the manner in which G e s e n i u s* understands the passage,
it presents an opposition to the the vital being of the religion
of Jehovah, so atrociously unjust, that whoever adopts this
cannot think of assenting to that.
But nothing is easier than to show that this manner of
understanding the explanation is entirely arbitrary. The
following reasons prove that an offering made to Azazel
cannot be supposed :
1. Both the goats were designated in verse 5 as a sin-
offering. "And from the congregation of the children of
Israel he shall take two goats for a, sin-offering." That
these goats were taken together as forming unitedly one sin-
offering wholly excludes the thought, that one of them was
brought as an offering to Jehovah and the other as an offering
to Azazel ; and further an offering which is given to a bad
being can indeed never be a sin-offering. The idea of a sin-
offering implies holiness, hatred of sin in the one to whom
the offering is made.t
* In Robinson's Gesenius, p. 751, it is said : I render it (^?StS) with
out hesitation, the averter, the expiator, averruncus aXt£ixaxog. By
this name I suppose is to be understood Originally- some idol that was
appeased with sacrifices ; but afterwards, as the names of idols were
often transferred to demons, it seems to denote an evil demon dwelling
in the desert, and to be placated iwith victims, in accordance with this
very ancient and also gentile rite.
t Itis acknowledged that this reason would lose its force, if it were
allowable, with Bahr, S. 679, to generalize the meaning of riSBfj. .
It need not, he remarks, be taken in its most limited sense, as a sin-
offering, but it may be translated in a general way, as the Seventy
have done, by tcsqI dfiaqTiag ; Aaron shall take the two goats on
account of sin.. But this generalizing, of which even the Seventy
had no conception, we must consider as entirely arbitrary. The word
riNtari has everywhere only the two significations, sin and sin-offer
ing, (compare Ges. Theses, v.,) and since the first here is not suitable,
only the last can be understood! That this sense is the correct one here ,
can' the less be doubted, since the word is so often used in the eon-
text itself with this meaning. It is especially required by the antith-
15*

174 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
2. Both the goats were first placed at the gate of the taber
nacle of the congregation, before the Lord. To him therefore
they both belong, and when aflerwards one of them is sent to
Azazel, this is done in accordance with the wish of Jehovah
and also without destroying the original relation, since the
one sent to Azazel does not cease to belong to the Lord.
3. The casting of lots also shows that both these goats'are to
be considered as belonging to the Lord. The lot is never
used in the Old Testament except as a means of obtaining
the decision of Jehovah. So theii, here also, Jehovah decides
which goat is to be offered as a sin-offering and which shall
be sent to Azazel.*
4. The goat assigned to Azazel, before he is sent away is
absolved : "And the goat upon whom the lot falls for Azazel,
shall be placed alive before the Lord in order to absolve him,t
esis between nsBfi and nV», in verse 5. Who can doubt that in
the connexion with burnt-offering so frequently occurring nKtari
must designate sin-offering? Just the same connection of nstsriV
and nViS?; , we also have in verse 3,~
* The last two reasons are stated even by Rabbi Bechai upon this
passage, quoted in Mauritius, De Sortione Hebraeorum, p. 35 : TJter-
que hircus iste erat oblatio domini, ad indicandum non debere nos
aliter cogitare de utroque, quam soli deo benedicto esse oblatum, atque
ideo sacerdos statim ab initio hujus operis duas res istas fecit : nimirum
obtulit utrumque hireorum in oblationem dei et projiciebat sortes su
per illos : res enim ilia, quae opera sortitionis dividitur, est portio, quae
a domino venit, uti scriptum exstat ; in sinu projicitur sors et a deo
omnis ejus causa. Quodsi enim sacerdos ipse ore tenus sanctificasset
eos dicens : hie est dei et hie est Asaselis, tunc utramque rem similem
fecisset, quomodo autem non facere licet. Jam vero, cum medio sortis
hoc factum sit, en deus ipse Asaseli hircum dedicat, atque ita ab ipso
veniebat hircus ad eum, sicque deus ipse electionem faciebat, non nos.
tThe endeavor to give a different sense to these words is vain.
The proposition hi accompanying "iBS designates always and without
exception the object of sin, (compare Bahr, S. 683,) and even in this
same chapter -|B3 with V» is so used. Even Cocceius says that he
cannot find that "is 3 with V? is used otherwise, nisi vel de personis,

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 175
V^s'iaai?, and then send him to Azazel in the desert."
The act by which the second goat is, as it were, identified
with the first, to transfer to the living the nature which the
dead possessed, shows to what the phrase ' For a sin-offer
ing' in verse 5 has reference, and what Spencer indeed per
ceived, — the two goats, says he, are as it were, one goat, —
that the duality of the goats rests only on the physical impos
sibility of making one example represent the different points
to be exhibited. Had it been possible, in the circumstan
ces, to restore life to the goat that was sacrificed, this would
have been done. The two goats in this connexion, stand in
a relation entirely similar to that of the two birds in the pu
rification of the leprous person in Lev. 1: 4, of which the
one let go was dipped in the blood of the one slain, As soon
as the second goat is considered as an offering to Azazel, the
connection between it and the first ceases, and it cannot be
conceived why it was absolved before it was sent away.
5. According to verse 21, the already forgiven sins of
Israel are laid on the head of the goat. These he bears to
Azazel in the desert. But where there is already forgiveness
of sins, there is no more offering.
6. The goat is sent alive into the desert. But in accord
ance with the view of the thing in the Old Testament, no
animal offering is made without the shedding of blood.
Thus, therefore, this first and principal objection to the
interpretation of Azazel by Satan is to be considered as fully
confuted.* What Bahr remarks : " Now if we understand
pro quibus expiatio facta, vel de instrumentis cultus sacri altari et
similibus. * It is worth while to consider also what Schroder, De Azazele Marb.
1725. S. 31, adduces for the intimate relation which the two goats
sustain to each other: Notari et hoc inprimis meretur, ambos hircos
in ipsa consecratione ita fuisse sibi mutuo implexos, ut heutrius ritus
seorsim absolvendi, sed utriusque cerimoniae pariter inchoandae, al-
ternis vicibus administrandae et junctim quasi consummandae unius

176 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
Azazel as a personal superhuman being, opposed to Jehovah,
the text, verse 8, does not, permit us to understand the phrase,
for Azazel, in an entirely different sense from that, for Jeho
vah ; on the other hand, it is necessary to recognize an offer
ing in the second goat, as well as in the first, both before in
verse 5 are particularly represented as appointed for a sin-
offering,"* — will not easily lead any one into error. What
Bahr here adduces as an argument against the interpretation
approved by us, far more strongly opposes his own, and every
other explanation, than that by Satan. We can, I think,
at least, which is the first point insisted on, understand the
b. in In'irT'b and in bMWb , as in the same grammatical con
struction. According 'to our interpretation, one animal, at
least in a certain sense, belongs to Jehovah, and the other to
Azazel. The demand that both shall belong in precisely the
same sense as offerings to the one and to the other is entirely
inadmissible, since the contrary is expressly said. The goat
which fell to the share of the Lord, is indeed, according to
verse 9, offered to him as a sin-offering, the one which fell to
Azazel is, according to verse 10, first absolved and then sent
alive to him. The hypothesis of B a h r is not wholly with
out foundation. The symbol is intended to exhibit diversity
piaculi sacra referre videantur. Uterque accipitur quasi unus, ad
Aharonem adducitur, coram domino sistitur, utriusque sors ducitur :
tunc unus mactatur, ej usque sanguis spargitur; alter impositis cum
p'rece manibus dimittitur : dum illius exta exemta super altari, caro
cum pelle extra castra cremantur, hie in desertum locum abducitur
sicque ambo una expediuntur. Praecedebat alias in sacrificiis piacu-
laribus simplicibus, una tantum victima constantibus manuum impo-
sitio mactationem ; quod inconveniens plane esset jugulato animali eo
ritu peccata imponere : ged.quod hoc sacrificium et mori et superstes
esse deberet, unius hirci morte ac sanguine sparso reatus ante aufe-
rendus erat, quam alteri vivo imponeretur poena. Ita sane uterque
hircus deo, ille mactatione, sparsione, iricensione, combustione,- hie
omnia fidelis populi peccata portans, vindicatus est.
* S. 686.

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 177
on. the ground of a certain equality in the beginning. The
design is to oppose the heathenish and peculiarly Egyptian
view, which represents the evil principle as equally powerful,
with equal right to be propitiated in like manner with the
good being. With reference to this notion, two like things
were first simply placed together, in order that the difference
between both, and the dissimilarity of that which is to be
done to them j may be presented in so much the clearer light.
Bahr* adduces a second objection: "Nowhere in the
Mosaic ritual^are Jehovah and the Devil placed together in
a general way, much less then in such a manner, that lots
are cast between the two, in order to determine their claims.
This would have had, in the eyes of the people, an appear
ance of equality between the two beings." But the whole
rite, according to our explanation, rather has the tendency to
destroy the inclination existing among a people to believe in
such an equality. The casting of lots, instead of being op
posed to this tendency, is rather firmly established in its fa
vor. This follows directly, if it is only settled, that accord
ing to the view of the Old Testament, the lot is under the
direction of Jehovah. That the casting of lots here is not as
a mediation between the two, so that it as an independent
third agency decides to which of the two the one and to
which the other shall fall, is clear from the fact, that both goats
are represented as belonging to the Lord; before the lots are
cast, by the phrase, for a sin-offering, in verse 5, and by the
direction in verse 7 to place them before the Lord. The
passage therefore by no means exhibits an equality, or even
the appearance of it.
Ewaldt refers to a third objection: "A bad demon,
Azazel, which those later than the exile have first made out
from the passage, cannot be found in the Pentateuch." But
an explanation which is demanded with absolute necessity
* S. 687, t Gr. Gram. S. 243.

178 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
by the laws of interpretation, cannot be disproved by such
objections. They in any case have forceonly when the thing
cannot be decided with certainty on exegetical grounds.
And why is it said, that an account of Satan cannot be found
in the Pentateuch 1 Because it was first notorious after the
exile? But even E wald allows that the book of Job was
composed long before this time, and should it be asserted
that the Satan of this book is still not possessed of the real
attributes of Satan, every one will easily perceive, that that
which seems to favor this belongs only to the poetic drapery.
It will vanish as soon as that only is understood, which is as
clear as open day, namely, that the prologue bears, in the
same degree, a poetical character, that the speeches do.
The hypothesis, that the knowledge of Satan does not ap
pear among the Israelites until after the exile, has been
evidently called forth by a motive external to the thing itself,
by the feeling that this knowledge is of heathen origin, and
consequently able to cast a shadow upon the truth of the ac
count. But it is scarcely possible to conceive how it can be
believed, that one, even with this object in view, is confined
to Persian times. Is it not unaccountable, that it is not per
ceived, that just as much is accomplished by a reference to
the Egyptian Typhon as to the Persian Ahriman? That
this view is so firmly adhered to, appears to be explicable,
only on the ground that at the time when this interest first
arose, the Zendavesta was just in fashion, and that as this
lost popularity, the hypothesis already strengthened had be
come historical tradition, which was received without ar
gument. From a theological point of view, which according to our
belief is the true and only scientific one, it will, from the
nature of the case, be found almost impossible, that a dogma,
which in the later period of the revelation holds so important
a place, should not also at least be referred to in the statement
of the first principles of that revelation. So far, therefore,

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 179
from expelling it by force, where it does exist, we are rattier
inclined to search carefully for the traces of its existence.
Besides, our passage is not the only one in the Pentateuch
which contains intimations of the doctrine of a Satan. That
such a doctrine is also prominent in Gen. chap, iii, has been
shown in recent times, among others, by S c h o 1 1,* Rosen-
m u e 1 1 e r,t H a h n,! and in the Christology .§
After exhibiting the positive reasons for the explanation of
Azazel by Satan, and obviating the objections to it, we must
now also subject to examination those among the various ex
planations that have been given, which are now current,
whilst in reference to the rest we refer to B a h r.
According to E w al d,|| Azazel designates " the unclean,
the unholy (literally, the separate, the abhorred) sin." But
this explanation must, on philological grounds, be considered
as questionable. IT It however appears much more untenable,
when we examine the context. According to this, what can
be the meaning when it is said in verse 10, " to send it to
Azazel, bTNWb, in the desert "?" or in verse 26, "he who
brings the goat to Azazel, bTNTSbl" In what sense can it
be said that the goat was sent to sin 1
Moreover, this explanation has indeed been adopted by no
one except its originator, who has perhaps himself long ago
abandoned it. There is another, to which the authority of
T h o 1 u c k** among others has given more currency, and
which is defended by B a.h r : tt " for complete removal." As
* Theol. Dogmat. p. 128. t S. 109.
t Dogmat. S. 345. § I. 1. S. 27 ff.
|| Gr. Gram. S. 243.
IT The signification which Ewald gives to the word is quite unlike
that of the root in the Arabic. No authority is found for the change.
It stands entirely by itself. If it were allowed to proceed in this
way, hlWV could signify something very different still.
** The A. T. in the N. T. (Beit, zum Br. an die Hebr.), S. 80.
tt S.668,.

180 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
far as philology is concerned," says Bahr, very confidently,
"there is at any rate no objection to it." But we cannot
assent to this. The explanation is rather philologically en
tirely untenable.*
How little one can succeed with this in the context lies on
the surface. Even in verse 8 we do not know how' to disr-
pose of it. " A lot for Jehovah and a lot for complete remo
val :" this is not congruous. The lot is, not to be carried
away. Also the demand for similarity in the use of the prepo
sitions in rlirpb and bj.NTS.b , for Jehovah and for Azazel,
will then be grossly violated. We see, therefore, that we are
compelled, at "the outset, to modify the explanation with
T h o 1 u c k , who translates : ' one lot for the animal devoted
to God; the other lot for the animal destined for removal.'
But the interpretation, thus modified, is not congruous, again,
in verse 10 : 'the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel.'
There we cannot translate : ' for the animal destined for re
moval,' but, ' for complete removal ;' and just so, also, in the
last words of the same verse : ' to send it, bTNTSb , for com
plete removal, in the desert.' And if the b in these last two
cases can only be interpreted by for (denoting purpose), it is
not proper to translate it in verse 8, as even the fi "itfb
demands by for (denoting possession) — Also in verse 26, this
explanation of Azazel is not suitable. It is there said :
he who let go (or sent away) the goat, "bTJtwb ¦¦' If we here
translate : ' for complete removal,' it will neither be said for
whom, to whom, or whither, the goat is sent away. That the
first (the individual to whom it is sent) is designated by bjNWb
is so entirely evident, that any one will scarcely be able to
deny it without doing violence to his conscience as an inter
preter^ * The forms like VtSYS are only adjectiva, (compare Ewald Kl.
Gram. § 333,) not abstracta, least of all 'nomzna actionis, which cannot
come from words originally adjectiva.
t The h in ^tsstsV in verse 8 and 10 can the less be explained by for

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 181
If it is now established that Satan is to be understood by
the term Azazel, then an allusion to Egypt, in the whole rite,
cannot be mistaken.
Among the great errors which necessarily arise as soon as
man having attained to reflection is abandoned by insight in
to the depth of human sinfulness, which insight alone will ex
plain the riddle of human life, is dualism, an error propor
tionally harmless, which in Egypt also took very deep root.
"Every bad influence or power of nature, and generally the
bad itself, in a physical or ethical respect," was there personi
fied under the name of Typhon.*
The doctrine of a Typhon among the Egyptians/is as old as
it is firmly established. Representations of him are found on
numerous monuments as old as the time of the Pharaohs.t
Herodotus speaks of Typhon in 2. 144,56. and 3.5.
But Plutarch gives the most accurate and particular ac
counts with indeed many incorrect additions.!
The barren regions around Egypt generally belonged to
Typhon. § The desert was especially assigned to him as his
residence, whence he made his wasting inroads into the con
secrated land. "Heis,"says Creuzer, || " the lover of the
degenerate Nephthys, the hostile Lybian desert, and of the
sea-shore, — there is the kingdom of Typhon ; on the con
trary, Egypt the blessed, the Nile-valley glittering with fresh

(denoting purpose), and some other than a personal being be un
derstood by Azazel, since \ is used in other places to designate the
person to -whom a lot belongs. Compare Josh. 19: 1 — " And the sec
ond lot came forth ¦jisw fo\ to Simeon." Verse 10 : " And the third
lot came out for the children' of Zebulon, ")>!>aT ''53^ , and so also
in other Verses in the same chapter.
* Creuzer, Myth. I. S. 317. t Compare Creuzer, S. 322 ff.
X Compare Jablonski, III. p.. 59, 60,
§ Tdip ioxdrcav ditroftsvog, Plutarch in Jabl. p. 83. || S. 269.
16

182 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
crops, is the land of Isis." Herodotus* ascribes a similar
dwelling to Typhon.t
In a strange but very natural alternation, the Egyptians
sought sometimes to propitiate the god whom they hated, but
feared, by offerings, and indeed by those which consisted of
sacred animals. Sometimes, again, when they supposed that
the power of the good gods was prevalent and sustained them
against him, they allowed themselves in every species of
mockery and abuse. " The obscured and broken power of
Typhon," says Plutarch,! " even now, in the convulsions
of death, they seek sometimes to propitiate by offerings, and
endeavor to persuade him to favor them ; but at other times,
on certain festival occasions, they scoff at and insult him.
Then they cast mud at those who are of a red complexion,
and throw down an ass from a precipice, as the Coptites do,
because they suppose that Typhon was of the color of the fox
and the ass." The most important passage on the worship of
Typhon is found on p. 380 : " But when^a great and trouble
some heat prevails, which in excess either brings along with it
destructive sickness or other strange or extraordinary misfor
tunes, the priests take some of the sacred animals, in profound
silence, to a dark place. There they threaten them first and
terrify them, and when the calamity continues they offer these
animals in sacrifice there."§
Now the supposition of a reference to these Typhonia sacra,
Witsius considers as a profanation. || But it is seen at once
that the reference contended for by him is materially different
* B. 3. c. 5.
t Compare upon this passage, Bahr and Cteuzer in Comm. Herod.
p. 285. X De Iside et Os. p. 362.
\ Compare Comm. upon the passage in Schmidt, De Sacerdotibus
et S'acrif. Aeg. p. 312 seq.
|| Aeg. L. II. c. 9. p. 119 : Num perrnisit suis deus, nedum ut jus-
serit genium aliquem averruncum agnoscere, quern sacratis placarent
animantibus, aut quicquam facere abominationibus Aegyptiorum
simile.

THE AZAZEL OF LEV. XVI. 183
from that adopted by us. The latter is a polemic one. In
opposition to the Egyptian view which implied the necessity
of yielding respect even to bad beings generally, if men would
ensure themselves against them, it was intended by this rite
to bring Israel to the deepest consciousness, that all trouble
is the punishment of a just and holy God, whom they, through
their sins, have offended, that they must reconcile themselves
only with him ; that when that is done and the forgiveness of
sins is obtained, the bad being can harm them no farther.
How very natural and how entirely in accordance with
circumstances such a reference was, is evident from the
facts contained in other passages of the Pentateuch which
show how severe a contest the religious principles of the
Israelites had to undergo with the religious notions imbibed
in Egypt. This is especially exhibited in the regulations in
Leviticus xvii, following directly upon the law concerning
the atonement day, which prove that the Egyptian idol wor
ship yet continued to be practised among the Israelites. The
same thing is also evident from the occurrences connected
witli the worship of the golden calf.
The assumption of a reference so specially polemic might
indeed be supposed unnecessary, since in a religion, which
teaches generally the existence of a powerful bad being, the
error here combated, the belief that this being possesses other
than derived power, will naturally arise in those who have
not found the right solution of the riddle of human life in the
deeper knowledge of human sinfulness.
But yet the whole rite has too direct a reference to
a prescribed practice of propitiating the bad being, and im
plies that formal offerings were made to him — such a thing
as has never been the product of Israeiitish soil, and
could scarcely spring up there, since such an embodying of
error contradicts fundamental principles among the Israelites
respecting the being of Jehovah, which indeed allows the
e^s^tence_jol_no_other power with itself. And finally, there
exists here a peculiar trait, which in our opinion makes it

184 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
certain that there is an Egyptian reference, namely, the cir
cumstance that the goat was sent to Azazel into the desert.
The special residence of Typhon was in the desert, according
to the Egyptian doctrine, which is most intimately connected
with the natural condition of the country. There, accord
ingly, is Azazel placed in our passage, not in the belief that
this was literally true, but merely symbolically.

NUMBERS, CHAP. XIX.
In the law concerning the manner of purifying those who
have defiled themselves with the dead in Num. xix, it is said,
verse 2 : " Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring thee
a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish and upon which
never came yoke."
The inquiry whether an Egyptian reference is prominent
here, must depend upon the significance of the red color
demanded by the law. For, that this is not without signifi
cance we consider as evident without argument. "As re
spects the red color," Bahr* correctly says, " this is nowhere
else demanded for an animal offering or in general even any
determinate color, so much the less then can it be doubted
that its determination in this case is intentional." That the
color here must have a significance, has at all times been
generally acknowledged, although it has been declared diffi
cult and in some respects impossible to fully determine its
import; as, for example, the old Rabbins said, that not
even Solomon knew why the heifer must be of red to the
exclusion of all other colors, t
We maintain that the red color of the heifer serves
* Symb. 2. S. 498.
t Compare also Witsius, Aeg. 115 : At quae tandem causa dici
potest cur, cum in caeteris sacrifices omnibus sine colorum discrim-
ine munda animantia rite offeTrentur, solam banc lustralem vaccam
rubram esse necesse fuerit ?

THE RED COLOR DESIGNATES SIN. 185
to characterize it as a sin-offering. We adduce the following
arguments in proof of this assumption :
1. Isaiah 1: 18 shows undeniably that the red color in the
symbolic language of the Scriptures denotes sin : " Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The con
text, verse 15, " Your hands are full of blood," verse 21,
" and now murderers," shows at once, on what this signifi
cance rests, namely, on the fact that in the shedding of inno
cent blood their sin was consummated.
2. According to this interpretation both the designated
peculiarities of the beast for sacrifice grow up from one and
the same root ; as a sin-offering, it is at the same time a
female and red. The answer to the question why a heifer
must here be offered, while in Lev. 4: 14 the rule is laid down
that each sin-offering for the whole congregation shall be a
bullock, lies manifestly in the phrase Nirj nN&h, it is a sin-
offering, literally, it is sin, in verse 9 and verse 17. Since sin
in Hebrew is of the feminine gender, so must the animal also be
which bears its image, which representing it shall atone for it.
3. According to this explanation, the red color of the heifer
corresponds accurately with the scarlet, with which and cedar
wood and hyssop her ashes are to be mingled. That also
this designates sin is evident from Isa. 1: 18, already quoted,
which must be considered as an approved interpretation.*
B a h rt exerts himself in vain to show that in Hebrew the
scarlet is the symbol of life. He has not adduced in favor of
it, the semblance of a proof. Let it not be said that the scarlet
cannot, on account of its union with cedar and hyssop be a
symbol of sin. This connexion which occurs once besides,
in the directions for purifying the leprous person, in Lev. 14:
4, may be explained as follows : The key for the interpreta-
* The M'siti ""He in Num. xix. is in Isaiah separated . Diss is in
the first clause, and yVin ih the second.
t Symbol. 1. S. 334 ff. 16*

186 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tion of cedar and hyssop which are not to be separated from
one another, as Bahr* has done, but must be considered in
connection, as they never appear singly, is furnished by 1
Kings 5: 13, (4: 33) : From tne cedar upon Lebanon even to
the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. The cedar as the
loftiest among created things — hence the cedars in Scripture
are the cedars of God, Ps. 80: 11, (10), — symbolizes his ele
vation and majesty ; the hyssop on the contrary, as the least,
his lowliness and condescension which David celebrates in
Ps. viii.t In the cedar and the hyssop, both the divine qual
ities are represented which are exercised in the atonement
and forgiveness of sin ; his majesty which gives the right
and power, and his lowliness and compassionate love which
ensures the will. The scarlet represents the object with re
ference to which both these divine qualities are exercised,
the occasion for which they are displayed-!
4. The reference of the red color to sin is in accordance
with the spirit of the whole rite described in Num. xix.
Everything in it points to the fact that the consciousness of
sin unfolds itself in death, the image and recompense of sin.§
* II. p. 503. t Compare Ps. 18: 36.
X Grotius was substantially in the right way of explaining this rite,
when he remarked upon Lev. xiv: Superbiam cedrus significat, ver-
miculus, sive coccinum peccatum, et hyssopus oppositam virtutem,
taituvo(pqoovv7]V . He erred only in making the sinner instead of
God, the possessor of the attributes represented by cedar and hyssop.
Bahr says, Th. 2. S. 503 : " Purifying power is ascribed to the hyssop
in Ps. 51: 9. But why ? it is asked, and this question cannot be an
swered from the passage itself, but from the 'locus classicus' to which
David the same as expressly refers. If it is correctly understood,
this verse of the Psalm li. also appears in its true light. It is the
condescending love and pity of God in which David takes refuge,
when he desires to be purged with hyssop.
§ This appears so much the more as such, when we take into
account the immediate occasion of this law. " Occasionem prae-
bente," remarks Deyling, Obss. Sac. p. 73, pollutorum multitudine

THE RED COLOR DESIGNATES SIN. 187
The whole has the remembrance of sins, avafivr\aiq apaqTiw,
Heb. 10: 3, for its object. Since the sin-offering here repre
sents sin, and is designed to awaken the consciousness of the
odiousness of sin for itself, it cannot be slain in the holy
place like all other offerings, but this must rather be done out of
the camp. While in other cases of sin-offering for the people,
the blood was sprinkled seven times before the vail,* it was
here from without the camp, sprinkled only in the direction
of the vail.t The whole animal was burned, and not even a
part of it was laid on the altar as in the case of other sin-
offerings for the congregation. The ceremony notwithstand
ing its importance was not performed by the high priest him
self,, who must not defile himself, but by the oldest of
his sons; and even he performed only that which must
necessarily be done by a priest; all the rest was executed
by persons who were not priests. All the persons em-
poyed were defiled, even the water of purification polluted
the clean person. The clean man who performed the puri
fication, was in consequence of doing this, impure until
evening, and must then wash his garments and bathe himself;
according to verse 21, every person who touched the water
of purification was unclean.
These are the reasons which declare in favor of our inter
pretation. But the following objection is raised against it.
It can scarcely be conceived how that by which sin is to be
removed can itself be characterized as sin. "Indeed all sin-
offerings are themselves considered as something most holy
after death, so that they can be eaten only by holy persons,
by priests." Every thought of sin is here especially excluded
in castris Israelitarum qui ex cadaveribus seditiosorum cum Korah
tumultum contra Mosem excitaret, contaminati erant." Yet, in this
case, the general import of death-is only shown in a particularly con
spicuous manner. That according to the Israeiitish view death gen
erally is considered as the image and recompense of sin, is shown by
Gen. 2: 17 and 3: 19.
* Lev. 4:17. t Bahr, S. 501.

188 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
by the phrase "a perfect one, in which is no blemish, and on
which yoke never came."
The most simple and natural answer to this objection is
this : If the heifer could be called sin, (the word nNBH means
literally only this, not sin-offering,) its color could as well at
least, symbolize the same thing. When the symbol thus
interpreted is explained as inappropriate, the name is also,
and the way is closed against its justification. Farther, the
same antithesis which is considered as inadmissable in the
qualifications of the heifer, and which it is attempted to ex
clude, are seen everywhere throughout the whole rite, so
that nothing is gained, if it is forcibly excluded here. As
the purifying power which exists in the ashes of the offering
corresponds with the declaration, "a perfect one, and in which
is no blemish," and is founded on this quality ; so the fact
that all who come in contact with the animal and his ashes
are defiled, is in accordance with the character of sin express
ed by the gender and color.
If we go back to the idea of substitution, which lies at the
basis of all sin-offerings, the twofold character which is car
ried through the whole rite is explained. The substitution
at once requires two things : original purity and imputed
impurity, or natural sinlessness and assumed sinfulness. The
union of both appears most conspicuous in the antitype of all
sin-offerings, in him whom when he knew no sin God made
to be sin for us.*
* Compare Deyling, Obss. Sac. p. 78 : " Haec enim vacca, quae
rWWri j aD omni macula esse debebat immunis, ob suscepta tamen in^
quinamenta populi immundissima facta est, quid aliud significavit,
quam Christum. Hunc enim firj yvAvza dfiaqzlav deus vnip jjtwwj/
dfiaptlav eTtobjasv, "iva Ijuetg yivoifisd'a Sixaioesvvv &sov ev avroj,"
2 Cor. 5: 21. The twofold nature which belongs to sin-offerings gene
rally, and specially to this one, is explained with substantial correctness
by Spencer, p. 503 : " E legis usa factum est, ut animalia omnia ad pec-
catum et immunditiem tollendam seposita, puritatem quidem offeren-
tibus, maximam autem immunditiem sibi ipsis conciliarent : prout

THE RED COLOR DESIGNATES SIN. 189
It might be further objected, that it is inadmissible to un
derstand here, that in the gender and color of the animal sin
is signified, while in other sin-offerings, the quality common
to them with this is not symbolized in this way. But this
objection is entirely without force, since the feminine gender
and red color are peculiar to this case. But only in accord
ance with our view can an appropriate explanation of the
peculiarity of this case be given. Since sin was here made
so specially prominent a thing, and was even symbolized by
gender and color, as is done in no other case, it is clear that
this uncleanness was the greatest of all, that the lawgiver
aimed at awakening a just abhorrence of death, and accord
ingly of sin whose type and penalty it is. In it is also shown,
in the most striking manner, that we are dead through tres
passes and sins, vcxgol rtilg nagamoi/iaai xal talg a/iagtiai?.*
If it be now established, that the red heifer was a type of sin(
we have a remarkable parallel from Egyptian antiquity. " In
the symbolic colors, as arranged by the Egyptians," says
D r a m a n n, in the passage before quoted, " black was the
color of death and mourning, for slaughter and its author the
red color was chosen." Herodotust says, the animals
designated for sacrifice were among the Egyptians accurately
aqua ad manus a sordibus purgandas usurpata lavanti quidem rmin-
ditiem affert, dum interim puritatis prbpriae jacturam patitur. Die,
cui hircum piacularem dimittendi provincia demandata est et sacerdos
qui juvencum pro expiatione combussit, immundi facti sunt, nee iis
ad sanctaarium adltus concessus, donee vestes et corpora abluissent ;
eo quod populi immunditiae in animalia ilia, prout corporis sordes in
aquam purgatricem transire atque adhaerere crederentur." Pfeiffer
expresses himself still more definitely, Dubia Vex. p. 390 : " Polluebat
mundbs, quia imputative erat piaculum sive catharma, praefigurans
Christum, pro nobis factum xardqav. Gal. 3: 13. 2 Cor. 5: 21. Mun-
dabat vero pavriofiog aquae, ejus cinere et quasi pulverisato sanguine
mistae pollutos, designans QavTia(iov~sa.ngvams Christi nos ab omnibus
peccatis mundantis et expiantis,
*Eph. 2:1, 5. Col. 2:13. tB. 2,6.38.-

190 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
examined beforehand, and if only one black hair was found
on the bullock, it was proved unsuitable for offering. What
Plutarch* says in his book on Isis and Osiris, performs
the office of a commentary on this passage. We see from
it,- that the animals offered must be throughout entirely
red-. "The Egyptians, since they suppose that Typhon is
of a red complexion, devote to him red bullocks, and they
institute so close an inspection of them, that they consider
the animal unfit for sacrifice if a single black or white hair
is found on him." Besides, says Plutarch, the Egyptians
celebrated certain feast days, on which they, in order to re
vile and disgrace Typhon, abused men who had Ted hair.
D i o d o r u s,t of Sicily, says, in ancient times the Egyptians
offered men, who like Typhon had red hair, at the tomb of
Osiris. Now the choice of red color to designate the evil and the
base is not certainly arbitrary. It depends in all probability
among the Egyptians, as among the Hebrews, upon the fact
that red is the color of blood.! Thence it might be supposed
that both of these nations came independently of one another
to one and the same symbolic designation. With reference to
this, it is proper to remark further, that these two are the
only nations among whom red is found as a fixed and na
tionally recognized designation of evil, and that the connec
tion of the color with the thing designated is a looser one,
* P, 363. A. t 1. 88.
X According to Bahr, Symbol. Th. 2. S. 234, Typhon has the red
color, " as the personified burning heat, which dries up the fertilizing
Nile, and scorches everything." But no proof for this derivation of
the red color is adduced. We could quote in our favor Goulianof,
who, in the Archeologie Eg., Leipz. 1839. t. 3. p. 89 seq., has a separate
section entitled : Etude des allegories de la couleur rouge, in which
it is attempted to show, that red as the color of blood is the color of
impiety. Compare the section, p. 422 seq. . Etude des alleg. attaches
a la couleur pourpre ou eccarlate. But we do not consider him as
good authority.

THE EGYPTIAN REFERENCE A PARTIAL ONE. 191
than, for example, in the case of white as the color of inno
cence, and black as the color of mourning, then also, it may
be added, that among both these nations this symbolic view
obtains influence directly upon the offering of sacrifices,
among the Israelites only in particular cases, but among the
Egyptians generally. If we take this into consideration, a
dependence of one of these nations upon the other will appear
very probable, and then we can decide for ourselves whether
the origin of the symbolic designation was not among the
Egyptians. Finally, it is evident from the foregoing remarks, that the
Egyptian reference in Num. chap, xix, by no means respects
the whole rite, but is a very partial one ; it is limited to the
identity of the symbolic import of the red color, to which
may perhaps also be added, that the color has an influence
in the choice of the victim.* There is no direct authority,
for finding, with S p e n c e r,t who has followed Thomas
Aquinas and Du Voisin, in the choice of the heifer
instead of the bullock, which on other occasions was taken,
* Witsius, Aeg. p. 115, seeks to destroy the connection between the
red bullock which- was sacrificed by the Egyptians and the red heifer,
by the following remarks : Aegyptii rufos boves immolabant non
quod pretiosiores eos aut diis suis gratiores esse existimarent, sed ex
odio et contemptu. Dictabant enim &voi/iov od tpilov slvai &sots-
(Compare Schmidt, De Sacerdotibus et Sacrif. Aeg. Bahr, Symbol.
Th. 2. S. 235.) But if the significance of the red color of the
heifer is correctly determined, this remark serves rather to. bring both
nearer each other.
r This author, p., 486, after he has referred to passages by which it
is proved that the cow is considered sacred among the Egyptians,
says : Cum itaque eo dementiae et impietatis prolapsi~essent Aeg., ut
vaccam tanto cultu studioque honorarent : deus vaccam multa cum
cerimonia mactari voluit et lixivium ex illius ceneribus ad populi im-
munditias expurgandas confici ; ut Aeg. vanitatem sugillaret et per
hanc disciplinam, cum Aegypti more sensuque pugnantem, Israelite
ad cultus illius vaccini contemptum atque odium sensim perducerentur.

192 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
a reference, and indeed a hostile one, to an Egyptian cus
tom — he supposes the designation of the heifer for an offer
ing of purification is a practical derision of the Egyptian no
tion of the sacredness of the cow, — since the choice of the
heifer is sufficiently explained by the reasons already given,
without such a reference. Yet it may be remarked, that the po
sition taken by us, by no means excludes the reference claimed
by S p e n c e r, but on the other hand, both may very easily be
reconciled. If the heifer was chosen instead of the bullock
commonly offered, in order to designate it as impersonated sin,
there would even in this be found the strongest opposition to
the Egyptian notion of the sacredness of the cow.

LAWS WITH REFERENCE TO FOOD.
The Egyptians and the Israelites stand alone among the
nations of antiquity, in reference to the great care which they
bestowed upon the selection of food. Among both, regula
tions of this kind had extensive influence. Through these
laws, some of the most important means of subsistence were
either withdrawn, or at least made odious, as, for example,
fish, which could not be eaten by the priests,* and the legu
minous fruits.t How much the regulations which had refer
ence to food influenced them in life, is best shown by the
passages collected by Spencer.!
This fact indeed leads us to conjecture, that the Israeiitish
laws respecting food, were not without an allusion to Egyp
tian customs. If no such thing is supposed, the coincidence
perceived between the two nations appears very remarkable.
* See Herod. 2. 37. Plut. De Isid. et Os. p. 363.
t Larcher zu Herod. 2. S. 252 ff.
X Page 130. See also the wonderful passage of Porphyry, De Ab-
stinentia, B. 4. u. 7.

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS. 193
That the admission of such a reference detracts from the
dignity of the Israeiitish law, no one should affirm. This
depends wholly upon the manner in which the reference is
understood. That a distinction of food originated very an
ciently, is indeed certain without argument, since the differ
ent nature of animals, in very many respects, speaks a lan
guage of signs, clear without reasoning to the allegorizing
mind of antiquity. Thus, we find, even in the time of the
flood,* the -distinction made between the clean and un
clean beasts and birds. But that a beginning merely was
made so anciently, these same passages show, since there is
not a trace of a distinction between the clean and unclean
wild beasts found in them. Now in Egypt from these first
elements a complete system was formed. The Mosaic code
of laws found a people which was accustomed to a distinction
of food of extensive application. In these circumstances it
was natural,— which, in case the Israelites yet occupied the
position of the patriarchs, would have been entirely unna
tural, — that the laws of diet had reference, not merely to in
dividual things, but that they extended into the whole province
concerned, even to its furthest limits, and arranged all its parts
with respect to the fundamental idea of the Israeiitish religion.
The fear of too great minuteness could not here have had any
place, since the laws were made for a people accustomed to
law, and its advantages and blessings would not be allowed
to remain unenjoyed. Besides, if the ground had been left
unoccupied, it would have been immediately seized upon, or
rather retained in possession by the opposer, whom it was
important to expel from the borders of the Israeiitish juris
diction in which he had already so strongly intrenched hin>
self. Not the existence alone of certain dietetic rules is com
mon to the Egyptians and Israelites, but they also both agree

* Gen. 7: 2, 3. 8: 20.
17

194 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
in this, that these regulations have in them a religious-ethical
significance. In respect to those of the Israelites, this could
be denied, and a mere dietetic object asserted only in a time,
which through its peculiar impiety has lost the key to those
phenomena which take root on religious* ground. From the
reception of dietetic reasons merely, the designation of ani
mals not to be eaten as unclean, an abomination, a terror, is
not accounted for, neither is the founding of the prohibition,
on the declaration that Israel " is a consecrated people to the
Lord its God ;" nor this command : " its dead body you shall
not touch." This permission : " To the stranger which is in
thy gates mayest thou give it, that he may eat it, or thou
mayest sell it to a stranger," is also explainable only on the
supposition that the uncleanness was founded on symbolic
reasons, which applied only to the Israelites. We have in
Deut. 23 : 18 (19), as good as an express declaration of the
reason of the prohibition of certain kinds of food : " Thou
shaft not bring the hire of a harlot and the price of a dog,
i. e. (as appears from ver. 17 [18,] ) of licentious men, into the
house of the Lord." From which we see that the dog and
other animals placed on an equality with it, as the representa
tives of moral uncleanness, were unclean. Indeed, in accord
ance with the general character, of the law, it cannot be sup
posed to have a dietetic object. Moses would fall entirely be
low his station, if he here for the time acted as a mere guar
dian of health by appealing to the fears of the people.*
That also among the Egyptians the prohibitions of food rest
on religious-moral grounds cannot be doubted. They abstain
from that food which stands in any supposed relation to Ty
phon, the evil principle ; and the reason of the hatred against
certain animals lies, among them, above all in this, that they
are considered the representatives and the physical manifesta-
* Besides, even Spencer argued against the dietetic view : " deum
animalia nonnulla inter impura imposuisse, quae veterum gula non tan-
turn salubria sed mensarum suarum delitias habuit," e. g. the hare

ANIMALS OF TYPHON. 195
tion of Typhon, as Typhpically infected. Thus they abstain,
according to Plutarch,* from fish, because they come out
of the sea, wnich belongs to the dominion of Typhon. Thjj
swine was hated by them, on account of its filthy habits, as the
incarnation of the unclean spirit. "In general," says Pla
ta r c h ,•" they consider all hurtful plants and animals as
well as all unfortunate events, as the acts of Typhon."t To
the religious significance, a moral was joined. The repre
sentatives of Typhon, in the animal kingdom, were consid
ered at the same time as symbols of the men devoted to
him. "The guilty person," remarks Champollion,!
" appears under the figure of huge swine, upon which is writ
ten, in great letters, ' gormandizing and gluttony,' without
doubt the capital crime of the culprit, perhaps of a glutton of
that time."
But together with this agreement between the Egyptian and
the Israeiitish regulations in respect to food, there is a very im
portant difference, which is adapted to meet all apprehensions
which might arise from a supposed too near contact of the
two, and which fully excludes the supposition of a crude
transferring of a heathenish institution. Among the Egyp
tians, the separation between the rational and irrational crea
tion was removed, and accordingly the uncleanness of ani
mals was to them something indwelling and physical ; a swine
and a man given to excess, were entirely in a like manner the
creatures of Typhon. The eating of the flesh of animals be
longing to Typhon, introduced with it a Typhonic element
into the one eating. - Entirely otherwise was it, according to
the divine law. At the very commencement of the Penta
teuch, the limit between the rational and brute creation is
strongly drawn. Man only has the image of God, and
' De laid. p. 363.
t Compare Upon the relation in which unclean animals are placed
to Typhon, Jablonski Panth. Aeg. 3. p. '67, 8.
X Briefe, S. 153.

196 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
therefore he alone can properly be the subject of cleanness
and uncleanness ; and when mention is there made of
these qualities in the animal kingdom, this can be only as
a symbol and representative of that which belongs to the rea
soning creation. On Jewish ground only, such laws respect
ing food could find place, and notwithstanding their formal
abrogation, they will for substance always exist.

THE INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY WOMEN.
An Egyptian reference is undeniable in the Israeiitish in
stitution of the holy women. The first and principal passage
upon it is in Ex. 38 : 8 — " And he made the laver of brass,
and its foot of brass, of the mirrors of the female servants who
served at the gate of the tabernacle of the congregation."
That the institution did not probably end with the Mosaic pe
riod, but rather continued through the whole period of the
kings, we see from 1 Sam. 2: 22, where, among the great
crimes of the sons of Eli, it is mentioned that they defiled the
women which served at the gate of the tabernacle.
An inquiry concerning the nature of this institution was
instituted in the Contributions, and we will insert what was
there said here.
The service before the door of the tabernacle of the con
gregation, is designated as the employment of these women.
JOS signifies military service. Figuratively it stands, there
fore, for the militia sacra of the priests and Levites, Num. 4:
23,35,43. 8: 25. Their leader and standard-bearer is
the God of Israel. In addition to the sacred host composed
of men, there appears in our passage a corresponding one
consisting of women: and the manner in which it is spoken
of, shows that it was a general, important and formally or
ganized institution. The expression in the passages referred
to, does not imply, that they had external service at the taber
nacle — only by an inapposite reference to the German use of
the word service (Dienen), has this idea been found in it—

INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY WOMEN. 197
and it must be altogether doubtful whether they were so em
ployed. Neither the law nor history give any information of
the service of the women at the tabernacle in this sense.
That the ancient Jews did not understand that any such
occupations were implied in our passage, that it on the con
trary has reference to spiritual service, to offices which have
direct reference to the worship of God which the women were
occupied with at the sanctuary, is shown by the para
phrase of the Alexandrian translators, who substitute for ' ser
vice,' ' fasting,' ix T<3v KBTOji-rpcov iwv vrjatsvcaa&v, al iprj-
o-Tsvo-ay, as well as by thatjof Onkelos, who, in remarkable
agreement with these, translates the same word by ' to pray.'
Aben-Ezra understands it in the same way: "They came
daily to the tabernacle to pray and to hear the words of the
law." But of special importance for understanding what this
service was, is the third passage upon the institution of the
holy women, which shows that it continued even to the time
of Christ. It is found in Luke 2: 37, where it is said of
Anna : " who departed not from the temple, but served God
with fastings and prayers night and day." The relation of
this passage to Ex. 38 : 7, is the more distinct if we compare
it with the translation of the Seventy and of Onkelos. If we
take these into the account, we shall also find a reference to
the Jewish institution in 1 Tim. 5 : 5 — " Now she that is a
widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth
in supplications and prayers night and day," a reference
which implies that the service of the women was not performed
with the hands but with the heart. i
This institution had a strictly ascetic character. This is
evident from the fact — in connexion with Ex. 25: 1 , where Mo
ses is required to take from the Israelites free-will offerings
for the construction of the sanctuary : " from every one whose
heart moves him shall ye take my offering,"* — that the article
* Comp. Ex. 38: 24 seq. and Num. chap. vii.
17*

198 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
which the holy women gave was their looking-glasses, their
means of pleasing the world. This giving up of the use of
the mirror is of the same nature as the leaving of the hair to
grow in the case of the Nazarites, by which they gave a
practical demonstration that they, for the time in which this
was done, renounced the world, in which the cutting of the
hair belongs to the proprieties of social life, so that they
might serve God only. The new use to which Moses de
voted the mirrors, also indicated that the offering of them had
this significance. This gives, in addition to the negative, the
positive reason. Not for the world, but for God, ought we to
adorn ourselves, and seek to please him alone.*
That women of rank devoted themselves to the Lord is evi
dent indeed from the nature of the case, — where such a way
is once opened, it will be trodden by more in proportion of the
higher than of the lower order of people — and it is also
especially evident from the mention which is made of the mir
ror. Metal mirrors were, as even the fact that they were
offered shows, an article of luxury, and they are represented
as such also in the third chapter of Isaiah.
That the institution has an Egyptian reference, is very
probable without argument, from the circumstance that it
was, in all probability, not introduced by Moses by a law,
but was found by him as an already-existing institution. It
evidently arose of itself, from the Israeiitish manner of life ;
and since this_ stood under manifest Egyptian influences, we
should expect to find an analogous Egyptian institution, after
which the Israeiitish one was, in form, copied, whilst the
spirit of both institutions must necessarily be as different as
the service of the Holy One of Israel from the natural religion
of the Egyptians.
This expectation is accordingly entirely realized. Among
classical writers Herodotus first mentions the holy women
* 1 Pet. 3: 3, 4.

INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY WOMEN. 199
among the Egyptians. He* says, "concerning the two oracles,
namely, among the Greeks and in Lybia, the Egyptians gave
me the following account : The priests of Jupiter at Thebes
said that two holy women (literally priestesses) were carried
away from Thebes by the Phoenicians, and they had learned
that one of them was sold in Lybia and the other in Greece.
And these women were the first founders of the oracles
among these people." Further, it is said: "If the Phoeni
cians really carried away the holy women," and : "As was
natural, she who ministered at Thebes in the temple of
Jupiter was mindful of him in the place to which she came."t
Besides Herodotus also! alludes to the institution of the
holy women in Egypt in other places. " In the temple (of
Belus at Babylon) there stands a great couch beautifully
spread and near it is placed a table of gold. But there is no
image there and no mortal passes the night there, except some
times one native-born woman, whoever, as the Chaldeans say,
the God chooses from all who are his priests. These same
Chaldeans relate also, but I do not believe them, that the God
comes sometimes into the temple and sleeps upon the bed,
just as the Egyptians relate of Thebes, for there also a woman
sleeps in the temple of the Theban Jupiter. Both these
women they say, never have intercourse with man. . So also
at Patarain Lycia,- there is a chief priestess of the God when
he is there, for there is not always an oracle at this place, but
when he is there, she is shut up at night with him in the
Temple." Diodorus^, of Sicily speaks of " The concubines of Ju
piter." that is, of Amon. S t r abo|| says: " But to Jupiter
whom they most honor, a very beautiful and noble young
woman is devoted", whom they call the Grecian Pallas ;
but this one has intercourse with whatever men she wishes
* B. 2. c. 54 . t B. 2. c. 56:
IB. 1. c.181, 2. §B. 1.47.
II B. 17: 1171.

200 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
until she arrives at the age of womanhood. After that she
is married. But before her marriage there is a lamentation
made for her. What Strabo here says of the impurity of
the young woman devoted to Amon rests without doubt upon
the misunderstanding of the expression, " The concubines
of Amon." Herodotus gives us a contrary account:
" These women are said never to have intercourse with a
man," and in another place, he says that among the Egyptians
impurity is excluded from the circuit of the holy places, in
which these women had their abode.*
The monuments confirm the accounts of classical writers.
The data which they furnish are found collected in W i 1 k i n-
s o n,t where there is also an engraving! of the holy women
given, and in R o s e 1 1 i n i,§ according to whom these young
women bore the title of "bride of God." See also Minu-
tol i's|| Travels where it is said in the innermost part of the
temple at Carnac : " Near the king and the priests maidens
are also seen represented."
The characteristic peculiarities in which the Israeiitish
agrees with the Egyptian institution of the holy women are the
following: 1. Among the Israelites as among the Egyptians,
the holy women with all the respect which they enjoy, still
are not priestesses ; among both the priesthood belongs only
to the men. What Herodotus mentions in B. 2. c. 35 as a
distinguishing peculiarity of the Egyptians : "A woman never
performs the office of a priest for a god or goddess, "ff applies
also accurately mutatis mutandis, to the Israelites.
2. That the holy women among the Israelites had no ex-
* The declaration ,of Strabo concerning the impurity of the holy
women is confuted also by Rosellini 1. 1. p. 216, and Wilkinson, Vol. I.
p. 259.
t Vol. 1. p. 258 seq. X p- 260.
§1.1. p. 216 || S. 181.
11 Igaxai yvvrj jj,iv ovSsjita ovzs sgasvos &sou ovts &r]lhjg, av-
dgcg Si ndviutv ts xal naaiav.

INSTITUTION OF THE HOLY WOMEN. 201
ternal service in the tabernacle of testimony, that their service
was rather a spiritual one, we have" already seen. Just so is it
among the Egyptians. That their holy women were not as
Bahr* supposes, servants of the priests, (hierodulen) is suffi
ciently proved by the quotations from H e r o d o, t u s.t He
says, indeed, that they served the temple of Jupiter at Thebes-!
But that their service, just as in Ex. xxxviii, is to be under
stood as spiritual service, the account shows, since these
Egyptian women are supposed to have founded the oracles in
Greece and Lybia. If they served Jupiter in these countries
by foretelling future events, they were also employed in a
similar manner in their father-land.
3. That-also among the Israelites, noble women especially
were devoted to the service of the temple was previously
shown. Just so was it among the Egyptians. According
to S t r a b o,§ the most beautiful and the most noble maidens
were devoted to Jupiter or Amon. Wilkinson says,
whilst speaking of the tombs of the holy women described by
D i o d o r u s, which are now seen at Thebes in a valley 3000
feet behind the ruins of Medeenet Haboo : " The sculptures
show that they were women of the highest rank, since all the
occupants of these tombs were either the wives or daughters
of kings." Rose! I in i||says : " We shall find in the sequel,
also other examples of royal young maidens devoted to Amon,
from which it may be inferred that it was a custom in the
earliest period of the Pharaohs to place by this rite some of
the king's daughters in a nearer relation to religion."
4. That the holy women among the Israelites were always
unmarried, either young women or widows, has been shown
in the Contributions. ff Just so also is it with the holy women
*Zu Herod, B. 2. c. 54. t B. 2. c. 54-56.
\"flo-ntg rjv oixog, a/Acptnolevovcrav sv Oyfyai Igov Aiog, iv&a
unlxeto, iv&ama fiinjfzrjv uviov s^ew.
§ Emideararrj xal yivovq lafinqoruiov nag&ivog.
||P. 217. 11 Th. III. S. 142-3.

202 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
amono- the Egyptians. According to Herodotus* the
brides of Amon were excluded from all intercourse with men.t
According" to Strabo the most beautiful and noble young
women were devoted to Jupiter, and when they wished to
marry, there was previously a great lamentation made for
them as for one dead.!

THE NAZARITES.
From the institution of the holy women we turn to that of
the Nazarites. We must naturally expect an Egyptian refer
ence more or less distinct here also. For the institution of
the Nazarites originated, not by the appointment of the law
giver, but it is implied, in Num. chap, vi, as an existing in
stitution, and is there only sanctioned.
But if we examine the matter more closely, we perceive
indications of Egyptian influence, yet it isless conspicuous
here, than in the institution of the holy women. For the in
stitution in general, Egypt furnishes no parallel. An Egyp
tian reference can be pointed out for only a single feature of
the system, the leaving of the hair to grow, and that is one
which has no connection with religion, but with the customs
of the people. Finally, the single allusion to Egypt, although
truly worthy of notice, is still not so characteristic that we
could with full certainty assert its existence.
'B. i.e. 182.
f Kal yag 3ij exei&i xoiftatai iv t5> iov Aiog tov ©e/Soueos
yvvr) ' AficpoTEgai ds avrai liyovtut, avSgiav ovSajj.&v eg o/itXhjv
tponav. X IIqIv Si So&ijvai, niv&og avTtjg ayetai (uzd xav zijg itaXXaxeiag
xaigov. This lamentation on leaving this community agrees remark
ably with the mourning of the daughter of Jephtha when she entered
it. In both cases it depends upon, the view of the exclusiveness of
the relation.

THE NAZARITES. 203
It is necessary for our purpose, that we first determine the
significance of leaving the hair unshorn by the Nazarite.
We begin with an examination of the view of B a h r.* The
obligation of the Nazarite, he asserts, to let the hair grow
freely, has its basis in the idea of holiness. Among the ori
entals, and especially among the Hebrews, the hair of the
head is the same as the products of the earth, the grass of
the field, and the growth of the trees. Especially in accord
ance with this is the naming of the vine in the year of jubi
lee, "PT3 (hazyr), in Lev. 25: 5, since they prune it not this
year, but allow its leaves and branches to grow freely. From
this it is evident, that the growth of the hair, according to
oriental view, signifies grass, shoots, blossoms of men. But
in so far as the Hebrew looked upon men as distinctively
moral beings, the human blossoms and shoots represent ho
liness. This view is by no means new ; but it is discarded by al!
judicious investigators, as mere mystical refinement. The
following reasons are especially decisive against it.t
1. -The proofs which are brought for the position, that ac
cording to oriental and especially Israeiitish views, the growth
of the hair is a symbol for the thriving condition of man, are
very weak. The one derived from Lev. chap. xxv. is the only
one which is worth the trouble of a closer examination. It is
there said of the sabbatical year in verse 5 : " The grain
which growetti of its own accord thou shalt not reap, and the
grapes of thy undressed vines (nazarites) thou shalt not
gather, a year of rest is it for the land," after that it had
been said before in verse 4, "Thy field thou shalt not sow,
and thy vineyard thou shalt not prune." Then in verse 11,
* Symbol. Th. 2. S. 432.
t Compare, e.g. Carpzov. Appar. ad Antiq. p. ll>3 : Ut eos taceam,
qui mysticam commenti rationem, nutritionem capillamenti symbo-
lum instituunt nutritionis interioris, quo Abarbanel in h. 1. et Grego-
rius, L, II. Moral, c. 26, tendit.

204 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
concerning the year of jubilee : " You shall not sow, neither
reap that which groweth of itself, neither gather its naza
rites."* It is not entirely certain, that there is a special
reference in these passages to the leaving of the hair to grow
in the case of the Nazarites.
The general idea of separation, which lies at the basis of
the whole institution of the Nazarites, might here also apply.
As the Nazarites were separated from the world, so was the
vine from the use of man in the sabbatical year and the year
of jubilee. But if we suppose a reference to the unshorn
hair of the Nazarites, which the ' not gathering' and ' not
pruning' in verses 4 and 5 favor, yet at any rate the point of
comparison is only with respect to the separation. That the
unpruned vine is not better, but worse, is decidedlyragainst
the opinion of B a h r. It shoots out in wood, and an injury
is done to its true growth. t This is decisive against the
opinion that the growth of the hair among the Israelites is a
symbol of prosperity, namely, that it belongs to propriety
among the Israelites to go with shorn hair, whereas accord
ing to this view, long hair must have been considered an
ornament as among most nations of antiquity-!
2. The fundamental idea in the institution of the Nazarite is
that of separation from the world, with its enjoyments, which
oppose holiness, and its corrupting influences. This nega
tive point of separation, involves the positive one of sanctifi-
* Besides the establishment of the law in chap, vi, these passages
also, in which before the giving of the law concerning the Nazarites
allusion is made to them, show that the lawgiver found it as an exist
ing institution.
t John 15: 2.
X Carpzov. p. 153: Communis inter priscos Judaeos mos ita tulit
ut tonsis incederent capillis, secus ac Graeci veteres Romani, Galli
aut Germani, qui comati erant. Compare, in reference to the con
sideration in which long hair was held among these nations, the
collections by Lampe in the Miscell. Groning. t.'4. p. 209 seq.

THE NAZARITE. 2,05
cation, the separate person is at the same time holy to the
Lord — since the. world stands in opposition to the Lord,
every renunciation of it is at the same time a union with the
Lord, and the separation is here made directly for the sake
of the Lord. That the idea of separation lies at the founda
tion, the name, by which the significance of the institution
must be expressed, indicates.* -pn (nazyr) means the, se
parate one. Equally in favor of this idea is Num. 6:2:
" The vow of a Nazarite is for a separating to the Lord."
This fundamental idea of the institution must be traceable in
all of its separate points. That especially the command to
leave the hair unshorn rests upon it, we have even the ex
press explanation of the lawgiver. It is said in verse 5 : "All
the days of the vow of his separation, no razor shall come
upon his head: until the days be' fulfilled in the which he
separateth himself unto the Lord he shall be holy ; he shall
let the hair of his head grow." The separation is here given
as a reason for allowing the hair to grow. Even the hair of
the Nazarite is in verses 9 and 18 named 1^3 , separation,
but with the accompanying idea of designation. Now ac
cording to the view of Bahr, the idea of separation is en
tirely lost. The negative idea which, as has been alleged,
must form the foundation upon which the positive is supported,
falls entirely away. Thereby then this element of the insti
tution of the Nazarite will be entirely separated from both
the others in which the negative idea, as can be demonstrated
and is allowed, prevails.
At the same time with the view of B a h r, that which W i-
ner, (after the authority of L a in p e,) has proposed, falls
* Carpzov. p. 151 : Haud dubia »pf j est a it: , separavit, abstraxit,
continuit se a re aliqua et propterea segregatum, separatum notat. —
Satis omnino praesidio huic interpretation! est ex sede hujus instituti
primaria, Num. 6: 2, ubi votam Nasaraei dicitur ad separandum se
domino. 18

206 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
to the ground :* " The head of the Nazarite with its natu
ral ornament was regarded as specially devoted, and the
touching of it with a razor is consequently a profanation of
that which belongs to Jehovah." The negative idea, accord
ing to this view, is also robbed of its just right. Long hair
cannot, according to the notions of the Israelites, be consid
ered as " a natural ornament."
The 'proof for the interpretation of the rite claimed by us,
is given in the confutation of other views. We bejieve that
long hair is a symbol of separation from the world. It be
longs, as we have already seen, to the Israeiitish ideas of
propriety to go with shorn head,t and he who left his hair
to grow, furnished by this act a practical confession that he
renounced the world, and abandoned all intercourse with
men. That also, on other occasions, those who considered
themselves as separated from men suffered their hair to grow,
is shown by Deut. 21: 12, where, concerning the captive
which an Israelite determined to marry, it is said : "And
thou shalt bring her into thine house, and she shall shear her
head and pare her nails." By shearing her head and paring
her nails she enters again into human society.!
If the significance of leaving the hair unshorn is deter
mined, the Egyptian reference in this rite lies on the surface.
Indeed it must appear remarkable that the Israelites agree
with the Egyptians almost against the whole of the rest of the
* In dem Reallexicon, II. 1. S. 165,
t Geier, De Hebr.-Luctu, p. 203, correctly says: Israelitarum
populum comatum haudquaquam fuisse vel inde colligi potest, quod
comam alere proprium esset Nazaraeoruin, adeo ut hi ipsi ab aliis po-
pularibus facile internoscerentur ex coma.
X This passage shows very distinctly with what justice Bahr asserts,
S. 437 : It was the Israeiitish custom in mourning, not to allow the
hair to be long, but to cut it. The cutting of it must indeed be differ
ent from sharing, calvitium &cere. Only the latter was the appro
priate condition in mourning. Comp. Geier, De Hebr. Luctu. c. 8.
§ 6 and 7.

THE NAZARITE. 207
world in considering short hair as belonging to social propri
ety.* Indeed, this agreement is explained most easily by
the long-continued residence of the Israelites in Egypt. But
it is a point of more importance, that among the Egyptians
not less than among the Israelites, the temporary withdraw
ing from the world, the going out of society, was symbolized
by leaving the hair to grow. We see this from Gen. 41: 14,
according to which the captives in Egypt left their hair un
shorn, and also from Herodotus 2. 36 : "The priests o f
the gods wear, in other lands, long hair ; but in Egypt they
cut it off; among other nations it is the custom to shear the
beard when a relative dies. But when any of their friends die,
the Egyptians leave the hair which was before cut, to grow;
both on the head and chin."
Whilst the proof that the leaving of the hair to grow, among
the Nazarites, was a sign of separation, shows on the one
hand that the rite stood in an external relation to Egyptian
customs, it serves, on the other hand, for confuting the hy
pothesis of Spencer, concerning the heathenish origin of
the whole rite. The cases in which the heathen devoted the
hair of the head and the beard to their divinities, appears from
this point of view as entirely different.
Our inquiries concerning the Egyptian references in the
religious institutions of the books of Moses, are finished. It
only remains now, in a last chapter, to collect together those
things for which, until now, no suitable place has been found.
v Compare remarks upon Gen. 41 : 14, where we have shown that
cutting the hair was considered as a distinguishing peculiarity of the
Egyptians.

208 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
CHAPTER VII.
MISCELLANEOUS PASSAGES.
The Genealogical Table in Gen. x.
It has often been asserted that the genealogicaf table in
Gen. x. cannot be from Moses ; since so extended a know
ledge of nations lies far beyond the geographical horizon of
the Mosaic age. This hypothesis must now be considered as
exploded. The new discoveries and investigations in Egypt
have shown that they maintained even from the most ancient
times, a vigorous commerce with other nations, and some
times with very distant nations. The proofs are found in
Creuzer,* H e e r e n ,t in my Contributions,! and in
W i 1 k i n s o n . § This last author, among other things, re
marks, that the strongest proof for the commerce of the
Egyptians with distant nations of Asia, is furnished by the
materials out of which many of the articles in use in civil and
domestic life, found in the tombs of Thebes which belong to
the 18th or 19th dynasty, are made in Egypt ; for example,
the vessels of wood, which are commonly made of foreign
wood, and not seldom of the mahogany of India.
But not merely in general do the investigations in Egyp
tian antiquities favor the belief that Moses was the author of
the account in this tenth chapter of Genesis. On the Egyp
tian monuments, those especially which represent the con
quests of the ancient Pharaohs over foreign nations, (con
quests which certainly were oftener , achieved in imagination
than in reality, as indeed the almost regular recurrence of
* Symb. Th I. S. 319 ff. t S. 275, 321 ff., 376 ff. 571 ff.
X Th. 2, S. 451 ff. § Vol. I. p. 164.

THE GENEALOGICAL TABLE, GEN. X.
these representations under nearly all the ancient Pharaohs
shows, so that nothing can be more erroneous than the
present popular way of relying upon them, without inquiry, as
sources of historical truth,) not a few names have been found
which correspond with those contained in the chapter before
ns. We will here speak only of those where the agreement
is perfectly certain. It must be allowed that far more still
could be effected if our knowledge of hieroglyphics were not
so very imperfect.*
Among the sons of Japheth, in verse 2, Meshech and Ti-
ras are mentioned in close connection. Among the Asiatic
nations which are represented on the monuments as engaged
in war with the Egyptians, the Toersha also appear, according
to Wilkinson. t They are shown, indeed, among the
nations- who are said to have been conquered by the third
Remeses. Their identity with Tiras is the less doubtful,
since another nation, the Mashoash, is named along with
them. These last Wilkinson! designates as "another
Asiatic nation who resemble the former in their general fea
tures and the shape of their beards." The agreement be
tween Meshech and Tiras on the one side, and Mashoash and
Toersha on the other, is the less exposed to suspicion since
Wilkinson did not think to place both in connection, as
indeed in general, the present attempt at comparing the names
of the people represented on the monuments with those found
in Gen. x., is the first.
Among the sons of Japheth, in the same verse, Javan, the
Ionians or Greeks, is mentioned. According to R o s e 1 1 i n i,§
the Uoinim, the Ionians are found among others, in a sym
bolic painting, representing king Menephthah I. the 12th
king of the 18th Dynasty as in the sight of Amon-re he slays
one individual of each of the conquered nations. These||
* Wilkinson, Vol. I. 377. t Wilkinson, Vol. I. 378.
X Wilk., Vol I. p. 379. § Vol. III. 1. p. 425.
|| Vol. III. 1. p. 426. 18*

210 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
same people were also mentioned on the monuments which
belong to Thothmes V.*
Among the sons of Gomer, the son of Japhet, consequently
as a Japhetic nation, Riphat is mentioned in verse 3, prob
ably identical with the Pouont or Pount who are represented
on the monuments as engaged in war with the Egyptians, as
early as the time of Amun-m-gori II, which the more recent
chronologers place at about the year 1680 B. C.t
Among the sons of Ham in verse 5, Cush is first mention-
•ed. The Cush according to W i 1 k i n s o n,{ are represented
among the African people who are conquered by the mon-
archs of the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty. " These,"
(the Cush,) he remarks, " were long at war with the Egyp
tians ; and a part of their country which was reduced at a
very remote period by the arms of the Pharaohs, was obliged
to pay an annual tribute to the conquerors."^ According to
Rosellini]! the victory of king Horus over the same people
is represented on a monument at Selsilis. According to the
same author,ff they appear in the painting already referred to,
among the nations conquered by Menephthah I. Eleven
separate Cushite tribes - are there mentioned in agreement
with verse 7, according to which Cush is not the name of a sep
arate tribe but of several tribes belonging to one general family.
As the second son of Ham, the second Hamitish head
of a family, Mizraim is mentioned. This name was, as
the dual form signifies, originally the name of the land. The
division of the land into the upper and lower regions to
which it refers, appears on the monuments even in the most
ancient times. In proof of this see Wil k i nson** and
Champollion's Letters,tt where an inscription is quoted :

* P. 210.

t See Wilk. 1. 371.

X Vol. I. p 387.

§ See also Champollion Briefe S. 105,

)1 III. 1. p. 277 seq.

If p. 420.

**Vol.II. p. 73.

tt S. 140.

GENEALOGICAL TABLE, GENESIS X. 211
" I give thee the upper and the lower Egypt in order that
you may rule over them as king."
According to verse 13, Mizraim was the progenitor among
other nations, of the Lehabim and Naphtuhim. It serves
for a confirmation of the statement that the Lybians (the
Lehabim) are an offshoot from the Egyptians, that they even
to the time of the Ptolemies were considered a part of the
Egyptians. Ch a m poll i on* affirms that he found Ni-
phaiat (=Naphtuchim) on the monuments as a name of
Lybian nations. ,
The Canaanites and Amorites (called Asmaori) are rep
resented on the Egyptian monuments with Lem anon (the
people of Lebanon) and Ascalon.t The land Canana is
specifically named among the inscriptions upon a representa
tion of the triumph of Menephtha I., together with the region
of Nahareina or Mesopotamia and Singara or Sinear.! In
reference to aTepresentation of a campaign of Osirei, the father
of Remeses the Great, W i 1 k i n s o n§ says : " The country
of Lemanon is shown by the artist to have been mountainous,
inaccessible to chariots, and abounding in lofty trees, which the
affrighted mountaineers are engaged in felling in order to im
pede the advance of the invading army. The Egyptian mon
arch, having taken by assault the fortified towns on the frontier,
advances with the light infantry in pursuit of the fugitives who
had escaped and taken refuge in the woods, and sending a her
ald to offer terms on condition of their surrender, the chiefs are
induced to trust to his clemency and return to their allegiance,
as are those of Canana, whose strong-holds yield in like man
ner to the arms of the conqueror." It is readily seen from
these representations with what justice an argument against
the Pentateuch has been derived from the knowledge of Ca
nana which its author exhibits.
-*S. 124. t Wilk. Vol. I. 385.
XSee Ros. 111. 1. p. 437, also upon Canana, p. 341.
§ Vol. I. p. 387.

212 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
"The sons ofShem," it is said in verse 22, "are Elam
and Asshur and Arphaxad and Lud and Aram."
It is in the highest degree probable that Asshur appears on
the monuments under the name Shari. That the Shari, who
especially under the reign of Osirei and his son Remeses the
Great, are represented as engaged in war with the Egyptians,
are the Assyrians, is indicated not only by the name but by
the similarity of dress between them and the captives of
Tirhaka* The Ludim act a conspicuous part on the Egyptian mon
uments. In a representation of a triumph of Menephthah I.
five foreign nations are found, the Romenen, the Scios, the
people Ots from the land of Omar, the Tohen and the Sceto.
All of these with the exception of Ots are represented jn the
inscriptions as belonging to the land of Ludim. And of the
whole expedition it is repeatedly said, that it was directed
against the people of the land of Ludim, which is in accord
ance with the book of Genesis, in which likewise, Lud is not
represented as a single tribe but as an entire nation. Since
in these same inscriptions the land of Canana is also named
and the region of Nahareina and Singara, just as in Genesis
Lud is closely connected with Aram, R os ell in it argues
that the land Ludim lay in the neighborhood of Canaan and
Mesopotamia, and he asserts that it must be sought in the
western part of Asia.
Abraham and Sarah in Egypt, Gen. xii.
In Gen. 12: 14, 15 it is said : "And it came to pass, that
when Abraham came into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the
woman that she was very fair. The princes of Pharaoh also
saw her and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman
was taken into Pharaoh's house."
* Wilk. I. p. 375-6. Compare also Champollion, S. 105.
1 HI. 1. p. 437-8.

GENESIS XII. 213
Sarah must therefore have been unveiled. The monuments
show that according tojEgyptian customs she could only so
appear in public. " We find from the monuments," says
Taylor,*" that the Egyptian women in the reign of the Pha
raohs, exposed their faces and were permitted to enjoy as
much liberty as the ladies of modern Europe. But this cus
tom was changed after the conquest of the country by the
Persians." The recognition which Sarah's beauty finds is more easily
explained, if we take into the account that the Egyptian
women, although not so dark as the Nubians and Ethiopians,
were yet of a browner tinge than the Asiatics. On the mon
uments the women of high rank, in compliment to them were
commonly represented with fairer complexions than their at-
tendants.t That Pharaoh is immediately thereupon ready to take
Sarah into his harem appears not to be consistent with He
rodotus B. 2, c. 92, according to which each Egyptian had
only one wife.! But that Herodotus speaks only of the
common practice among them and that polygamy was there
allowed by law, is shown by what D i o d 6 r u s§ says : "Among
the Egyptians the priests marry only one woman, but the rest
of the men, each one as many as he chooses." That polygamy
was infrequent among the Egyptians is evident from numer
ous representations of domestic life on the monuments.|| But
with their wives the noble-Egyptians had also other inmates
of the harem which were sometimes merely servants and
sometimes also concubines ; "most of them appear to have
been foreigners, either taken in war or brought to Egypt to
be sold as slaves."ff Of this class are the women at Medee-
net Haboo, attending upon Remeses, and not the wives of the
* P. 4. t Ibid. p. 4.
tThis is clearly the meaning of the passage, and Bahr is en
tirely wrong in making it mean the opposite.
§ 1. 80. || Wilk. Vol. II. p. 62. IT Ibid. 64.

214 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
monarch. The concubines were members of the family and
were in rank next to the wives and children of their lord.
Without doubt Sarah was intended for such a station. Among
the gifts which Abraham received from Pharaoh, male and
female slaves are mentioned, in chap. 12: 16. " Domestic
slavery," says T ay lor,* "seems to have been established
in Egypt from the earliest ages, and we find from the mon
uments that the mistress of a mansion was very rigid in en
forcing her authority over the female domestics. We see
these unfortunate beings trembling and cringing before their
superiors, beaten with rods by the overseers, and sometimes
threatened with a formidable whip wielded by the lady of the
mansion herself. Hagar was one of the female slaves ob
tained by Abraham at this time." See upon slavery among
the Egyptians, W i 1 k i n s o n :t " The Ethiopians were obliged
to supply the Egyptians with slaves, which the Egyptians
sometimes exacted even from the conquered countries of
Asia."

Genesis 13: 10.
In Gen. 13: 10, the author says the plain of the Jordan was
everywhere well watered, " as the garden of the Lord (Para
dise), like the land of Egypt." Less wonderful is it here that
the author understands the natural condition of Egypt than
that just this same land presents itself to him directly as a
means of comparison.

Exodus 20 : 25.
In Ex. 20 : 25 it is said : " And if thou wilt make me an
altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone ; for if
thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it." The prepa
ration of hewn stone is represented in a tomb at Thebes —
"p. 7. t Vol. I. p. 388.

the golden'calf. 215
some workmen stand there smoothing the surfaces of a stone
with chisels of different forms ; others are examining to see
whether it is perfectly square. The great skill of the Egyp
tians, in the preparation of hewn stone, is one of the princi
pal causes of the durability of the Egyptian monuments.*
The Festival of the Golden Calf, etc. Exod. xxxii. and Lev.
17: 7.
A succession of allusions to Egypt are found in the 32d
chapter of Exodus. That the representation- of Jehovah un
der the image of the golden calf is only explainable on the
supposition of Egyptian influence, and that it stands in con
nection with the worship of Apis, has been fully discussed in
the Contributions. t In the same work, it was also shown
that striking analogy is found in the descriptions of the feasts
of the gods among the Egyptians, for the manner in which
the festival of the golden calf was celebrated by the Israelites,
as exhibited in the following passages : verse 6 — " And the
people Sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.'''
Verse 17 : " And when Joshua heard the noise of the people
as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war
in the camp." Verse 18, where Moses says : "The noise of
song I hear." And in verse 19 : " And he saw the calf and
the dancing." The most ancient popular rites of the Egyptians
were, according to Creuzer,! of the nature of orgies, and
the fundamental character of their religion was Bacchanalian.
Sensual songs were sung, with the accompaniment of noisy
instruments. Of the yearly journey to Bubastis, Herodo
tus^ says: "Throughout the whole journey, some of the
women strike the cymbal, whilst men play the flute, and the
rest of the women and men sing and clap with their hands ;

* Rosellini II. 2. p. 159. t Th. 2. S. 155" ff.
X Symbol, 1. S. 448, 9. §-B,2. c.60.

216 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
and when they, in their journey, come near a town, they
bring the boat near the shore and conduct as follows: some
of the women do as I have already described, some jeer at the
women of the town, with loud voices, and some dance," while
others commit other unseemly acts. Especially is it said
concerning the feast of Apis,* " But when Cambyses came to
Memphis, Apis (whom the Greeks call Epaphos) was shown
to the Egyptians, and as he appeared, the Egyptians forthwith
put on their most costly garments and exulted. "t
Just as here, in a manner throughout inimitable by one of
later times, the circumstances, tendencies and feelings of the
people who had grown up under Egyptian influences, are ex
hibited with incontrovertible truth. So are they, also, in the
passage Lev. 17:7, already explained at large in a former work.!
It is there said, in reference to the rebellious Israelites : " They
shall no longer offer their sacrifices, to he-goats (B*VStp) , af
ter which they have lusted,"" The opposition which exists
between a he-goat and a god, was removed in the Egyptian
religion and in it only. " The he-goat, and also Pan, were,
in the language of Egypt, named Mendes," says Herodo-
t u s,§ and almost all the Greeks follow- him. This identity
of names between the god and the he-goat is explained by the
pantheistic element in the Egyptian conception of the world-
The he-goat was not barely a symbol of Mendes, for whom
the Greeks, looking away from the other great differences, be
cause of the form of the he-goat and his wantonness, substituted
Pan, but the physical presentation, the incarnation of this
god, and was therefore considered holy and as worthy of di
vine honor. The service of the he-goat, as a deity, was very
anciently performed in Egypt, and he was the participant of
* B. 3. u.27.
t See also upon the sacred dance among the Egyptians, Wilk, II.
p. 340.
t In den Beitragen, Th. 2. S. 118 ff. § B. 2. c. 46.

THE GOLDEN CALF. 217
very high honor among them,* so that we must necessarily
expect the idolatrous inclination of the Israelites awakened
after a short slumber, to be also directed specially to this
deity. We turn back to Exodus xxxii. Aaron demands, ac
cording to verse 2, of the children of Israel, the golden rings
which are in the ears of their wives, their sons, and their
daughters, in order to fashion from them the calf. " The
golden ornaments found in Egypt," says Wilkinson,t
consist of rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings and
numerous trinkets belonging to the toilet ; many of these are
of the times of Osirtasen I. and Thothmes III., contempora
ries of Joseph and Moses." The same author! , shows that
ear-rings were commonly worn in Egypt. Rings of gold
were so common in Egypt, according to R o s e 1 1 i n i,§ that
they took, to a certain extent, the place of coin, and many
times were used in trade.
According to verse 20, Moses took the calf that they made
and burned it and beat it (namely, the elements of the calf,
externally gold and internally wood, which had escaped the
fire) until it was fine as powder. In Deut. 9: 21, Moses
says of the same transaction : " And burned it with fire, and
beat it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was as fine as dust."
Wilkinson|| says, certain persons were employed in the
towns of Egypt, to pound various substances, in large stone
mortars, with heavy metal pestles. When the substance was
well pounded, it was taken out and passed through a sieve,
and the larger particles were again returned to the mortar,
until the whole was sufficiently fine.
In verse 32, Moses asks of God : " And now if thou wilt,
forgive their sin ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy
* Compare Creuzer, Th. III. S. 325.
t Wilk., Vol. 111. p. 225. X Vol. III. p. 371—1.
§ Vol. II. p. 280. || Vol. IIT. p. 181 and Drawing.
19

218 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
book which thou hast written." These words imply the cus
tomary employment of lists and rolls, which have existed in
scarcely any other land so generally as they did in Egypt. The
monuments often exhibit this frequency- Thus there is rep
resented in a tomb at Gurnah a levying of Egyptian soldiers.
The men, conducted by their commander, go before a scribe
in order to be enrolled.*

Prohibition of Marriage between near Relatives. Lev. xviii.
The law concerning unlawful intercourse, in Lev. xviii, in
which marriages between near relatives occupies the first
place, is in verse 3 accompanied by the words : " After the
doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not
do." Truly, among no people of antiquity was the moral
feeling, with reference to marriage among relatives, so blunt
ed, as among the Egyptians. The marriage with the sister,
so strongly forbidden by Moses, was considered among them
as unconditionally allowable. D i o d o r u st says : " It is,
contrary to the common custom, lawful among the Egyptians
to marry a sister, since such a union, in the case of Isis, was
so fortunate in its consequences." Pausanias! says of
Philadelphus, who married his sister by birth : "He in this
did that which was by no means lawful among the Macedo
nians, but entirely in accordance with the law of the Egyp
tians, over whom he ruled." Philo§ relates of the Egyp
tian lawgiver, that he gave permission to all to marry their sis
ters, those who are sisters by birth, not less than step-sisters,
those of like age and older, not less than the younger. "By
the sculptures in Upper and Lower Egypt," remarks Wil-
kinson,|| "it is fully authenticated, that this law was in
force in the earliest times."
* Rosellini, II, 3. p. 218. Compare also Herod. B. 2. c. 177.
t B. I. c. 27. % Att. 1. 7.
§ De Special Legg. p. 780. |] Vol. II. p. 63.

i.evitici)S 18: 23, etc 219

Defilement with Animals. Lev. 18: 23. Ex. 22: 18, etc.
The prohibition of defilement with animals is in the Pen
tateuch so often repeated and so rigorously enforced, (see
Lev. 18: 23: Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile
thyself therewith, neither shall any woman stand before a
beast to lie down thereto; it is confusion, iiW),* that we
are involuntarily driven to the supposition, that the author
has a very special reason for enjoining the prohibition of this
so unnatural and infrequent a crime, and that he takes into
account an immorality which ruled among those by whom the
Israelites had been previously surrounded, which was intro
duced- among them through a pseudo-religious motive, and
had acquired an influence which it could never have exerted
without that sanction. We should the more expect to find
such a vile practice among the Egyptians, the further er
roneous views of the position of animals in the whole creation
and the changing of the proper relation of animals to human
beings, was carried. That this enormity really existed among
the Egyptians, Herodotust shows: "In this same pro
vince (the Mendesian) the following prodigy happened in my
time: iysvejo 6*" iv t<u vofim xoiixa) iii ifisv iovto to tigag' yv-
vaixl igdyog ifiiayno avmpavBcv. toEio eg inlSe&v av&gaoTnov
B7r/K£To."! That the occurrence which H e r o d o t u s here
" See also Ex. 22: 18. Lev. 20: 15. Deut. 27: 21. t 2. 46.
X Bahr says upon this passage : Mendetis in urbe hircos mulieribus
se miscere Pindarus quoque cecinerat (v. Strabo, 17. p. 1154), ex quo
alii repetierunt laudati a Schneidero ad Pindari fragm. p. 122. ed.
Heyn. t. 3. et Bocharto, Hieroz. 2, 53. Idem facinus de Thuiitis alii
retulerunt, v. Clem. Al. p. 27. Ac turpissimi hujus amoris causam a
religione repetendam esse, qua ductae mulieres Fani s. hirco, ejus
symbolo, se permiserint, in uubium vocari nequit. The passage of
Pindar quoted reads :
MivSiyra naqd xpt/fivdv ftafaioaag, eaxazov
Nll^ov xigag, aiyiftdtat o&i rgdyoi yvvai£l fdoyovTai.

220 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
mentions was not a single one, is evident from the declara
tions of other writers.*
The reference of the Mosaic law on this subject to the ir
regularities connected with the worship of the goat among
the Egyptians, appears the more certain, since this worship
of the goat among the Israelites, according to the passage
in Lev. 17: 7, already discussed, was during the passage
through the desert yet very prevalent.
We are still more confirmed in our belief of an Egyptian
reference in this prohibition of defilement with animals, from
its being comprised in the number of those which in Lev.
18: 3 are introduced by the words : " After the doings of the
land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do."
Leviticus 24: 10 — 12.
The account of "the son of the Israeiitish woman whose
father was an Egyptian," in Lev. 24: 10 — 12, transfers us,
and in a manner peculiar and inimitable by a later writer,
into the very heart of things as they must have existed at the
time of the departure of the people from Egypt. If any nar
rative carries the proof of its authenticity along with it, this
does. The name of the mother and her father are given, and
the name of the tribe of the latter is also stated. That the
father is an Egyptian and the mother an Israelite, is entirely
in accordance with the common relation of the Egyptians
to the Israelites, while the opposite case, an Israeiitish fa
ther and an Egyptian mother, is hardly supposable. It is
entirely natural that in the son of an Egyptian father, the
heathenish blood should show itself, so that he curses the
God of Israel. Numbers 11:4.
In Num. 11: 4 it is said : " The mixed multitude that was
* See the preceding note.

THE HELBEH. 221
with them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel wept
again, and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?" Verse 5:
"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely;
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the grass (helbeh), and
the onions, and the garlic."
This passage is especially important, in respect to the con
nection of the Pentateuch with Egypt. All the things named
in it certainly existed in Egypt in great abundance, and most
of them were distinguished for their excellence; and among
those means of subsistence, which ancient Egypt produced in
great abundance, which were generally in favor with the
whole people, and specially with them, there is no one omit
ted. Among those named, one. is found, the grass (helbeh),
which is so entirely peculiar to Egypt, that interpreters down
to the latest times have erred in reference to it, since they
fail to derive the explanation from accurate knowledge of
Egypt. These peculiarities can appear natural to us, in this
connection, only on the-supposition that Moses is the author
of the Pentateuch, but on that hypothesis they are entirely in
accordance with the circumstances of the case.
We begin with that product, the naming of which is espe
cially worthy of notice, and suited to convince us of the au
thor's knowledge of Egypt.

The Grass (helbeh), Mi"l2h .
The current opinion, as it is found, for example, inRo-
s e n m u e 1 1 e r, upon this passage, and in G e s e n i u s' The
saurus, same word, is this : "Pith means here, leek, which on
account of its grasslike appearance takes this name.
But this opinion is entirely without foundation. Appeal
cannot be made to the authority of the ancient translators.*
For who can give us security, that they, supposing that all
* Septuagint, itgdoa, Vulgate, porri.
19*

222 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
herbage used for fodder is excluded, and looking around
among the productions which serve men for food, for one that
at least furnishes an external similarity to grass, have not
merely guessed at the one they have taken 1
But the correct view is arrived at through a different counter
argument. The kT,22h has etymologically the meaning of
food for cattle — it is originally not grass, but pasturage, fod-
¦der,* and so also according to common use.t The first cri
terion for the correctness of the interpretation is, therefore,
that the article of food which is identified with "VSIi must be
appropriately food for beasts, so that man goes, as it were, to
the same table with them. Now if such an article of food
could by no means be found, we should be warranted in
giving up this criterion, which is entirely wanting in the
'leek. But among the wonders of the natural history of Egypt, it
is mentioned by travellers that the common people there eat
with special relish a kind of grass similar to clover. The im
pression which the sight of this makes on those who have
travelled much, is very graphically described by Mayr:!
" A great heap of clover was thrown before the beasts, and a
smaller pile of clover-like fodder was placed before the
master of the house and his companions. The quadrupeds
and the bipeds ate with equal greediness, and the pile of the
latter was all gone before the former had finished theirs — this
plant is very similar to clover, except that it has more pointed
{leaves and whitish blossoms. Enormous quantities are eaten
•by the inhabitants, and it is not unpalatable. I was after
wards, when hungry, in a situation to lay myself down upon
the fields where it grows, and graze with pleasure."
* See Gesenius, loc. cit,
t E. g. 1 Kings 18: 5, Job 40 : 15, and other passages. Compare
Gesenius. X Reise nach Aegypten u. s. w. S. 226.

THE HELBEH. 223
RaffeneauDelile gives a more scientific description :*
" The fenu-grec (trigonella foenum Graecum, Linn.) is an
annual plant, known in Egypt under the name of Helbeh ; it
very much resembles clover. The people of the country find
the young fresh shoots, before blossoming, a very delicious
food." But the most particular and the best account is found in S o n-
n in i.t From him we make a somewhat copious extract,
since it clearly shows us how the emigrating Egyptians and
the Israelites could among other things also look back longingly
to the grass of Egypt: "Although this helbeh of the Egyptians
is a nourishing food for the numerous beasts who cover the
plains of the Delta ; although horses, oxen and the buffaloes
eat it with equal relish, it appears not to be destined especially
for the sustenance of animals, since the barsim furnishes an
aliment better even and more abundant. But that which will
appear very extraordinary is, that in this singularly fertile
country, the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much
that it can properly be called the food of men. In the month
of November, they cry, " Green helbeh for sale," in the
streets of the towns. It is tied up in large bunches, which
the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which
they eat with an incredible greediness, without any species of
seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excel
lent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery ; in
fine, a preservative against a great number of maladies. Fi
nally, the Egyptians regard this plant as endowed with so
many good qualities that it is, in their estimation, a true pana
cea. Prosper Alpinus has entered into long details
upon its use in medicine. After so many excellent proper
ties, real or supposed, it is not astonishing that the Egyptians
* Hist, des Plantes cultiv. en Egypte, § 2 : Du Trefle d'Egypte et
du Fenu-grec, cultives comme fourages, in the Description, t. 19,
p. 59 seq.
t Voyage dans la haute et basse Egypte, Tom. I. p. 379 seq.

224 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
"hold the fern-grec in so great estimation that according to
one of their proverbs : Fortunate are the feet which tread the
earth on which grows the helbeh."
Besides those named, von Schubert* may be compared.
He says : " The kinds of clover whose young shoots and leaves
we saw eaten in many ways by the Egyptians, were the hel
beh (trig, foenum, Gr.) and the gilban (Lathyrus sativus)."
The Fish.
The fact that fish were placed first in the narrative, and
also the phrase : " which we ate in Egypt freely," indi
cate that they were very numerous. And it is so well
known that almost incredible numbers exist in Egypt, that
we need not quote all the separate proofs of the fact. We
only refer to Oedmann,t Mayr,! Bahr,|| Taylor,fi
and Wilkinson.** But it should, perhaps, be particularly
mentioned that according to Herodotus a part of the in
habitants of the marshes of the Delta, shepherds, who proba
bly were not of Egyptian origin, and were hatedtt by the
•cultivators of the soil, lived entirely on fish.!!
The Cucumber.
Upon the cucumber, also, we need not delay long- It is
* Reise, Th. II. S. 107.
t Verm. Samml. ]. S.136. Radzivilsays there: "We saw, to-day,
about a hundred fishermen lying in the turbid waters of the Nile, and
catching fish withrtheir hands. Some of them came up with three
fish — one in each hand and one in the mouth. The fish were an ell
long, and of different kinds." X Mayr, S. 188.
|| Zu Herodotus, I. S. 658. U P. 62 seq.
*' Vol. III. p. 63. tt See Bahr, 1. c. S. 687; Heeren, S. 150.
tt Minutoli stands entirely along in his assertion, S. 406 : " In fish
the Nile is poor, as well in respect to numbers as in variety of species,
of which there are not many." Were this correct, we should despair
of ever finding truth in history. But we will not trouble ourselves
about that in anticipation.

MELONS  ONIONS. 225
known that they exist in Egypt, and of peculiar excellence.
They are large, of fine flavor, and very much eaten.*

The Melons, EPrpBSN.
The melons are of very great importance to Egypt. The
following passages from S o n n i n i,t best show how they
could become objects of general longing in the desert, where
" The souls of the people were dry," verse 6. But the spe
cies of fruit which, by its pulp and its refreshing water, best
serves to moderate the internal heat which the climate gene
rates, is the pastek or water-melon (cucurbita citrullus).!
The markets are filled with them, and they sell at so very
small a price, that the poor as well as the rich can refresh
themselves with their watery and sweet juice. They are a
healthful nourishment, and useful in the climate where the
heat makes the blood boil, and gives sharpness to the hu
mors.'^ Onions.
The onions of Egypt are also far renowned and much
praised. They are often represented in the sculptures.|| Ac
cording to A r v i e u x,U they are sweet and large, and taste
better than those of Smyrna. Hasselquis t** protests
that there are in the whole world none better. Herodotus
shows that they were, in antiquity, frequently an article of
diet of the people, and a common food of those who labored
* Compare the passage from Prosper Alpinus which has already
been quoted by Rosenmueller; Forskal, Flora, p. 169; Description,
1. 19. p. 109 ; De Sacy upon Abdollatiph, p. 125 ; and Abdollatiph
himself, p. 34; Hartmann, Aeg. S. 180.
t Th. 3. S. 101. X Aegyptiis battich Forsk. p. 75.
§ See also Sonnini, p. 109; Abdollatiph, p. 35; De Sacy, p. 127
and 8.
|| Wilk. II. p. 373. IT Hartmann, S. 180.
** P. 562.

226 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
upon the pyramids.* In what estimation they are now held,
we see from S o n n i n i :t " This species of vegetable is yet
extraordinarily common in this country : it is^the aliment of
the more ordinary of the people, and almost the only food of
the lowest class. Onions, cooked or raw, are sold in the
streets and markets for almost nothing. These onions have
not the tartness of those of Europe ; they are sweet ; they
sting not the mouth unpleasantly ; and they do not produce
weeping in those who cut them."

The Garlic.
Finally, the garlic, just as here, is spoken of by Herodo-
t u s, in connection with the onion, as a principal article of
food, especially of the poorest classes. Pliny! also speaks
of the two in connection. Diosco rides describes the
garlic among the plants of Egypt ; and R o s e 1 1 i n i§ thinks
he has discovered it upon a painting in Beui Hassan. It is
not now produced in Egypt ;|| just as also other plants very
abundant in Egypt in former times, especially the papyrus-
plant, are now either entirely or almost entirely extinct.1]
Numbers 17: 2.
According to Num. 17: 2, Moses takes from each one of
the twelve princes of the tribes of Israel a rod and writes
their name thereon. The name of each person, Wilkin-
* B. 2. c. 125. t Tom. II. S. 66, 67.
X Hist Nat. 19. 6 : allium cepasque inter deos in Jurejurando ha-
bent Aegyptii.
§ Vol. II. 1. S. 383. || Sonnini, p. 68.
IT What Michaud says, torn. 8. p. 56, concerning the manner of living
among the Fellahs in the Delta may be compared with this whole pas-
sage : " Rien n'egale la sobriete de ce peuple : il soutient sa vie avec
quelques herbes, des concombres, des oignons, un mauvais pain de
dourah ou lentilles,

DISEASES OF EGYPT SEVERE. 227
s o n,* remarks was frequently written on his stick, instances of
which I have seen in those found at Thebes."

Deuteronomy 6: 9, and II: 20.
The passages, Deut. chap. 6: 9 : "And thou shall write
them (the divine commands) upon the posts of thy house,
and on thy gates," and 11: 20, imply that the custom of giving
to houses inscriptions, was quite common among the people
with whom the Israelites dwelt.t According to the monu
ments, the name of the owner of a house among the Egyp
tians was not unfrequently written upon the lintels of the
doors.! " Besides the owner's name," says W i 1 k i n s o n,"§
" they sometimes wrote a lucky sentence over the entrance
of the house for a favorable omen, and the lintels and imposts
of the doors in the royal mansions, were often covered with
hieroglyphics, containing the ovals and titles of the monarch."
The Diseases of Egypt severe. Deut. 7: 15, 28: 27, 35
and 60. Ex. 15: 26.
In Deut. 7: 15 it is said : "And the Lord will remove from
thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of
Egypt, which thou khowest, upon thee." A similar expres
sion is also found in Ex. 15 : 26, " If thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and will do that
which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his command
ments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these dis
eases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians,
for I the Lord am He who healeth thee." In Deut 28 : 60
it is said : "And the Lord will bring again upon thee all the
* Vol. III. p. 388. t See Beitr. Th. 2. S. 459.
X See engraving in Wilk. Vol. II. 102.
§ Vol. II. p. 123-4, and concerning the inscriptions on the gates of
the gardens, p. 144.

228 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
diseases of Egypt of which thou wast afraid, and they shall
cleave to thee." In verses 27 and 35 of the same chapter,
erring Israel is threatened with the infliction of a sickness
peculiarly Egyptian concerning which we have already in
another connection made investigation.
All of these scattered passages agree in this, that Egypt
in reference to diseases, is a very peculiar land, and is vis
ited by them in a very special degree. The accounts of all
those who have made the diseases of Egypt an object of
particular attention, show that the author is right in this.
W a gn er* in his Natural History of man, calls Egypt " a
great focus of the diseases in universal history." De Cha-
b r o 1 in his " enquiry concerning the customs of the modern
inhabitants of Egypt," of the most important diseases, says :
"With an almost equable temperature and with an always
serene sky, Egypt can have only a small number of diseases,
but they are for the most part terrible."t
The same author then speaks of single maladies, the plague,
which is almost never wanting in Cairo,, and particularly in
Alexandria, the dysentery of which he says : " This disease
causes great destruction among them and especially attacks
the children, which it carries off in a frightful manner;" the
diseases of the eyes with which one at least out of five indi
viduals is afflicted, the small-pox which in Egypt is frightful
and rages far worse than in Europe, etc.
In the " observations upon several diseases which attacked
the soldiers of the French army," four seasons. of the year are
made! with reference to healthfulness. The first comprises
the time of the inundation, " I name," says the author, "this
first season of the year which continues about three months,
the damp season ; it may be considered as the winter of the
country. The west wind which then blows, increases the
* Th. II. S. 270. t Description t. 7. p. 43 seq. § . 8.
X In the Descr. t. 13, p. 216 seq.

DISEASES OF EGYPT SEVERE. 229
dampness of the atmosphere which at evening and especially
in the morning is full of mist. The consequence is a cool'
ness which is uncomfortable and detrimental to animal secre
tions. In this season of the year diseases of the eyes, the
hospital fever, diarrhoea and catarrhal pains prevail."* " The
third season of the year says the same author further, "which
I will give the name of the sick season, since it is destructive
to the health of the inhabitants and especially of strangers,
begins about the first of March and continues generally until
about the end of May. The south wind takes the place of
the east wind which had prevailed during the earlier part of
the year. These south winds are first light but they increase
gradually— they afterwards decrease in the same wayi — and
indeed to such a degree that during a period of about 50
days, from which they have taken the name chamsin, they
are very violent and hot, and hence would become insupport
able, if they blew without cessation. At this season of the
year wounds, heal with difficulty, and are easily seized with
mortification. Sicknesses of all kinds take an unusual char
acter and require the greatest carefulness on the part of the
physician, and in general all living beings are more or less
affected.t" Cultivation of the Land in Egypt and Palestine,
Deut. 11: 10, 11.
In Deut. 11: 10 and 11 it is said: "For the land whither
thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from
whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and water-
* Of this same time says Abdollatiph, p. 4. De Sacy : During this
season of the year unhealthful evaporations prevail ; the air is bad —
putrid diseases, caused by bilious and phlegmy humors, rage among
the inhabitants.
t Compare also upon the diseases of Egypt Prosper Alpinus, De
Medicina Aeg. ed. Friedreich, t. 1. p. 95 seq. : De morbis Aegyptiis
peculiaribus eorumque causis; and Hartmann, Aegypt S. 54 ff, vthete
20

230 EGYFP AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
edst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs : but the land whither
ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh
water of the rain of heaven." These verses furnish occasion
for the following remarks :
1. The supposition that Egypt is without rain lies at the
foundation of this passage. Against the correctness of this
implication, the accounts of modern travellers cannot be ad
duced in argument, according to whom, especially in Lower
Egypt it certainly sometimes rains; for these rains are yet
proportionally so seldom and, what is the principal thing,
to which reference is made in this immediate connection, they
have so little influence in fertilizing the earth, that the clas
sical writers are accustomed to speak of Egypt as if it never
rained there. Herodotus* says perfectly plainly, "it
rains not in their land."t Collections concerning rain in
Egypt are given by Faber,! Nordmeier§ and Hart-
man n.||
2. The author in designating Canaan in opposition to
Egypt, as a land of mountains and valleys, places in the flat
ness of country of Egypt the cause of absence of rain, and
that he in this way proves himself acquainted with the nat
ural condition of Egypt no man can deny. fl
blindness is designated as the most to be feared of any of them.
Volney found among 100 persons who met him, oftentimes twenty
entirely blind, ten blind with one eye and twenty others whose eyes
were either red or festered or diseased in some other way.
* B. 2. c. 14.
t Compare Diod. 1. 41. Plinius Panegyr. c. 30: Aegyptus alendis
augendisque seminibus ita gloriata est, ut nihil imbribus coeloque
deberet. Mela names Aeg. expers imbrium. Lucilius in Seneca,
Nat. Quaest. IV. 2 : Nemo aratorum aspicit coelum, and Tibullus :
nee pluvio supplicat herba Jovi.
X Zn den Beob. a. d. Orient, B. 1. S. 4 ft. 2. S 347 ff.
§ In the Calend. Aeg. p. 11 and 20. jj S. 197.
IT Vossius upon Mela L. 1. c. 9. § ]. ed. Tzschuck. III. 1. p. 247.
says: Quaerit vero causum Aristobulus apud Strabonem 1. 15. (p.

RAIN IN EGYPT AND PALESTINE. 231
3. It appears at first view remarkable that the author rep
resents it as a superiority of Canaan over Egypt, that it is
subject to rain, and is not watered by a river. If we
compare what Herodotus* says of the inhabitants of the
region below Memphis, the thing will assume quite another
phasis. " For now indeed these people obtain the fruits of
their land with far less trouble and labor than other people,
even than the other Egyptians. They need not trouble them
selves to turn up furrows with the plough, nor to dig with the
hoe, nor with any other kind of labor, which men bestow
upon the earth, but the river comes of its own accord upon
their land and waters it, and having done this, it leaves it
again, and then each one sows his ground." The great fa
cility of cultivation in Egypt is also asserted by R o s e 1 1 i n i.t
But if we examine the affair more minutely, it appears that the
author is perfectly right, and that the error, if it is altogether
an error, falls rather on the side of Herodotus! and those
who take him as authority.
First, it is to be remarked, that Herodotus particularly
476 s. 692.) quare, cum in Syene imbres cadant, intermedia tantum
loca pluvia omnino careant. Quaestio haec ibi proponitur, sed non
solvitur. Ratio tamen est manifesta, quia nempe ilia Aegypti pars,
ubi nullae cadunt pluviae, plana, humilis, sicca, arenosa ac calida est
admodum, utpote torridae zonae vicina. Vapores itaque, qui a terra
arida egrediuntur, cum rari admodum et tenues sint, aut noctu deei-
dunt in rorem mutati, aut toti ab aestu consumuntur, priusquam in
pluviam abeant. At vero tractus Syeniticus, quia excelsus et mon-
' tosus est, nessessario pluviis abundat. Ubi enim montes, ibi nivium et
aquarum lapsus perpetui.
*B. 2. c. 14. til. 1. p. 288.
X Bahr upon Herodotus says: Herodoteis similia proferunt Diod. 1.
36., Columella II. 25., Athenaeus V. 8. Sed recentioris aetatis scrip-
tores si audias, vix ulla invenitur terra, quae quo fructus ferat magis
faominum opera indigeat quam Aegyptus. Quae cum ita sint, nisi
erroris patrem historiae incusare velis, ejus verba non ad omnem
Aegyptum erunt referenda, sed ad unam modo alteramve ejus partem,
eximia agrorum fertilitate insignem,

232 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
designates only those labors as unnecessary for the Egyptians,
which in other lands precede seed-Sowing. But in Egypt,
the burdensome labor; the watering, begins not until after
the seed is sown, and this circumstance is made very parti
cularly prominent in our passage. That irrigation is really
a very laborious employment, is confirmed by many witnesses.
"Forskal," says Oedmann,* "has shown that the culti
vation of the land in Egypt requires more toil than one would
imagine. The watering must be often repeated, and for that
purpose the land is intersected by canals. These canals
must be cleared out yearly, and sustained by hedges, etc.
planted on their banks. And in S h a w,t it can also be
seen with what indescribable pains the water must be con
ducted through the numerous little channels, to furnish sus
tenance for the productions of the land, to say nothing of the
various machines which are drawn by buffaloes, and are used
for carrying up the water to the gardens, after the canals and
cisterns are dry." The difficulty of cultivation in Egypt
G i r a r d! also asserts. A single ' Feddan Doorah' sometimes
requires, according to him, a hundred days' works of water
ing, Prokesch^ says: "The watering is indispensably
necessary, and must be performed at stated intervals. It is
the custom to water the fields in winter once in fourteen
days, in the spring, if the dew falls sufficiently, once in twelve
days, but in the summer once in eight days." The same
author describes|| the various machines for irrigation. Fi
nally, M i c h a u dfl says : " The labor of tillage is not that
which most occupies the agricultural population here ; for
the land is easy to cultivate. The great difficulty is to water
the fields ; even the most robust of the Fellahs are employed
to raise the water and perform the irrigation/'

* Verm. Beitr. 1. S. 126. t Page 172.
X In the Descr. 1. 17. p. 56. § In den Erinnerung. Th. 2. S. 135.
[I S. 137. TT Correspondence from the East, Vol. VIII. p. 54

IRRIGATION IN EGYPT. 233
Further, it must not be overlooked, that Herodotus
speaks .only of a single region of Egypt, of that which enjoys
the blessings of the Nile in the fullest measure. He expli
citly contrasts the inhabitants of the region below Memphis
with the rest of the Egyptians. But our passage has parti
cularly in view that part of Egypt which was inhabited by
the Israelites. This lay upon the borders of the desert, and
the blessings of the Nile could be appropriated to them only
by means of the greatest exertions.
Finally, it is to be considered that the Canaan of which
the author speaks is in a manner an ideal land. It was
never what it might have been, since the bond of allegiance,
in consequence of which God had promised to give the land
its rain in its season, was always far from being perfectly
complied with.
4. That our passage is spoken in opposition to the boast
ing of the Egyptians, who looked down with proud pity upon
all other lands, since these had no Nile, is probable from a
comparison of H e r o d o t u s, 2. 13, which has a striking re
lation to our passage: "For when they heard that in all
the country of the Greeks the land is watered by rain, and
not by rivers, as in Egypt, they said, ''the Greeks, disap
pointed in their brightest hopes, will sometimes suffer severe
famine ;' which means, if God at some time shall not send
rain, but drought, then famine will press upon them, for they
can obtain water only from God." This phrase, ' only from
God,' which seems so terrible to the Egyptians, is here repre
sented as a mark of favor to the people, which has God for
its friend, and to which the eyes of the Lord its God are di
rected from the beginning until the end of the year, verse 12.
5. The words : " Where thou sowedst thy seed and wa-
teredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs," shows at least
that the author was acquainted with the manner of irrigation
in Egypt, and is most easily explained on the supposition that
he was acquainted with the manner of life among the Egyp-
20*

234 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
tians by personal observation. At the first view, these words
appear without doubt to have reference to an Egyptian wa
tering machine described by P h i 1 o,* with which they carried
the water from the Nile and its canals into the fields. This
machine, a wheel for raising water turned by the foot, is even
now in use in Egypt. Nevertheless, since the authority of
D i o d o r u s, for the newness of the invention of this machine,
scarcely sufficient of itself, (he mentions! that it was in
vented by Archimedes,) is confirmed by the circumstance
that this machine is not represented in the sculptures,! whilst
the machine, now most common for irrigation, the shad&f,
is found even on very ancient monuments,^ it is most
natural to refer the words rather to the carrying of the water
in which the foot has the most to do. This process we find also
represented on the Egyptian monuments.|| Two men are there
employed in watering a piece of cultivated land. They bear
upon their shoulders a yoke with straps at each end, to which
earthen vessels are fastened. They fill these with water from
a neighboring shaduf or from a pool, and carry it to the field.
¦Another stands there with a bundle of herbs which he ap
pears to have just collected, by which the phrase, 'like an
herb-garden,' is very naturally suggested.
6. The whole passage transfers us, in a manner inimitable
by a modern writer, to the time in which the Israelites were
stationed midway between Egypt and Canaan, yet full of the
advantages which they had enjoyed in the former land, and
in want of a counterpoise to the longing desire for that which
they had lost. Deuteronomy 17: 16.
Among the precepts for the king, Deut. chap, xvii, it is said,
* De Confusione Ling. p. 255. t I. 34. 5. 37.
X Wilk. II. p. 5. § Wilk. I. p. 53. II. p. 4. Ros. II. 1. p. 385.
|| See the engraving from Beni Hassan in Wilk. II. p. 137, and the
descrip. in Ros. II. 1. p. 382-3.

^lORSES IN PALESTINE. 235
verse 16 : " Only he shall not multiply horses to himself nor
cause the people to return to Egypt, so that he may multiply
horses ; for the Lord hath said to you : Ye shall not return
back again that way." It was shown in the Contributions,*
that the apprehension here spoken of, that the love of
horses in the king could finally cause the whole people to re
turn to Egypt, was entirely natural in Moses' time, when a
uniting of the band just now severed appears not impossible,
when the people from the most trivial cause uttered their
longing for Egypt, or even their determination to return,t
but not natural in the period of Solomon and the later kings.
Indeed, such a thing could not even have been in Joshua's
time, when the people had come to a full consciousness of their
national independence, and every thought on the possibility of
a reunion with the Egyptians was obliterated. In the same
place it was also remarked, that Egypt also appears in this
passage as the only country in which horses were raised,
while indeed in the age of Solomon, Palestine was to a cer
tain extent distinguished for the same thing, so that it could
no longer be supposed that a king who wished to be the pos
sessor of many horses must go to Egypt.
Kind Treatment of the Israelites by Individual Egyptians.
Deut. 23: 8 (7).
In the arrangement concerning those who are to be re
ceived into the congregation, and those who are to be ex
cluded, in' Deut. 23: 8 (7), it is said : " Thou shalt not abhor
an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land."
This passage implies that the Israelites received in some
respects better treatment from individuals of the Egyptians
separately, than from the State, so that thelsraelites had cause
for grateful regard to them in turn ; since the phrase, " For
* Th. 3. S. 247-8.
t See Ex. 14: 11. Num. 11: 5 seq. 21: 5, 7.

236 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.
thou wast a stranger in his land," is not a sufficient reason
for the command, " Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian," un
less it means that the Egyptians performed the offices of hos
pitality to. the Israelites, and earned for themselves the claim
of reciprocity. In accurate agreement with this,, we read in
Exodus that God gave the Israelites, as they were departing,
favor with the Egyptians, turned their hearts to them in love
and compassion, so that they gave them rich presents for their
journey. The agreement in so nice a circumstance between
passages so entirely disconnected, is worthy of notice, as also
the contents of each passage by itself. It is natural in a rep
resentation drawn from acquaintance with the actual condi
tion of things, that the contradictions which real life always
furnishes, should come in for a share ; a mythic representa
tion, on the contrary, would certainly avoid this apparent
contradiction, and would here leave to the Egyptians only-
hatred and hostility and a correspondent relation of the Israel
ites to them.

Deuteronomy 23: 12, 13.
The precepts upon the not defiling of the camp, etc., in
Deut. 23: 12, 13, reminds us of what Herodotus* says of
the Egyptians : " They tvfiageri xqiuvjui in houses, and eat
without, in the streets; for they think that things which are
unseemly, but necessary, must be done in secret ; but what
is not unseemly, before all the world."t If a custom of this
kind had been established among the Egyptians, from among
whom the Israelites came, it could not be violated by the Is
raelites without offending against decorum, and the law comes
in with its mandates to obviate this difficulty.

B. 2. c. 35.
Coi
S. 557.

t Compare Bahr concerning the varying, custom among the Greeks,
357.

Deuteronomy 25: 4. 28: 56. 237
Threshing with Oxen, Deut. 25 : 4.
In Deut. 25 : 4 it is forbidden to muzzle the ox when he
treadeth out the corn. Both ancient writers* and the monu
ments show that oxen were used in Egypt for threshing.
Champolliont says, in describing the subterranean
apartment at Elkab (Elethya), which belongs to the reign of
Remeses Meiamun : "Among other things I have myself seen
there the treading out or the threshing of the sheafs of grain
by oxen, and over the engraving may be read, in almost en
tirely phonetic characters, the song which the overseer sings
while threshing :
" Tread ye out for yourselves,
Tread ye out for yourselves, O oxen !
Tread ye out for yourselves,
Tread ye out for yourselves, the straw ;
For men, who are your masters, the grain,"
Of this same representation at Elethya, R o s e 1 1 i n i t
says: "They make a great heap of ears in the midst of the
threshing-floor, and cause them to be trodden out by six oxen,
which are kept in constant motion by a man who goes behind
with a whip." In regard to the signification of the hiero
glyphics, Rosellini agrees with Champollion.

Deuteronomy 28 : 56.
In Deut. 28: 56, the " tender and delicate woman" is men
tioned, " who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot
upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness." Here
also we are reminded of the state of things in Egypt. The
luxury of the Egyptian women exceeded that of all other
nations. §
* See Bahr upon Herodotus I. p. 508. t Briefe, S.
X II. 1. p. 308. | Taylor, p. 173, 4.

238 EGYPT AND THE BOOKS OF MOSES.

Deuteronomy 5: 15. 4: 20. 6: 20 seq. 7: 8, etc.
In numerous passages of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are
admonished to keep the law by reminding them of their sad
condition in Egypt, and the favor shown in bringing them out
— a motive which implies that the consciousness of this con
dition and this favor was yet entirely fresh and lively. In
Deut. 5: 15, after it had been said that the rest of the Sab
bath shall be granted to the servant, it is added : " And re
member that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and
that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence." In the
same verse is the duty of keeping the Sabbath holy, founded
on the deliverance from Egypt. In chap. 24: 18, after the or
der not to pervert the right judgment of the stranger or the
fatherless, or take the widow's garment in pledge, it is said :
" But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in
Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence : there
fore I command thee to do this thing."* Similar references
are found indeed in the earlier books.t That they are espe
cially numerous in Deuteronomy, is explained from the pre
ponderance of the admonitory element in the book : from the
fact that it, more than the remaining books, (which present
the law in its bare objectivity,) appeals to the heart of the
Israelites, in order to bring the law nearer to it, which was one
principal design of the book.
We have reached the limit of our inquiry. V. B o h 1 e n,
in his Introduction to Genesis,! supposes that the knowledge
of Egypt which is found in the Pentateuch, can be wholly
explained from the intercourse between the Israelites arid the
Egyptians in the age of Solomon. But those Egyptian refer
ences with which he was acquainted, filled scarcely half a
' Compare chap. 4: 20. 6: 20 seq. 7: 8. 15: 15. 16: 12. 24: 23.
t See Ex. 22: 20. Lev. 19: 34. 1 S. 41.

CONCLUSION. 239
page,* and indeed in order to explain these from later circum
stances, he was obliged to labor by availing himself of a num
ber of " mistakes and inaccuracies" with reference to Egypt,
to bring counter-arguments for the later age of the narrator,
and for his position out of Egypt. We have proved that these
pretended " mistakes and inaccuracies" are just so many
proofs of the ignorance of him who alleged them. We have
also shown that the Egyptian references of the Pentateuch are
beyond comparison more numerous and direct than was hith
erto supposed. The unprejudiced critic henceforth will be
obliged to recognize in the connection of the Pentateuch
with Egypt, one of the most powerful arguments for its credi
bility and for its composition by Moses.
* S. 54.

APPENDIX.
MANETHO AND THE HYCSOS.

I. ManetHO.
The prevailing opinion is, that Manet ho was the chief of
the priests in Heliopolis who were the most distinguished for
learning of any in Egypt, and wrote under the patronage of
king Ptolemy Philadelphus, by the aid of the writings found
in the sanctuaries of the temples.*
But there are several strong objections to this opinion :
1. In the specification of the gods and demi-gods who ruled
Egypt, according to M a n e t h o, before men, a remarkable
ignorance of Egyptian divinity is exhibited, a strange min
gling of Greek and Egyptian names of deities, — Mars, Apollo
and Ammon are found as demi-gods, and Jupiter Ammon is
divided into two divine persons, etc. From these facts, upon
which Jablonskit as long ago as his time, and after him
and copying from him Meiners! commented, Rosel-
1 ini§ has justly argued that this list was drawn up by one
* See ei g. Heeren, Ideen Aeg. S. 426.
t Vanth. Aeg. Proll. p. 67 seq. In reference to these things this
author says : Totus animi pendeo, ancepsque haereo quodnam de
scriptoris hujus, aut diligentia, aut peritia, aut accuratione, aut bona
denique fide judicium ferfe debeam, and therefore was in the best way,
with their help to perceive the indications of the truth.
X Religionsgesch. der altesten Volker, besonders der Aegypter,
S. 122.
§ Vol. I. 1. p. 12. 21

244 APPENDIX.
and common dialect in Egypt, as is here implied. The author
in his great ignorance of Egyptian affairs puts in the place of a
difference between sacred and common writing, the difference
between the sacred and common language. The unfortunate
attempt of Latronne in Champoll ion's "Precis"* to
justify M a n e t h o for this distinction between the sacred and
common language shows only to what violence the prejudice
in favor of Manetho leads. If we look critically at this one
circumstance, the gross ignorance of the author which is re
vealed in this expression in regard to the Egyptian language,
we shall have sufficient ground for freeing ourselves from this
prejudice. Moreover some suspicion with regard to the
author's knowledge of Egyptian language arises also, from
the fact that Hyc which according to one declaration must
mean king, and according to another captive — no slight dif
ference — is found elsewhere neither in the one or the other
signification. t
4. Manetho refers his notices as to their original source,
to certain columns in the Seriadic land, engraved in the sa
cred dialect, and with sacred letters by Thoth, the first
Hermes, whose contents were translated before the deluge
from the sacred dialect into the Greek language, and written
upon papyrus, were deposited by A g a t h o d a m o n th e
son of the second Hermes, the father of That, in the sanctu
aries of the temples of Egypt.f
* p. 407.
t " In linguae Copticae monumentis omnibus,'' says Jablonski Von.
Aeg., Opusc 1. p. 357, concerning Hyc in the sense of king, "quae ad
manus nostras pervenere, vocis istius vestigia nulla occurrunt." The
same author remarks that the meaning captive is just as little capable
of proof, p. 362.
% Ex xtav iv ifi Sygiudixij yfj xsi/isvwv oxr\).fi>v hgiji cptjat, Sta-
Ae'xTw xal Ugoygacpiitoig ygdji/iao'i xfxaQotxxrjgio-fispwv vnb Ow&
xov ngaxov 'Egfxov, xal egfirjvsv&eioSv fttxd xov xaxaxlwfiov ix
i% isgag ScaXsxxov elq ti]v EllijvlSa cfxavijv ygotfijiaaiv legoyh)-
quxoig, xal anote&ivxuiv iv fiifikoig vna toC 'Ayadodal/iovog, dIdi!;

MANETHO. 245
The prominent doubt, which arises here is, how an Egyp
tian of high rank of the time of Ptolemy Phil'adelphus could
believe that even in the most remote antiquity, there could
be any necessity of Greek translations in his own land, and
that these translations were deposited in the archives of the
temples. Zoega endeavors to avoid this doubt, which he
sees very much endangers the reputation of Manetho, by
a change of the text. According to him, Manetho must
have written instead of: " in the Greek language," "in the
common dialect."* But the change is of little advantage to
Manetho, for had he written as Z o e g a supposes he did,
he would here again merit the reproach of making a dis
tinction between the. sacred and common dialect, an error
which he indeed fell into in another place. Further, the
change proposed is an unwarranted one ; such a one is al
lowed only in a writer of established reputation. Finally,
why should the translation from the sacred dialect into the com
mon one be mentioned ? It should evidently have been speci
fied how the author obtained his knowledge of Greek. This
writer even claims for the writing in its Greek form divine
authority. All such attempts for the vindication of Mane
tho, (to which also that of H e y n et belongs, who sets down
without argument all of that which S y n c e 1 1 u s copies from
the preface of Manetho as spurious,) would have been
spared, if the attention had been directed not to particular
things merely, but if, on the other hand, all which is related
had been taken at once into view.
xov Sevxigov Egjiov, Ttaxog Se xov Tax iv xdlg adixoig xmv iegwv
Alyvnxov. Syncelli Chronographia, p. 40. ed. Goar. t. 1. p. 72.
ed. Bonn.
* He says, De Obeliscis, p. 36 : Scripsisse Manethonem sig
xi)v xoivi]V cpwt>r)v v. elg xijv xoivtjv ditlX-exxov quovis certarem pig-
nore: at Graecis compilatoribus i) xbwr) gxowj erat ig iklrpug,
t In der Gott. Comm. Vol. V. Hist. p. 103.
2i*

246 APPENDIX.
A second suspicion arises from the mentioning of columns
in the Seriadic land. A Jewish fable of a similarity which
cannot be mistaken is furnished by J o s e p h u s.* Traditions
of certain Egyptian columns are found even at a very early
•period, but in the form in which it is found in Manetho, it
is of Jewish origin. This is clear, since in it as in Josephus,
information is given in reference to the flood. On account
of the impending flood they were erected. But of the flood,
original Egyptian tradition knows nothing at all, as generally
in all heathen antiquity no single reference to it uncon
nected with Jewish influence appears, so that it is wretch
edly uncritical to make use of these heathenish notices in
confirmation or deprecation of the Mosaic history. Before
they are made use of some one account of the deluge in heathen
writers should be referred to of an earlier date than that of
this composition.
Now it is granted that a possibility remains, even if we al
low that this tradition is of Jewish origin, that an Egyptian
•writer as early as the time of Ptol. Philadelphus could avail
himself of this, but it is not probable; for the whole Jewish
system of tradition of this kind appears to belong specially
to a later time.
That the Seriadic land is Utopian is shown by the fact that
all attempts to discover it have been vain ; t but upon this we
do not wish to lay any great stress. It serves, however, for the
counteraction of the current prepossession in favor of the
true historical character of Manetho's work, but it does
not make it entirely impossible that the author lived as early
as the reign of Philadelphus. So the Hycsos-city Avaris is
* Arch. 1. c. 2. §3: Ol ano 2tj&ov crocplav xr\v negl xa ovgu-
via xal %t\v xoirmv Sidxca/irjaiv inevorjeav ' vneg Se xov fit) Siaqpv-
yeiv toi/; avQgvmovg xa ivgij^isva, ngoeigtjxoxog acpaviafibv'dSdfiov
xmv olwv eo-eo-&ai  axrjXag Svo noitjo-dfievoi, xrvv fiev ix nllv-
&ov, xi]v 8 krigav ix Xl&wv, an<potigaig iviygatpav xa evgrifiiva
 jiivu S1 l*xgi xov Sevgo xaxa yijv xfiv Sigidda.
t Compare Zoega, p. 36.

MANETHO. 247
just as vainly sought as the Seriadic Land. C h a m p o 1 1 i o n,*
following the example of L a r c h e r, seeks to show that Ava-
ris is Heroopolis ; but he does this merely by a comparison
of what Manetho says of the position of Avaris, with the
situation of Heroopolis. No other writer mentions an Egyp
tian city Avaris ; and that the author had need to fear the
control of geographers he himself betrays, since he takes re
fuge in a region not very accessible to them, and hints that
the name Avaris belongs not to common language, but bears
a higher character, has a mystical significance. "t
5. The striking coincidence of that which Manetho
relates concerning the Jews, with the declarations of such
writers as Charemon, Lysimachus, Apion, and
Apollonius Molo, who all of them lived under the Ro
man dominion, render it irhprobable that he wrote as early as
the age of Philadelphus. If the parallel narratives are com
pared with each other, it will be found improbable if not di
rectly impossible that some centuries should elapse between
the times of their composition ; and the more so as the traces
of Egypto-Greek persecution against Jews upon which these
accounts are founded, cannot be referred to in the period of
the Ptolemies, and especially of the more ancient Ptolemies.
This persecution, on the contrary, meets us first in the time
of the Romans. For the third book of the Maccabees evi
dently belongs to this latter period, and transfers its circum
stances to the time of the Ptolemies.f Moreover this per-
* Eg. s.l. Phar. 2. p. 87 seq.
t In one passage, xalovfiivvv and Tivog dqxaiaq &$oXoyiag Avagiv.
In a second, taxi Si ¦>/ itoXig rcard xr/v &eoloyiav avoi&ev, Tv(p(uviog.
X Dahne, (Darstellung der Jtidisch-Alex. Religionsphil. I. S. 25,)
it is allowed, supposes that the most important facts of the narrative
must be considered as worthy of confidence; but the opposite was
long ago proved ; and besides, it is perfectly clear to every one who
reads the book, and, has sufficient knowledge of the world not to start
with the presumption that everything which claims to be history, must
t least have a historical basis.

248 APPENDIX.
secution against the Jews, in the time of the earlier Ptole
mies, is not only not demonstrable from history, but it could
scarcely have existence in it. P h i 1 o and Josephus both
show, in numerous passages^ that the head-quarters of this
persecution, was Alexandria ; that it grew out of the jealousy
which the Egyptian inhabitants of that place cherished against
those of Jewish origin ; and that the Egyptians drew the
Greeks and Romans into a partnership of their aversion.*
Now the circumstances which called forth the persecution in
Alexandria, did not exist there at all under the first Ptolemies.
The inhabitants consisted originally only of Greeks and Jews.
Upon the latter, both Alexander and Ptolemy Lagus be
stowed great favors, and administered justice to them equally
with the Greeks. t Not until later, did the Egyptians come
in among them by degrees ; and were, as intruders, sub
jected to great degradation ; as, for example, they were pun
ished for crime in a far more severe manner than the Greeks
and the Jews who were on the same footing with the Greeks.^
The position of these Egyptian inhabitants of Alexandria
were so low, that many entirely abjured their Egyptian origin.
Thus Josephus^ relates of Apion, that he was born in an
otsis of Egypt ; but, ashamed of his Egyptian origin, he
pretended to be an Alexandrian. The most important pas
sage concerning this whole matter, and that which best serves
* In proof of this, see Philo in Flaccum, p. 969, 71, 76, De Lega-
tione ad Cajum, p. 1615, 16, and Josephus contr. Apion, B. 2. u. 3,
may be compared.
t Josephus contr. Ap. 2. 4. Arch. B. 12 1.
§ Compare Philo in Flaccum, p. 976 : Tav fiaozlywv elal
8iaq>ogal Staxtxgi/iivai, xaxa xrjv noXiv ngbg xa xmv ximxea&ai
/teXXovxw aSicOjuara ¦ xovg jisv yag Alyvnxlovg hegaig alxl£,ia&ai,
o-fjft/Js/Sijxs, xal ngbg iieqav, xovg 8e AXelavSgiag cmd&aig xal vnb
(nta&7)(f,6gm 'AXelavSgsosv. Among those called Alexandrians,
the Jews belong, according to him. They were beaten with
the iXevd-egiaiziqaig and noXixixmiqaig udaxigiv.
§ Contr. Ap. 2. 3.

MANETHO. 249
for the confirmation of our hypothesis, namely, that first in
later times the causes were in operation which called forth
such representations as those of M a n e t h o, is found in J o-
s e p h u s, and is extant only in Latin.*
These objections lie against the hypothesis that Mane-
t ho, as a native Egyptian of high rank, wrote under Ptolemy
Philadelphus, and show that he or the individual who appro
priated his name, (which was perhaps an honored one,) be
longed to a far later period. In favor of the correctness of
the commonly-received opinion, we have only the author's
own testimony. But how such authority can be allowed for
this purpose, is inconceivable, when it is considered, that the
same individual who claims to have lived in the time of Ptol
emy Philadelphus, and professes to be an Egyptian high-
priest, at the same time assures us that his original sources
of information are those fabulous columns, and his secondary
source the contents of a Greek translation made even before
the flood and laid up in the archives of the temple. How can
any confidence be placed in 'the word of a man who is con
victed of such palpable falsehoods in so important a mat
ter ?
The suspicion of deception increases when we recollect
* Contr. Ap.2. 6. " Any one who searches," he says, " will find
that such citizens as Apion were the authors of sedition in Alexan
dria."— Donee enim Graecl fuere et Macedones hanc civitatem te-
nentes, nullam seditionem adversus nos gessere, sed antiquis cessere
solennitatibus. Cum vero nrultitudo Aegyptiorum crevisset inter eos,
propter confusiones temporum, etjam hoc opus semper est additum.
Nostrum vero genus permansit purum. Ipsi igitur molestiae hujus
fuere principium, nequaquam pppulo Macedonicam habehte constan-
tiam, neque prudentiam Graecam, sed cunctis scilicet utentibus malis
moribus Aegyptiorum et antiquis inimicitias adversum nos exercenti-
bus. E diverso namque factum est, quod nobis improperare praesu-
munt. Nam cum plurimi eoruin non opportune jus ejus civitatis ob-
tineant, peregrinos vocant eos, qui hoc privilegium ad omnes impe-
trasse noscuntur. Nam Aegyptiis neque regum quisquam tidetur jus
civitatis fuisse largitus neque nunc quilibet imperatorum.

250 APPENDIX.
that we strictly have not to do with a writer of history, but
with one of that' class least of all to be trusted, among whom
literary deception has always been the order of the day. With
an almost natural confusion it is now very commonly over
looked, although perfectly clear, that Manetho's work has
not properly a historical design ; that it was not his main ob
ject to give history, but this rather serves him as a foundation
for his peculiar structure. According to his own declaration
in his letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus, his writings comprise
the answer to the question put to him by Ptolemy, (I will
leave it for others to inquire whether this question is in ac
cordance with the manner of thinking of a king,) upon the
things which shall come to pass in the world, negl rwv [iil-
Xovxav ia xoo-fia ylyveo-&ai, as also the inscriptions on those
pillars mentioned by Josephus, of which those of M a n e-
t h o are a copy, were not of a historical but theological
character ; they were said to preserve the hidden wisdom of
the fathers for their posterity. Whence, we simply remark,
Manetho took that which was of subordinate importance
to him, his history, we have not so much as his declaration :
he has not himself even referred back to the temple archives
as his friends and admirers assert, though they do it inconsid
erately, — since Josephus, setting them the example of
transferring that which belongs to prediction to history, fur
nishes then no confirmation in this error. If Manetho had
done this, it would not contribute at all to the advantage of
his credibility, but would rather be a detriment to it. For
how could the assertion that he drew from the archives,- ac
cording to the miserable and current manner, so little to the
honor of our critical age, be isolated ; how could it be sepa
rated from the absurdities with which this assertion is so
closely united ? How inappropriate this is, Zoega felt ; he
thinks it necessary to defend Manetho against the opinion,
that he affirms that he received his historical facts from the
same source from which his prophecies are derived. He could,

MANETHO. 251
Zoega supposes, have very probably received his history from
other fountains.* This we willingly grant ; but must yet re
mark, that we could not expect that, great care and consci
entiousness would be exercised in the choice and use of his
historical sources by one who, in the specification of those
from, which his prophecies are taken, so plainly shows himself
a vain boaster, and one who, since his object, ' ex professo,'
is to retail prophecies, is a boaster by profession.
Further, the suspicion of deception is also intimated in
that it is this same Ptolemy Philadelphus at whose sugges
tion the book is said to be composed ; precisely the one among
all princes tp whom it would first occur to an impostor to
dedicate his work. The passages of ancient authors which
show, that the exertions of Ptolemy Philadelphus with regard
to learning, and especially in reference to the increase of the
Alexandrian Library, were very much praised, are found
collected in H o d yt and Stahr.f The many un authenti
cated stories which are fastened upon the fact that Ptolemy
Philadelphus took a strong interest in learning, go so far that
he at last was even made out to be an author.§ Ptolemy
has by degrees become expressly i a mythic personage.
Let not the striking analogy, which, as soon as we recog
nize in the claims of Manetho mere pretension, we have
in the writings of the Pseudo-Aristeas, be overlooked. As
Manet h o professes to be a high-priest of the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, so A r is teas claims to be a noble officer at
the court of the same king. There is certainly nothing more
absurd than to attempt, in the^manner of a base Juste milieu
in criticism, to obtain from the work of A r i ste as also a
* " Etiam ad hoc attendendum," he says, " qucd ipse ex Hermeti-
cis stelis ifuturorum cognitionem se hausisse scribit, non regum histo-
rias, quas ex aliis monumentis congerere potuit.
t De Biblicorum Textibus originalibus.
X Aristotelia, Th". 2. S, 61 ff. § Stahr, S. 63.

252 APPENDIX.
share of historical truth; as, for example, P a r t h e y* sup
poses that A r is teas' statement in regard to the seventy-
two learned men is to be reduced to a half or a fourth ! The
only proper course is, on the other hand, to seek to destroy
the last thread of the tissue of lies, and acknowledge that the
circumstance, that the translation of the Books of Moses
was made in obedience to the command of Ptolemy Philadel
phus, cannot be considered as even furnishing awhistorical
basis for the fiction. The whole reference in which the
Alexandrian translation is placed to the Egyptian king,
belongs to the vanity of the Jews, which has called forth so
many similar fictions. The choice of Philadelphus in pre
ference to others was caused by the fact that the name of this
king had become classical for the time in this department,
and the Alexandrian translation is the simple product of
the wants of the Jews at Alexandria. What P af t h e yt says :
" As Ptolemy Philadelphus, influenced by his curiosity in re
ference to historical subjects in general, summoned seventy-
two interpreters for the translation of the Jewish religious
books, so he caused the ancient Egyptian chronicles to be
translated by the learned high-priest and temple-scribe, M a-
netho, from the hieroglyphic writing into Greek," is true,
but in an entirely different sense from that of the author,
namely, in that he did the one as little as the other ; but
M a n e t h o and Aristeas in every respect a ' par nbbile
fratrum,' for similar reasons had recourse to him.
If any doubt yet remains in regard to rejecting the testi
mony which one so confirmed in falsehood as Manetho
gives of himself, it may yet be considered, that we have under
the name of Manetho also another work, the Apotelesma-
tica, and that the author of this work also, who in the declara
tion of his sources of information agrees^ so accurately with
* Das Alexandrinische Museum, Berlin 1838, S. 58. t Page 165.
X He asserts in B. 5. v. 1, 2, that he has derived his information ig
ddvxojv legojv fllflXoiv, xal xgvq>i/uu)V axrjXani, & rfigaxo 7idvao(pog Ep/j,rjg.

THE HYCSQS OF MANETHO. 253
our author, dedicates his book to Ptolemy Philadelphus,
and makes mention of his wife Arsinoe, but this statement of
his sources is now almost unanimously declared to be false,
and indeed on much more trivial grounds than those on which
we have relied in the rejection of his testimony for himself,^
in the work under discussion.*
JEhe testimony of other writers which substantiates M a n e-
tho's account of himself is not in existence. There is no
mention made of him by any writer who preceded the time
of the Roman dominion. It is of little consequence, that one
so credulous and uncritical, and so entirely governed by in
terest as Josephus, and who even transferst writers evi
dently Jewish to the gentiles, gives credit to his testimony of
himself, and does not even express a suspicion of forgery.
It is only necessary that the object of the quotations which
Josephus gives from Manetho be taken into view.
Greek writers" have called in question the antiquity of the
Jewish nation. Josephus wishes to confute their testi
mony from the Egyptians and Phoenicians, nations who are
much more worthy of confidence in historical matters than
the Greeks. It is plain that it was for the interest of Jose
ph u s to magnify the trustworthiness of Manetho.
But special importance is attached to the contents of the
work, which are said to perfectly substantiate the claim which
the author makes for the honorable origin of the work. In
praise of its excellence, those especially are exhausted who
have employed themselves in modern times in the restoration
of the Egyptian chronology and history from her native mon
uments. But it appears to us, that these commendations arise
* So according to Zoega, p. 255, the author of the Apotelesmatica is
a " man minime Aegyptius, Manethonis nomen sat impudenter men-
titus," and forsooth because he " omnia ea, quae ad funerum curam
pertinent Aegyptiis patrio ritu sanctissime. obeunda, adspernatur."
Compare also Meiners, 1. u. S. 122 ff.
f See, e. g. Contr. Ap. 1. 23.
22

254 APPENDIX.
far less from the thing itself, than from the certainly very
natural and pardonable desire, in so doubtful an undertaking,
to have at least some one firm hold, a more certain frame
work on which individual facts, as they appear, can rest-, a
test for the correctness of things which are of doubtful ac
ceptance. Nevertheless, this favor, shown to M a n e t h o, rests
only on the king's names which are found. But if we here
leave general assertions, and direct our attention to par
ticulars, in order to see how far these encomiums have
received confirmation from the latest discoveries, it will be
perceived that they are not so important as might properly
have been expected after such eulogies, even if we receive
the data without question, from those who, with regard to
them, are somewhat exposed to suspicion, since they start
with the necessity of admitting an agreement between M a-
n e t h o and the monuments.
Manetho begins with the rule of the gods and demi
gods. It is evident of itself, that the monuments here furnish
no confirmation. But after such a beginning it is improba
ble from the nature of the case, that he, as soon as he brings
the first human kings upon the stage, will change- forthwith
from a writer of fiction or romance to a historian. Thus
our very well grounded suspicion is found on closer exami
nation to be confirmed in a remarkable manner. The most
zealous friends of M an et ho must acknowledge, that for
this whole first fifteen dynasties, the monuments furnish al
most entirely nothing, and that little can be adduced from
them in confutation of the assumption, that M anetho has
done as S y n c e 1 1 u s* did, who from his own invention gave
names to the kings of the twentieth dynasty, which were
omitted by M a n e t h o. Wil kinsont says: whether any
dependence can be placed on the names and number of the
kings of those dynasties is a matter of great doubt. The
*Fage91. t Vol. I. p., 18.

THE HYCSOS OP MANETHO. 255
monuments indeed furnish no assistance in this portion of
early history, except perhaps in so far as the names in the
later dynasties of Manetho are similar to those on the
monuments. Rosellini* says : "Shall the whole epoch
which precedes the so called sixteenth dynasty be considered
fabulous 1 I venture neither to affirm or deny it." This
author then summons everything in order to furnish at least
some confirmation of Manetho from the monuments of this
period. What he adduces is as follows : The name of the
man who, according to Manetho, heads the succession of
human rulers is found on the walls of the Ramesseion, in the
representation of a religious train in which the statues of the
predecessor of the king are carried in procession by the
priests. Rosellini thinks he has discovered the Suphis
of Manetho, the Cheops of Herodotus, in a tomb in
the pyramids. His inscription, according to this author, reads :
Suten Oveb Sciuso, which he translates : il paro sacerdote o
propheta Sciuso.t Likewise in the tombs of Geezeh, Rosel
lini affirms that he has found the name Sensciuf. This is
said to be the second Suphis of Manet ho, the Sensuphis
or Sensaophis of E ratosthenes, which according to R o-
sellini must signify the brother of Suphis. Besides also
there are three other king's- names, but those which corres
pond are not found in the lists of Manet ho.f The dis
connected names of three kings then is all that the monu
ments in this period furnish for the confirmation of the lists
of M a n e t h o, or rather all they seem to furnish. It is true,
* Vol. 1. 1. p. ill.
t Ros. p. 126 seq. Compare II. 1. p. 36. III. 1. p. 2 seq. The
same name written Koufou has more recently been discovered upon
the stones of the great pyramid at Memphis. Compare Lepsius in
the " Eclaircissemens sur le cercuil du roi Mycerinus traduits de
V Anglais et accompagnes de notes par Lenormant, Paris 1839,
p. 44 seq.
I Ros. Vol. 1. 1. p. 132.

256 APPENDIX.
Rosellini affirms that he has discovered a considerable
number of other names of kings, which he from uncertain
conjecture places in the fifteenth dynasty; but their names
have no relationship to those of Manetho, and these sup
posed facts can therefore furnish no verification of his list.*
Rosell in it seeks to avert from his favorite the hazardous
consequences which result from this silence of the monu
ments, — the " great void beyond the sixteenth dynasty, where
only a few and disconnected fragments of earlier1 cultivation
and civilization appear as little oases in the desert," — by the
hypothesis that the Hycsos have destroyed all earlier monu
ments ! Consequently the Hycsos alone must have accom
plished what a whole succession of conquerors for thousands
of years together have not been able to do, to say nothing
of the absurdity of the attempt to support another fable, by
that of the Hycsos. These Hycsos must always be^such as
to answer the purposes of R o s e 1 1 i n i, a diligent scholar,
and in his own province highly worthy of respect, but one
who has,- in historical criticism, top little discrimination.
In their pretended second irruption having become civilized,
they must have left untouched all the monuments which were
erected by the monarchs of the eighteenth dynasty after their
first expulsion ! %
The Tablet of Abydos also appears against the credibility
of M a n e t h o in the first fifteen dynasties. The first eleven
dynasties of Manetho comprised 192 kings, the thirteenth
alone sixty. In the Tablet of Abydos, on the contrary, the
* Since the appearance of Rosellini's work, the name Menkare is
supposed to have been deciphered upon a coffin discovered in the
third pyiamid of Memphis, and it is said to be the same as the Men-
cheres, who according to Manetho was the fourth king of the fourth
Memphitic dynasty, and the Mycerinus of Herodotus, who according
to him built this same pyramid. Compare the work of Lenormant,
above referred to, p. 11 seq.
t I. 1. p. 119. II. 1. p. 75. X Ros. I. 1. S. 320.

THE HYCSOS OP MANETHO. 257
succession of kings which forms the eighteenth dynasty be
gins with number forty-one. Rosellini has here also a
ready means of escape. He supposes that the Tablet refers
merely to the Theban kings. But this is assumed merely
from his regard to Manetho. The succession of his pre
decessors in authority over Egypt appears on this monument
at the request of Remeses the Third.
Finally, if we consider Manetho as worthy of confidence
in the first fifteen dynasties, we assume for the Egyptian king
dom, a duration which is opposed to the. probability, the
analogy and the chronology of the Pentateuch, which, judge
of it as we will, is yet even more worthy of faith than a M a-
n e t h o. According to Manetho, it is 4750 years from
Menes until the Persian invasion, without reckoning the
fourteenth dynasty.* The hypothesis, that the dynasties, are
contemporaneous, by which it was formerly sought after the
example of E u s e b i u s, to reconcile Manetho with the
Mosaic chronology, may now, since the researches of P 1 a t h,
and especially of R o s e 1 1 i n i,t be. considered as entirely
obsolete, although it is still asserted with a tone of so much
confidence in historical writings, which are very much read.
The sacred writings recognize everywhere only one king
over all Egypt. Just so, not only Herodotus, Diodo
rus and Manetho himself^ but also, what is of more
importance, the monuments, which indeed by their magni
tude and splendor are witnesses against an origin from the
petty kings of small territories. They bear upon them the
title: Kings of the worlds Lords of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The names of the Pharaohs appear dispersed over all of
Egypt, etc.
It is true, that in the later dynasties, the verdict is more
favorable to Manetho. Several of his names here have
received confirmation from the monuments. But if we de-
* Wilk. Vol. I. p. 18. t I. 1. p. 98 seq.
22*

258 APPENDIX.
scend to particular cases, it appears that here also there is
very much wanting to a complete harmony between him and
the monuments, even according to the statements of his
friends, whom we must follow in that which respects the
monuments. How great the differences are, is shown by the
comparison of the statements of Manetho and the data
obtained from the monuments, in reference to the eighteenth
dynasty, in Rosellini.* Manetho has, for example,
made out of the one Usirei or Menephtha I, the two Aken-
¦cheres; to Armais, Armes or Armesses, corresponding to
the Remeses of the inscriptions, he allows only four years,
whilst the fourteenth year of his reign is represented on the
monuments, t Manetho ascribes to the Great Remeses
{III), according to him Rammeses, a reign of one year and
four months, while on the monuments his sixty-second year
appears. If Sesostris is really, asChampollion, Ros e.I-
1 i n i and others suppose, identical with this Remeses III,
the error of Manetho, who places Sesostris as early as
the twelfth dynasty, is palpable. The monuments furnish
no additional evidence for the whole account of Armais=
Danaus of Manetho, and it is characteristic of R o s e 1-
I i n i's want of skill in criticism, that he receives this ac
count without argument, as true and original, and only ex
amines it to designate the time of its occurrence,! although
it is perfectly clear, that, this tradition is as far from being
an original Egyptian one, as that concerning Polybius and
Proteus, with regard to which, however, even R o s e 1 1 i n i's
patience forsakes him, and lie cannot avoid declaring,^
that all the accounts concerning them have had their origin
in the words of H o m e r.
With how little confidence one can rely even in those later
times upon king's lists of Manetho, such declarations as
* Vol. I. 1. p. 286. t Vol. I. 1. p. 255.
± Comp. I. 2. S. 1 seq. § T. 2. p. 27.

THE HYCSOS OP MANETHO. 259
these show : Sethus was also called Egyptus, and from him
Egypt received this name, an assertion which has a worthy
counterpart in that of D i o d o r u s : One of the immediate suc
cessors of Proteus was Nilus, from whom the river which was
before called Egyptus, took the name Nilus. The names of
the kings of the twentieth dynasty are entirely omitted by
Manetho, a circumstance which can by no means be ex
plained, as Rosell ini* has attempted to do, by supposing
that these kings had accomplished nothing worthy of consid
eration, but by the fact that, even for this later time, his
sources of information were defective.
But that which has been furnished from investigations upon
the monuments which is really in favor of Manetho, does
not indeed compel us to place him in a proportionally early
time, or to ascribe to him circumstances by which he was
specially favored in the use of sources of information. Even
if he wrote in the beginning of the period of the Roman
dominion, he could out of the designations of Egyptian
kings which were in circulation, easily obtain a certain num
ber of the actual names of kings to which his whole real stock
is finally reduced.
The question whether M a net ho was an Egyptian or a
Greek can scarcely be answered. The Egyptian and Anti-
jewish interest which he exhibited is not sufficient to prove
his Egyptian origin. For many Greek writers appropriated
to themselves Egyptian sympathies and antipathies ; as, for
example, Apol Ion iu s Molo wasaGreekt Manetho' s
ignorance of Egyptian religion, language and geography is
* I. 2. p. 34.
t Josephus, c. Apion , says expressly : xwv Si tig qfiag ^Xaa(pri(i,mv
)'lQ%avxo fiiv Alyvitrioi- povXofieyoi S' Ixeivoif tivig yaq&eo&ai,
nagaxgineiv irtsytigrjaav T->tv dXt'i&tiav. Similar descriptions are
found in other places, Menander e. g. was a Greek from Ephesus,
and yet he wrote Phoenician history with the spirit and interest of a
Phoenician.

260 APPENDIX.
just as little decisive against his Egyptian descent. There
was in later times a multitude of subjects among this people
who had entirely abandoned their nationality, with the excep
tion only of their national arrogance and their antipathies ;
as for example, Apion was an individual of such character, since
he despised the Jews on account of circumcision and because
they ate no swine's flesh, without thinking that this reproach
could properly be made only by a Greek, not by an Egyptian
who thus together with the Jews contemned his own nation.*
Now, from one of these classes of subjects must Manetho
also have been; Yet he hardly lived in Egypt. Several of
the errors attributed to him are of such a kind that they could
scarcely have been made even by a Greek who lived in that
country.

2. The Hycsos of Manetho.
In scarcely any enquiry has criticism taken so decided a
retrogressive movement as in that concerning the Hycsos
of Manetho. The subject was considered by P e r i z o-
niu s as long ago as his time, at a right point of view, al
though it is acknowledged that he was wrong in a not unim
portant particular, which will soon be pointed out, This
author denied that the history of the Hycsos had its founda
tion originally in Egypt, and he explained it as a transforma
tion of that which the books of Moses relate of Joseph and
the exodus of Israelites, undertaken with a design to favor the
Egyptians and injure the Jews.t In the footsteps of Per i-
* Jos. <;. Ap. 2. c 13.
t The result of his impartial and thorough enquiry, he gives on page
336 seq. of the Orig. Aegypt : Satis ni fallor liquere videtur, quando
sacras cum hisce comparamus literas, A.egyptios, quia glorioslssimam
non modo Josephi, sed et Mosis et Israelitarum ex Aegypto£xeuntium
historiam profiteri nolebant, finxisse falsam et vilem et deformem Juda-

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 261
zonius trod Thorlacius in the little treatise : " De
Hycsosorum Abari,"* which has been but little known, and
which throughout bears the marks of a youthful attempt, but
yet is written with a spirit of investigation and with talent
for historical criticism. He brings the account of Manetho
concerning the Hycsos in connection with the translation of
the booksof Moses into Greek,t and the consequent diffusion
of the, knowledge of the ancient crime and disgrace of the
Egyptians, and he considers this account as an attempt to
throw the infamy of these things off from the Egyptians
and devolve it upon the Israelites.^
This view stood in so manifest opposition to the position
which has been taken in modern times concerning Mane-
icae gentis originem, suis ex terris, sed cum scabie et lepra repetendam.
Verum autem Israelitarum in Aegypto agentium et inde exeuntium
historiam variis multisque falsis cireumstantiis. ita contaminasse et
adulterasse, ut agnosci vix posset, et sic ad alios earn homines tuto
retulisse. Further p. 339 : Since Herodotus and Diodorus are entirely
silent concerning the Hycsos, videtur sane Manetho historiam eorum
suum ad arbitrium primus concinasse, falsis et fabulosis cireumstantiis
adulteratam, ut ita Judaeorum antiquitatem et res ab eorum majoribus
id Aegypto gestas— penitus obseuraret et-extingueret.
* Copenhagen 1794. t p. 16 and 17.
X Hunc antiquum gentis pudorem Graecis saltern, Aegypti tunc
dominis celare volentes auctores Aegyptiaci, narrandi rationes sic
instituerunt, ut famosi. istius et cum tanta Aegyptiorum ignominia,
tantis cladibus conjunct! Israelitarum exitus narrationi Mosaicae indi-
genis parum honorificae, haberent quod opponerent. Ideoque falsa
veris miscendo id unice egerunt, ut funesti eventus culpa omnis et
opprobrium ab Aegyptis ad lsraelitas transferretur. Hoc consilium
Manethoni, Chaeremoni et Lysimacho fuisse res ipsa loquitur, ut ad
commuhem metam peifgentes, quod fere mendaces solent, suatn
quisque viam sit ingressus. In the opinion of this author, the
account of Manetho. is, anilis Mosaicae de Israelitarum in Aeg. rebus
narrationis larva et imago, qua affictis subdole cojnmentis, inauditam
Aegyptiorum in lsraelitas criidelitatem, quae in scriptis Mosaicis vivis
coloribus depingitur, quodamodo tegere vel excusare Manetho volebat :
hinc saevus Hycsosorum dominatus regesque sex in subsidium cusi.

262 APPENDIX.
tho that it was necessary to abandon it. If for example,
we suppose with Rosellini,* that if Manetho were
handed down to us unmutilated, Egyptian affairs even those
most uncertain from distance of- time, would be as well
known as those of Greece and Rome; if we in our blind
ness go so far with him. relying upon the pretended witness
of Manetho for himself, as to believe that this author
has derived his facts from the authentic documents of histor
ical science ; if we place to the account of the compiler all of
that which even in the lists of the kings of M a n e t h o opposes
this opinion ;t then we must naturally consider everything
which is in opposition to true history, so soon as the account
of Manetho is applied to the Israelites, as proof that he
could not have reference to them, we must go even so far
as with R o s el 1 i n if to reproach the critical obtuseness of
those who maintain the identity of the Jews and the Hycsos !
Truly this view may be considered as one which is commonly
promulgated and believed, and we should not hope to obtain
the renewal of a favorable hearing, if we did not believe, that
by the foregoing inquiry concerning M a n e t h o, we have
given a powerful blow to the prejudice which has contributed
to the rejection of the view held by us. We make only
one additional remark, namely, that the current favorable
opinion in regard to Manetho even then also receives a
check through his account of the Hycsos, if any other people
than the Israelites are understood by them. Applied to any
nation which we can call to mind, the account comprises
everywhere such palpable falsehoods, internal contradictions
and improbabilities, as it has already been shown in part
by Josephus and yet more thoroughly by Perizonius
and T h o r 1 a c i u s — to whom we must refer since we have no
desire to enter on the discussion anew — that it is impossible

* Vol. I. 1. p. 5. ] Compare Ros. I. 1. p. 2 and 6.
J Vol. 1. 1, p. 175.

THE hycsos OP MANETHO. 263
to consider it as coming from a good historian. The admirers
of M a n e t h o since they are ignorant of^hese circumstances
which are-yet so perfectly evident, can scarcely be acquitted
from a species of literary dishonesty occasioned by their blind
predilection for him.
We will now collect the reasons which prove, that the Hyc
sos can be no other than the Israelites, that no older native
sources are the foundation of the account of Manetho, that
this account, on the contrary, is merely a transformation of
the historical facts which have reference to the Jews, so as
to favor the national vanity of the Egyptians.
1. The more ancient defenders of the reference to the Is
raelites have themselves, in regard to one important point,
surpassed their antagonists. Namely, they have allowed that
Manetho himself distinguished the shepherds from the Jews.
The shepherds, relates Manetho, long before the time
of the Jews were expelled from Egypt. But thalatter people
having originated in Egypt were, long after the shepherds,
banished in consequence of a leprosy which polluted their
bodies.* But the matter was not allowed to end here. It
must be supposed that a report which originally had refer
ence to the Jews, was in later times erroneously transferred
to, another people. But by this acknowledgement, one of
their strongest supports was torn away, ft the contrary true,
can it shown that it did not occur to M an e t ho himself that
the Hycsos and the Israelites were a different people, then the
friends of Manetho find themselves in a dilemma ; -they can
not defend without at the same time casting reproach upon
him. If the,Hycsos are the Israelites, he can lay no further
claim to the reputation of a good historian, since he relates
things of them which are not at all applicable to the Israel
ites. - Are they any other nation, then he commits a gross
mistake,, in that he identified them with the Israelites. That

Perizonius, p. 329.

264 APPENDIX.
Manetho did actually intend to designate the Israelites by
the term Hycsos, it did not occur to Josephus to doubt.
He was too thoroughly convinced that the whole point of the
narrative lay in its application to the Jews, to consider it nec
essary to state expressly this reference.
The whole-contest concerning the Hycsos owes its origin
merely to the supposition of Josephus that this reference
would be perfectly understood from the thing itself. Could
he have foreseen this contest, it would have been an easy mat
ter for him to have prevented it, by adducing the direct proof
that Manetho must have had reference to them and to no
other nation. — Let it not be said, in opposition to this, that
the contents of the narrative itself disprove its application to
the Jews. If Manetho understood the leprous persons to
be the Jews, it is impossible that he should suppose that the
Hycsos, who were different from them, were also the Jews.
M a n e t h o's view is evidently this : the Jews are composed
of a twofold element — a barbarian (in reference to the origin;
of which he is in doubt,) and an Egyptian. The foreigners,
the Hycsos, go, after their first expulsion, to Palestine, and
build Jerusalem. They return there, after their second ex
pulsion, with the native Egyptians, the lepers. They were
pursued, by Amenophis, even to the borders of Syria.
We leave it undecided whether the tradition of such a com
position of the Jews is founded on the passages of the Penta
teuch which designate under the names 3~iS , rabble, and
P^D&BN , populace, an Egyptian multitude who accompanied
the Israelites in their Exodus,* or whether the national van
ity of the Egyptians availed itself originally of two methods
of calumniating the original stock of the Israelites, and then
Manetho later, or perhaps even the tradition itself joined
together these things which at first existed independently, and
in a manner exclusive of each other. The latter appears to
us as the more probable supposition.
* Compare Ex. 12: 38 and Num. 11: 4.

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 265
How little we can infer from the fact that the unclean
persons are the Jews of Manetho, thatthe Hycsos conse
quently are not Jews, is evident from the analogy of other
writers who also allow that the Jews are made up of such a
twofold element. A comparison of these writers is the more
valuable since we have already shown that the hypothesis
that M anethp lived some hundred years earlier than they,
is without foundation. While Lysimachus has only
half of the falsehood, that concerning the lepers, but not that
with regard to the Hycsos, Charemon has the whole.t
This author represents the Jews as composed of two elements,
the ' impure people,' and the strangers, who are found on the
borders of Egypt and are called in to their aid by the former.
The nation formed by the combination of these two races, he
designates expressly as Jews. Even he does not know how
to characterize more definitely this foreign stock. The com
parison with Manetho is also interesting, inasmuch as
it shows how uncertain and changing the Egyptian traditions
were, as from their origin it could not be otherwise. The
main point, the attempt to bring disgrace upon the Jews, is
common to both ; but all except some of the main features, is
different. Even Josephus shows this, and also how un
worthy of confidence the Egyptian tradition is, from the con
tradictions between Charemon and Manetho.
Diodorus Siculus has recourse to Egyptian tradi
tion concerning the origin of the Jews, in two passages. In
Eel. 34. I.t he represents the friends of Antiochus Pius or
Sidetes, as saying of the Jews : They are, even as to origin,
contemptible ; since they, on account of the leprosy, as hated
of the gods, were expelled from all of Egypt. Here, as uni
versally where the lepers are spoken of, the Jews are repre
sented as native Egyptians. On the other hand, in the second
* In Josephus, c. Ap". 1. 34, 32. t T.2, 5. 24, ed. Wesseling.
23

266 APPENDIX.
passage in Eel. 40. 1.* he relates : There was in Egypt, in
ancient times, in consequence of the anger of the gods, a new
disease visited upon the strangers, whose different worship
had diminished the honors of the native gods. The latter,
therefore, decreed toJ>anish the strangers. The most distin
guished and powerful of them banded together and betook
themselves to Greece and some of the other neighboring re
gions, under honored leaders, of whom Danaus and Cadmus
were the most conspicuous. But the great multitude of them
proceeded to the country now called Judea, which was then an
unbroken waste. This colony was conducted by Moses, etc.
— That which appears in Manetho and C h a r e m o n, in
connection, is seen here divided. In the one passage there
is merely the one; in the other, the other element of the tra
dition. Now is it probable that Diodorus separated that
which was originally united, when perhaps he even intended
to have the one expression completed by means of the other ;
or that Manetho and Charemon united that which was
originally separate ? The looseness of connection and the
artificialness of the separation, seem to us to favor the latter
opinion. 2. From our view of the subject, the circumstance that
Herodotus gives just as little information of the Hycsos
as of the lepers, is easily explained, since certainly before
the time of the Ptolemies and (if our inquiry upon Manetho
is well founded) also before the time of the Roman dominion,
no traces of these notices can be found. The condition of
their existence was the acquaintance with the declarations of
the Pentateuch concerning the ancient relations of the Jews
to the Egyptians, which at any rate could not have been un
til the period after Alexander. On the other hand, from the
contrary view, the fact cannot be explained. The argument
from the silence of the monuments, is of more weight, the more
important the events concerned. Can it be supposed that

* T. 2. p. 542 seq.

THE HYCSOS OP MANETHO. 267
Hero d o t u s, in all his intercourse with the Egyptian priests,
did not bear anythingof the dominion of the Hycsos, which
extended through a succession of centuries, and especially
not one word of their glorious expulsion, if these events were
already known at that time, as they must have been if M a -
n et h o received his facts from native Egyptian sources 7
3. Not the least trace is found in the whole Pentateuch of a
foreign^dominiorf over Egypt. The credibility of the Penta
teuch cannot be asserted without denying the reality of a
government of the Hycsos. The proper name of the national
ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, meets us everywhere, — in the time
of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. The national hatred of
the Egyptians to shepherds, presents itself before us in the
period described in Genesis and af the time of the Exodus.
That which is adduced in support of this position, or indeed
in proof that the Pentateuch hears witness to the existence of
the Hycsos, according to the current opinion is of little force.
Rosellini* supposes that the Hycsos adopted the language
of Egypt. By this, the fact is explained that the king bears
the appellation of Pharaoh, and gives to Joseph a iitle of
Egyptian etymology. We will not deny that such an adop
tion of the Egyptian language by the Hycsos is possible ; but
so long as their existence stands on so frail a foundation as it
now does, it will always remain certain, that the universal
prevalence of the national title of the king furnishes an argu
ment against them.
Rosellini finds a positive proof for the existence of the
Hycsos in Gen. 46: 31 seq. Joseph there gives direction to
his brothers to make it understood by the king of Egypt that
they are shepherds. With a native king this circumstance
could not have been for their advantage, but on the contrary
decidedly to their disadvantage. It must then be inferred from
this passage that the emigration of the family^ of Jacob took
place under the dominion of the Hycsos who in R o s e 1 J i n i' s
* Vol. I. 1. p. 183 seq.

268 APPENDIX.
opinion were a tribe of Scythian nomades. But, the fact that
they are shepherds is not indeed intended to serve as a recom
mendation of the children of Israel to Pharaoh, but it is
designed to cause him, understanding that they cannot dwell
in the midst of his people, to appoint them a dwelling-
place in the province of Goshen, which was especially adapted
to the rearing of cattle. They are directed to say that they
are shepherds, and have been from the beginning, so that they
cannot think of a change in their occupation : that they may
dwell in the land of Goshen. According to Rosellini' s
theory it must mean : in the land of Egypt. What the sons
of Jacob are directed to tell Pharaoh was, according to this
author's manner of understanding it, not sufficient to cause
their residence specifically in the land of Goshen, and yet this
only was brought into the account, not-m general their abode
in Egypt. But the passage not merely does not prove what
according to Rosellini it is intended to prove, it proves
the very opposite. That the Israelites were shepherds, is no
reason, to a Hycsos-king, for a separate abode.
Rosellini* derives a second positive proof from Exodus
chap. i. The appeal to the mentioning of the new king, in
verse 8, is common to him with most of the defenders of the
fable of the Hycsos. In his view, as he believes that he has
proved that in the time of Joseph the Hycsos-kings ruled Egypt,
Amenoph the First, is naturally the new king. He even
makes verse 10 subserve his purpose. " Who," he says,t
" could the enemies be with whom the Israelites might unite
and fight against the Egyptians, except the shepherds, who
expelled but not destroyed, were always threatening to make
an irruption upon the smiling valleys of the Delta." But
the mentioning of a new king has no reference at all to a
change from a foreign dominion to a national- one, or the
reverse. The reason why the king is called new is given in

Vol. 1. 1. p. 292 seq. \ page 294'

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 269
the phrase following : "who knew not Joseph." Disregard
of the service of Joseph — orily a forgetfulness of affection is
spoken of — forms the point of distinction between the new
king and the old. So long as Joseph's services were re
membered, the Israelites were treated kindly. While the
king yet lived who elevated Joseph to the first dignity in his
kingdom,, the house of Jacob received friendly treatment in
this kingdom. That only in this sense a new king is spoken
of is evident from the circumstance that the old as well as
the new king t>ore the name of Pharaoh. The same thing is
confirmed by the view of the relation of the children of Israel
to the Egyptians, which extends through the whole narrative.
Were the dynasty under which Joseph's labors were perform
ed, and the children of Israel received, under favorable auspi
ces into the land, really different from that under which the
Israelites endured hard bondage, the guilt of the latter would
have been far less than as it appears in the narrative — the
reproach of unthankfulness, and the forgetting, of former
obligations comes not upon them — their treatment of the
Israelites appears to have far more reason for it and the judg
ments of God in the same degree less called for. Verse 10
also is not in favor but opposed to the existence of the Hyc.
sos. When it is there said : " lest they multiply and it come
to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also to
our enemies and fight against us, and so get them up out of the
land," it is evident, that there was at that time only the gen->
eral possibility of a war. The thought of a particular enemy
was so far wanting that W i 1 k i n s on* finds far more in this
passage than it contains, when he infers from it that at that
very time the Egyptians were engaged in a war with powerful
enemies. But the general possibility of a war can easily be
referred to if we appoint the Hycsos their proper place in the
domain of fable. Egypt had at that very time in its imme
diate vicinity, natural enemies, people whose miserable exis-

* Vol. 1. 20, 21.
23*

270 APPENDIX.
tence in the deserts and mountains must have awakened in
them a desire for the spoil of the fruitful and cultivated valley
of the Nile. Such were the Amalekites, the Edomites and
•the Midianites.
4. From the monuments also, the Hycsos-fable has not re
ceived the least confirmation. Rosellijii* is obliged to
acknowledge that no trace of the pretended names of theHyc-
sos-kings appears there. He indeed thinks he has discovered
upon the monuments which belong to the eighteenth dynastyt
the Hycsos themselves, as did Champ oil ion before him,
as appears from his letter to Blacas.f But that which is
found on the monuments is nothing but the representation of
a victorious campaign of the Egyptian against barbarian
•nations, such as are constantly repeated under other dynasties.
Of the Hycsos in particular, there are no indications. On
the contrary, where localities which can be identified are given,
they always belong to foreign countries. No trace is any
where found of an extensive civil war and victory, as that
against the Hycsos must have been, and yet it can scarcely be
supposed that all vestiges of such a one were obliterated ; if it
ever occurred, it can scarcely be imagined that the monu
ments of the Hycsos themselves should be annihilated even
to their last remains. According to Manetho their un
limited dominion continued over all Egypt 511 years. Then
followed a severe and protracted war. Finally under Alis-
,phragmutosis even Avaris was besieged. This city was taken
•by his son Thummosis. It would seem that the Hycsos had
vtime enough to leave behind them some traces of their exis
tence, and the well known absence of such indications could
¦only then be accounted for, from the assiduity of the next
succeeding dynasties, in the destruction of their works, if
their existence were certain from other sources.
5(. The narration of Manetho concerning the Hycsos
•Vol. 1.1. p. 183. t Ros. I. 1. p. 175. IS. 57.

THE HYCSOS OP MANETHO. 271
presents so many points of agreement with the account in
the Pentateuch concerning the Israelites, and on the other
hand, where there are deviations, the causes can be so easily
pointed out by a reference to the interest in favor of Egypt,
that we cannot doubt their identity, with the Hycsos.
First of all, the region from which they both come, and to
which they both go, is the same. The Hycsos, as well as the
Israelites, come to Egypt from the regions of the East, 3106s
avaxoXlp. After their expulsion, they go through the desert
to Syria, and found there a city which they call Jerusalem, —
a circumstance which alone should be sufficient to make our
opponents see that their course is a wrong one. Further,
the manner of life isthe same to both. In reference to the
Hycsos, as well as the Israelites, it is especially prominent,
that they are shepherds.
The first king of the Hycsos, whom they raised from among
themselves to this honor, is called Salathis.* This not to
be mistaken Semitish, name is alone sufficient argument
against R o s e 1 1 i n i's Scythians. It is evidently taken from
Gen. 42: 6, where it is said : " Joseph was the ruler, U^Vilr? ,
over the land." Of this first king; referring to Gen. 47: 20
— 26, it is said, he made all Egypt tributary.t Then he
founded Avaris, and was specially employed in measuring
corn,|: — a characteristic trait in which an allusion to Joseph
cannot be mistaken. The narrative of the oppression .and
cruel treatment of the Egyptians by Salathis and his suc
cessor has its point of digression in Gen. 47: 20 : " And Jo
seph purchased the whole land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the
Egyptians sold each one his field, since the famine prevailed
* Ros. 1. 14 : nigag Si xal ^aariXea i'va e{ aht&v enolijaav, ej>
ovofia i]v SdXaxig.
f Kal bvxog iv xf). Me/jqpiSi xaxeyivexo, xr/v te avw xal xdxa
%(agav SaafioXoymv.
t'Ev&dSe xaxd &igiiav qgxexo, xa fiev a ixo^iex g 5>v xal
HKF&oqpoglav nagexo^ieyog x. x. X.

272 APPENDIX.
over them, and the whole land became Pharaoh's." The
perversions of these facts are easily explained by the effort
to transfer to the Egyptians, the historical circumstances
which are given with reference to the Israelites, and conse
quently to remove the disgrace from the latter and devolve it
upon the former. The reproach of unjust oppression and cruel
abuse, which according to history belonged to the Egyptians,
must be attached to the Israelites.
6. The view given by us also has analogy for its support.
The Egyptians from national vanity loved very much to ap
propriate to themselves the accounts of other nations, with
reference to facts which had any relation to Egypt; and
having transformed them so as to favor themselves, they
were accustomed to pass off the borrowed treasure in its as
sumed mould, as originally Egyptian. If we seek first for other
cases of such employment of Hebrew material, Manetho
himself certainly furnishes them. The tradition which is found
in him, and also elsewhere widely diffused,* concerning the
leprosy of the Jews, was evidently founded on the minute
Mosaic precepts in reference to this disease, in Lev. chapters
xiii. and xiv., — precepts which have at all times given abun
dant occasion for derision to evil-minded persons.t What
Manetho relates further of the desire of Amunophis to see
the gods, appears to be transferred from Moses to him, and
copied from the well known narrative in the Pentateuch.
When Manetho calls Moses, who according to him must
have belonged to the Egyptian element of the Jews, a He-
* Compare Perizonius, p. 333 ff.
t How the tradition might arise from them will be easily under
stood, when that is compared which Sonnini, " Voyage dans la haute
et basse Egypte," 3. p. 126, says in reference to the leprosy of
houses and garments : Ces maladies des choses inanimces,~ qui servai-
ent uniquement a former les Juifs aux details de la proprete, ont dis-
paru de 1' Orient avec le peuple sale, pour lequel ils avaient et6 im-
aginees.

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 273
liopolite, (a proceeding characteristic of his whole course;
national vanity is not satisfied with the humiliation of its op
ponents, it will besides claim for itself whatever is distin
guished among them,) T h or 1 aciu s* seeks the first rea
son of this declaration from Gen. 41: 45, where Joseph is
said to have married the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis.
The confounding of Moses with Joseph implied here, is the
less remarkable since Charemon is in a direct road to the
same thing when he makes them contemporaries, and asserts
that the uuclean persons were removed from Egypt under
the guidance of both.t
Lysimachusrel ates of the unclean persons, that after
they had been thrust out into the desert by the king, and
night came on, they kindled fires and lights for the purpose
of protection.! -Any one sees at once, that this is no other
than the explanation of the Mosaic account of the pillar of
cloud and fire, which is most in accordance with the laws of
the natural world ; the original Egyptian narrative is clothed
in the fitting garb of one of Mosaic origin. It would be a
strange mistaking of the facts in the case, to seek for any
thing better in a writer who relates that the city founded by
the unclean persons was first called Hierosyla, the city of
temple-robbers and defilers of sanctuaries, but afterwards this
name was changed to Hierosolyma, — words which betray to
us the whole tendency of these writers, and show that we
have to do not with historians but with polemists, and indeed
those of the lowest sort. Josephus knows right well how
to use such passages.^ He never comes to a thorough pro-
•1. c.p. 116.
t 'Uyeia&di 8 alxwv ygajifiaxiag Mwil^v te xal 'Iwarpiov,
xal xovxov hgoygafijxaxia. Alylmxia Si uvxolq ovofiaxa eivui,
xm (tiv Mmvafi Twi&iv, xa 8e ' JawjJio) TZsrttnJqp.
I In Josephus c. Ap. I. 34 : Nvxxog d imiytvonivrji nvg xal
Xvxvovg xavoavxag cpvXatxeiv eavxovg.
§ He says, e. g. concerning the one under discussion, § 35 :

274 APPENDIX.
cedure for a fundamental exposure of literary imposture,
since it is for his interest that the exposure should not fully
ensue. Pure love of truth lies far from him. He allows as
authority whomever he can use, be he ever so worthless.
Apion relies for what he says of Moses upon the oldest
Egyptians as his vouchers.* But it is only necessary to ex
amine his narrative to be convinced that even he received his
facts only from Jewish accounts, which he perverted at his
pleasure. Whence else than immediately or mediately, (the
latter more probably in all the writers of this class,) from the
Pentateuch does he derive his information, when he relates,
for example, that Moses ascended the mountain between
Egypt and Arabia, which is called Sinai, and remained con
cealed there forty days, and afterwards he descended thence
and gave the law to the Jews.t
But not alone by the Egyptians was the original possession
of the Israelites basely stolen and after an easy transformation
proudly exhibited to view by its new possessors, as if inherited
from their ancestors ; others also sought, in the abundance of
the'Jews, help for their own poverty. The Chaldean Berosus,
for example, pretended that he obtained from the most ancient
records of his nation, the history which he gave of the deluge,
of the ark in which Noah was saved, of its resting on the
highest point of the Armenian mountains, etc.J But since
nothing of the kind is found in heathen records of the times
before Alexander, at which time the Jews were still shut out
o Si yevvalogvno noXXijg xov XotSogeiv axgaaiag ov avrijxev, oxt,
ligoavXeiv oil xaia xr\v buttjv q>mr>)v IovSuioi tois EXXrjOtv ovo-
/id£ofiir. # 'Jig ijxovaa nagd xoiv ngeafivxigtov i&v Alyvnximv, C Ap. 2. 2.
f Mavai\v tig xo u.eia$v Trj; Alyvmxov xal ti\g Aqaplag hgaq,
o xaXeixai Slvaiov avafidvta fifiigaig xeaaagdxorxa xgvcp&rjvai,
xdxii&ev xaxafidvxa Sovvai xotg 'lovSaloig xovg voftovg.
X Josephus, contr. Ap. 1. 19.

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 275
from intercourse with the world ; since, further, these notices
coincide too nearly with the declarations of the sacred Scrip
tures to allow the possibility that they could have been de
rived from independent tradition, the assertion ofBerosus
in reference to his sources for the primitive age, (as respects
later times he communicates also independent notices,) are to
be taken as a bare pretence.
In this same category belongs also the account of D i u s ,
which he pretends to have derived from ancient Phoenician
sources, concerning the contest with problems between Hi
ram and Solomon,* where the fact at the foundation is evi
dently of Jewish origin, augmented with paltry additions
which owe their existence to the national vanity of the Tyri-
ans. Solomon, it is related, sent problems to Hiram and re
ceived others from him upon the condition that he who could
not solve the problems proposed to him, should pay money to
him who solved them. Hiram, failing to solve his problems,
was obliged as penalty to pay a large sum. Finally, however,
a man of Tyre, Abdemon, solved these problems and pro
posed others. Since Solomon could not solve the latter, he
was obliged to pay back a large amount of money to Hiram.
The Jews, on their part, did not allow themselves to be
found idle, and there was, between them and the Gentiles an
emulation in historical forgery, which must fill one who has
first found the right position, with disgust at this whole spe
cies of literature, the remnant of which is handed down to us,
mostly by Josephus, especially in his books against Apion,
and by Eusebius in his ' Preparatio Evangelica.' It is scarcely
possible to be cautious enough here. Suspicion is the legiti
mate rule of the critic, and all accommodation is uncritical.
Nothing was more frequent than for the Jews to assume the
garb of Gentiles in order in this disguise to effectually weaken
the calumniations of the Gentiles, to magnify the antiquity
and greatness of their nation, from the apparent testimony of

Jos.c. Ap. 1. 17.

276 APPENDIX.
their enemies, and to confirm the credibility of their sacred
books by pretended independent heathen tradition.*
How heathen fraud directly called forth the same thing
among Jews, we will show by a single particularly striking
example. Artapanust relates that, according to the ac
count of the Memphites, Moses, when he passed the Red Sea,
waited for low water ; but it is entirely otherwise, according
to the Heliopolites. They recognize the miraculous in the af
fair. Evidently the envy of the Egyptians had called forth the
explanation of that which, on the authority of the sacred
books of the Jews, was current concerning the passage of the
Red sea, making it merely the result of the common laws of
nature. Of this event and the circumstances connected with
it, the Egyptians (a people who have as little genius for his
tory as the Indians) possessed no original, native information.
This explanation, which accounts for the facts from natural
phenomena, they gave not as such, but put it into the form
of a parallel tradition of the Memphites which was inde
pendent of the Jewish narrative. The masked Jew now
opposes to the pretended authority of the Memphites, the
equally assumed testimony of the Heliopolites.
We return after this digression. The Egyptians did not
make use of Hebrew material alone. With equal impudence,
and even earlier, they appropriated to themselves also that
which belonged to the Greeks. Heyne expressly shows
this, appealing, for an example, to the story of Proteus and
Helen.t We will examine, a little more closely, the Egyptian

* The notices in Valckanaer, De Aristobulo Judaeo, p. 17 seq. may
be compared.
t In Eusebius, IX. c. 27.
X L. c. pp. 108, 127 : Inoleveret Aegyptiis adeo ilia interpretatio
antiquitatis suae ex Graecis literis, ut sub Ptolemaeis et Romanis vix
aliam ullam nossent. Pro exemplis sint narrationes de Proteo et de
Helena, in quibus et hominum illorum vanitas, popularibus suis glo-

THE HYCSOS OF MANETHO. 277
narrative of Helen, in Herodotus,* since it furnishes for
the account of Manetho concerning the Hycsos, accord
ing to our manner of understanding it, a very remarkable
parallel. We premise that W e 1 k e rt recognizes nothing
further in it than a transformation of material originally
purely Greek, so as to gratify the national vanity of the Egyp
tians— a view which Bahr vainly opposes with the intention of
bringing about a base accommodation. Herod otu s, the
good-natured admirer of Egyptian wisdom, asks his priests
exactly how the matter stood with reference to Helen, imply
ing that, they must surely have the most certain knowledge upon
the subject, and consequently provoking the deception itself;
as indeed generally the credulity of the Greeks, and their child
ish admiration of Egyptian falsehood, has very much contribut
ed to awaken the mere spirit of deception among this people.
The priests now relate to him a long_ history, with the most
characteristic circumstances, and much better devised than
the Hycsos-iable of Manetho. In the whole, the praise
of the pretended Egyptian king Proteus, the magnifying
of his wisdom and justice, is the ' punctum saliens.' In
the Greek tradition, Egypt occupied but a subordinate place,
here it is made prominent. The Egyptian king deprived the
robber of his spoil. The Greeks go to Troy and take the city
in vain. Menelaus first receives back his spouse from the
hands of Proteus.' Even here the Egyptians are not satisfied
with self-praise ; another's shadow must yield them light.
Menelaus repays all favor and love with ingratitude. He
steals away two Egyptian boys and offers them in sacrifice.
The whole, Herodotus allows to be imposed upon him,
and supposes that Homer has deviated from the truth ob-
*¦
riam ex rebus Graeciae comparantium et fafeulas Graecas in earn fidem
interpretantium, tum Herodoti his de rebus opinio apprimis intelligi
potest. * B. 2. 113—20. t Jahns Jahr. f. Phil. 9. 3. S. 276 ff.
24

278 APPENDIX.
tained among the Egyptians, since it was not suited to his
poetical design !
We have before intimated that such stolen Greek goods
are also found in Manetho; for example, the story of
Armais=Danaus and Thuoris=Polybius.

NOTES.

\

NOTES,

P. 1. Von Bohlen (Peter), was born at Wappels in 1796 of poor
parents, and was left an orphan in 1811. In 1817 he was received
into the Gymnasium at Hamburg, where he turned his attention to
oriental studies. He, was the pupil of Gesenius, Roediger and Hoff
mann in the University at Halle, in 1821 ; and in 1822 he wentto Bonn
and attended upon the instructions of Freytag and Schlegel. In
1825 he was elected professor extraordinary of Oriental Languages at
Konigsberg and regular professor at the same place in 1830. He has
since removed to Berlin. His work so often referred tain this volume
is entitled, " Die Genesis historischcritisch erlautert," Konigsberg,
1835. It was answered by Drechsler, at Leipsic, in 1837. The neo-
logical sentiments of the author may be easily inferred from the quota
tions and references made by H e n g s t e n b e r g. Allusion is also made
in this volume in one or two cases, to his book on India : " Das alte
Indien mit besonderer Ruoksicht auf Aegypten." He has published
several other works which are somewhat known in Germany.
P. 2. Pyramids of Brick. Four built of brick are still in existence
in Lower Egypt, two at Dashoor and two at the entrance of the
Fyoom. Several of smaller size are also found in Thebes. See W i 1-
k i n s o n, Vol. I. 131, and III. 317.
V . 2. tliat early age. AsHengstenberg has not given the pre
cise dates here, it may be proper to add that arches were constructed of
brick at least as early as 1540, B: C. in the reign of Amunoph I., and
probably in the time of the first Osirtasen, whois supposed by Wi 1-
k i n s o n to have been contemporary with Joseph. " It is worthy of
remark," says the same author, " That more bricks bearing the name
of Thothmes III, (whom I suppose to have been king of Egypt at
the time of the Exodus) haye been discovered than of any other
period."

282 NOTES.
P. 5. Sheep. Wi lki n son in his " Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians," second series, Vol. I. p. 130, 131, etc., gives the
representation of a scene from a tomb hewn in the rock near the
pyramids of Geezeh, which is of special interest as illustrating several
points in Egyptian antiquity. The tomb bears the name of the king
Suphis or Cheops which shows it, at least, to be the work of an age
before the 18th dynasty, and in all probability it was made about 2090
or 2050 B. C, more than a century before the arrival of Abraham in
Egypt. The head shepherd presents himself to give an account of the
flocks committed to his charge which follow after him. " First come
the oxen, over which is the number 834, cows 220, goats 3234, asses
760, and sheep 974. ) Behind follows a man carrying the young lambs
in baskets slung upon a pole. The steward, leaning on his staff and
accompanied by his dog, stands on the left of the picture ; and in an
other part of the tomb, the scribes are represented making out the
statements presented to them by the different persons employed on
the estate." The bearing of this painting upon several subsequent
parts of this volume should not be unnoticed ; compare especially
pp. 25, 87.
P. 6. Nome, province, from the Greek vo/tog, is the name given to
each of the 36 parts into which Sesostris divided Egypt.
P. 6. Minutoli, Henry, Baron Menu Von, born at Geneva, of a
Savoyard family, in 1772, is best known by his antiquarian researches
in Egypt. He went to that country in 1820, and returned in 1822. A
part of his collection of antiquities was lost by a shipwreck. The
remainder purchased by the King of Prussia, for about $15,000, were
deposited in the new museum at Berlin. His most distinguished
work is the "Journey to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon in the desert
of Lybia," Berlin 1824. He published "Additions to his Journey,"
etc. in 1827.
P. 10. That tins south-cast wind, etc. Numerous books of travels
might be referred to in which easterly winds in Egypt are mentioned.
But it is unnecessary. R u s s e 1 1 in his Ancient and Modern Egypt,
says : "About the autumnal equinox they (the winds) veer round to the
east, where they remain nearly six weeks, with only slight deviations."
Although this declaration may not be strictly correct, yet it is an
additional testimony to the fact that they have easterly winds in Egypt
which is all that is needed here ; for it is universally acknowledged

NOTES. 283
by Hebrew scholars, that any wind from the eastern quarter of the
heavens would be designated by a Hebrew as east wind. The fol
lowing extract from Prof. Robinson 's Biblical Researches is intro
duced riot only from its appropriateness in this connection, but as
furnishing a similar style of reasoning to that employed by H e n g -
ste nbe rg in treating of the plagues in Egypt, in chapter iii. of this
volume : " The Lord, it is said, caused the sea to go (or flow out) by
astrong east wind. The miracle therefore, is represented as mediate ;
not a direct suspension of, or interference with the laws of nature,
but a miraculous adaptation of those laws to produce a required result.
It was wrought by natural means supernaturally ajjplied, For this
reason we are here entitled to look only for the natural effects arising
from the operation of such a cause. In the somewhat indefinite
phraseology of the Hebrew, an east wind means any wind from the
eastern quarter ; and would include the north-east wind, which often
prevails in this region." — Vol. I. p. 82, 3.
P, 12. In the year 1774. This refers to the Grecian era, or era of
the Seleucidae, which dates from the reign of Seleucus Nicator 311
B. C.
P. 13. Description of the French Scholars. The full title of this
Work which is so often quoted by H engs ten lie rg as the Descrip
tion is: "Description de I'Egypte, ou Recueil des Observations et
des Recherches pendant l'Expedition de l'Armee Frangaise." It
consists of 25 -volumes with more than 900 engravings and 3000
sketches. The last number appeared in 1826. It is composed of the
documents prepared by the eminent savans and artists who accom
panied Bonaparte in his expedition to Egypt. It was printed at the
expense of the French Government, and "corresponds in the grandeur
of its proportions," says a writer in the Am. Enc, " to the edifices
which it describes."
F. 23. Amuh-m-gbri II, of the sixteenth dynasty. The first king of
Egypt was Menes,, who according to Wilkinson ascended the
throne about 2320 B. C, The kings from him to the invasion of
Cambyses are' divided by Manetho into twenty-six dynasties. > But
very little is known of any of those who precede Osirtasen I., who be
longs to the sixteenth dynasty. The names of most of the succeeding
monarchs of the sixteenth, and those of the seventeenth and eighteenth
dyriasties, often occur on the monuments, and are so often mentioned

284 NOTES.
in this volume, that it was thought it might be well to insert here,
with some slight changes, the table found in Wilkinson. Thus,
when the name of a king, as Amun-m-gori or Osirtasen occurs, by
turning to this table, the date of his reign may be seen, and in some
eases an important event which occurred during it. The eighteenth
dynasty is of special interest in several respects. It was the pe
riod- of conquest. In it most of the events recorded in the Books of
Moses occurred. And a large part of the monuments, were con
structed about this time. Four hieroglyphical lists of the kings of
this dynasty exist, in addition to the list of Manetho : "The Tab
let of Abydos, the Procession of the Bamesseion, the Procession of
Medeenet Haboo and the Tomb of Gurnah." The chronology of
Wilkinson has been followed here, as generally in this volume.
Those who are desirous of comparing that of Rosellini will find
it for substance in M r. G 1 i d d o n 's " Ancient Egypt."

Name from
ancient Authors.

Name from the
Monuments.

Events.

Ascend ed the
Throne.

Misartesen

16th Dynasty, of Tanites?
Osirtasen I. ., Arrival of Joseph, 1706.
Amun-m-gori "
Amun-m-gori II. .
V7th Dynasty, of Memphites ?

(Uncertain.)

Osirtasen II. .
Nofri-Ftep, or
Osirtasen III.
Amun-ra-gori ?
III.
(Unknown.) .

\ Joseph died 1635.
}¦ ¦¦•

18(A Dynasty, of Theban or Diospolitan Kings.

Amosis (Chebron)

Amenoph
Amesses, or Amen-
ses, his sister

C (Chebron)
\ Ames

Amunpph I. .
~ Amense, his
sister

; There arose a new
(dynasty, or) king,
who knew not Jo
seph." Exodus 1: 8.
(_ Moses born 1751. .

Included in the reign
of Thothmes I.

B. C.
1740 1696 1686

1651
163616211580

15751550

NOTES.

285

' Name from
ancient authors.

Mephres, Mesphris,
or Mesphra-Tuth-
mosis .
Misphra-Turhmosis or Tothmosis
Thummosis, or
Tothmosis .
Amenqphis .
Horus r
Achenchres, (a
queen)
Rathotis Achencheresj or
Chebres
Achencheres, or
Acherres
Armais

Remeses Maimun

Amenophis .

Name from the
Monuments.

Events.

Ascend ed the
Throne.

, Thothmes I.

I Thothmes II
C Thothmes
I III. ¦
Amunoph II.
Thothmes IV.
C Maut-m-Shoi
{ (Regency)
Amunoph III.
I Amum-men ?
£ Remesso, or
I Remeses I.
Osirei ? I.

f Amun-mai
Remeses, Re
meses 11., or
vthe Great
' Pthahmen
J Thmeiof-
' tep ? his son

( His 14th year found
( on the monuments.
( The reign of Aravm-
S neit-gori included in
( this.
C Exod. of the Israelites,
< 1491, 430 yers after the
' arrival of Abraham. .
Moses died 1451.
£ Included in the reign of
I her son, Amunoph III.
( The supposed Memnon
\ of the Vocal statue. .

The supposed Sesostris
of the Greeks. The
date of his 44th and 62d
year found on the mon
uments. Manetho al
lows him 66.

) B.C.
^1532
>1505

•1495 14561446

^1430 1408 1395
1385

1355

1289

P. 33. Piromis. Herodotus undoubtedly is mistaken in re
gard to the meaning of this word. It signifies- the man, and is com
posed of the Egyptian article prefixed to 'romi,' man. SeeWil-
k i n s o n, Man. and Cus. second series, Vol. I. p. 170.

P. 38. Caste. The people in Egypt were divided into four great clas
ses, and each of these were again subdivided. The first was the sacer
dotal caste, consisting of priests of various grades, scribes, embalmers,
etc. The second was the agricultural class, including the military
order, farmers, gardeners, and persons of similar occupations. The
third class were the townsmen; composed of artificers, tradesmen,
etc. The fourth class, the common people, included factors, laborers
and various others. The military order seems to have been much
more honored than the rest of the second class, if indeed they did not

286 NOTES.
compose a separate caste. The king could be chosen only from among
them or the sacerdotal order. If chosen from the military caste, he
was immediately admitted to the order of priests and instructed in all
their secret learning. The subject of caste is discussed at large in
Wilkinson, Vol. I. p. 236 seq., and Vol. II. p. 1 seq., to whom
the reader is referred.
P. 45. When ice fix, upon the land of Goshen as the region east of
the Tanitic arm of the Nile, etc. The view of our author with regard
to the position of the land of Goshen agrees, substantially, with that of
Dr. Robinson and other scholars of the present day. " This tract,"
it is said, in the Biblical Researches, Vol. 1. p. 76, " is comprehended in
the modern province esh-Shurkiyeh, which extends from the neigh
borhood of Abu Za'bel to the sea, and from the desert to the former
Tanaitic branch of the Nile ; thus including also the valley of the an
cient canal."
P. 59. In the best of the land. " The land of Goshen," says Dr.
Robinson," was the best of the land ; and such, too, the province
esh-Shurkiyeh has ever been, down to the present time. In the re
markable Arabic document translated by D e S a c y, containing a val
uation of all the provinces and villages of Egypt in the year 1376, the
province of the Shurkiyeh comprises 383 towns and villages, and is
valued at 1,411,875 Dinars — a larger sum than is put upon any other
province, with one exception. During my stay in Cairo, I made
many inquiries respecting this district ; to which the uniform reply
was, that it was considered the best province in Egypt. — This (its
fertility) arises from the fact that it is intersected by canals, while the
surface of the land is less elevated above tine level of the Nile, than
in other parts of Egypt ; so that it is more easily irrigated. There are
here more flocks and herds than anywhere else in Egypt ; and also
more fishermen." Compare, with this last expression, p. 224 supra.
P. 59. Tlie distance is then far too great. " We were quite satis
fied from our own observation, that they (the Israelites) could not
have passed to the Red Sea from any point near Heliopolis or Cairo
in three days, the longest interval which the language of the narra
tive allows. Both the distance and the want of water on all the
routes, are fatal to such an hypothesis. We read, that there were six
hundred thousand men of the Israelites above twenty years of age,
who left Egypt on foot. There must of course have been as many

NOTES. 287
women above twenty years old ; and at least an equal number both of
males and females under the same age ; besides the ' mixed multi
tude' spoken of, and very much cattle. > The whole number, there
fore, probably amounted to two and a half millions, and certainly to
not less than two millions. Now the usual day's march of the best
appointed armies, both in ancient arid modern times, is not estimated
higher than fourteen English or twelve geographical miles ; and it
cannot be supposed that the Israelites, encumbered with women and
children and flocks, would be able to accomplish more. But the dis
tance on all these routes being not less than sixty geographical miles,
they could not well have travelled it in any case in less than five
days."— Bib. Res., Vol. I. p. 74, 75.
P. 59. This distance appears not too great. " From thirty to thirty-
five miles, which might easily have been passed over in three days."
— Bib. Res. Vol. I. p. 80.
P. 59. Raamses. It may be proper to say here, that in this volume
Remeses is spelt in three ways. When it is the name of a king, it is,
on the authority of ¦ W i 1 k i n s o n, Remeses. In the other two cases,
the method of the verse in the Bible, to which allusion is made, is
retained. P. 70. Embalming, etc. Additional information upon the topics
discussed in this section may be found in Wilkinson, Vol. II.
See. Ser. p. 451 seq. and -402 seq., with which compare Lane's
Mod. Eg. pp. 285—311.
P. 94. Mandoo. "The Pharaohs frequently styled themselves
' Mandoo towards the Gentiles;' from which it appears that he was
the avenger or protector against enemies, the Mars of Egyptian my
thology, with the additional title of Ultor, ' avenger,' like the Roman
God of War."— Wi Ik ins on, Vol. II. Sec. Ser. p. 34.
P. 102. Haje. It is worthy of notice, that this species of serpent,
the asp of the ancient Egyptians, was considered sacred throughout
the whole country. "It was worshipped," says Plutarch, De
Isid., " on account of a certain resemblance between it and the opera
tions of the divine power. It was the emblem of the '"God Neph and
the Goddess Ranno. The asp was easily tamed, and came from its
place of concealment by the snapping of the fingers." Aelian

288 NOTES.
(Lib. vi. c. 33) speaks of the power of the Egyptians to charm ser
pents, and call them forth from their lurking places, etc. " Mum
mies of them have been discovered in the Necropolis of Thebes." Com
pare Wilk. Vol. I. Sec. Ser. p. 237—242, also upon the Cerastes or
horned snake mentioned on p. 101, see 245 seq.
P. 103. They sometimes also tear serpents with their teeth. Lane
in his "Modern Egyptians," Vol.11, p. 207, says: "Serpents and
scorpions were not unfrequently eaten by Saadees during my former
visit to this country. The former were deprived of their poisonous
teeth, or rendered harmless by having their upper and lower lips
bored, and tied together on each side with a silk string, to prevent
their biting ; and sometimes, those which were merely carried in pro
cession had two silver rings put in place of the- silk strings. When
ever a Saadee ate the flesh of a live serpent, he was, or affected to be,
excited to do so by a kind of frenzy . He pressed very hard, with
the end of his thumb, upon the reptile's back, as he grasped it, at a
point about two inches from the head ; and all that he ate of it was
the head and the part between it and the point where his thumb
pressed ; of which he made three or four mouthfuls : the rest lie threw
away." P. 159. That a connection here exists between Egyptian and Israei
itish antiquity, etc. The general similarity of the sacerdotal institu
tions among the ancient Egyptians and the Israelites is very notice
able. The ceremony of investiture to office of the priests, among the
Israelites, is described in Exodus 27 : 5 — 7, " Thou shalt take the gar
ments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and
the ephod, and the breast-plate, and gird him with the curious girdle
of the ephod : and thou shalt put the mitre upon his head and put the
holy crown upon the mitre. Then shalt thou take the anointing oil and
pour it upon his head." The priest is anointed with oil after he has
put on his entire dress. " The Egyptians" also, "represent the anoint
ing of their priests and kings after they were attired in their full robes,
with the cap and crown upon their head. Some of the sculptures in
troduce a priest pouring oil over the monarch, in thepresence of Thoth,
Hor-Hat, Ombte, or Nilus ; which may be considered a representation
of the ceremony, before the statues of those gods. The functionary
who officiated was the high-priest of the king. He was clad in a
leopard-skin, and was the same who attended on all occasions which
required him to assist, or assume the duties of, the monarch in the

NOTES. 289
temple. This leopard-skin dress was worn by the high-priests on all
the most important solemnities, and the king himself adopted it when
engaged in the same duties." — Wilkinson, Man. and Cus., 2d Ser.,
Vol. II. p. 280. Both the Egyptians and Israelites were purified with
water before they assumed the sacerdotal robes. (Ex. 40; 12 — 15.)
They were divided into different orders, among both nations, and the
offering of incense was limited to priests of the highest rank. Priests
were the judges, also, among the Israelites and Egyptians. Wilk
inson says, Vol. I. p. 282 : " Besides their religious duties, the
priests fulfilled the important offices of judges and legislators, as well
as counsellors of the monarch ; and the laws, as among many other
nations of the East, forming part of the sacred books, could only be
administered by them." So in Deut. 17: 8 — "If there arise a
matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, be
tween plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of
controversy within thy gates ; then shalt thou arise, and get thee tip
into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose ; and thou shalt
come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in
those days, and inquire ; and they shall show thee the sentence of
judgment." — Of the similarity of Urim and Thummim to the Egyp
tian symbol, Wilkinson, (Vol. II. 2d Ser. p. 28,) after speaking of
the badge of the judge among the Egyptians, says : " A similar em
blem was used by the high-priest of the Jews ; and it is a remarkable
fact, that the word Thummim is not only translated ' truth,' but, be
ing a plural or dual word, corresponds to the Egyptian notion of the
' two Truths,' or the double capacity of this goddess. According to
some, the Urim and Thummim signify ' lights and perfections,' or
' light and truth,' — which last present a striking analogy to the two
figures of R6 and Thmei, in the breast-plate worn by the Egyptians.
And though the resemblance of the Urim and the Urffius (or basilisk),
the symbol of majesty, suggested by lord Prudhoe, is very remarkable,
I am dispdsed to think the ' lights,' Aorim or Urim, more nearly re
lated to the sun, which is seated in the breast-plate with the figure of
Truth." P . 164. The sphinx symbolizes merely the union of the two designated'
qualities. Mr. Wilkinson in his last work confirms the opinion
expressed in the former one, with regard to the sphinx, and in effect,
if his positions are correct, answers the objections of H e n g s t e n-
b e r g to the view that the sphinx designates not qualities alone, but
the king as the possessor of these qualities. 1 give a rather long ex-
25

290 NOTES.
tract, but trust it will not from its bearing on the whole section be
deemed out of place. It will be recollected that the author of this
volume had not seen this last series of Mr. Wilkinson: " The
most distinguished post amongst fabulous animals must be conceded
to the sphinx. It was of three kinds, — the Andro-sphinx, with the
head of a man and the body of a lion, denoting the union of intellec
tual and physical power ; the Crio-sphinx, with the head of a ram and
the body of a lion ; and the Hieraco-sphinx, with the same body and
the head of a hawk. They were all types or representatives of the
king. The two last were probably so figured in token of respect to
the two deities whose heads they bore, Neph and Re ; the other great
deities, Amun, Khem, Pthah and Osiris, having human heads, and
therefore all connected with the form of the Andro-sphinx. The
king was not only represented under the mysterious figure of a
sphinx, but also of a ram, and of a hawk ; and this last had, more
over, the peculiar signification of '¦Phrah,' or Pharaoh, Hhe Sun,' per
sonified by the monarch. The inconsistency, therefore, of making
the sphinx female, is sufficiently obvious. — When represented in the
sculptures, a. deity is often seen presenting the sphinx with the
sign of life, or other divine gifts usually vouchsafed by the gods to a
king ; as well as to the ram or hawk, when in the same capacity, as
an emblem of a Pharaoh." — Vol. II. p. 200.
P. 184. Azazel. Compare " Theologische Studien und Kritiken,"
ErstesHeft 1843, S. 191 and 2, and " Bib. Repository" for July, 1842,
p. 116 seq.
P. 195. Among the Egyptians, the separation between the rational and
irrational creation was removed. The notions of the Egyptians with
regard to animals, were, many of them, strange and exceedingly
ridiculous. Many of them were looked upon as deities, and worship
ped, throughout the country. Others were mere emblems of the
gods. Some were honored as good, and others were execrated as
bad. The same animal was venerated in one province and served up,
as a delicacy of the table, in another. Keepers, of both sexes, were
appointed to take charge of the sacred animals, and a revenue was
provided for the maintenance both of the keepers and the animals.
This employment was considered particularly honorable, and was ex
ecuted by persons of the first caste. While living, animals were
treated with all the respect which belongs to the most honored human
beings; and although they could neither understand nor enjoy them,

NOTES. 291
were provided with all the luxuries and surrounded by all the com
forts which wealth can bestow; and when they died, they were
lamented and embalmed as if they were most dear friends. Dif
ferent authors have attempted to account for these facts in dif
ferent ways. After enumerating several theories, Wilkinson,
(Manners and Customs, Second Series, Vol. II., p. 108) says :
" It is, therefore, evident, that neither the benefits derived by man
from the habits of certain animals, nor the reputed reasons for their
peculiar choice as emblems of the gods^ were sufficient to account for
the reverence paid to many of those they held sacred. Some, no
doubt, may have been indebted to the first-mentioned cause; and,
however little connection appears to subsist between those animals
and the gods of whom they were the types, we may believe that the
ox, cow, sheep, dog, cat, vulture, hawk, Ibis, and some others, were
chosen from their utility to man. We may also see sufficient rea
sons for making some others sacred, in order to prevent their being
killed for food, because their flesh was unwholsome, as was the case
with certain fish of the Nile, — a precaution which extended to some of
the vegetables of the country. But this will not account for the
choice they made in many instances ; for why should not the camel
and horse have been selected for the first, and many other common
animals and reptiles for the last-mentioned reason ? There was, as
Porphyry observes, some other hidden motive, independent of these;
and whether it was, as Plutarch supposes, founded on rational grounds,
(with a view to promote the welfare of the community,) on acci
dental or imaginary analogy, or on mere caprice, it is equally difficult
to discover it, or satisfactorily to account for the selection of certain
animals, as the exclusive types of particular deities."
P. 200. The monuments confirm the accounts of classical writers.
Mr. W i 1 k i n s o n, in his Manners and Customs, Sec. Series, I. p. 203, ,
says of the sacred women among the Egyptians : " That certain
women, of the first families of the country, were devoted to the
service of the God of Thebes, is perfectly true, as I have had occa
sion already to remark ; and they were the same whom Herodotus
mentions under the name of yvvatxag Igrjlhg, or 'sacred women,
consecrated to the Theban Jove.' The statement of Diodorus, that
their sepulchres were distant from the tomb of Osymandyas ten stadia,
or little more than 6000 feet, agrees perfectly with the position of
those where the Queens and princesses were buried, in the Necropolis
of Thebes ; arid is highly satisfactory, from its confirming the opinion

292 NOTES.
formed from the sculptures, respecting the office they held. For
though we are unable to ascertain the exact duties they performed, it
is evident that they assisted in the most important ceremonies of the
temple, in company with the monarch himself, holding the sacred
emblems -which were the badge of their office ; and the importance of
the post is sufficiently evinced by the fact that the wives and daugh
ters of the noblest families of the country, -of the high-priests, and of
the kings themselves, were proud to enjoy the honor it conferred."
P. 211. Lemanon. WilkinsonVol. 1. p. 62 says : "The common
custom of substituting m for b in Coptic, and the representation of a
mountainous and woody country in which the chariots could not pass,
convince me that this is intended for mount Lebanon."
P. 213. Sarah must therefore have been unveiled. A passage from
G-liddon's Ancient Egypt, p. 48, is worthy of insertion here, not
only from the light which it throws upon this section and the one
contained on pp. 25-7, but also from its general interest in relation to
the state of society among the ancient Egyptians: "There "was no
Salic law in Egypt; and in a country where females were admitted
to a full participation in all legitimate privileges with man— where
women were queens in their own right — royal priestesses from their
birth; and otherwise treated as females are, in all civilized and chris
tian countries, there were none of those social restrictions that else
where enslaved the minds, or constrained the persons of the gentler
sex. We have the most positive and incontrovertible evidence, in a
series of monuments coeval with Egyptian events for 2500 years, to
prove that the female sex in Egypt was honored, civilized, educated,
and as free as among ourselves; and this is the most unanswerable
proof of the high civilization of that ancient people. This is the
strongest point of distinction between the Egyptian social system of
ancient times, and that of any other eastern nation. Even among
the Hebrews, the Jewish female was never placed in relation to man,
in the same high position as her more happy and privileged sister en
joyed in Egypt."
P . 215 . Stands in connection with the worship of Apis-. Wilkinson
connects it with the worship of the Mnevis of Heliopolis. After speak
ing of the worship of the sacred animals in general he says : The He
brew legislator felt the necessity of preventing the Jews from falling
into this, the most gross practice of which idolatry was guilty. The

NOTES. 293
worship of the golden calf, a representation of the Mne vis of Heliopolis,
was a proof how their minds had become imbued with the superstitions
they had beheld in Egypt, which the mixed ' multitude had practised
there.' " Sec. Ser. Vol. II. p. 96-7. But it is of little consequence
which is referred to. The allusion is sufficiently plain in either case.
P. 217. And burned it with fire and beat it. In Wi 1 k i n s o n,
Vol. III. p. 220-1, it is said : " A strong evidence of the skill of the
Egyptians in working metals, and of the early advancement they
made in this Lart, is derived from their success in the management
of different alloys; which, as M. Goguet observes, is further ar
gued from the casting of the golden calf, and still more from Moses
being able to burn the metal and reduce it to powder ; a secret which
he could only have learnt in Egypt. It is said in Exodus, that ' Mo
ses took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and
ground it to powder, and strowed it upon the water, and made the
children of Israel drink of it;' an operation which, according to the
French savant, ' is known by all who work in metals to be very diffi
cult.' ' Commentators' heads,' he adds, ' have been much perplexed
to explain how Moses burnt and reduced the gold to powder. Many
have offered vain and improbable conjectures, but an experienced
chemist has removed every difficulty upon the subject, and has sug
gested this simple process. In the place of tartaric acid, which we
employ, the Hebrew legislator used natron, which is common in the
East. What follows, respecting his making the Israelites drink this
powder, proves that he was perfectly acquainted with the whole effect
of the operation. He wished to increase the punishment of their
disobedience, and nothing could have been more suitable ; for gold
reduced and made into a draught, in the manner I have mentioned,
has a most disagreeable taste.' "
P. 224. The fact that fish were placed first in the narrative. We
make the following extract from its interest in connection with several
other passages in the Pentateuch and Isaiah, as well as the one under
discussion : " Fishing is one of the employments most frequently de
picted on.the monuments. It is combined with fowling by amateur
sportsmen, and even with the chase of the crocodile and the hippopo
tamus ; but is also pursued as a regular trade by an entire caste. It is
recorded as a fearful aggravation of the First Plague of Egypt, that
1 the fish that was in the river died,' (Exod. vii. 21). The first great
complaints of the Israelites when they murmured against Moses in the
25*

294 NOTES.
desert, was ' We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt freely,'
(Numbers, xi. 5.) And this abundance of fish was still further in
creased by the ponds, sluices, and artificial lakes which were con
structed for the propagation of the finny tribe. Hence Isaiah, in de
nouncing divine vengeance against the Egyptians, dwells particu
larly on the ruin which would fall upon those who derived their sub
sistence from the animals and plants of the Nile : ' And the waters
shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
And they shall turn the rivers far away ; and the brooks of defence
shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and
everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be,driven away, and be
no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle
into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the wa
ters shall languish. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they
that weave net works, shall be confounded. And they shall be bro
ken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for
fish, (Isaiah, xix. 5 — 10.) — Although the Nile, and the artificial
lakes were constantly swept with nets, we are unable to discover any
proof of the Egyptians having ever fished in the open sea ; and in
deed there is reason to believe that the fishes of the sea were, from
religious motives, regarded with abhorrence. The supply has not
failed in modern times; the right of fishery on the canals and lakes
is annually farmed out by the government to certain individuals,
who pay very large sums for the privilege. ' The small village
of Agalteh at Thebes,' says Mr. Wilkinson, ' pays annually 1500
piastres (about 21Z.,) to government for the fish of its canal.' M.
M i c h a u d in his delightful letters gives an account of the fisheries
on-the lake Menzaleh, too interesting to be omitted. " The waters
of Menzaleh abound in fish ; the Arabs say that the varieties offish
in the lake exceed the number of days in the year. Although this
may be deemed an exaggeration, it is certain that whatever be the
number of their species, the fishes of this lake multiply infinitely."
— " On the monuments the fishermen appear as a class inferior to
the agricultural population, and we know historically that they
formed one of the lowest castes. This was also the case in Palestine,
and hence when Christ chose two of this class to become apostles,
he announces to them that they were for the future to be engaged in
a more honorable occupation. ' Now as he walked by the sea of
Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the
sea : for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye af-

NOTES. 295
ter me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straight
way they forsook their nets and followed him.' " — Taylor, p. 62 seq.
P. 226. The garlic an article of food for the poorest classes :
"Among the lower orders, vegetables constituted a very great, part
of their ordinary food, and they gladly availed themselves of the va
riety and abundance of esculent roots growing spontaneously , in the
lands irrigated by the rising Nile, as soon as its waters had subsided ;
some of which were eaten in a crude state, and others roasted in the
ashes, boiled or stewed : their chief aliment, and that of their chil
dren, consisting of milk and cheese, roots, leguminous, cucurbita-
ceous, and other plants, and ordinary fruits of the country. Hero.
dotus describes the food of the workmen, who built the Pyramids,
to have been the ' raphanus or figl, onions, and garlic ;' yet if these
were among the number they used, and, perhaps the sole provisions
supplied at the government expense, we are not to suppose they were
limited to them : and it is probable that lentils, of which it is inferred
from Strabo they had an abundance on this occasion, may be reckoned
as part, or even the chief article,jof their food." — W i Ik. II. 370.
P. 232. Feddan Doordh. The Feddan, the most common measure
of land in Egypt, was a few years ago equal to about an English acre.
It is now less than an acre.
P. 234. Carrying of the water in which the foot has most to do,.
This does not reach the point, since the passage in question does not
seem to refer to the mode of distributing, but of supplying the water.
«' Possibly,' ' says Dr. Robinson,!. 542, " in more ancient times the
water-wheel may have been smaller, and turned not by oxen, but by
men pressing upon, it with the foot, in- the same way that water is
still often drawn from wells in Palestine, as we afterwards saw.
N i e b u-h.r describes one such machine in Cairo, where it was called
Sdkieh tedur bir njl, "a watering machine that turns by the foot," »
view of which he also subjoins." The testimony in regard to the
severity of the labor of irrigation is uniform. Lane, Modern Egyp
tians, Vol. II. p. 24, speaking of the raising of water by the Shaduf says :
"The operation is extremely laborious." Dr. Robinson, p. 541 also
remarks : " The ShadHf has a toilsome occupation. His instrument is
exactly the well-sweep of New England in miniature, -supported by a
cross-piece resting on two upright posts of wood or mud. His bucket is
of leather or" wicker-work. Two of these instruments are usually fixed

296 NOTES.
side by side, and the men keep time at their work, raising the water
five or six feet. Where the banks are higher, two, three, and even
four couples are thus employed, one above another."
P. 237. Oxen were used in Egypt for threshing. W i 1 k i n,s o n, in
his 2d Ser., Vol. 1., p. 85 seq., gives engravings and a description of
this same scene at Elethya. His interpretation of the hieroglyphics
differs, however, a little from the one in the text, which is taken from
Gliddon : " Thresh for yourselves, (twice repeated,) O oxen, thresh
for yourselves, (twice,) measures for yourselves, measures for your
masters.' ' The same author also remarks, that similar songs may be
found on the sculptured tombs of Upper Egypt. — In this same con
nection, it is said, that wheat and barley were abundantly cultivated
in every part of Egypt, and that the former was harvested in about
five and the latter in about four months after sowing. Compare Ex. 9:
31, 32, from which it appears that the plague did not smite the wheat,
because it was later ; and also p. 123 of this volume. In Gen. 41: 22,
we read, " seven ears came up in one stalk." Among the kinds of
wheat in Egypt, according to Wilkinson, " the seven-eared qual
ity" may be mentioned. "It was cropped a little below the ear,"
hence the Israelites could obtain straw or stubble for their brick, from
the fields, when it was not furnished by their task-masters.
P. 238. In Ex. 25: 12 seq., among other directions with regard to
the construction of the ark, it is said : " And thou shalt cast four
rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof: and
two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other
side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim-wood, and overlay
them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the
sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them." And it is
seen from 1 Chron. 15: 2, 15, that " the Levites bare the ark on their
shoulders." The similarity between this construction of the ark and
the manner of moving it, and the procession of shrines among the
Egyptians, is too striking to be passed unnoticed. " One of the most
important ceremonies," says Wilkinson, " was ' the procession
of shrines,' which is mentioned in the Rosetta Stone, and is frequent
ly represented on the walls of the temples. The shrines were of two
kinds : the one a sort of canopy ; the other an ark or sacred boat,
which may be termed the great shrine. This was carried with grand
pomp by the priests, a certain number being selected for that duty,
who, supporting it on their shoulders by means of long staves, passing

notes. 297
through metal rings at the side of the sledge on which it stood,
brought it into the temple, where it was placed upon a stand or table,
in order that the prescribed ceremonies mightbe performed before it.
The stand was also carried in the procession by another set of priests,
following the shrine, by means of similar staves ; a method usually
adopted for transporting large statues and sacred emblems, too heavy
or too important to be borne by one person."
- P. 241. Manetho and the Hycsos. The reasonings of our author
upon the trustworthiness of Manetho, and the existence of the Hyc
sos, seem to us to partake somewhat of the nature of special plead
ing. He may be right, but we are hot yet prepared to discard the tes
timony of those who are best qualified to judge in this matter. It is
true, it must be very .pleasant for those engaged in deciphering hiero
glyphics, to find their results verified by an ancient author ; but can
it be supposed that such men as Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Cham-
poll ion, Rosellini, and other Egyptian archaeologists, are all
deceived by this feeling? Their belief, as far as known, is uniform.
W i I k i n s o n (Vol. I. p. 38) says : " From the preceding extracts of
Manetho, as from other passages in his work, it appears reasonable to
conclude that Egypt was at one .time invaded and occupied by a power
ful Asiatic people, who held the country in subjection ; and viceroys
being appointed to govern it, these obtained the title of Pastor or
Shepherd Kings. I have already shown there is authority for be
lieving this event to have taken place in the early periods of Egyptian
history, previous to the era of Osirtasen the First." He also says
(p. 23) : " 1 am, therefore, of opinion that the irruption of the Pastors
was anterior to the erection of any building now extant in Egypt, and
long before the accession of the seventeenth dynasty." Although
Hengstenberg has given us the view of Rosellini, we cannot for
bear to quote a few lines from Mr. G lid don, who is supposed to
agree in opinion with that author. We do it the more readily as the
passage shows the imperfect state in which Manetho is handed down
to us, and thus answers some of the objections of our author. — " This
great work (of Manetho) has been lost ; and the re-discovery of one
copy of Manetho would be the most desirable and satisfactory event
that could be conceived in Egyptian, and we may add, in universal
history and chronology. As the work of an Egyptian, testifying the
glory of his nation, it was probably conscientiously prepared ; although
he may have allowed national pride to give a too partial coloring to
his narration, and possibly an exaggerated view of his country's an-

298 NOTES.
tiquity. But we can no longer be harsh in our criticisms ; seeing, that
to his sixteenth dynasty he is confirmed by the sculptures, while every
new step of discovery that is made in hieroglyphics, gives some new
confirmatory light in support of Manetho's earlier arrangement.
Again, because we have only mutilated extracts of his original ; one,
a fragment preserved by Josephus, wnich seems to have been copied,
verbatim, from Manetho's work; another is an abstract in the chro
nology of Syncellus, who did not even see the original book himself,
but embodied in his compilation the extracts he found in Julius Afri-
canus and Eusebius. Within the last few years, the discovery of an
Armenian version of Eusebius, has added some better readings to those
we formerly possessed. These writers, Josephus, Eusebius, and Ju
lius Africanus, differ so much from each other in the several portions
of Manetho's history of which they present the extracts, that, in their
time, either great errors had crept into the then-existing copies of Ma
netho, or one or more of them were corrupted by design ; especially
in the instance of Eusebius, who evidently suppressed some parts, and
mutilated others, to make Manetho, by a pious fraud, conform to his
own peculiar and contracted system of cosmogony." The absence of
all indications of the Hycsos on the monuments is accounted for,
as is seen, by Wilkinson, from the antiquity of their irruption.
If, (as Rosellini supposes,) they ruled Lower Egypt, while the
seventeenth dynasty of Theban kings reigned in Upper Egypt, it is
not certain thati monuments of them may not yet be found. It is also
not strange that no mention is made of the Hycsos in the Bible ; for
the lineage of the Pharaohs, under whom they lived, would be of little
consequence to the Jews.
P. 241. Gods and demi-gods who ruled Egypt before men. Ac
cording to ancient writers, the Egyptians claimed to have been ruled
first by the gods or Auritae and then by the demi-gods or Mestrae-
ans, who were succeeded by Menes, the first human king. But
Wilkinson says, there are positive grounds for the conviction
that no Egyptian deity was supposed to have lived on the earth ; even
the story of Osiris's rule in this world was purely allegorical and inti
mately connected with the most profound and curious mystery of their
religion. It is probable that the earliest government of the country
was a hierarchy, and the succession of the different gods to the sove
reignty of the country would then be explained by that of the re
spective colleges of priests. " The Egyptians justly ridiculed the
Greeks for pretending to derive their origin from deities. They

NOTES. 299
showed Heeataeus and Herodotus a series of three hundred and forty-
five high-priests, each of whom, they observed, was ' a man, son of a
man,' but in no instance the descendant of a god : thus censuring
the folly of Heeataeus, who claimed a deity as his sixteenth ancestor.
Such is the meaning of the expression in Herodotus, ' a piromis, son
of a piromis:' and it is singular that the historian should not have
understood the signification of the word r6mi, (man, or pirdmi, the
man,) as the sense alone suffices to point it out." — Wilkinson,
Vol. I. p. 17.
P. 250. Letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus. This letter is given entire
as found in the Latin version of the Chronographia of Syneellus p. 73.
"Ad Ptolemaeum Philadelphum Manethonis Sebennytae epistola :
Ptolemaeo Philadelpho regi magno Augusto Manetho sacerdos et
sacrorum per Aegyptum penetralium notarius, genere Sebennyta,
urbe Heliopoli, domino meo Ptolemaeo salutem.
De rebus omnibus nobis tuo iussu, rex magne,propositis attente cogit-
andum est. Hac de causa interrogans tibi de iis quae mundo accident,
quaeque ex libris ab primogenitore tuo ter magno Mercurio conscriptis
mihi sunt nota, prout imperasti, cuncta manifestabuntur. Vale mihi,
domine mi rex.
P. 258. If Sesostris is really identical with this Remeses III., the
error, etc. Wilkinson obviates this difficulty (Vol. I. p. 63, 64) :
" Osirei was succeeded by his son, Remeses the Great, who bore the
name of Amun-mai-Remeses, or Remeses-mi-amun, and was reputed
to be the famous Sesostris of antiquity. The origin of the confusion
regarding Sesostris may perhaps be explained. He is mentioned by
Manetho in the twelfth dynasty, and Herodotus learned that he pre
ceded the builders of the pyramids.' I therefore suppose that Sesostris
was an ancient king famed for his exploits, and the hero of early
Egyptian history ; but that after Remeses had surpassed them, and
become the favorite of his country, the renown and name of the for
mer monarch were transferred to the more conspicuous hero of a later
age ; and it is remarkable that when Germanicus went to Egypt, the
Thehans did not mention Sesostris, but Rliamses, as the king who had
performed the glorious actions ascribed in olden times to their great
conqueror. Nothing, however, can justify the supposition that Se
sostris, or, as Diodorus calls him, Sescosis, is the Shishak of Scrip
ture."

300 NOTES.
P. 268. A tribe of Scythian nomades. Wilkinson too sup
poses they were Scythians. "The Pastor race, called Hycsos or
Shepherd Kings, appear to have been the first to follow the example
of the early Asiatic invaders; and though the period and history of
their conquest are involved in obscurity, it is evident that they en
tered Egypt from the side of Syria, and that they obtained for some
years a firm footing in the country, possessing themselves of Lower
Egypt, with a portion of the Thebald, and perhaps advancing to
Thebes itself. I at first supposed them to have come from Assyria ;
but on more mature consideration have been disposed, as already
stated, to consider them a Scythian tribe, whose nomade habits accord
more satisfactorily with the character of a pastor race, and whose fre
quent inroads at early periods into other countries show the power
they possessed, as well as their love of invasion, which were con
tinued till a late time, and afterwards imitated by their successors
the Tartar hordes of Central Asia." — Sec. Ser. Vol. I. p. 2.

ERRATA.
Page 4, for Egypt read Palestine.
" 10, " Reaumer read Reaumur.
" 10, " XVI read XIV.
" 79, " Bedouins read Bedawin.
'¦ 102, " Haie read Haje.
" 211, (lastAjine,) for Canana read Canaan.

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