that

form. Had the group been written thus would have equivocated with another group of altogether different meaning. These are reasons amply sufficient for the metathesis which has changed ltn into ntl, 1. We believe it therefore to be the hieroglyphic appellative of Ladanum, a word which the Greeks adopted without change. This perfume was largely used in the worship of the gods of Egypt, and vast quantities of it are repeatedly specified as part of the tribute exacted by Amosis from the Canaanites in the hieroglyphic record of his expulsion of the lower Egyptians from Memphis.*

5. Nuts . i. e. Pistacio nuts. These are not the produce of Egypt, but jars of them have repeatedly been found in the tombs.

6 Almonds. These are likewise in the same category. Their existence in the tombs, and the unfitness of the soil of Egypt for the growth of the trees that produce them, render it certain that both nuts and almonds were among the articles which ancient Egypt imported from Canaan.

"And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hands, [i. e., with them] and Benjamin; and rose up and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

*

'And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he

Generally called the granite sanctuary of Karnak. It is now in the Louvre at Paris.

said to the steward of his house, F, bring these men home and slay abundantly and prepare; for these men shall dine with me at noon. And the man did as Joseph bade, and brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said,— Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us [lit. entangle us] and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses." Gen. xliii. 15—18.

To detain one of the enemy upon a feigned civil charge has been a common stratagem of war at all times. The men evidently supposed themselves suspected by Joseph of belonging to some Canaanitish nation at war with Phiops, and that they had been trepanned by the rùse of the returned money. They now looked, on their arrival at Joseph's house, to be at once stripped of their garments and the rest of their property, and set to work with the other slaves and prisoners of war, that in the day-time performed the menial offices of the establishment, and at night were chained in oval brick dungeons, in the square enclosure that surrounded the palace. Such was doubtless the internal economy of Joseph's house, in common with the rest of the princes of Egypt.

A very mistaken notion in regard of the asses

mentioned in the text before us has taken possession of the minds of most scripture readers, mainly created by the attempts at pictorial illustrations made in the middle ages. It is assumed that ten men with ten asses only went into Egypt on this occasion, whereas, in all probability, the caravan of the Patriarchs consisted of many attendants besides themselves, and of some hundreds of asses. animal was a valuable property in Egypt, and often appears among the properties of her ancient princes, as in the following, from the tomb of the prince Hotp-ols at Sakkarah.*

This

"And they came near to him that was over the

house of Joseph

door of the house."

and they spake with him at the

Gen. xliii. 19.

*No. 15 of the plan of Lepsius.

The present passage is adduced by some commentators, in proof that the languages of Egypt and Canaan were, in these remote times, so much alike, that the inhabitants of the two countries could understand each other. This is a mistake of inadvertency which a very superficial attention to the context would have sufficed to expose. The man with whom Joseph's brethren conversed, held in Joseph's house exactly the same office as Joseph himself had held in the house of Potiphar on his first arrival in Egypt; and if this office were held by a Canaanite slave in the one case, why not in the other also? Infidelity has found more pretexts in loose unsatisfactory glosses like this than in any other source of error that could be named.

"And [Joseph's brethren] said, O Sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food :—and it came to pass when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's silver was at the mouth of his sack; our silver in full weight and we have brought it again with us: and other silver have we brought with us to buy food: we cannot tell who put our silver in our sacks. And he said, Peace be unto you, fear not; your God and the God of your fathers hath given you treasure in your sacks; I had your silver. And he brought Simeon out to them." Gen. xliii. 19-23.

The weighing of silver in rings is a common subject in the tombs. The balance was the medium of adjustment of the entire traffic of the ancient world. The annexed design is from the tomb of Nahrai at Benihassan.

Simeon had been selected by Joseph to remain in prison as a hostage for the return of his brethren, because he was the originator and ringleader of the lawless violence through which Joseph had been sold into Egypt. That such was the case appears very evidently from the comparison of other passages, and from the general character of Simeon, which drew down upon him his father's curse. (See Gen. xlix. 5-7.) We are too apt to forget the extent to which we offend God when (under any pretext) we indulge the fierce and brutal passions of our natures against our fellow-men. This he has clearly proclaimed in his word. A thousand and a