only was their dislike to shepherds, arising from the causes already stated, turned into absolute hatred; but they were highly suspicious of all pastoral people who came, as Joseph's brethren did, from the quarter to which the expelled shepherds had withdrawn. The treatment, therefore, which they received from the governor of the land,' as being suspected spies from the old enemies of Egypt, was perfectly natural, and such as they would have been, without doubt, exposed to had they been really as much strangers to Joseph as he assumed they were. Nothing could be more likely than that men of the same habits of life as the expelled shepherds, and coming from the country to which they had withdrawn, should be taken for a. party of them, come to spy the nakedness of the land.'

The considerations which suggest the probability that the expelled shepherds became the Philistines and Anakim of Palestine, will claim consideration in the note in Deut. ii. 3. That they were in their origin Phoenicians, as Manetho seems to intimate, signifies little more than that, as he states, the invaders came from the east; that is, from the land of Canaan, which they might have done without being Phoenicians or Canaanites, who were not a pastoral or nomade people, as the shepherds' seem to have been.

It is curious to observe how the Scripture and Manetho corroborate each other in respect to the Assyrians. The first Shepherd-kings, contemporary with Abraham, were in great fear of invasion from the Assyrians, according to Manetho; and the book of Genesis manifests the first ground of that fear by shewing that, in the time of Abraham, the Assyrians actually had established their power on this side the Euphrates, and had even subdued part of Palestine to their yoke. See the note on Gen. xiv. 1. Chedorlaomer and his allies were probably only prevented from making a dash upon Egypt by the strong defences which Salatis, the first Shepherd-king, had established along the frontier.

It should be particularly observed, that the country which we have noticed as the land of Goshen' seems to have been the first which the Hyksos or Shepherds occupied when they invaded Egypt, and the last from which they retired. The Egyptians were certainly not a pastoral people; and this being a district which had been employed for pasturage, it had probably not begun to be occupied by the Egyptians since the recent expulsion of their enemies. If it had, it would not have been so readily assigned to the Hebrews; but now it was quite natural that they should be placed in Goshen, which a pastoral people had lately vacated. Thus Goshen occurs immediately to Joseph as a suitable domain for the family of his father: and that it remained unoccupied, seems to be evinced by the readiness with which he promises his father, in his first message, that he should reside in the land of Goshen (ch. xlv. 9, 10); and the ground on which he made this promise seems to be explained in ch. xlvi. 34, where we perceive his conviction that Pharaoh would at once assign that territory to them when he knew that they were shepherds. Dr. Hales very properly directs attention to the no less wise and liberal policy of the Egyptian court in making this assignment of Goshen to the Hebrews. This country formed the eastern barrier of Egypt towards Palestine and Arabia-the quarters from which they most dreaded invasion--whose nakedness was now covered, in a short time, by a numerous, a brave, and an industrious people; amply repaying, by the additional security and resources which they gave to Egypt, their hospitable reception and naturaliza

tion.'

Thus far all appears very clear and consistent; and our difficulties only begin when we come to Manetho's 17th dynasty; which, from the manner in which it mixes up and disturbs the history of the Hebrews and Egypt, has exposed the whole of his information to great suspicionunreservedly avowed by Pezron, Hengstenberg, and others, who believe that the whole is an elaborate attempt to mystify the portion of Egyptian history in which the Jews were concerned, for the purpose of doing away with the

impression which the scriptural accounts were likely to create to the disadvantage of the nation. And this is held to be the more probable, as Manetho lived in the reign of the very king (Ptolemy Philadelphus), under whom the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek was accomplished, and when these matters must have been brought forcibly under the attention of the learned in Egypt. But it is necessary to distinguish. This anxiety could not operate in the account which Manetho gives of the 15th dynasty, which was extinct before the Hebrews appeared in Egypt; whereas it does most visibly operate in his notice of the 17th dynasty. It will therefore probably be safest to take a middle course; accepting the notice of the 15th dynasty as true history, and regarding that of the 17th as a distorted account of the residence of the Hebrews in Egypt, and their departure thence,-an account framed for the purpose of casting a slur upon the character of the Israelites, and of vindicating the conduct of the Egyptian government. The chief use of this supposititious 17th dynasty is that to which we have applied itnamely, to fix the termination, and therefore also the commencement of the 511 years assigned to the rule of the Shepherd-kings in Egypt.

We submit this view of a greatly perplexed question with much diffidence: but after much consideration it appears to us that thus broadly distinguishing between the credibility due to the two dynasties-accepting the former and rejecting, or at least distrusting, the latter, meets all the difficulties by which chronologers have been perplexed, and renders the portion of Manetho's fragments, which we accept as true, consistent with probability, with the scriptural intimations, and with the information deducible from the monuments.

It will appear from the following observations of the Rev. R. M. Macbriar, an intelligent missionary in Egypt, that something like the ancient variance and dislike between the natives and the pastoral tribes still subsists in that country: Without making any conjecture as to the origin of such an antipathy, it may be remarked, that it is an undoubted historical fact that the natives of Egypt have ever been famous for growing corn, and not for feeding cattle; and it is probable that they have long had the same kind of shepherds as are those of the present day. These are the Bedouin Arabs, a race of men distinct from every other, and wholly at variance with the customs of the Egyptians. The latter are stunted in their growth, flat in their features, and rather square in their shape; but the Bedouins are of a tall, masculine, Roman form. They dwell in tents, which they carry about with them, and pitch wherever they can find forage for their flocks and herds. Their encampment resembles a tented village, and is always fixed at a distance from any Egyptian residence. The peasants fear the Bedouins, and avoid them, having little communication with them, and never approaching their temporary dwellings. The latter are guarded by a great number of the fiercest dogs. The Bedouins are generally armed with a musket, and ride on horses; nor are they particularly scrupulous about the commission of plunder. They throw their dress over them in a peculiar manner, so as to be distinguished in a moment by their appearance and gestures. They bring their cattle for sale into the principal towns; and a small tax is paid upon each animal as it enters the gates. This is all the tribute which the pacha receives from them; nor dare he impose upon them any of the burdens which he lays upon his native subjects. If he ventured upon this, the whole body of the Bedouins would retire into the desert, with their flocks and herds, to the greatest injury of Egypt.'-(Wesleyan Mag., 1836, p. 20.)

A large quantity of incidental illustration on the same subject might also be derived from some very interesting papers, respecting the Arab tribes dwelling in or near Egypt, inserted in the Description de l'Egypte, commonly called the great work on Egypt,' the literary portion of which does not generally deserve to share the discredit into which the inaccuracy of some of the engravings of antiquities have drawn that celebrated work.

THEN Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

2 And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.

4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:

6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, 'How old art thou?

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's houshold, with bread, "according to their families.

1 Heb. How many are the days of the years of thy life? 4 Heb. according to the little ones.

13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.

16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.

17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he 'fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.

18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:

19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.

21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

22 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.

23 ¶ Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of

the field, and for your food, and for them of your housholds, and for food for your little

ones.

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the 'priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. 27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 And Jacob lived in the land of

7 Or, princes.

Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And "Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

Verse 19. Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh.'-The transaction recorded in the passage (v. 18-26) from which this text is taken, has received most remarkable illustration from the operations of the present Pasha of Egypt. By a simple decree he declared himself the sole owner of all the lands in Egypt; and the people, of course, became at once only his tenants at will, or rather his slaves. It was at the entreaty of the people themselves that Joseph bought the Egyptians and their land for Pharaoh, so that the land became Pharaoh's; but he gave them bread in return, to sustain them and their families in the time of famine. Only the land of the priests he bought not;' but the modern Pharaoh made no exception, and stripped the mosques and other religious and charitable institutions of their landed endowments as mercilessly as the rest. Joseph also gave the people seed to sow; and required for the king only a fifth of the produce, leaving four-fifths to them as their own property; but now, although seed is in like manner given out, yet every village is compelled to cultivate two-thirds of its lands with cotton and other articles solely for the Pasha; and also to render back to him in the form of taxes and exactions in kind, a large proportion of the produce of the remaining third. And further, not only is every individual made responsible for the burdens laid upon himself, but also, as the inhabitant of a village, he is bound to make good, in part or in whole, as the case may be, the delinquency or arrears of every other inhabitant. Sometimes, too, a village which has paid up all its own dues, is compelled to make good the arrears of another village. As might be expected, in such a state of things, there is among the peasantry an utter depravation of morals and degradation of character. See Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, i. 42.

20. Joseph bought all the land for Pharaoh.'One who writes upon the transactions recorded in these verses, is under much temptation to digress into the history of the land-tenures of Egypt, as made known to us by Herodotus and Diodorus. But our limits do not render it convenient, nor is it necessary for our purpose, to take notice of more than the chapter before us specifies. It may suffice to mention, that the facts of these later historians may be easily shown to be in unison with those which this earlier account supplies, while the essential spirit is perfectly the same. It appears, then, that the history of these transactions exhibits the sacerdotal aristocracy as a distinct body of landed proprietors from those with whom Joseph had to deal. Now these priestly proprietors did certainly at a later day, and, from circumstances, we judge it to be sufficiently certain that they did before, farm out their estates to cultivators, or hereditary tenants, who paid

them a produce-rent, and were exempt from any charges to the support of the state. This being the case, the people of Egypt, when they offered to give up the property in chief of their lands to the crown, and to become its tenants, had already before their eyes an example of the operation of that system under which they were willing to be placed; and, considering the splendour of the Egyptian court, and the cost of its establishments and undertakings, and the taxation upon the independent landowners which was necessary to support them, we may have reason to more than suspect that they had little cause to feel their condition superior to that of the tenants of the hierarchy, with their single payment of a certain and moderate rent, which rose or fell with the abundance or scarcity of the season. Upon the whole, therefore, while they no doubt knew that their proposition would be acceptable to the king, we see ground to conclude that the operation would on their part be regarded under any circumstances without repugnance. Among the settled nations of the East it has always been the disposition to identify the state with the king, and for every one to consider that in serving the king he serves the state; and therefore any regard for the liberties of the people is, perhaps, a thing impossible to an Oriental. We have no wish to attribute it to Joseph; it being quite sufficient to satisfy us, if the statements which we have offered tend to acquit him of that political injustice which has been laid to his charge. We think he acted fairly;-not unmindful of the king's interests, on the one hand, nor, on the other, desiring to take an undue advantage of the people's wants.

Only two items of the charge against Joseph remain to be noticed. When this bargain had been completed, we are told (v. 21) that, ‘As for the people, Joseph removed them into cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even unto the other end thereof.' Whence it has been most strangely imagined that he removed them from their original seats to distant towns; whereas, it plainly enough means no inore than that, having now undertaken to feed the people from his granaries, he desired them to remove from the open country in every district, where all agricultural labour was at a stand, to the cities of these several districts in which the granaries were situated, for the convenience of distributing the corn to them. This was done throughout all the country. The other charge is, that, while he thus dealt with the people, he took care to court the favour of the priestly aristocracy, with which he was himself connected by marriage, by not interfering with their possessions, but supplying them freely from the public stores with such corn as they required. The answer to this-is, that the facts are true, but the inferences wrong. The priests were from time immemorial entitled to receive an

allowance of provisions from the government, the rents of their lands being applied to the support of the temples and the public worship; and certainly it would not have been just to deprive them of their subsistence when their own lands lay unproductive. Besides, the priestly nobles filled all the high offices of state, were constantly about the king as his counsellors and companions-the king himself being high-priest by virtue of his office: and, as Joseph must have been assured, the manifestation of any disposition to interfere with their privileges would most certainly be

abortive, and would probably be the signal for his downfal; while the kind and beneficent relations which subsisted between the priests and the people, who regarded their lands as a property devoted to sacred uses, would probably have rendered such an interference as little popular with the mass of the Egyptian community as with the aristocracy. Under such circumstances, we see nothing so very blamable in this part of Joseph's conduct. Pictorial History of Palestine, ii. 125, 126.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

1 Joseph with his sons visiteth his sick father. 2 Jacob strengtheneth himself to bless them. 3 He repeateth the promise. 5 He taketh Ephraim and Manasseh as his own. 7 He telleth Joseph of his mother's grave. 9 He blesseth Ephraim and Manasseh. 17 He preferreth the younger before the elder. 21 He prophesieth their return to Canaan.

AND it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick : and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at 'Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

way

7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, 'Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Beth-lehem.

8 ¶ And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?

9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

1 Chap. 28. 13, and 35. 6. 2 Chap. 41. 50 Josh. 13. 7.

10 Now the eyes of Israel were 'dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Ma

nasseh was the firstborn.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a 'multitude of

nations

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make 4 Heb, heavy. 5 Heb. 11. 21. Heb. as fishes do increase.