PART OF AN EGYPTIAN FUNERAL PROCESSION, WITH ACTS OF MOURNING. processes for the embalming of the dead as the Egyptians practised, and which have often been described. 3. Forty days,' etc.-It is rather difficult to understand the meaning of the different numbers, forty days and seventy days. Herodotus mentions seventy days as the time which the body lay in natron, which agrees with the time of mourning for Jacob. Diodorus, however, takes no notice at all of this process, which seems to have been often omitted, and says that the embalming occupied forty days. Bishop Warburton conjectures that the whole period of pickling and embalming occupied seventy days; that is to say, that the body was laid in natron thirty days, and that the remaining forty were occupied in preparing it with gums and spices, which was the proper embalming. Thus, therefore, forty days may be said to be the time of embalming, although the corpse was seventy days in the hands of the embalmers. It is remarkable, however, that Moses's numbers should contain both the numbers mentioned by the others. It is also observable that Diodorus mentions seventy-two days as the period of mourning for the king, whence some have conceived that Jacob was mourned for as a king, and that the seventy in the text is a round number for seventy-two. Be this as it may, it must give some idea of the mourning for Jacob to state the observances daring the mourning for a king, as given by Diodorus. They shut up their temples, and abstained during the seventy-two days from all sacrifices, solemnities, and feasts. They rent their clothes, begrimed their heads and faces with mud, and in this condition men and women went about in companies of two or three hundred, with their loins girded and their breasts bare, singing plaintive songs, reciting the virtues of him they had lost. During the time of mourning they abstained from wine and generous diet. They ate no animal meat, or food dressed by fire, and abstained from their customary baths and anointings. Every one mourned as for the loss of his dearest child, and spent all the day in lamentations. A great part of this agrees in essentials with what Herodotus states as the observances of an ordinary mourning. The difference was probably only one of duration, and in the mourning for a king being general. 4. Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh.'-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 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 seems to be this:-It belonged to the Egyptian sense of propriety to go with shorn hair and beard, and only thus could any person appear before the king (compch. xli. 14). But while mourning they were not permitted to shave. Herodotus says:-' Among other nations it is the custom in mourning for the relatives to shave the head, but the Egyptians, when an individual dies, leave the hair, which was before cut off, to grow upon the head and chin' (Euterpe, 36). 7, 8. Joseph went up.....and with him all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph and his brethren.' -The custom of funeral trains existed at all periods and in all the provinces of Egypt. We see the representations of funeral processions in the oldest tombs at Eleithuias; 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, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties. When we behold the representations of the processions for the dead upon the monuments, we seem to see the funeral train of Jacob. The distinction between the elders of the house of Pharaoh, his court officers, and the elders of the land of Egypt, the state officers, is also worthy of notice. Rosellini, Monumenti dell' Egitto, ii. 3. 396; Hengstenberg, Egypt, p. 75. 16. Sent a messenger,' etc.—Abarbanel thinks that they did this immediately after their father's funeral in Canaan, and before their return to Egypt; for that the brothers were so apprehensive of Joseph's just displeasure, that they would not go back and place themselves in his power until they had ascertained his sentiments towards them. This we doubt; for there is every reason to suppose that they had left their wives and children in Egypt. According to the Talmud (Yehamoth, f. 65), they invented this message in order to ensure a continuance of his favour, as his father, who knew him better, never suspected him, and left no injunction on the subject. This seems likely; but we cannot concur in the opinion of Nachmanides, that Jacob never was made acquainted with the fact that they sold Joseph into slavery; the tenor of his blessing upon that beloved son seems to us to evince his knowledge of that disgraceful fact. 21. He comforted them.'-Literally, he spoke on or to their hearts; that is, he addressed himself to their feelings. 25. ' Ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'-We see in the next verse that the body of Joseph was embalmed. In this and many other places, bones' denote generally a corpse. The Israelites had the satisfaction of performing this promise; for, after carrying the mummy of Joseph about with them in their forty years' wanderings, they were enabled to deposit it in the ground which Jacob bought at Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 32). Josephus seems to say, that the bodies of the other patriarchs were carried up to Hebron, and buried there, soon after they died. This is possible; and that the same was not done with Joseph's remains, is probably explained by the unwillingness of the Egyptians to part with the mummy of so prominent a public character as Joseph had been. The earnest desire of the patriarchs, that their remains should be deposited in the country which they regarded as their native land, and which was to be possessed by their descendants, does not call for particular elucidation. It is a frequent occurrence among ourselves for the remains of persons of consideration who have died abroad, to be brought home for interment. We have all read of the practice among the American Indians of carrying away with them the bones of their fathers, when the encroaching white men obliged them to migrate from their ancient seats. 26. He was put in a coffin.-This is certainly mentioned here as a distinction. Coffins have never been much used in the East, although great personages have occasionally been deposited in marble sarcophagi. The custom was and is to wrap the body up closely in wrappers, or to swathe it with bandages, and so bury it, or deposit it in the excavated sepulchre. In Egypt, coffins were more in use than any where else, but still the common people were obliged to dispense with them. On the other hand, persons of wealth or distinction had two, three, or even four coffins, one within the other. Herodotus says that, after the embalming, the relatives of the deceased' 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 enclosed, they put it in the apartment for the dead, setting it upright against the wall' (Euterpe, 86). The Hebrew word employed in the text, ji aron, denotes that the coffin was of wood, and has been mentioned as throw ing some doubt upon the knowledge of Egypt possessed by the author of Genesis, seeing that a sarcophagus of stone might seem more properly to belong to a person of such high distinction as Joseph. But a closer examination shows that this expression is directly in favour of the credibility of the Pentateuch. Coffins of stone (basalt) were very rare exceptions, perhaps only used for royal personages, whereas those of wood were in general use. And in the case of Joseph, his order respecting the removal of his remains, probably prevented his friends from thinking of a stone sarcophagus for his remains. The workmanship of the wooden coffins, and the number of those within each other, sufficed to denote high rank, even without a stone sarcophagus. THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED EXODU S. THIS designation of the second book of the Pentateuch is taken directly from the Greek "Eodos, varying only in the Latinised termination us for os. The word signifies a going forth, departure, or migration; and, like the other Greek titles of the Pentateuch, is descriptive of the principal or leading events of the book itself, which here is the going forth of the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt.In the Hebrew the title is, as usual, derived from the initial words of the book itself, and is ni ? ve-elleh shemoth, and these are the names.' 6 Our With respect to the authorship, there is not much to add to the considerations which have been adduced at the commencement of this work, to show that Moses was the author of the whole Pentateuch; but the additions with reference to this particular book are, although few, very explicit and important. In Exod. xxiv. 4, Moses himself testifies that he wrote all the words of the Lord,' uttered on a certain occasion; and these words, so written, are contained in the present book. Lord, when citing a passage from this book, in Mark xii. 26, calls it 'the book of Moses.' Again, in Luke xx. 37, he says, 'Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush.' It is also to be observed that the books of the Old Testament are spoken of in the New as being divided into two grand classes- Moses and the Prophets,' Luke xvi, 31, and the Law and the Prophets,' Luke xvi. 16; implying that all the Scriptures, besides the prophets,' were written by Moses; which is to say that the books of the law were written by him. The date assigned to this book by the authorship of Moses has however been violently impugned by the neological writers of the Continent, who, from the supernatural and extraordinary character of the contents, have been unusually solicitous to prove it the production of an age long posterior to that to which the events themselves are ascribed. De Wette and others have laboured hard to mark out in the book itself the traces of various fragments and documents of which they suppose to have been in that later age composed, and to discover other signs of a post-Mosaical origin. But Hengstenberg, Havernick, and others, have most satisfactorily disposed of all their illustrations and arguments. Thus, it is alleged that the law contained in Exod. xxiii. 9, seems to apply to a later condition of the people, when settled in Palestine. The answer is, that regulations respecting strangers were of importance to the people, even during their sojourn in the desert; especially since a number of Egyptians had joined the Israelites, and stood to them in the relation of strangers. The definition of omer as the tenth part of an ephah in ch. xvi. 36, is another of the passages adduced, as implying that changes had taken place in the Hebrew measures in the interval between the date of the transaction and that of the composition of the book. But the answer is, that the Hebrew word OMER does not indicate a definite measure, but merely a vessel, the size of which it was therefore necessary to specify by giving it exact measurement. In ch. vi. 26, 27, the critics of this class consider that they can recognise the hand of a later author, who refers to Moses and Aaron, and describes their character. A very slight attention to the preceding genealogy and to the descriptive style of the Pentateuch, will however suffice to shew that even a contemporary writer might have spoken in the way that Moses does in these passages. Some other passages, upon which objections of this kind have been founded, will be indicated in the notes appended to them. But we cannot find a better place than this to point out the abundant and constantly increasing verifications which the circumstances recorded in the early chapters receive from antiquarian and historical research, which has produced ample materials for testing the accuracy of the particulars which relate to Egypt and the Egyptians. The result of such comparison shews that the author had a most thorough knowledge of Egyptian institutions and of the spirit that pervaded them; nor do we anywhere discover facts or incidents at variance with the usages and manners of that extraordinary people, or incompatible with their institutions, or with the state of the country. The book does in fact contain a multitude of incidents and detailed descriptions, which have gained new force from the modern discoveries in the great and interesting field of Egyptian antiquities. Numerous examples will be produced in the notes; and the reader will find more in Hengstenberg's interesting work, Die Bücher Moses und Aegypten ('The Books of Moses and Egypt'), and in the Pictorial History of Palestine. The description of the journey of the Israelites through the desert, also, evinces such a thorough acquaintance with the localities, as excites the most clear conviction on the part of the most careful and scientific travellers of our own time of the authenticity of the Pentateuch. In proof of this, see Raumer's Der Zug der Israeliten aus Aegypten nach Canaan (Journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan '), and compare Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine. The great Passover festival, of which the origin is described in this book, is not less replete in its corroborative indications;-but we postpone to the notes the suitable remarks on this and other points of importance. The period embraced by the history of this book is usually reckoned at 142 years, composed thus: -From the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses, 60 years;- from the birth of Moses to the departure from Egypt, 80 years;-from the departure out of Egypt to the erection of the tabernacle, 1 year. Some computations make the first interval 63 years, which would raise the whole period to 145 years; but the difference is scarcely of sufficient consequence to render an explanation of it! necessary. Nearly the whole of the book is occupied in the detail of circumstances which occurred in the last year of the entire period. With this book commences the real history of the Israelites as a people. It begins by describing the oppressions to which they were subjected under a new dynasty of Egyptian kings, ch. i. It then proceeds to furnish particulars respecting the birth and early life of Moses, chap. ii.; and then gives a full account of the circumstances which attended his divine appointment to deliver the Israelites from their great affliction, ch. iii. iv. 1-29. Several chapters which follow describe the course of proceeding adopted by Moses under the divine direction, and detail the circumstances attending the infliction of the first eight plagues upon the Egyptians, ch. iv. 29-x. 21. The institution of the Passover is then related, ch. xii. 21-1; after which an account is given of the two remaining plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians, x. 21-xii. 31; followed by the actual exodus of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, xii. 31-37, 40-42. We have there a full account of the wandering of the Israelites from their leaving Rameses in Egypt till they reached Mount Sinai, ch. xii. 37–40 to xix. 2. Moses then goes up into the mountain, and the people prepare themselves for the renewal of the covenant, ch. xix.; after which the moral law is delivered, ch. xx.; and subsequently the moral and ceremonial law, ch. xxi.-xxxi. The idolatry into which the Israelites fell, their punishment, and the renewal of the covenant are next recorded, ch. xxxii.-xxxiv. The offerings made for the tabernacle are then enumerated, and its construction described, ch. xxxv.-xxxix.; and the book concludes with the erection of the sacred structure, and its being covered with the cloud by which the Divine Presence was manifested, ch. xl. There are few separate commentaries on Exodus, and most of those few, although nominally distinct, are, in fact, but portions of larger works. But the literature of Exodus is nevertheless very extensive, as most of its material facts have been the subjects of numerous treatises and dissertations, some of which will be named in the notes. It now suffices to specify the following works :-Cartwright, Electa Targumico-Rabbinico, sive Annott. in Exodum, Lond. 1653; Ainsworth, Annotations upon the Second Book of Moses called Exodus, Lond. 1639; Lightfoot, Handful of Gleanings out of Exodus; Willet, Hexapla in Exodum, Lond. 1608; Rivett, Commentar. in Lib. II. Mosis, qui Exodus inscribitur, Leyden, 1654; Haitsma, Commentar. ad Libr. S. Exodum, Franc. 1771; Hopkins, Exodus, a corrected Translation with Notes, Lond. 1784; J. a S. Cruce, Libri Exodi Egunrela critico-literalis in locis obscuris e polyglottis tentata, Heidelb. 1778; Bertholdt, De Rebus a Mose in Egypto gestis ad illustr. Exodi capp. i.-xiv., Erlang. 1795; on the same chapters Hengstenberg's book, already cited, Die Bücher Moses und Aegypten, furnishes an interesting and valuable set of illustrations. The most recent separate commentary is that of Professor Bush in his Notes on Exodus, New York, 1843, into which most of our own notes on the book, in the first edition of the present work, have been transcribed. CHAP. I.] CHAPTER I. 1 The children of Israel, after Joseph's death, do multiply. 8 The more they are oppressed by a new king, the more they multiply. 15 The godliness of the midwives, in saving the men children alive. 22 Pharaoh commandeth the male children to be cast into the river. OW 'these are the 2 Reuben, Simeon, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 And all the souls that came out of the *loins of Jacob were 'seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. 6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." 8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. 11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 'But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. 15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah : 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them the stools; if it be a son, then upon shall ye kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast shall save into the river, and every daughter ye alive. 3 Gen. 46. 27. Deut. 10. 22. 5 Heb. And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied, &c. 4 Acts 7. 17. Verse 8. There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.'-In the note on Gen. xlvi. 34, we have expressed our conviction that the only way of clearing the history of this period from the confusion which must needs arise from, on the one hand, treating Manetho's statement respecting the Hyksos or shepherd-kings as an entire fabrication; and, on the other, from regarding it as in all its parts entitled to equal confidence. We have chosen the middle course between these extremes: accepting as true that portion which has no connection with the Israelites, and relating to events completed before the time of Joseph; but rejecting that later portion, in which the expelled shepherds are, after a long interval, again brought upon the stage, and their affairs mixed up with those of the Israelites settled in Goshen, in a way which we should call clumsy, if it had not successfully imposed upon many learned and intelligent inquirers. It has, indeed, been regarded by 167 |