more apparent the more closely the matter is examined, that nothing but the authority of an ancient name and the absence of such knowledge as might suggest a better alternative, could have led to its acceptance. The fact, however, to which we have referred-that, according to Manetho, the Israelites were not oppressed during this second period of pastoral domination, but were oppressors, ought to preclude us from using it to account for their oppression. A document which can only be rendered intelligible by interpreting it to mean the exact contrary of that which it expresses, cannot be of any historical value; and we shall get through the history of the first chapters of Exodus much better when disencumbered of its assistance. Let it, then, be understood that we accept Manetho's account of the first invasion of Egypt by the shepherds, and of their domination in that country before the time of Joseph and the arrival of the Israelites; because it is clearly compatible with Scripture, and tends to illustrate many facts which we find set down in the book of Genesis; but that we repudiate the whole story of their eventual return at the invitation of 'the lepers' (Israelites), as a monstrous fiction, designed to malign the Jews and to throw discredit upon the sacred history of this period. Manetho had a direct interest in doing this; and it was done at a time when the sacred record of the transactions in Egypt became known in that country through the Septuagint translation.

A sufficient and satisfactory account of all that is essential to connect the Egyptian and Jewish histories of this time, may be obtained without any resort to this very suspicious document. This account is substantially that of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, which seems to us much more distinct than that which attempts to reconcile the history of Moses with that of Manetho.

About sixty years after the death of Joseph a new dynasty (the eighteenth) began to reign in the person of Amosis or Ames. The chronological coincidence of this change in the reigning family, strongly suggests that this Amosis was no other than the new king which knew not Joseph' that is, who was not so strongly as the last dynasty imbued with a sense of Joseph's great services to the state, or equally disposed to acknowledge the claims which the Israelites had upon the protection of the government. If we consider that he was from the distant province of Thebes, it is reasonable to suppose that the Hebrews would be strangers to him, and that he was likely to look upon them with the same distrust and contempt with which the Egyptians usually treated foreigners. They stigmatized them with the ignominious name of impure Gentiles, and the ignoble occupation of shepherds was for the Jews an additional cause of reproach, as we already know. Indeed it is possible, Sir J. G. Wilkinson thinks, that the Jews, who had come into Egypt on the occasion of a famine, finding the great superiority of the land of Egypt both for obtaining the necessaries of life and for feeding their flocks, may have asked and obtained a grant of land from the Egyptian monarch, on condition of certain services being performed by them and their descendants. This seems corroborated by the fact that some of them were tillers of the land as well as shepherds; for, besides their labour in mortar and brick,' they were employed in all manner of service in the field' (Exod. i. 14). And, in Deut. x. 11, we find the expression Egypt.... where thou sowedst thy seed and wateredst it.' So long as the Memphitic dynasty continued on the throne, this grant was respected, and the only service required of them was that (if any) agreed upon in the original compact. But on the accession of the Theban family, the grant being rescinded and the service still required, they were reduced to a state of bondage; and as despotism seldom respects the rights of those whom it injures, additional labour was imposed upon this unresisting people. This is not without some parallel in the same country even at the present day; for the Arabs, whenever they become settled in villages on the banks of the Nile, meet with much vexation from the Turkish authorities, and the Turks are always anxious that they should fix themselves in villages, in order to get them within their power. Pharaoh's pretended fear, lest in the event of war they

should make common cause with the enemy, must have been the more plausible as the country was most exposed to the incursions of nomade tribes upon the side where the Hebrews were settled, and more so still if the ancient enemies of Egypt, the Shepherds, or Hyksos-or at least a large body of them had withdrawn no further than into Palestine, where their descendants were still a valiant and powerful people (the Philistines). At any rate this alleged fear of their king was a sufficient pretext with his own people for oppressing the Israelites, at the same time that it had the effect of exciting their prejudices against them. Affecting, therefore, some alarm at their numbers, he suggested that so numerous a body might avail themselves of the absence of Egyptian troops, and endanger the safety and tranquillity of the country (v. 10), and that prudence dictated the necessity of obviating the possibility of such an occurrence. With this view they were treated like captives taken in war, and were forced to undergo the gratuitous labour of erecting granaries and other buildings for the Egyptian monarch. Respecting these works, see the note on ch. v.

6

11. They did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.'--See the notes on Isa. xix. It is even thus at the present day, except that the Egyptians themselves are now the sufferers, and that in their own country. The Rev. R. M. Macbriar writes:- When the labour of the people is required for any public work, the officers of Mehemet Ali collect the whole neighbourhood— men, women and children, and dividing them into so many companies and droves, appoint taskmasters over them. These are armed with whips, which they use pretty freely, as they are responsible for the completion of the work." See verse 14.

-

6

'Pithom and Raamses.'-There can be no doubt that these cities, upon whose fortifications the Hebrews were compelled to labour, were situated in the land of Goshen, It is most natural to suppose that they built in the land wherein they dwelt; and all doubt on this point is set at rest, since one of these cities, Raamses, is afterwards represented as the place of rendezvous from which the Israelites commenced their departure out of the land. We are to regard them as fortified towns in which provisions were stored up. That they were fortified is understood by the Seventy, who here translate by walled cities. The same thing is evident from 2 Chron. viii. 3-6, where cities similarly designated are placed upon the insecure border land (Hamath), and are described as 'fenced cities, with walls, and gates, and bars.' Compare this also with 2 Chron. xi. 12, where store-cities are mentioned in connection with 'castles.' Such cities were in no part of Egypt more needed than on its eastern frontier, as is evident from the fact that, according to the testimony of profane writers, it was upon this border, the most exposed of all, that the military power of the Egyptians was concentrated.

PITHOм may without much hesitation be recognised in the Patumos of Herodotus, which, according to his account, lay on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, not far from the entrance of the canal which in his day connected the Nile with the Red Sea (Euterpe, 158). In this name the P is merely the Egyptian article; omitting which, we recognise the name in the Thum which the Itinerary of Antoninus places at twelve Roman miles from Heroöpolis. Following these indications, the scholars who accompanied the French expedition place Pithom on the site of the present village of Abbasch, at the entrance of the wady Tumîlat, where there was at all times a strong military post. RAAMSES, which is here the name of a city, is used in Gen. xlvii. 11, to designate the district which is elsewhere called Goshen. This, with the intimations in Exod. xii. 37 and Num. xxxiii. 3, 5, clearly shews that Raamses was a central point in the land of Goshen, and probably its chief town. Septuagint, whose authority on such a point is of great value, renders the name of the city by Heroöpolis, retaining Raamses as that of the district. Even in Gen. xlvi. 28, where the original has Goshen, it conformably renders :'But Judah he sent before him to Joseph, that he might come to meet him at Heroöpolis, in the land of Rameses.' This identification is peculiarly satisfactory, because the

The

376. See also Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 50-56. [APPENDIX, No. 2.]

name Heroöpolis could not be older than the Greek domination in Egypt, the commencement of which was recent at the time that the translation was made, and when its more ancient name, which they determine to have been Rameses, was still a matter of familiar knowledge. There are other grounds to corroborate this conclusion of the Septuagint, upon which it is not necessary here to enter. Assuming the identity of Raamses and Heroöpolis, we have to seek the site of the latter city. On that point the French Commission is now generally regarded as having established that Heroöpolis lay between the Pelusiac arm of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes, to the north-west of these lakes, at a place which is now called Abu Keisheid, from the Arab tribe which roves about on the Isthmus. A full description of the spot may be seen in the Descript, de l'Egypte, xi.

16. Upon the stools.'-The original word DN obnayim, seems to denote a low seat or stool on which workmen sat, and which is frequently represented in the Egyptian monuments. A seat of this kind was doubtless used by the midwife when assisting a woman in labour lying on a bed. Accordingly, Gesenius translates here - Then shall ye see (while yet) upon the stools, whether it is a boy,' etc. That is, the midwife is directed, at the very moment of birth, while she yet sits upon the stool, and no one else has seen or touched the infant, to ascertain its sex by the sight or rather touch, and if it be a male, to kill it; as she could do, by the pressure of her hand or finger, unknown to the parents.

CHAPTER II.

1 Moses is born, 3 and in an ark cast into the flags. 5 He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter. 11 He slayeth an Egyptian. 13 He reproveth an Hebrew. 15 He fleeth into Midian. 21 He marrieth Zipporah. 22 Gershom is born. 23 God respecteth the Israelites' cry.

AND there went 'a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare son: and 'when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became

Chap. 6. 20. Num, 26, 59.

her son.

And she called his name "Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is

known.

And

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

5 Or, prince.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name "Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the

6 Chap. 18. 3.

children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his 'covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

8 Heb. knew.

Verse 3. ' Bulrushes.'-The original is Ni gome, and it only occurs in three other places of Scripture. From Job viii. 11, and Isa. xxxv. 7, we gather that it was a plant growing in moist situations; and this text, compared with Isa. xviii. 2, shews that it was employed in the construction of vessels of different kinds intended to float upon the water. Now the plant growing in the Nile which was applied to this purpose was, as we learn from Theophrastus, the papyrus plant, which agrees very well with all the texts in which the name occurs, and has the sanction of ancient versions. The Septuagint has márupos in Job viii. 11; and in Isa. xviii. 2, BiBXivas-a designation preserved in the venerable name of Bible,' as the other is in 'paper,' which was first made from this plant. In the last cited text the Vulgate has 'papyrum.' In fact the identity of the gome with the papyrus is scarcely open to question. This plant (Cyperus papyrus) is not a rush, as our translation would convey, but is one of the tribe of sedges. It is distinguished chiefly by its cluster of elegant little spikes, which consist of a single row of scales, ranged in a straight line on each side. These clusters are weak,' or hang down in a nodding position, and, unlike the rest of the plant, are inapplicable to any useful purpose. The root is about the thickness of a full-sized man's wrist, and more than fifteen feet in length, and so hard that all kinds of utensils were made of it. The stem, which is about four cubits, or six feet long, was eaten raw, roasted, or boiled, and furnished material for boats, sails, mats, clothes, beds, and books. Ancient specimens found at Thebes and elsewhere evince that paper was made from this plant long before the time of Alexander the Great; and the use of it in the fabrication of boats is still, according to Bruce, preserved in Abyssinia. This last fact is interesting, because

CYPERUS PAPYRUS.

the existence of such boats is in Isa. xviii. 2, expressly referred to Ethiopia.

Slime.'-The word being the same here as in Gen.i xi. 3-namely, chemer, should seem here also to denote asphaltum or mineral pitch, the use of which was certainly of the most remote antiquity in Egypt. Nevertheless, as this product was not common in that country, and was probably somewhat expensive, we incline to think that the word may have had a more extended signification than has been usually assigned to it, and may in this place have literally denoted slime,' as rendered by our translators-that is, the slime or mud of the river Nile, which was not only suited for, but actually applied to such purposes. Besides, as resinous pitch was employed on this occasion, it seems less likely that mineral pitch than that 'slime' should be used along with it: for there is more apparent reason why slime and pitch should be used, than why two kinds of pitch should be employed. At all events we read with interest a communication by the Rev. W. Mac- ! briar, in the Wesleyan Magazine for 1836, p. 30, that the slime of the river Nile is of the most tenacious description, and, when thoroughly dried, adheres like pitch. It is used in making bricks, which consist of the simple mud, mixed with a little stubble (Exod. v. 17), then formed into the proper shape, and dried in the sun. But it is in the navigation of boats that the virtues of this slime are particularly visible. The natives, when they have a heavy cargo, build a wall of this mud upon the sides of the boat, to the height of perhaps a foot, and they then load the boat till the water actually reaches higher than itself; thus trusting the vessel solely to the bulwark of slime, which is constantly washed by the stream. This plan is usually adopted only in descending the river, when the boat is left to float of itself down the rapid current, the helmsman keeping it in mid-channel. But when the water is rough from strong contrary winds, accidents occasionally happen from the washing away of the slime, and the boat immediately founders. From this strong adhering property of the slime, it will be seen that the infant Moses was quite secure in the ark, even though it had been placed in the middle of the river; nor was there any danger of moisture penetrating through his slimy cradle.

-Pitch,' zepheth. 'Pix,' whence our pitch was derived from TíTTα, which came ultimately, by a transposition of letters, from zepheth. The Greek and Latin terms were applied to the solid resins obtained from the pine and firtrees. Both the mineral and the vegetable productions were employed on this occasion for the obvious purpose of keeping out the water, and thus preserving the child from its intrusion, till some kind heart should be moved to pity for | him. There seems to be considerable analogy between the ark or boat in which Moses was deposited and the curious vessels which are at the present day employed in crossing the Tigris. They are perfectly circular in shape, and are made with the leaves of the date-palm, forming a kind of basket-work, which is rendered impervious to the water by being thickly coated with bitumen.

Flags,' D suph.-We are unable at present to satisfy ourselves as to what particular plant is here intended.

It is more than probable, however, that suph was a general term for sea or river-weed. Theophrastus describes several plants akin to the papyrus, as common in the marshes of Egypt; among them the sari, which produced a root that was much used by smiths as fuel in forging their iron. The Arabic seems applicable to a species of bulrush, scirpus: the Vulgate has, in carecto,'-in a bed of reeds. The Red Sea is always called in the Scriptures D-D) yamsuph, or the weedy sea,' probably from the great variety of marine vegetables which grow in it, and which at low water are left in great quantities upon the shores. Now in Egypt this sea was, from an allusion to the same circumstance, called the Sari Sea,' which seems to demonstrate the identity of the suph with the sari.

5. Came down to wash herself at the river.'-This, as well as the adventure of Joseph with Potiphar's wife, shews that the women in Egypt were under far less restraint than in other parts of the East. That the king's daughter went to bathe in the Nile, is explained by the Egyptian notion of the sacredness of that river, to which divine honours were rendered. A representation of an Egyptian bathing scene -a lady with four female servants, who attend upon her, and perform various offices, is depicted in one of the tombs at Thebes, and is copied in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 389.

11, 22. She called his name Moses [drawn out]; and she said, Because I drew him out of the water....He called his name Gershom [a stranger here]; for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.' These are two out of many instances of children named from the circumstances of their birth, or from some peculiarities in the history of the families to which they belong. Nearly all the Old Testament names are significant, and imposed with a reference to that significance. This is still the case in the East, as might be shewn by numerous extracts from travellers. The following, from old Purchas, will serve :-"They call one another diversly, and not alwayes by their names, but sometimes by their father's calling, trade, or degree; as Eben Sultan, that is, the sonne of a king; Eben Terzi, the sonne of a taylor. And sometimes by their marks, as Colaccis, that is, a man without ears; Cowsi Sepher, that is, Sepher with the thin beard. And sometimes by their stature, as Tow-ill, that is, a tall man: Sgire rugiall, that is, a little man. And sometimes by their offices, as I-asgee, that is, a secretarie; Nibe, that is, a clerk, &c. And sometimes by their humours; as Chiplac, that is, a naked man, or one who was of a humour to weare no clothes but breeches. And sometimes by their father's qualities, as Eben Sacran, that is, the sonne of a drunkard. But their common word of curtesie, either to strangers, or such whose names they know not, or whom they purpose to reverence, is Chillabee, that is, gentleman. And there is no man among them of any degree who will refuse to answer to any of these names. But if Nature have marked them either with goggle eyes, bunch backs, lame legs, or any infirmitie or deformitie, as they are knowne by it, so they are content to bee called by it.'

15. The land of Midian.'-There is a difficulty attending this subject, which has not yet been indisputably settled. There seem to be two lands of Midian;-this on the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea; and another east and south-east of the land of Moab, which was on the east of the Dead Sea. It is therefore concluded by some good

authorities, that the tribes inhabiting these lands were dif ferent people;-those near the Dead Sea being the descendants of Abraham through Keturah; and those near the Red Sea being the posterity of Midian, the son of Cush. The latter conjecture is strengthened by the certainty that some of the Cushite tribes did settle in, and on the outskirts of, Arabia, which was therefore called Ethiopia in common with the different countries which the Cushites occupied. Accordingly Zipporah, the wife of Moses, is called a Cushite or Ethiopian, in Numb. xii. 1; and in Hab. iii. 7, the. Midianites are mentioned with the Cushites. There are those, however, who believe that all the Midianites mentioned in Scripture are descended from Abraham; and that those near the Red Sea were merely a ramification from the same stock. That the latter were called Ethiopians, may be sufficiently accounted for by their inhabiting a country to which the name of Ethiopia was applied. We incline to this opinion; but in order not to interfere with the other, we shall notice each branch separately as the text brings it before us; and it is the more easy to do this, as the Scripture history connects the one people little, if at all, with the other. The Midianites near the Red Sea are scarcely noticed in the Bible, except in the early chapters of this book. One of the earliest notices of the Midianites connects them with the Ishmaelites (Gen. xxxvii. 25, 28), with whom all the tribes springing from Abraham were in the first instance closely connected, and into whose body they were all ultimately absorbed. As that notice describes them as engaged in commercial pursuits, besides being a pastoral people, and as they seem to have become a numerous and wealthy race, it would be interesting to inquire whether their settlement on the Red Sea had not some connection with maritime trade and navigation. We have no data on which to form distinct conclusions on this matter; but it may fairly be conjectured, that being a trading people they would, when situated on the Red Sea, scarcely abstain from building some kind of vessels in which to explore the shores of the gulf and the contiguous coasts, at the least. Josephus says the people of this part of Midian were not shepherds, which allows us to imagine that they were engaged in commerce. He adds, rather contradictorily, that they left the care of their sheep to women. This agrees with the fact of Jethro's flock being watered by his daughters; and, which is still more striking, it agrees with the existing practice in this part of Arabia, where the duty of attending the flocks is considered degrading by the men, and is more entirely left to the young women than perhaps in any other part of Arabia. The territory of these Midianites on the Red Sea would seem to have extended farther southward than that of the Edomites, as it is not unlikely that the latter people ultimately superseded them altogether in these parts. These were undoubtedly the Midianites who trembled for fear when they heard that the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea. (Hab. iii. 7.) The Orientals do not appear to know any other land of Midian than this. Abulfeda says that the name is preserved in a ruined city, called Madyan, on the shore of the Red Sea, on the route of the pilgrims from Egypt to Mecca. This city, he says, was the capital of the tribe of Midian among the Israelites; and that there was still to be seen near it the famous well at which Moses watered the flocks of Schoaib, as the Moslems called Jethro. Josephus mentions the city of Madyan on the Red Sea;' and it is no doubt the same that Ptolemy calls Modianam.