THE KING WHO KNEW NOT JOSEPH.
No. II.

BY THE REV. THOMAS NEVIN, M.A.,

Incumbent of Christ Church, Misfield, Yorkshire. DURING the interval between the birth of Moses and his appearance before the sovereign of Egypt to claim permission for the children of Israel to go and worship God in the desert, the persecution of the Hebrews seems to have somewhat relaxed. Another monarch most probably filled the throne. Indeed, it is hardly credible that the same monarch who sat upon the throne when Moses was an infant, would be alive at the end of forty years; and, besides, God informs Moses, "all the men are dead which sought thy life" (Ex. iv. 19); which would seem to imply a change not only in the person of the monarch, but also in the court. The attention of this new Pharaoh does not appear to have been particularly directed to the condition of his subjects in the land of Goshen, until this application was made to him by Moses and Aaron. He soon, however, revived the cruel policy of his predecessor, thus affording a strong presumption of his being of the same race of people. He complains of the Hebrews having been allowed to rest from their burdens (Ex. v. 5), but now takes care that the respite should continue no longer, and invents a new species of oppression: "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves" (Ex. v. 7). Straw is not used in the modern manufacture of bricks, but anciently it was to connect and pack bricks dried in the sun. Bricks thus formed of straw and mud are still made in Egypt, and their ancient use is proved by

VOL. XV.

the vast numbers that have been found in ancient buildings in every part of Egypt.

Having thus deprived the labourers of the materials necessary for the manufacture in which they were engaged, he still insisted that they should perform their allotted tasks: "And the tale of bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they be idle: therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there be more work laid upon the men, that they may labour therein: and let them not regard vain words" (Ex. v. 8, 9). The unfortunate Israelites were thus forced to undertake a new labour: "So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw" (Ex. v. 12). Many persons, judging from our agricultural habits, might be led to suppose that Pharaoh required utter impossibilities; but, as the Egyptian reapers cut off only the ears of the corn, leaving the greater part of the stem to be gathered afterwards as straw, the task imposed upon the Israelites, though not utterly impossible, was yet very severe; so much so, indeed, that they were unable to accomplish it.

5. Again, on the infliction of the fourth plague," Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land and Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness" (Ex. viii. 25-28). The proposal

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of Pharaoh is one which never could have been made by a native Egyptian, for it is clear that the Hebrews were notoriously about to sacrifice some of the animals that were esteemed sacred by the Egyptians. The cow, reverenced as an emblem of Isis, and the ram which typified Ammon, were objects of religious worship among the Egyptians, and we find their votaries on the monuments engaged in this degrading adoration. A foreign conqueror, like the Pharaoh in question, might despise or care little about the national superstitions of the Egyptians, but a native prince would never have sanctioned so gross a violation of his country's most inveterate usages; for we must bear in mind that an Egyptian king, on ascending the throne, was admitted into the order of the priests, and instructed in all the mysteries of religion.

6. Upon this point we have some important evidence from the independent traditions of Arabia, which have been preserved in the koran, and the early histories of the Saracens. They declare that the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites was a chieftain, named Walid, of the house of Amalek. There can be no doubt that the wandering tribes of Western Asia frequently united in their plundering expeditions into Egypt; and, if this Pharaoh belonged to the tribe of Amalek, we have hereby a satisfactory explanation of the origin of that fierce animosity which subsisted afterwards between the Israelites and the Amalekites. The Amalekites attacked and attempted to destroy the children of Israel on their journey to Canaan, apparently without provocation. If, however, the Amalekites lost the empire of Lower Egypt in consequence of the deliverance of the Hebrews, we can be at no loss to account for their hatred; and we can also readily believe that the utter destruction of the Amalekites in after ages by Saul, as described in the 15th chapter of the 1st book of Samuel, was a just retribution for their merciless oppression of, and unprovoked hostility to, the chosen people.

7. The narratives of the Grecian historians confirm this explanation. They tell us that the expulsion of the Hycsos, or shepherd kings, from Lower Egypt, was accomplished by one of the Theban kings. Now Thothmes III., in whose reign the exodus took place, was of a Theban family. The seventeenth dynasty consisted of Memphites. This became extinct about the period when the Hycsos obtained possession of Lower Egypt, the king having most probably fallen in battle, since an Egyptian king was generally commanderin-chief of the forces. When the Normans invaded England, the British king Harold, and his three brothers, were killed in the

engagement that ensued; and it is not, therefore, improbable that the fate of the family of the last monarch of the seventeenth dynasty was somewhat similar. At all events a Theban family succeeded at this time to the dominion of Upper Egypt, the first member of which was Amosis, who was succeeded in succession by Amanople I., Thothmes I., Thothmes II., and Thothmes III., in the fourth year of whose reign the Israelites departed from Egypt.

8. This account of the Grecian historians is corroborated by monumental records found in Middle Egypt. These monuments show us that the Hycsos, who had long tyrannized over the land, were, by some sudden event, reduced to such a state of weakness, that they were overcome by the native Egyptians, and put to death, or finally expelled. Indeed so complete seems to have been their overthrow, that they are never more heard of in history. And if we inquire how it came to pass that the foreign conquerors were so weakened as to become the prey of those with whom they had successfully contended for so many years, the overthrow of their hosts in the Red Sea, and the consequent destruction of the flower of their army, is the only plausible reason that can be assigned. After such a calamity the intrusive conquerors must have been unable to maintain their ground, and have been as decisively vanquished as the monuments represent them to have been.

9. Thothmes III. has left monuments in Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt, which circumstance is in itself a clear proof that he was sole monarch both of Upper and Lower Egypt. His predecessors of the eighteenth dynasty have left no monuments in Lower Egypt, thus affording a strong presumption that Lower Egypt was not under their dominion. Few monuments of the reign of Amosis, the leader of the eighteenth dynasty, have been found, and the probable reason of this is, that he was engaged in wars with the Hycsos, and had little leisure to attend to any thing else. Sufficient, however, remains to prove that he and his successors were the sovereigns of Upper Egypt.

10. The foreign possessions of the Egyp tians were also neglected at this period (for they had afterwards to be reconquered by Thothmes III.), probably for the same reason as stated above, viz., the presence of the Hycsos in Lower Egypt. They were a very warlike people, who arrived at the sovereignty of the whole of Egypt, and thus diminished the legitimate power of the Egyptians in two ways-first, by taking a part of the country (in the same manner as if a foreign hostile power were to obtain possession of Scotland); and, secondly, by turning that power against

them, as appears from Exodus i. 10. These foreign possessions, one by one, shook off the Egyptian yoke, and were not reduced to their allegiance till the reign of Thothmes III., who, after the discomfiture of the Hycsos, had both the leisure and the power to reduce them to submission.

11. Thothmes I., the third member of the eighteenth dynasty, died young, leaving an infant son, Thothmes II., and during his minority the affairs of the kingdom were managed by the young king's mother. It appears from the monuments that this queen paid great attention to the military class. If we bear in mind the presence of the Hycsos in Lower Egypt, we can easily perceive the sound policy (indeed, we may almost say the absolute necessity) of conciliating the soldiery, and attaching them firmly to the interests of herself and the young king. A contrary course would probably have been attended with the loss of the dominion of Upper Egypt also.

12. The view which we have taken of this subject is confirmed by a remarkable direction given by Moses, in his recapitulation of the law, a little before his death, which took place forty years after the Hycsos had been expelled from Egypt. He said to the congregation, "Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land" (Deut. xxiii. 7). Now this is a very remarkable expression, which seems to draw a clear distinction between the native Egyptians who had kindly treated the Israelites, and the intrusive conquerors by whom they were oppressed. Indeed, so far from there being any thing like an hereditary hatred between the Israelites and the Egyptians, the two nations in after times evinced the most friendly dispositions towards each other, while an inveterate animosity existed between the Israelites and the Amalekites, who certainly belonged to the same race as the Hycsos.

RECAPITULATION.

We shall, in conclusion, recapitulate, in a very few words, the evidence adduced above to prove that the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, and he who oppressed the Israelites in the days of Moses, were not native Egyptian monarchs.

1. This king did not know Joseph, although Joseph had not been dead more than sixty-four years.

2. He said that the children of Israel were more than they were.

3. He built treasure-cities, i. e., fortresses in which to secure his plunder.

4. We have the evidence of the monuments that both the Israelites and the Egyptians were at this time reduced to slavery.

5. This Pharaoh wished Moses to sacrifice,

in Egypt, animals which were esteemed sacred by the Egyptians, which no native sovereign would have done.

6. The Arabian testimony, confirmed by the conduct of the Amalekites.

7. The narratives of the Grecian historians. 8. Monumental records of the overthrow of the Hycsos in Middle Egypt, abcut the period of the exodus of the Israelites.

9. Monuments erected by Thothmes III. in Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt, while no mcnument of any previous monarch of the eighteenth dynasty has been found in Lower Egypt.

10. Foreign conquests of the Egyptians undertaken shortly after the exodus, and not during the preceding seventy years.

11. The attention paid to the military class by the widow of Thothmes I.

12. Moses tells the Israelites that they were not to hate the Egyptians.

THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR.

No. IX.-SEPTEMBER.

SEPTEMBER has its name from the position it originally held in the Alban calendar, as the seventh month in the year. Attempts were made to bestow upon it the name of more than one Roman emperor, after the example of the two preceding months, which bear, as we have before seen, the appellations of Julius and Augustus respectively; but these new designations could never supersede the ancient name of September. The Saxons called it Gerst-Monat; gerst, or barley, a production in special favour with them as the material from which their usual drink was made, being at this time ripe. But after the establishment of Christianity, they termed it Halig-monát-the holy month-from the numerous religious festivals observed in the course of it. September is often represented in old pictures as a man clothed in purple, and crowned with clusters of grapes, to dehe holds in his hand also a few ears of corn, note the vintage which now is gathered in: and a balance-the last in allusion to the sign Libra, which the sun enters in this month. In the Jewish calendar the feasts of Trumpets and of Tabernacles occur.

The mean temperature of September is 57° 8'; the highest, 76°; the lowest, 36°. The following is the table of the winds:

This is usually an agreeable month. The days, however, are very sensibly shortened; and, though the middle of the day is still

Whole streets were depopulated by the one calamity, and overthrown by the other. I entered several of the dwellings which yet remained standing. What varied, what hideous scenes presented themselves to me! In some, the reputed wealth of their former possessors had attracted the robber hordes to which I have before alluded, and all of value had been carried off. Several struggles had taken place, between the invaders and the possessors, for that which perhaps in but a few brief hours would probably be less than dross to either.

Just within the entrance hall of a Georgian merchant, with whom I was acquainted, there lay the bodies of a slave and one of these robbers. In the left hand of the latter was a rich kalean. The slave, in intercepting his progress, had been shot through the body, but had afterwards, it would appear, retained sufficient energy to plunge his dagger into the heart of his opponent. They had both fallen together, and must have expired at nearly the same time, for they lay side by side-the countenance of the robber turned upwards and hideously distorted, that of the slave placid and mild, although his right hand still retained its hold of the home-stricken dagger.

I traversed my way through those apartments that had escaped the spoiler. I wound through halls and along passages which had formerly resounded with the busy din of human voices and human feet. Now how changed the scene! no sounds follow the ear but the almost noiseless echo of my steps. Silent now and deserted was that banquet-hall; more melancholy still the reflection that it was not again doomed to be filled by those guests who had taken their departure but yesterday night, to return with renewed zeal on the morrow. They had retired to partake their last repose.

The bright and brilliant hue of costly divans was now dimmed by the accumulated dust of months. A few chebouques, their bowls partially filled, were reclining against the cushions; beside them were left the half-finished coffee-cups, with their fillagree covering of gold; and the fancy could not but picture the host, on the first symptom of the malady, rising suddenly and staggering to his couch, from whence death alone was again to summon him.

Aleppo, to be united to him; and preparations were in progress for that event, when plague for the present put a stop to all. The family established a quarantine; and I had since heard no more of them.

The gate, as I now approached the house, was closed; I struck my staff against it several times without attracting attention, and, with a conclusion that its inmates had shared the fate of but too many others, I was turning away with a sigh, when the wicket slowly opened, and the feeble voice of the old merchant bade me enter. I grasped him by the hand; he spoke not; but, beckoning me to follow him, slowly tottered up the stairs. I looked around he was alone.

"Your daughter Miriam ?" said I, in a faltering voice. The spell was broken-the old man threw himself on a chair and gave vent to a flood of tears; as these chased each other down his venerable beard, he sobbed so piteously, that I was fearful it would put an end at once to him and his sorrow. What a mockery it would have been to have offered words in consolation! I remained gazing on him in silence. To my great relief, he at length calmed himself in a measure, and in broken sentences conjured me to forgive a father's weakness.

"You," said he, "O Frank, are the first person I have seen, except those who for months were immured within these baleful walls. But I am unequal to the task of talking now."

He clapped his hands, and a slave appeared, who seemed scarcely less astonished at my presence than was his master. The old man sent him for pipes and coffee; and, after we had again seated ourselves, I gained from him the particulars of the following affecting incident.

"For three weeks," said he, "by adopting the most rigid precautions, we succeeded in shutting out the pestilence, although the neighbourhood around resounded with the groans and shrieks of those who were suffering themselves, or wept the fate of others. One morning, however, I went into Ammina's (the sister of Miriam) room, and found that some animal had reposed the previous evening on her bed. Fully aware that it is but too often that disease is by such means communicated, I nevertheless said nothing. Some days elapsed, and already had I cherished hopes that my fears were groundless, when one morn.

infected. She complained of a cold shivering, which was, as she retired to her pallet, followed by a burning heat, and intense pain about the pit of the stomach, while dimness and lustre were strangely combined in her full but fixed eye.

Some months had elapsed after our first acquaintance, before I was made aware that Miriam was but waiting the return of a young countryman from

"The malady could not for an instant be concealed from the anxious eye of Miriam; and, despite the prayers and entreaties of her father and friends, the heavenly girl tore herself from their arms, and rushed to the chamber of her beloved sister. There, by the

her every look-now moistening her parched lips, bathing her pallid but burning brow, dressing the loathsome ulcers, or quietly striving to sooth the ravings of delirium. She neither ate, drank, nor slept; she breathed the same breath with her, and lived but for her sister; and when, after five days and