south against the constant incursions from the rude and powerful tribes which pressed forward from the north, and especially from the fertile plains of Mesopotamia. The repulsion of the swarming myriads must have produced movements throughout Western Asia forming a new era in the world's history. The time was from the sixteenth to the fourteenth century B. C.; and it is worthy of notice that the roots of the historical and traditional recollections of all other nations run back to this epoch, which was the beginning of recorded emigrations and colonizations, the diffusion of superstitions, and the spread of knowledge over the surface of the then known world. With the seventeenth dynasty the new empire begins, which was also the revival of native Egyptian prosperity. That prosperity continued under the eighteenth VOL. VI.-30 and the nineteenth. Beyond this point we need not pursue our sketch. The exact date of Abraham's descent into Egypt is not declared by any monumental evidence. Considered from an Egyptian point of view, the event was too inconsiderable to be commemorated; - but it took place between the expulsion of the Hyksos and the reign of Ramses. During the reign of the next king, Sethos I., an enterprising and victorious sovereign, Joseph rose to power. Under a monarch of the same line, namely, Ramses II., the Israelites, his descendants, were most cruelly oppressed. And a third, by name Menephthes, was the monarch out of whose cruel hands Moses rescued his people. This event Lepsius places about 1322 B. C., whereas the year 1491 is assigned for it by the common chronology. Considering the history of Egypt in relation to Israel, Lepsius states: "We accordingly know the Pharaoh under whom Joseph came to Egypt, namely Sethos I., also the Pharaoh at whose court Moses was educated, the third, under whom Israel left Egypt, namely, Ramses II., (Sesostris,) and finally, that is, Menephthes. Of these three kings of the nineteenth dynasty, Ramses II., surnamed Miamun, was unquestionably the greatest: nay, empire rose to the summit of power and glory. we must declare, that under him the Egyptian In his reign was Moses, the great man of God, born; and in the reign of his successor, whom Herodotus describes as a proud and godless blindness for his misdeeds, Moses led forth the monarch, and consequently as punished by Israelites, and tounded the Hebrew theocracy by the system of law which was given at Sinai." Not very long after Abraham had, in obedience to a divine admonition, quitted the idolatrous land of his birth, and, journeying to the south-west, established himself in the uplands of Canaan; and shortly before he had separated from his nephew Lot, and consequently before the overthrow of the cities of "the vale of the meadows," Abraham, sorely pressed by famine -a calamity under which the stony soil of Palestine, if visited with a drought, was very likely to suffer went into Egypt, intending to sojourn there until the dearth was at an end, as being a country famed for the abundance of its vegetable productions, and as lying within a distance which ordinary perseverance might compass. The journey, however, was longer and more severe than we in these days may readily conceive, involving not only toil and privation, but also personal danger of no insignificant kind. And here comes into view one of those marked accordances between the language of Scripture and actual fact, the recognition of which we owe to the discoveries of modern science. In proceeding into Egypt, Abraham is said to go down, (Gen. xii, 10,) and in returning to Canaan he is said to go up, (Gen. xiii, 1.) The terms are accurately descriptive, for, from measurements of the localities which have been recently made, we know that, within comparatively a few miles, he would experience a change of level amounting to some four thousand feet. ed well for her sake;" gifts were made to him of" sheep and oxen, and he-asses and men-servants and maid-servants, and sheasses and camels." One of these maidservants was Hagar. Gen. xvi, 1. Meanwhile, the dearth was mitigated, and plenty gave promise of a speedy return. The promise made by God to his servant also remained steadfast. That promise assured Abraham that he was to be the father of a great nation, and expressly said, "I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee." Gen. xii, 1-3. But how could that promise be fulfilled if Abraham's wife was degraded in the court of Egypt? Accordingly, “the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abraham's wife," sending therein grievous diseases, such as the leprosy and the pest; so that Pharaoh was glad to dismiss her unharmed, and the divinely-protected couple, having been preserved in want and in sore peril, were enabled to return home to the highlands of Judah and Samaria. Within the brief compass of a few lines, the Bible, in narrating these events, contains statements and implications out of which it would not be difficult to construct an ideal court, and an ideal social condition, as then existing in Egypt. That conception would exactly correspond with the reality, as already made known in some detail in these pages. Thus the Bible of the Hebrews and the monuments of Egypt are found to be in strict agreement; in both we behold the same despotism, the same organized government, the same division of ranks-from the slave to the prince, from the prince to the monarch; and in both we find Egypt a land of abundance-rich in all the great means of human support, and the great appliances of social ease and personal luxury. How could such an agreement exist did not the Scriptures represent realities, and had not its writers copied from nature? Abraham was not ignorant of the general character of the government under whose power he was about to place himself. It was a despotic government. It was also a licentious court. The harem of that court was supplied from the neighboring lands. Especially were the Mesopotamian tribes laid under tribute, as opportunity served, because their females were of a lighter complexion than those of Egypt. In consquence, Abraham had reason to fear that his wife Sarah would be seized by Pharaoh, or his courtiers. Her seizure, however, involved danger to himself, for, as her husband, he could not think his life secure. But Sarah was his sister as well as his wife. If she appeared in that relation, even favor might be shown to the patriarch, in order the more readily to get possession of Sarah's person and win her favor. As Abraham's sister, it was therefore agreed that Sarah should be announced. When the pair arrived at Memphis, Sarah, as was expected, "was taken into Pharaoh's house," for "the Egyptians beheldereign, Sethos I., by whom he was raised the woman that she was very fair; the princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh." Gen. xii, 14, 15. Abraham, too, "was entreat In the family of Abraham's grandson, Jacob, occurred the remarkable story of Joseph, with which the reader is entirely familiar. The interpretation of a dream by Joseph gained him the favor of the sov from a prison to a seat at his own right hand, by one of those sudden and extreme elevations which in all times have been usual in the great oriental monarchies. By this act of grace on the part of the sovereign, the young Hebrew shepherd, after being incorporated in the warrior and sacerdotal caste, and after being invested with the insignia of office according to the religious and civil usages of the country, was made what we may term grand vizier or prime minister, or, in Egyptian," the chief royal scribe," receiving the pompous name of Zaphnath-paaneah, or life-giver. As an additional honor, he was taken as a son into the family of the head of the Egyptian Church, Pharaoh bestowing on him the hand of Asenath, the daughter of Poti pherah, priest of On or Heliopolis, by whom he had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The time shortly came in which Joseph had it in his power to make a return for the favors with which he had been loaded. famine impended. A We know from history that Egypt, with all its fruitfulness, is liable to dearth, and the causes which inflict the calamity on Egypt are often general in their operations, so as to involve other lands in the same suffering. The fertility of Egypt depends on the overflowing of the Nile. Should the river, in its annual swelling in autumn, not reach a certain height, no inundation ensues, and sterility and famine are inevitable. The supply of water in the Nile, and consequently the growth of I corn in the Delta, depends on the periodical rains which fall within the tropics in Ethiopia on the extreme southern limit of the land. If those rains are less copious than ordinary, Egypt and the whole surrounding district is parched. The seasons observe sometimes a certain cycle in their changes, so that a period of abundance is countervailed by a period of want. So did it happen in Egypt while under Joseph's administration. Seven times did the Nile overflow its banks, when by natural and artifical means the whole Delta became a network of irrigation, and shortly offered, first an almost unbroken sea of waters, and then a most plentiful harvest of corn. Seven adverse years ensued, and then want and suffering prevailed universally. During the season of abundance, however, Joseph had made provision, having formed magazines in the several districts. When the dearth came, therefore, he was prepared; he fed the people, and so their lives were spared. In all ages Egypt has been renowned for its productiveness. Its exports of corn are still great, and it was the chief granary of the Roman world. When, then, the neighboring lands suffered from the widely-prevailing famine, they naturally looked to Egypt for a supply. By purchase they obtained from Joseph what they needed. The engraving on the preceding page, taken from the paintings at Thebes, represents the storing of a granary, and shows to the life the series of acts that Joseph caused to be performed all over the kingdom. The subject is often repeated, and the actual painting may have had no specific connection with the precautions adopted by Joseph. The abundance which the forethought of the grand vizier had put into his hands, gave him the means of achieving a great social revolution, the exact tendency of which history does not enable us to describe. Not impossibly the domination of the Hyksos, and the relaxations caused by the recovery of their throne by the Pharaohs, may have given an independence to the military aristocracy which was alien to the spirit of oriental government, and which Sethos found troublesome, if not formidable. Actuated by gratitude to his royal master, and desirous of placing his supreme authority on a safe foundation, as well as doing what then appeared best for the welfare of the kingdom, Joseph sold supplies of provision on such terms as brought the whole land into the hands of the monarch, so that all proprietors thenceforth held their properties of the sovereign. From the operation of this change, by which the feudal system of our middle ages was anticipated, the lands of the priests were exempted-a signal proof of their power, and an exemplification of the lofty position held by Jacob's youngest son. That patriarch and his family were not exempted from the general distress. Like others, Jacob sent to Egypt for succor. The aid-the Biblical student well knows how-was afforded by Joseph's own hands. Not content with sending supplies to his hungry father, bowed with the weight of years, Joseph resolved to employ his influence in order to bring him and his family down into Egypt. The reigning Pharaoh had now an opportunity of manifesting gratitude on his part, and he gladly assented to the request of his prime minister. Jacob descended into Egypt, and after being presented to Sethos and his court, was allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, between the eastern arm of the Nile and Palestine, his native land. At length Jacob died, full of years and full of honors. Held in respect even in that strange land, his obsequies were conducted with the attentions and pomp bestowed by its inhabitants on distinguished men departed this life. For forty days was the patriarch mourned for alike by Israelite and Egyptian. A special mark of reverence was paid to his remains. The high As long as Joseph lived the Israelites received protection and enjoyed prosperity. In consequence they greatly increased in wealth and numbers, the sure sources of social power. Meanwhile they had preserved their national identity. Existing as a separate people in a separate district of the kingdom, they formed a sort of imperium in imperio, or an independent power, which a despotism, in ever so slight a degree jealous, might reasonably fear. The time came for that jealousy to display its effects in a manner the most injurious and painful to the Israelites. By degrees the benefits conferred on the crown and on the country by the administration of Joseph, faded from memory. favor in which he had stood, the unprecedented honors bestowed upon him, and the extraordinary liberality shown to his kindred, brought a reaction in the Egyptian mind, which became the more decided and active when it was remembered that the favored people were a race of strangers, nay, were of the same blood and similar occupation with the hated Hyksos, who had so longed and so fearfully weighed upon the land. Was Egypt a second time to fall under the yoke of the Bedouins? What was there to prevent these Israelites from forming an alliance with some of the predatory and warlike tribes which ever infested the north-eastern frontier? Then war would ensue, and the tyranny of the shepherd kings might be reëstablished. Actuated by considerations of this nature, and unable all at once to enslave or expel them, a Pharaoh, in whose mind the hostility to the Hebrews had reached its height, resolved to pursue by craft what he could not achieve by force, and took ILLUSTRATIONS OF ISRAELITISH BONDAGE. measures for gradually wearing down the strength of the people of Israel. Of first importance was it that he should possess strongholds in the land which the Hebrews occupied. For that purpose he erected the fortified cities of Pithom and Ramses. In order the more effectually to secure a communication between the two, he dug a canal, of which Pithom formed the western extremity, and Ramses the eastern. And such was the success that crowned his architectural and social efforts, that, in the latter city, there was erected in the sanctuary of the temple, and placed between two idols, an image of himself, cut in granite; and the group still exists. It was a stroke of deep policy to make the Hebrews forge their own chains. With that view, employment was given to them in the public works, probably under conditions which lulled suspicion and supplied attractions. Gradually the mask was thrown aside; tasks were imposed, taskmasters were set over the workmen, who by little and little sunk into slaves. The above engraving, copied from the paintings at Thebes, seems to have been expressly intended to gratify the national |