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which thou hast mentioned to me! Do not repeat it again, and I will not speak of it to any one. Verily, I will not permit a word of it to escape my mouth to

any man.'

"He took up his load, and went forth to the field. He rejoined his elder brother, and they accomplished the task of their labour. And when the time of evening arrived, the elder brother returned to his house.

His younger brother [tarried] behind his cattle, laden with all the things of the field. He drove his cattle before him, that they might lie down in their stable.

"Behold, the wife of the elder brother was alarmed at the discourse which she had held. She made herself as one who has suffered violence from a man; for she designed to say to her husband, 'It is thy younger brother who has done me violence.'

"Her husband returned home at evening, according to his daily wont. He came to his house, and he found his wife lying as if murdered by a ruffian. She did not pour water on his hands, according to her wont; she did not light the lamp before him; his house was in darkness. She was lying there, all uncovered. Her husband said to her, 'Who is it that has been conversing with thee?' She replied, 'No one has been conversing with me except thy younger brother. When he came to fetch seed for thee he found me sitting alone, and he said to me, "Come and let us lie down for an instant." That is what he said to me. But I did not listen to him. "Behold, am I not thy

mother; and thy elder brother, is he not as a father to thee?"—that is what I said to him. Then he became alarmed, and did me violence, that I might not be able to report the matter to thee. But if thou lettest him live, I shall kill myself.' . . . Then the elder brother became like a panther; he made his dagger sharp, and took it in his hand. And he put himself behind the door of his stable, in order to kill his younger brother, when he returned at even to bring the cattle to their stalls." 1

It is unnecessary to pursue the story further. Anepu is bent on killing his brother, but is prevented. Potiphar, with a moderation which seems to argue some distrust of his wife's story, is content to imprison Joseph. Innocence in both cases suffers, and then triumphs; but the triumph in the Egyptian tale is effected by repeated metempsychosis, and therefore diverges altogether from the Mosaic history. Still, it is conceivable that the Egyptian novel, written several centuries after Joseph's death, was based upon some traditional knowledge of the ordeal through which he had passed unscathed, and the ultimate glory to which he had attained as ruler of Egypt.2

1 See "Records of the Past," vol. ii., pp. 139–142.

2 Bata, after his many transmigrations, is finally reborn as the child of an Egyptian princess, and rules Egypt for thirty years (Ibid., p. 151).

CHAPTER XIV.

FURTHER NOTICES OF EGYPT IN GENESIS.

THE history of Joseph in Egypt after he was thrown into prison by Potiphar, which occupies the last eleven chapters of Genesis, is delivered to us at too great length to be conveniently made the subject of illustration by means of comment on a series of passages. We propose therefore to view it in the mass, as a picture of Egypt at a certain period of its history, to be determined by chronological considerations, and then to inquire how far the portraiture given corresponds to what is known to us of the Egypt of that time from profane sources.

The time of Joseph's visit to Egypt is variously given by chronologers. Archbishop Usher, whose dates are followed in the margin of the English Bible, as published by authority, regards him as having resided in the country from B. C. 1729 to B. C. 1635. Most other chronologers place his sojourn earlier: Stuart Poole' from B.C. 1867 to B. C. 1772; Clinton 2 from B. C. 1862 to B. C. 1770; Hales3 from B. C. 1886 to 1 "Dictionary of the Bible," vol. i., p. 508. 2" Fasti Hellenici," vol. i., pp. 300, 320. 3" Ancient Chronology," vol. i., p. 104, et seq.

B. C. 1792. Even the latest of these dates would make his arrival anterior to the commencement of the New Empire, which was certainly not earlier than B. C. 1700. If we add to this the statement of George the Syncellus,' that all writers agreed in making him the prime minister of one of the shepherd kings, we seem to have sufficient grounds for the belief that the Egypt of his time was that of the Middle Empire or Hyksôs, an Asiatic people who held Egypt in subjection for some centuries before the great rising under Aahmes, which re-established a native dynasty upon the old throne of the Pharaohs.

Does then the Egypt of the later chapters of Genesis correspond to this time? It has been argued that it does not, because, on the whole, it is so like the Egypt of other times. We have the king depicted in all his state, with his signet ring upon his finger (Gen. xli. 42), with chariots to ride in (ib. 43), and gold chains to give away, possessed of a "chief butler" and a "chief baker" (ch. xl. 9, 16), able to imprison and execute whom he will (ib. 3, 22), with "magicians" and "wise men" for counsellors (ch. xli. 8), rich in flocks and herds (ch. xlvii. 6), despotic over the people (ch. xli. 34; xlvii. 21), with no fear or regard for any class of his subjects but the priests (ch. xlvii. 22, 26). We have the priests as a distinctly privileged 'class, supported by the monarch in a time of famine, possessed of lands, and not compelled to cede to the king any right over their lands. We have mention of

1 "Chronographia," p. 62, B.

the "priest of On," or Heliopolis, as a magnate of the first class, with whom Joseph did not disdain to ally himself after he had become grand vizier, and was the next person in the kingdom to the king (ch. xli. 45, 50). We have the Egyptian contempt for foreigners noted in the statement that "the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews" (ch. xliii. 32), and their special aversion to herdsmen touched on in the observation that "every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians" (ch. xlvi. 34). We see agriculture the main occupation of the people, yet pasturing of cattle carried on upon a large scale in the Delta (ch. xlvii. 1– 6). We find embalming practised, and a special class of embalmers (ch. 1. 2); and it appears that embalmed bodies are placed within coffins (ib. 26). Chariots and horses are tolerably common, for when Joseph goes from Egypt to Canaan to bury his father, there goes up with him "a very great company, both chariots and horsemen" (ib. 9), while “horses,” no less than cattle and asses, are among the domesticated animals exchanged by the Egyptians generally for corn (ch. xlvii. 17). But, though horses are in use among the people, especially the official classes and the rich, asses are still the main beasts of burden, and are alone employed in the conveyance of commodities between Egypt and Canaan (ch. xlv. 23). Wheeled vehicles are known, and are used for the conveyance of women and children (ib. 19-21). Such are the leading features of the Egypt depicted by the writer of Genesis in these chapters. The description is said to be too

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