the life-giving fluid (ibid.); (e) the cultivation of fruittrees (Exod. ix. 25; x. 15); and (f) the keeping of cattle, partly in the fields, partly in stalls, or sheds, where they were protected from the weather (ch. ix. 19-25). With respect to the first of these points, it may be observed that there is exactly the same difference now as that which the writer of Exodus notes," Barley ripens and flax blossoms about the middle of February, or, at the latest, early in March,"1 while the wheat harvest does not begin till April. There is thus a full month between the barley and the wheat harvest.2 The doora is also a late crop. The mode of reaping wheat which prevailed in ancient Egypt is amply represented upon the monuments, and appears to have been such as to leave abundant stubble in the fields, as implied in ch. v. 12. Not more than about a foot of the straw was cut with the ear, two feet or more being left.3 The barley was probably reaped in the same way. It is not, perhaps, quite clear what is meant in Deut. xi. 10 by the land of Egypt being cultivated “as a garden of herbs"; but most probably the reference is, as Wilkinson suggests, to the ordinary implement of cultivation, the plough, being largely dispensed with, and a slight dressing with the hoe, if even so much as that, used instead. Herodotus witnesses to the preva 1 Canon Cook in the "Speaker's Commentary,” vol. i., p. 286. 2 Birch in Wilkinson's “ Ancient Egyptians,” vol. ii., p. 42, note. Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 418–427. * Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 389, note. lence of this method of cultivation,1 and the monuments occasionally represent it. The absolute necessity of irrigation, and the nature of the irrigation, implied in the expression, "where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot" (Deut. xi. 10), receive illustration from the pictures in the tombs, which show us the fields surrounded by broad canals, and intersected everywhere by cuttings from them, continually diminishing in size, until at last they are no more than rills banked up with a little mud, which the hand or "foot" might readily remove and replace, so turning the water in any direction that might be required by the cultivator. Fruit-trees are represented on the monuments as largely cultivated and much valued. Among them the vine holds the foremost place. A sceptical critic was once bold enough to assert that the statements in the Pentateuch which implied the existence of the vine in Egypt were distinct evidence of "the late origin of the narrative." 2 But the tombs of Benihassan, which are anterior to the Exodus, contain "representations of the culture of the vine, the vintage, the stripping off and carrying away of the grapes, of two kinds of winepresses, the one moved by the strength of human arms, the other by mechanical power, the storing of the wine in bottles or jars, and its transportation into the cellar." 3 1 Herod. ii. 14. No one now doubts 2 Von Bohlen, "Die Genesis historisch-critisch erlautert," % 373. 3 Champollion, quoted by Hengstenberg, “Egypt and the Books of Moses," p. 15. that the vine was cultivated in Egypt from a time long anterior to Moses. The fig and the date-bearing palm were likewise grown for the sake of the fruit, grapes, figs, and dates constituting the Egyptian lord's usual dessert,' while the last-named fruit was also made into a conserve, which diversified the diet at rich men's tables. 2 The breeding and rearing of cattle was a regular part of the farmer's business in Egypt, and the wealth of individuals in flocks and herds was considerable. Three distinct kinds of cattle were affected—the longhorned, the short-horned, and the hornless.3 "During the greater part of the year they were pastured in open fields, on the natural growth of the rich soil, or on artificial grasses, which were cultivated for the purpose; but at the time of the inundation it was necessary to bring them in from the fields to the farmyards or the villages, where they were kept in sheds or pens on ground artificially raised, so as to be beyond the reach of the river." Thus the cattle generally had "houses" (Exod. ix. 20), i. e., sheds or stalls, into which it was possible to bring them at short notice. Among "miscellaneous customs" the following seem most worthy of notice: (a) the practice of making boats out of bulrushes (ch. ii. 3; compare Isa. xviii. 2), and (b) the position occupied by magic 1 Birch, "Egypt from the Earliest Times," p. 45. 3 Ibid. 2 Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians," vol. ii., p. 43. at the court of the Pharaohs. On the former point Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks1: "There was a small kind of punt or canoe made entirely of the papyrus, bound together with bands of the same plant-the ' vessels of bulrushes' mentioned in Isa. xviii. 2." On the latter M. Maspero makes the following statement2: Magic was in Egypt a science, and the magician one of the most esteemed of learned men. The nobles themselves, the prince Khamuas and his brother, were adepts in supernatural arts, and decipherers of magic formularies, in which they had an entire belief. A prince who was a sorcerer would nowadays inspire a very moderate sentiment of esteem. In Egypt the profession of magic was not incompatible with royalty, and the sorcerers of a Pharaoh had not uncommonly the Pharaoh himself for their pupil." The magical texts form a considerable proportion of the MSS. which have come down to us from ancient times, particularly from the nineteenth dynasty; and the composition of some of them was ascribed to a Divine source. 1 In Rawlinson's "Herodotus," vol. ii., p. 154, note. 2 Quoted by M. Lenormant, "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne," vol. ii., pp. 126–7. CHAPTER XIX. NOTICES OF EGYPT IN THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. It is, at first sight, surprising that there is no mention of Egypt in connection with the history of the Israelites between the Exodus and the reign of Solomon. The interval is one of, at least, three hundred-perhaps of four hundred-years. During its earlier portion, and again about a century before its close, the Egyptian monarchs conducted expeditions into Northern Syria, if not even into Mesopotamia, which might have been expected to have brought them into contact with the Hebrew people; but the Hebrew records of the time are entirely silent on the subject, and indeed only mention Egypt retrospectively, as the place where Israel had once suffered affliction.1 Perhaps the earlier expeditions-those of Rameses III.2-may have taken place while Israel was still detained in the "Wilderness of the Wanderings," in which case there would naturally have been no collision between the two peoples; while those of Rameses XII.3 and of Her 1 1 Josh. i. 10; xxiv. 4–7, 14, 17; 1 Sam. ii. 27; vi. 6; x. 18; xii. 6-8. 2 Brugsch, "History of Egypt," vol. ii., p. 152. 3 Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 184–7; Birch, “Egypt from the Earliest Times," pp. 149-153. |
