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Egyptians made the chil o serve with rigour: made their lives bitter wil in morter, and in brick, and of service in the field: wherein they made the rigour. e king of Egypt spake lo lwives, of which the name Shiphrah, and the name d

aid, When ye do the of he Hebrew women, and se ools; if it be a son, then ut if it be a daughter, the

nidwives feared God, ing of Egypt commande he men children alive Egypt called for the id unto them, why h

of

, and have saved the

wives said unto Pharas
rew women are not as the
for they are lively,
ne midwives come in

od dealt well with the
people multiplied,

to pass, because
od, that he made the

charged all his people hat is born ye shall every daughter ye

Acts 7. 17.

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ts of the book, signifying to
their custom, denumi

-metimes.

BRICK PYRAMID OF FAIOUM.

Verse 8. "There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."-Mr. Faber, by a fragment of Egyptian history by Manetho, preserved by Josephus, has thrown a degree of lig this period, as connected with the sacred narrative, of which it did not previously seem suscepti of this gentleman's investigations we have given in the note to Gen. ch. xlvi. 34. We must r Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. iii., Book vi., for the details of his most satisfactory elucidation subject; and shall here give, as briefly as possible, the principal results which are applicable t present text and subsequent narrative. We have seen that a native dynasty in Lower Egypt of Cushite shepherds; that after 260 years the natives succeeded in expelling the intruders; dynasty, Joseph acquired consequence in Egypt, and that his family came thither and set of Goshen, which the Arabian nomades had recently vacated. It is to be observed, that Man the leprous shepherds, perhaps from some tradition concerning the leprosy of Moses. He say having greatly increased in the land of Avaris (Goshen), so as to become a powerful body, be tionary projects, and invited the expelled shepherd-kings to return out of Palestine; which fat complete re-establishment of the pastoral tyranny. It seems that the native king and a consid and warriors withdrew into the Thebais and Ethiopia, while the people who remained behind oppression from the conquerors. This then was the new dynasty, "the new king that knew knew not Joseph and the services he had rendered to Egypt is justly regarded by Mr. Faber that he was a stranger. As to the invitation from the Hebrews, we are not bound to admit it; inclined to doubt it than Mr. Faber seems to be. It appears to us that if there had not be between them, the Hebrews would have defended the Egyptian frontier; and that if they had d importance would probably have been mentioned by the sacred historian. The warlike sher through their country, and it appears, from the subsequent fears of the king himself, that they their numbers and strength, to have offered a most powerful resistance to the invasion if they h wonder this escaped the notice of Mr. Faber. Be this as it may, the policy of the new sove Moses, is easily illustrated. - " He found himself master of a land in which were two distinct a sense of mutual benefits, had generally lived in strict amity with each other: and he was fu naturally suspected, that notwithstanding any temporary disgust, the Israelites would be fa common cause with their friends the Mizraim, than with himself and his intrusive warriors. I restrained by no nice scruples of conscience, who considered only how he might best secure neither knew nor regarded Joseph, the policy is obvious; and the principle of it is most distin See note on v. 10.

! 9. "The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we." This strongly co statement. Only 109 years had at this time (a good while before Moses was born) passed sinc more than seventy persons, and that they had so soon become more numerous than the nat béen a settled nation for about 650 years, it is not necessary to suppose and is not compatible

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Rountiane had so long been a nation

But the conquering tribe may easily be supposed to hay

prove that the new king and his people were foreigners. With the natural feelings of a conqueror, and superadded remembrance of a former expulsion from this very country, he anticipated a probable rebellic Mızraim; and he shrewdly conjectured, that while he was engaged in reducing them to obedience, or in res invasion of the dethroned king from the Thebais, whither (according to Manetho) he had retired, the Israeli pactly associated in the land of Goshen, would take him in the rear, and place him between two enemies."vol. iii. p. 553.) Thus situated, the invaders thought it necessary to compensate for their disadvantages courage, their strict union, constituting themselves the sole military class, and ultimately, by reducing the I and also the native Egyptians (as we learn from both Manetho and Herodotus), to a state of absolute s obliging them to labour in public works, which were probably undertaken quite as much in order to break the by severe labour as for any other purpose.

11. "Treasure cities." -The original word has been variously rendered in the different versions. Storestore-houses, granaries, fortresses, or walled towns, are the alternatives. As the proper names seem to indi towns are intended, and as it is expressly said they were built for Pharaoh, it may be presumed that they wer purpose of storing up the various produce which in different districts belonged to the king. The Hebrew ki such "store cities." (2 Chron. viii. 4. 6, and xxxii. 27-30.) Authors do not agree in fixing the sites of Pit Raamses; but as the land of Goshen is also called "the land of Rameses" (Gen. xlvii. 11), there is reason to that the latter town was in that land, to which it gave or from which it received its name. Michaelis seems that the Egyptian government obliged the Hebrews, with the view of making them a more settled people, to re their habit of living in tents. It is remarkable that the Vulgate has exactly the opposite view of the text, de the two towns as urbes tabernaculorum, "cities of tents."

14. "Hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." -There has been no small of conjecture as to the works on which the Israelites were employed in Egypt. Some authors contend for on and some for another: without sufficiently considering that the large expressions in the present text, togeth "the treasure cities" of verse 11, and the straw-compacted bricks of chap. v. 7, would imply that they were emp every kind of public work which was in those times undertaken. This was certainly the view of Josephus, w that they were obliged to learn mechanical arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labour; and that they we to cut canals, to raise dykes, to erect pyramids, and to build the walls of cities. The whole subject has genera viewed with very unnecessary limitations. Thus it appears, from chap. v. 7, that when Moses commenced his the Hebrews were chiefly occupied in making those large bricks, dried in the sun and compacted with straw, suc have already noticed in describing the remains at Babylon; and it has hence been argued, that only such str as are formed with such bricks could have been their work. It seems rather absurd, however, to conclude that they were making bricks at the return of Moses from Midian, they had done nothing but make bricks during the or hundred preceding years; for the oppression of the Israelites commenced before Moses was born, and he wa eighty years of age when he received the divine call to his great work. Hence old writers were wont to objec statement of Josephus about the pyramids, "because the pyramids were all of stone." But all the pyramids of stone; and, if they were, that the Hebrews worked in brick is no reason why they should not also have wo stone. However, we have so far entered into this view that we have given a cut of a principal brick pyra preference-not because we are sure that this, or any existing pyramid, was the work of the Hebrews; but beca all the existing monuments in Egypt, pyramids of this description may, with the greatest measure of probabi attributed to them. Accounts of the pyramids in general are so common and easy of access, that we shall not our space with any descriptive statement, but shall preferably endeavour to show on what data the Israelites conceived to have been engaged in their erection.

In a preceding note we have stated the probability that the oppression of the Israelites was under a dyn shepherd-kings-that is, a tribe or tribes of Cushite nomades, from Arabia or Chaldæa. If, therefore, we co that the Hebrews were employed on the pyramids, we must conclude that they were not native Egyptian tures, but were formed on the soil of Egypt by a foreign people. Of this it is a remarkable corroboration-th pyramids are confined to that part of Egypt which the shepherd-conquerors occupied; whereas, we should expect to have found them, if native structures, in Upper Egypt, and in the vicinity of the "hundred-gated Th the ancient and chief seat of the Egyptian religion and of the temples and monuments connected with it. ever were the objects of these remarkable structures, we can discover no reason but this, which adequately ac for our finding them exclusively within a limited district. It is true that Herodotus does not assign such high ant to the pyramids; but he was not even aware of the existence of a dynasty of shepherd-kings: and, from his state it would seem that the priests of Heliopolis, from whom he derived most of his information, exhibited a deg reserve about the period of their origin, and of concealment concerning the thraldom of their nation, which ec accounts for his ignorance of some remarkable facts, and corroborates the impressions we have stated. Their r was noticed even by Herodotus, though he had no notion of its cause. He does, however, state incidentally that of the pyramids were called after the shepherd Philitis, who at that time fed his cattle in the neighbourhood; a gives, as a reason for this, that the monarchs by whom they were built were held in such abomination by the Egyp that the priests were unwilling to mention their names. The reason was, that during their reign the Egyptians subject to great oppression and calamity, and were not even permitted to worship in their temples. It is not diffic discover, through the gloss which the priests gave to this statement, that the pyramids were erected under the re a foreign people, whose religion differed from that of the Egyptians, and who acted with great oppression. inference is the stronger when we consider that the native Egyptian sovereigns could not, according to the or laws of the government, have acted as the founders of the pyramids did; and, above all, could not have interfered the public worship of the people: for the Egyptian kings were in general merely the adorned pageants of auth The priests were the real sovereigns: they managed all the affairs of state; and all, even the smaller, movemen the monarch were subject to their direction and control. To this we may add, that various Arabian writers conc the statement that the pyramids were built by a people from Arabia, who, after a period of dominion in Egypt, ultimately expelled. There is every probability that although these "shepherd-kings came immediately

feelings of a conqueror, and wat
anticipated a probable ref
ng them to obedience, or in misqu
tho he had retired, the Isar
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The different versions. Store-dhist k
e proper names seem to
ay be presumed that they were fir
the king. The Hestew
gree in fixing the sites of Phn
xlvii. 11), there is reason to
its name. Michaelis seems to
m a more settled people, to
opposite view of the text, de

d."-There has been no sma Some authors contend for s in the present text, tiger ald imply that they were emped inly the view of Josephus, wh ed labour; and that they wer The whole subject has gecera when Moses commenced ha nd compacted with straw, such a en argued, that only such strate . however, to conclude that bes but make bricks during the t Moses was born, and be was writers were wont to t "But all the pyramis y should not also have wak : of a principal brick pyram t of the Hebrews; but terase greatest measure of probabi of access, that we shall not what data the Israelies

Israelites was under a dynas ldæa. If, therefore, we ca were not native Egyptian narkable corroboration-tis ied; whereas, we should of the "hundred-gatel The ments connected with it. this, which adequately a

Rujat-adri, the mountain of silver; and Retu-adri, the mountain of gems. These "mountains" and probably derived their names, as Dr. Hales conjectures, from the colour of the stone with

Some writers have thought that these allusions refer directly to the Israelites as the buila would rather understand them to refer to the shepherd-kings as the founders of the same monur ment is based on the previous notes. It being there rendered probable that a nomade dynast the bondage of the Israelites, we have now endeavoured to show the further probability founded by them-not with the view of weakening the inference that the Hebrews worked on tl to give that inference accumulated force; for if the shepherd-kings founded the pyramids, a during the oppression of the family of Israel, not only a probability but a moral certainty res obliged to assist in their erection. We use the word "assist" advisedly; for there is no rea were exclusively engaged on any public work. They probably assisted the Egyptians, whose e the period in which the pyramids were erected is attested equally by Manetho and Herodotu the pyramids in the abstract as evincing the slavery of the lower orders in Egypt. This pro apply to the period in which the pyramids were actually erected; but it can hardly be taken under their own princes. That the mass of the people had their civil liberties much restricted but that they were liable to compulsory and unpaid labour on the public works there i If it were so, it would not have been mentioned as an outrage that the pyramid-founders ro servile labour. Prisoners and slaves would seem to have been generally employed in such labou toast of some of the princes, that no Egyptian hand had laboured in the greatest of their wo employed, and how profusely human life was wasted, is evinced by the statement in a previous away 100,000 lives in the attempt to cut a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. Things are m same country. Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, obliged 150,000 men, chiefly Arabs from his canal connecting the Nile with the sea at Alexandria: 20,000 of the number perished du work. A new canal was in progress when Carne was at Alexandria. That writer says: "Th sented a novel spectacle, being filled with a vast number of Arabs of various colours, toiling i day, while their Egyptian (?) task-masters, with whips in their hands, watched the progress of just and lively representation of the children of Israel forced to toil by their oppressive mas Mahmoud allowed to these unfortunate people, whom he had obliged to quit their homes and f were only a penny a day and a ration of bread." ("Letters from the East, p. 71, 72.) Thư Israelites "made bitter with hard bondage." There is an incidental statement in Herodot discover that, even in point of remuneration for their labour, the builders of the pyramids w the canal-digging Arabs of our own day. He mentions an inscription on the great pyram amounting to 1600 talents had been paid in supplying the workmen with garlic and onion conjecture what, at that rate, must have been paid for the whole expense of tools, food, and men who were twenty years engaged in the work. It is observable that he says nothing item of expense, but only calculates that they received food and clothing, the recompense of This statement brings out another corroboration of the view we have taken. Garlic and o having been supplied to the workmen; and although the circumstance would be of small analogy, it does, after all that has been said, become important to remark that the Israelite lious murmurings in the desert, speak with desire of the onions and garlic which they had eater expense) in Egypt. (Numb. xi. 5.)

The structure represented in our wood-cut, which is copied from the great French work on Egy of sun-dried brick in Faioum, the ancient Arsinoe. The large bricks of which it is formed ar friable earth, or Nile-mud, compacted with chopped straw, in the same way that such bricks and elsewhere in the East. There are other such pyramids at Dashour and Saccara, differing degree of preservation. The pyramid at Faioum stands on an elevated, sandy plateau; and its base its present height being 197 feet. This and the other brick pyramids have not obtained the degr the attention of travellers having been too exclusively engrossed by the pyramids of Ghizeh. discovered a subterraneous passage to this pyramid, and found within a sarcophagus and also a seen that, in common with most of the other structures of the same material, it has lost much and approaches to that of a mound; and if the reader turns to the cut of the Birs Nemroud pares the two, with the recollection that the material of both is sun-dried bricks, he will be le was much resemblance, if not identity, in form and intention between the now ruined moun existing pyramids of Egypt. It is a remarkable confirmation of this view that Herodotus, wh Babylon as a pyramid with graduated stories diminishing with the ascent, mentions the pyra similarly constructed, with stories or platforms diminishing in size as they rose in height, an that they were afterwards completed to a smooth surface by being coated with blocks of st interstices between the different stories so as to obliterate the graduated by a sloping appearanc pyramids have confirmed this account of their construction. The greatest of the pyramids at nishing stages, nor does any trace remain to indicate that it ever had an outer series of stones face. We may then consider as essentially identical the pyramids of the Nile with those gradu. found, in various states of preservation, not only on the banks of the Euphrates, but on those o

not assign such high an kings: and, from his stabd formation, exhibited a degre of their nation, which we have stated. Their te er, state incidentally that in the neighbourhood; anla abomination by the Ey heir reign the Egyptis temples. It is not diff were erected under the with great oppression 1. not, according to the could not have interferes orned pageants of athay n the smaller, moveme is Arabian writers conca of dominion in Egypt, was s came immediately track their pro diep annals

ible to

ther

ter.

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 daugh-
11 He slayeth an Egyptian. 13 He re-
proveth an Hebrew. 15 He fleeth into Midian.
21 He marrieth Zipporah. 22 Gershom is born.
23 God respecteth the Israelites' cry.

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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 bild

him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and came her son. And she called his 3 Moses: and she said, Because I dre out of the water.

11 And it came to pass in those when Moses was grown, that he we unto his brethren, and looked on the dens: and he spied an Egyptian smit Hebrew, one of his brethren.

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

13 And when he went out the s day, behold, two men of the Hebrews together: and he said to him that d wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fel

14 And he said, Who made thee ta and a judge over us? intendest thou me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said, Surely this th

1.

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e went out the se n of the Hebrews S aid to him that did mitest thou thy fellow Who made thee a pr intendest thou to k the Egyptian? d, Surely this thing

heard this this

i

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.

left the man? call him, bread.

21 And Moses was cont the man: and he gave Mo daughter.

22 And she bare him a ed his name 'Gershom: fo been a stranger in a strang

23 And it came to p time, that the king of Egy children of Israel sighed bondage, and they cried, an up unto God by reason of

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24 And God heard the God remembered his 'cove ham, with Isaac, and with 20 And he said unto his daughters, 25 And God looked up And where is he? why is it that ye have | Israel, and God had respe

7 Gen. 15. 14, and 46. 4.

8 Heb. knew.

5 Or, prince. 6 Chap. 18. 3. Verse 3. "Bulrushesome, Heb.-By comparing Isaiah xviii. 2, where we have rushes," with a passage of Theophrastus when describing the papyrus, παπυρὸς, we at once per papyrus and the Gome are identical: καὶ γὰρ πλοῖα ποιοῦσιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ-“ they make boats and shi is distinguished by its cluster of elegant little spikes, which consist of a single row of scales, ra on each side. These clusters are "weak," or hang down in a nodding position, and, unlike the inapplicable to any useful purpose. The root is about the thickness of a full-sized man's wrist feet in length, and so hard that all kinds of utensils were made of it. The stem is about four was eaten raw, roasted, or boiled, and served as material for boats, sails, mats, clothes, beds, and παπυρος has imparted its derivative to our "paper," while its Egyptian designation appears in "Bible." The Arabic is bardi, and the Syriac seems to intimate that it is a plant liable to wit verb signifying "to flee." This harmonises with what is said in Job viii. 11, "Can the rus without mire? can the flag (or Cyperus esculentus) grow without water?"

"Slime," (Chemer, Heb.) ἀσφαλτοπισσα, bitumen, Vulg. mineral pitch. See the note on Gen. x "Pitch Zepheth, Pix, whence our pitch was derived from πιττα, which came ultimatel letters, from Zepeth. The Greek and Latin terms were applied to the solid resins obtained from Both the mineral and the vegetable productions were employed on this occasion for the obvious the water, and thus preserving the child from its intrusion till some kind heart should be m There seems to be considerable analogy between the ark or boat in which Moses was deposited a which are at the present day employed in crossing the Tigris. They are perfectly circular in sha the leaves of the date-palm, forming a kind of basket-work, which is rendered impervious to the coated with bitumen.

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Flags"סוף suph.-We are unable at present to satisfy ourselves as to what particular It is more than probable, however, that suph was a general term for sea or river-weed. Theoph plants akin to the papyrus, as common in the marshes of Egypt. Among them the Sari, whic was much used by smiths as fuel in forging their iron. The Arabic seems applicable to a spec the Vulgate has, "in carecto," in a bed of reeds. The Red Sea is always called in the Scriptu or "the weedy sea," probably from the great variety of marine vegetables which grow in it, a are left in great quantities upon the shores. Now in Egypt this sea was, from an allusion to t called the "Sari-Sea," which seems to demonstrate the identity of the suph with the sari.

15. "The land of Midian." There is a difficulty attending this subject, which has not yet bee There seem to be two lands of Midian ;-this on the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea; and another the land of Moab, which was on the east of the Dead Sea. It is therefore concluded by some the tribes inhabiting these lands were different people-those near the Dead Sea being the des through Keturah; and those near the Red Sea being the posterity of Midian, the son of Cush. is strengthened by the certainty that some of the Cushite tribes did settle in, and on the outskirts therefore called Ethiopia in common with the different countries which the Cushites occupied. the wife of Moses, is called a Cushite or Ethiopian, in Num. xii. 1; and in Habakkuk iii. 7, th tioned with the Cushites. There are those, however who believe that all the Midianites ment descended from Abraham; and that those near the Red Sea were merely a ramification from t the latter were called Ethiopians, may be sufficiently accounted for by their inhabiting a count of Ethiopia was applied. We incline to this opinion; but in order not to interfere with the othe branch separately as the text brings it before us; and it is the more easy to do this, as the Scri the one people little, if at all, with the other. The Midianites near Moab will be noticed in the n while those on the Red Sea will engage our present attention. There is little to say about the noticed in the Bible, except in the early chapters of this book. One of the earliest notices of th them with the Ishmaelites (Gen. xxxvii. 25, 28), with whom all the tribes springing from Abr instance closely connected, and into whose body they were all ultimately absorbed. As that no

engaged in commercial pursuits besidos boing a pastoral people and as they seem

to have be

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