Chapter 5 THE HEBREWS IN EGYPT.

In the Talmud it is recorded that after Joseph's marriage with Asenath, daughter of Potipherah the priest of On, "he built for himself a palace, elegant and complete in its details and surroundings, so elaborate that three years' time was required for its completion." A man so wise and so powerful as to be looked upon by the Egyptians as their king was certainly able to make a suitable provision for the anticipated advent of his beloved father, as well as for all his brothers, who came with their entire households, and possessions in flocks and herds, &c.

, for the famine was over the whole earth.

The large palace called the Labyrinth by Herodotus, would correspond with such a provision for their accommodation and comfort. Herodotus saw this palace himself in the year 448 B.C., and he describes it thus:-"The Egyptians having become free, after the reign of the priest of Vulcan, for they were at no time able to live without a king, established twelve kings, having divided all Egypt into twelve parts. These having contracted intermarriages, reigned, adopting the following regulations: that they would not attempt the subversion of one another, nor one seek to acquire more than another, and that they should maintain the strictest friendship. They made these regulations and strictly upheld them, for the following reason: it had been foretold them by an oracle, when they first assumed the government, 'that whoever among them should offer a libation in the temple of Vulcan from a brazen bowl should be king of all Egypt,' for they used to assemble in all the temples. Now, they determined to leave in common a memorial of themselves; and having so determined, they built a Labyrinth, a little above the lake of M?ris, situated near that called the city of crocodiles. This I have myself seen, and found it greater than can be described. For if anyone should reckon up the buildings and public works of the Grecians, they would be found to have cost less labour and expense than this Labyrinth; though the temple in Ephesus is deserving of mention, and also that in Samos. The Pyramids likewise were beyond description, and each of them comparable to many of the great Grecian structures. Yet the Labyrinth surpasses even the Pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains two kinds of rooms, some under ground and some above ground over them, to the number of three thousand, fifteen hundred of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But the underground rooms I only know from report, for the Egyptians who have charge of the building would on no account show me them, saying that there were the sepulchres of the kings who originally built this Labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. I can therefore only relate what I have learned by hearsay concerning the lower rooms; but the upper ones, which surpass all human works, I myself saw; for the passages through the corridors, and the windings through the courts, from their great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder as I passed from a court to the rooms, and from the rooms to halls, and to other corridors from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but the walls are full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded with a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted. And adjoining the extremity of the Labyrinth is a Pyramid forty orgy? in height,[27] on which large figures are carved, and a way to it has been made under ground."[28]

This curious record of these twelve kings can be easily explained by referring to the book of Genesis, chapter xlvii. This chapter corroborates it, for the Israelites, the twelve sons of Jacob, had absolute power given them by Pharaoh, and had the whole land of Egypt under their control; for "Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, 'Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren dwell: in the land of Goshen let them dwell; and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.'"

Owing to the severity of the famine every Egyptian had to part with his cattle, and "Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year."

But as the famine still continued, the poor Egyptians, when they had exchanged all they possessed for bread, sold even their own persons. When the whole country was in this desperate condition, the Hebrews governed the nation for Pharaoh, who placed implicit faith in their wisdom and probity. These were the men styled by Egyptologists "Shepherd Kings," and this period or epoch is mentioned by Manetho, the Egyptian historian, in the record written in the Greek language, of which he was a master; it is as follows:-

"There was a king of ours, whose name was Timaus.[29] Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averse to us, and there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country, and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them.[30] So when they had gotten those that governed us under their power, they afterwards burnt down our cities and demolished the temples of the gods, and used all the inhabitants after a most barbarous manner; nay, some they slew, and led their children and their wives into slavery.[31] At length they made one of themselves king, whose name was Salatis.[32] He also lived at Memphis, and made both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, and left garrisons in places that were most proper for them.[33]

"He chiefly aimed to secure the eastern part, as foreseeing that the Assyrians, who had then the greatest power, would be desirous of that kingdom and invade them; and as he found in the Saite Nomos (Seth-roite) a city very proper for his purpose, and which lay upon the Bubastic Channel, but, with regard to a certain theologic notion, was called Avaris, this he rebuilt, and made very strong by the walls he built about it, and by a most numerous garrison of 240,000 armed men whom he put into it to keep it. Thither Salatis came in summer-time, partly to gather his corn and pay his soldiers their wages, and partly to exercise his armed men, and thereby to terrify foreigners.

"When this man had reigned thirteen years, after him reigned another, whose name was Beon, for forty-four years; after him reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-six years and seven months; after him Apophis reigned sixteen years; and then Jonias, fifty years and one month; after all these, Assis,[34] forty-nine years and two months. And these six were the first rulers among them, who were all along making war with the Egyptians, and were very desirous gradually to destroy them to the very roots. This whole nation was styled Hycsos, that is, Shepherd Kings; for the first syllable Hyc, according to the sacred dialect, denotes a king, as is sos a shepherd, but this according to the ordinary dialect, and of these is compounded Hycsos; but some say that these people were Arabians. It is also said that this word does not denote kings, but, on the contrary, denotes captive shepherds, and this on account of the particle Hyc; for that Hyc, with the aspiration, in the Egyptian tongue again denotes shepherds, and expressly also; and this seems the more probable opinion and more agreeable to ancient history.

"These people, whom we have before named kings, and called shepherds also, and their descendants, kept possession of Egypt 511 years. After these, the kings of Thebais and of the other parts of Egypt made an insurrection against the shepherds, and that then a terrible and long war was made between them. That under a king whose name was Alisphragmuthosis,[35] the shepherds were subdued by him, and were, indeed, driven out of other parts of Egypt, but were shut up in a place that contained 10,000 acres; this place was named Avaris. The shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a large and strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis,[36] the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege with 480,000 men to lie round about them; but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go without any harm to be done to them, whithersoever they would; and that, after this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than 240,000, and took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria;[37] but that, as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then dominion over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem."[38]

Manetho is altogether in a mist, for he seems unwilling to state the truth, and still he is compelled, as a historian, to write something, though against his will. His malice against the Hebrews is manifest throughout. To give an account of the overthrow of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, he invents this story:-

"After those that were sent to work in the quarries had continued in that miserable state for a long while, the King was desired that he would set apart the city Avaris,[39] which was then left desolate of the shepherds, for their habitation and protection, which desire he granted them.

"Now this city, according to the ancient theology, was Trypho's city. But when the men were gotten into it, and found the place fit for a revolt, they appointed themselves a ruler out of the priests of Heliopolis, whose name was Osarsiph, and they took their oaths that they would be obedient to him in all things. He then, in the first place, made this law for them: that they should neither worship the Egyptian gods, nor should abstain from any one of those sacred animals which they have in the highest esteem, but kill and destroy them all; that they should join themselves to nobody but to those that were of this confederacy.

"When he had made such laws as these, and many more such as were mainly opposite to the customs of the Egyptians, he gave order that they should use the multitude of the hands they had in building walls about their city,[40] and make themselves ready for a war with King Amenophis[41], while he did himself take into his friendship the other priests, and those that were polluted with them, and sent ambassadors to those shepherds who had been driven out of the land by Tethmosis to the city called Jerusalem, whereby he informed them of his own affairs, and of the state of those others that had been treated after such an ignominious manner, and desired that they would come with one consent to his assistance in this war against Egypt. He also promised that he would, in the first place, bring them back to their ancient city and country Avaris, and provide a plentiful maintenance for their multitude; that he would protect them and fight for them as occasion should require, and would easily reduce the country under their dominion.

"These shepherds were all very glad of this message, and came away with alacrity altogether, being in number 200,000 men, and in a little time they came to Avaris. And now Amenophis, the King of Egypt, upon his being informed of their invasion, was in great confusion, as calling to mind what Amenophis, the son of Papis, had foretold him; and, in the first place, he assembled the multitude of the Egyptians, and took counsel with their leaders, and sent for their sacred animals to him, especially for those that were principally worshipped in their temples, and gave a particular charge to the priests distinctly, that they should hide the images of their gods with the utmost care.

"He also sent his son Sethos, who was also named Ramesses from his father Rhampses, being but five years old, to a friend of his. He then passed on with the rest of the Egyptians, being 300,000 of the most warlike of them, against the enemy, who met them. Yet did he not join battle with them; but, thinking that would be to fight against the gods, he returned back and came to Memphis, where he took Apis and the other sacred animals which he had sent for to him, and presently marched into Ethiopia, together with his whole army and multitude of Egyptians;[42] for the King of Ethiopia was under an obligation to him, on which account he received him, and took care of all the multitude that was with him, while the country supplied all that was necessary for the food of the men.

"He also allotted cities and villages for this exile, that was to be from its beginning during those fatally-determined thirteen years. Moreover, he pitched a camp for his Ethiopian army, as a guard to King Amenophis, upon the borders of Egypt. And this was the state of things in Ethiopia. But for the people of Jerusalem, when they came down together with the polluted Egyptians, they treated the men in such a barbarous manner, that those who saw how they subdued the fore-mentioned country, and the horrid wickedness they were guilty of, thought it a most dreadful thing, for they did not only set the cities and villages on fire, but were not satisfied till they had been guilty of sacrilege, and destroyed the images of the gods, and used them in roasting those sacred animals that used to be worshipped, and forced the priests and prophets to be the executioners and murderers of those animals, and then ejected them naked out of the country.

"It was also reported that the priest who ordained their polity and their laws was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osiris, who was the god of Heliopolis; but that when he was gone over to these people his name was changed, and he was called Moses."[43]

At this period the land of Egypt was in a most desolate condition. The hand of God was upon it, for evil plagues were sent, and nothing that did harm to the land and its people was withheld during the time that Moses and Aaron were negotiating with the King to let the Hebrews go a short journey into the wilderness to hold a festival to the Lord. Pharaoh refusing them leave to do so, the last and direst plague was sent, the death of the first-born in the land of Egypt, "from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle."

Then "Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house wherein there was not one dead." In his hour of affliction the King desired these Hebrews to depart, with everything they possessed. When the permission was obtained, the Israelites borrowed from the Egyptians jewels of gold and jewels of silver, and raiment, and the Egyptians lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. After this they took their departure towards the Red Sea.

Pharaoh, when he recovered from his paroxysm of grief, wished to revoke the permission and get the Hebrews back to work for him again. So he called his people together, and, making ready his chariot, he took them with him. "And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with an high hand." And Pharaoh with all his forces "overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon."

Now at this place there was no retreat for the Israelites by land. They were compelled to effect their escape from their pursuers by crossing the sea to the opposite shore. Seeing the dangerous position they were in, Moses, the man gifted with supernatural resources, contrived to make a passage through the sea, and, a strong east wind assisting him throughout the night, he accomplished the construction of a road for himself and his followers, which should also serve as a trap to engulph their enemies after they had effected their own escape.

He, the builder of the monuments now extant in Ethiopia and Upper Egypt, and in other parts of the habitable earth (of which mention will be made in the course of this narrative)-he it was who contrived and made this passage during the night, while the Egyptians rested after their weary march. It was the sublimest effort of mechanical skill!

When day dawned the passage was ready, and Moses stood by and saw all his people walk down from the Egyptian shore into the dry road in the sea prepared for them. The waters were divided; "and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen."

When the Israelites gained the Arabian shore, and the Egyptians were in the middle between the two shores, Moses threw back the waters that were driven aside, and the waters returned and covered all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea; there escaped not so much as one of them! And the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore; "and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and His servant Moses."

At this crisis there were only women and children left in Egypt, and these in the deepest grief for the death of their first-born sons. No one came back from the camp to relate the terrible catastrophe to these unfortunate widows and orphans; and there was neither priest nor grown-up man to record the events of this period in the sacred books of the nation. Consequently, when Manetho compiled his history from the sacred records, he was unable to relate the events of this period clearly and without contradiction.

He accounts for the non-appearance of the King Amenophis and his forces in Egypt, after his pursuit of the Hebrews, by saying that he retired into Ethiopia, and remained there thirteen years as the guest of the king and people of Ethiopia. The son of this Pharaoh, whom Manetho calls Sethos, was at this time, when his father was drowned, five years old; so that at the end of these thirteen years he attained his majority, and the children that were his contemporaries were old enough to help themselves. These thirteen years form a gap in the history of Egypt.

After the departure of the Israelites, Egypt became a complete wilderness, and the Egyptians were so crushed and desolate that they seemed to have become almost extinct. They mourned and grieved so long that they appear to have quite forgotten even the names of their kings and the history of their nation. No wonder the Nile was termed the Lethe by classic writers.

The present Egyptians, the real descendants of Mizraim, are the Copts and the Fellaheen,-poor wretched specimens of humanity-and if these represent their ancestors, it conclusively proves to every traveller, when he stands in mute admiration on the stupendous monuments of past grandeur, that they never were the founders of such works of art and magnificence; they never were the players on the harp and other musical instruments depicted on the walls of palaces, nor the refined occupants of those noble apartments, representing the highest culture and intelligence-apartments furnished with chairs, sofas, and tables, and embellished with pictures of battles and banquets, marriage-processions, funerals, and other subjects of the greatest interest. The real Egyptians were not the founders or builders of any of those monumental remains which make Egypt the land of wonders and the favourite resort of the learned.

The descendants of Abraham the Hebrew were the guiding intellects that ruled Egypt for her Pharaohs, who possessed discernment enough to appoint them to rule their kingdom on account of their wisdom and activity.

About the year 1900 B.C. Abraham went down to Egypt from Canaan because of the famine. And when he had seen and spoken to Pharaoh, that monarch "gave him leave to enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians, from which conversation his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous than they had been before. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different customs, and despised one another's sacred and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with each of them, and, confuting the reasonings they made use of every one for their own practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and void of truth; whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he undertook; and this not only in understanding it, but in persuading other men also to assent to him. He communicated to them arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for, before Abram came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning, for that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence into Greece and elsewhere."[44]

This visit has been mentioned by the Greek and Roman writers, who state these visitors to be Shepherd Kings, the Hycsos. Abraham was immensely wealthy, for the Bible says that "Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife Sarai, and all that he had, and Lot, his nephew, with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."

The ruins that are now existing in the Vostani, or Middle Egypt-comprising the provinces of Fayoum, Beni-Souef, and Minieh-and in the Bahari, or Lower Egypt-comprising the provinces of Bahireh, Rosetta, Damietta, Gharbiyeh, Menouf, Mansoura, and Sharkeyeh-were the constructions and erections of Joseph, otherwise called Zaphnath-paaneah, and his eleven brothers; while those found in the Sa?d, or Upper Egypt-comprising the provinces of Thebes, Djergeh, and Siout-as well as those in Nubia and Ethiopia, sometimes called Abyssinia, owe their erection to Moses, the descendant of Levi, one of the brothers of Joseph.

Being the adopted son of Princess Thurmuthis, daughter of Pharaoh, Moses ruled Egypt as his ancestors had done before his time. His return after the siege and re-conquest of Mero?, and the entrance in state of his bride, the Princes Tharbis, daughter of the King of Ethiopia, are commemorated on the walls of the palace in Upper Egypt. He became very hateful to the Egyptians on account of his great acts and the power he displayed, so that they conspired against him.

To save his life Moses left Egypt, and meeting Kikanus, the King of Ethiopia, returning home from an incursion into Assyria, Moses went with him and his army. After a residence of nine years with the King, the Ethiopians elected Moses to the throne of Ethiopia on the death of Kikanus. This event took place in the hundred and fifty-seventh year after Israel went down into Egypt.[45]

On the son of the King coming of age, Moses abdicated and left Ethiopia. The Ethiopians made him many rich presents, and sent him away with great honours.

In Abyssinia there is a colony of people quite distinct from the Ethiopians. They differ totally from them in personal appearance, being fair and handsome, and decidedly of the Jewish type. In religion and customs and language they resemble the Jews; the characters of their writing are similar to the Hebrew. This people must have entered Ethiopia with Moses, and stayed behind when he went away and entered Midian. The place they occupy is called Amhara, situate on a hill, and their language Amharic.