punished with the bastinado; and in military, as well as civil cases, minor offences were generally punished with the stick, a mode of punishment still in vogue among the modern inhabitants of the valley of the Nile: the Moslems hold it in such esteem, indeed, that they say, "The stick came down from heaven as a blessing to mankind."

At one period, robbery and house-breaking were considered capital crimes, and deserving of death. According to Diodorus, however, Actisanes enacted a law preventing this extreme penalty of the law, and instituted the novel mode of cutting off their noses, and banishing them to the confines of the desert, where a town was built called Rhinocolura, from the nature of their punishment. Thus, continues this author, by removing the evil-minded, he benefited society, without depriving the criminals of life; while at the same time, he punished them severely for their crimes by obliging them to live by their industry in a barren and inhospitable region.

One remarkable feature of the Egyptian laws was the sanctity with which edicts were upheld from generation to generation. Like the Jewish and Moslem laws, they were interwoven with the religion of the country, and as they were supposed to be derived from the gods themselves, it was considered impious to alter such sacred institutions. Innovations were never introduced unless loudly called for by circumstances; and we neither read of any attempts on the part of the people to alter or resist the laws, nor on that of their rulers to introduce a more arbitrary mode of government, except in the case of Cheops, as recorded by Herodotus; but this cannot be received as indubitable.

The reader will perceive from this, that occasional alterations were made in the Egyptian code of laws. Among the different legislators of the Egyptians, are particularly noticed the names of Mnevis, Sasyches, Sesostris, Bocchoris, Asychis, Amasis, and the Persian Darius; the particulars of which will be found narrated in their several histories. In the latter period of the ancient history of the Egyptians, the Ptolemies abrogated some of the favourite laws of the country, which appears to have given great offence to the native Egyptians, a circumstance which cannot be wondered at, since every individual from his infancy was nurtured in the strictest observance of those laws.

earliest ages, and it subsisted under the Ptolemies and Romans. The number of nomes is not easily determined, for scarcely two writers agree on the subject. They seem to have varied at different times; and they were distinctly marked by different local usages, and forms, and objects of worship, which would be likely to give rise to contentions, so that Heeren's conjecture, namely, that each nome was originally an independent settlement and government, having some interests in common with others, but also interests that were conflicting, and which would produce quarrels among them, amounts almost to a certainty. When these were united into one kingdom by powerful princes, the difference of the habits, customs, and religion of the inhabitants of each province must necessarily have prevented harmony; so that when the general government became weak, these separate members would be disposed to quarrel, and seek to promote their own interests by placing them in a commanding position. Such an event took place, according as the prophet foretold, when, after the death of Sethon, the contemporary of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, and an interregnum of two years which followed, the monarchy of Egypt was divided into twelve separate kingdoms. It was to the reign of this oligarchy, and to the anarchy and civil wars which attended its extinction, by Psammetichus, one of the twelve, who became thereby absolute monarch, that the prophet is supposed by most commentators to refer.

To

Over each of these provinces there appears to have been a monarch, or governor, who ranked in station next to the judges or magistrates of the capital. The office of monarch was, indeed, at all times of the highest importance. his charge were committed the management of the lands, and all matters relating to the internal administration of the district. He regulated the assessment and levying of the taxes, the surveying of the lands, the opening of the canals, and all other agricultural interests of the country, which were under the immediate superintendence of certain members of the priestly order; and as he resided in the chief town of the nome, all causes respecting landed property, and other accidental disputes, were adjusted before his tribunal. The distinctive appellation of each nome was derived from the chief town where the monarch resided, and his rank appears to have depended on the extent of his jurisdiction.

Such were the laws and institutions of Egypt, so far as can be gleaned from ancient authors. Of the state of Egypt during the early period of its history there is little or no information, owing to the uncivilized condition of neighbouring states, to the indifference of the Greeks who visited it, or the loss of their writings, and, above all, to the jealousy of the Egyptians towards foreigners; for, like the Chinese, they prevented

* According to Champollion, Egypt was divided, in the time of the Pharaohs, into thirty-six nomes or governments; ten in the Thebais, or Upper Egypt, sixteen in Heptanomis, or Middle Egypt, and ten in Lower Egypt, commonly called the Delta. Each of these nomes, he says, was divided into districts or toparchies. Diodorus says, that in the time of Sesostris, the number of nomes amounted to thirty-six, and such was the number in Strabo's time; but they were afterwards increased in number, if D'Anville states correctly, to fifty-three.

all strangers from penetrating into the interior, and abstained from imparting information to them respecting the institutions and state of the country. The knowledge we have handed down to us, was collected, when, after the time of Amasis and the Persian conquest, foreigners became better acquainted with the country, and when its ancient institutions had begun to lose their interest, from the influence of a foreign rule. From this knowledge, it would appear to have been the reverse of a free and happy country; but it has been well observed that "freedom is a word differently understood in different ages and countries." The Egyptians, therefore, trained up as they were from their infancy to reverence laws which they deemed immutable, might have enjoyed as great a degree of happiness (speaking of happiness with reference to this life only) as most of the nations in the Old or New world. The degradation of the lowest caste, however, the waste of human life in the working of their mines, and the building of their ostentatious pyramids, with the frequency and severity of their summary punishments as recorded by Diodorus, and confirmed by existing monuments, would convey an idea that those who ruled over them were hard task-masters. But it is probable that these labours were not performed solely by the natives, but in a great degree by slaves, as they certainly were at one time; for the lives of the Hebrews were made "bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour," Exod. i. 14.

CHAPTER IV.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

PART I.-EGYPTIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE

GOVERNMENT.

No part of ancient history is more obscure than that of the first kings of Egypt. Some light has, indeed, been thrown on the general subject by the progress made in deciphering the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the existing monuments in that renowned country; but still there are thick clouds hanging over the history and chronology of this period which cannot be wholly dispersed. All that a writer on this subject, therefore, can do at the present day, is to place before the reader the few genuine fragments preserved by historians, sacred and profane; and the few facts which have been snatched from oblivion by the learned.

According to Egyptian historians and chronologers, first gods, and then demi-gods, or heroes, governed that country successively, through a period of more than twenty thousand years. This fable requires no remark: we know from the inspired records of truth, that Egypt was first inhabited by the family of Mizraim, the second son of Ham, Gen. x. 6, about 2613 years B. C. Hence it is, that in the Hebrew Scriptures the country is usually styled, “The land of Mizraim," Gen. xiii. 10, etc.; and that the Egyptians are always called Mizraim, or Mizraites. In the east, to this day, the country is generally known as the

"Land of Mizr," which was probably the proper name of the son of Ham; Mizraim being rather the name of the family or people which descended from him; as, "Abel-mizraim," the mourning of the Mizrites, or Egyptians, Gen. 1. 11.

The family of Misraim, or Mizr, settled first in Upper Egypt, where they built the famous city of Thebes, but in process of time, they gradually spread into the Lower Egypt, or Delta.

This patriarchal regimen, according to Dr. Hales, subsisted from 2613 to 2412 years B. C.; at which time, either by compulsion or persuasion, Menes first introduced regal government into Egypt. The records of the Egyptian priests, indeed, as handed down to us by Herodotus, Manetho, Eratosthenes, and others, place the era of Menes several thousand years farther back, reckoning a great number of kings and dynasties after him, with remarks on the gigantic stature of some of their monarchs, and of their wonderful exploits, and other characteristics of confused and mystical tradition: but all inquiries concerning the history of nations before this epoch are founded on mere speculation.

Menes appears to have been a wise prince. He checked the overflowings of the Nile,* by turning its course into a more direct channel, and some historians state, that he founded the city of Memphis upon the former bed of the river. Menes was also a religious prince: he founded the magnificent temple of Hephaistos, or Vulcan, in the same city, dedicated to the SUPREME BEING. He was, moreover, the father of his people. Following the advice of his prime minister Thoth, or Hermes, he divided the whole country of Egypt into three lots, which lots were appropriated to the crown, the priesthood, and the soldiery, who each farmed out to the people their respective shares.

Of the immediate successors of Menes, nothing is known: the order of things, however, which he established, subsisted probably till about 2159 years B. C., at which period the legitimate race of kings was succeeded in Lower Egypt by the shepherd dynasty, who invaded and subdued that part of Egypt.

One of the best established facts in the early history of that country, is, that its lower territories were subjected to a race of pastoral nomades, while the upper country continued subject to the native sovereigns. When, however, this pastoral dominion commenced, and when it terminated, is a matter of controversy among the learned, and which cannot be definitely determined. Mr. Wilkinson, from the state of the earliest monuments in Egypt, and from the information which they afford, conceives that the irruption of the pastors, or shepherds, was anterior to the erection of any building now existing in Egypt, and before the reign of Osirtasen 1. ; which king, he conceives, was coeval with Joseph. It certainly is remarkable, that, in concluding from the evidence of monuments, that the pastor kings were expelled before the accession of Osirtasen, this author obtains the same conclusion as that to which Hales and Faber arrived, when, on historical data alone, they con

* That is, this work is ascribed to Menes by the ancient historian; but it appears to exhibit too much scientific knowledge for so early a period.

ceived that this change took place a short time before Joseph was appointed governor or regent of Egypt; the latter fixing it about the year 1899 B.C. The sacred narrative, indeed, seems to evince indirect testimony to this fact. When Joseph governed Egypt, every nomade shepherd was detested at the Egyptian court, in consequence of the oppressive and humiliating dominion which a race of shepherds had exercised in that country; and it was for his sake alone, that his family were allowed to inhabit Goshen during the time of the famine. But it was not so in the days of Abraham, who visited Egypt about 2077 years B. C., and consequently when one of the shepherd kings reigned over Lower Egypt. That patriarch was treated with consideration by the court because he was a pastoral chief. See Gen. xii. It is true that the fact of the then ruling monarch bearing the title of Pharaoh, would seem to subvert this hypothesis; but Manetho intimates that the conquering nomades, while in the occupation of Egypt, gradually adapted themselves to the customs and the practices of the native Egyptians, which would account for this circumstance. The term Pharaoh, moreover, which, according to Josephus, signified "king" in the Egyptian language, would naturally be taken by any monarch on the throne of Egypt; hence, it is applied to all indiscriminately in Scripture, till after the days of Solomon, as that of Ptolemy was after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander.

These intruders into Egypt appear to have been a tribe of Cushite shepherds from Arabia, and to have cruelly enslaved the whole country under a dynasty of six kings, who were called Hycsos, or King-shepherds. The first of these was named,

SALATIS, SILITES, OR NIRMARYADA.

Manetho says, he resided in Memphis, and imposed a tribute on the Upper and Lower Egypt, and put garrisons in the most important places. But chiefly he secured the eastern parts of the country, foreseeing that the Assyrians, who were then most powerful, would be tempted to invade the country likewise. Finding, therefore, in the Saite nome, a city situated most conveniently on the north side of the Bubastic channel [of the Nile] which was called Avaris, or Abaris, [the pass,] in an ancient theological book, he rebuilt and fortified it most strongly, and garrisoned it with 240,000 soldiers.* Hither he used to come in summer to furnish them with corn and pay, and he carefully disciplined them for a terror to foreigners. He died after he had reigned nineteen years.

Of the second king in this dynasty, nothing is recorded, except that he reigned forty-four years. After him succeeded

APACHNAS, PACHNAN, OR RUCMA,

in whose reign it is supposed Abraham visited

Here, as in some other places, the numbers stated by ancient historians are given without affixing any remark on the great probability of their being exaggerations or over-statements. That they are erroneous, generally, there is little doubt; but they are given only on the authority of ancient writers, who were too fond of the marvellous.

Egypt, and the first pyramid was commenced. Concerning this king, Dr. Hales says, that the third king was surnamed Rucma, from his immense wealth, which he collected by oppressing the Egyptians, though "he tenderly loved his own people," the shepherds; and, wishing either to extirpate the natives, or to break down their spirits by hard and incessant labour, he employed them in constructing those stupendous monuments of ancient ostentation and tyranny, the pyramids, which are evidently the factitious mountains meant in the Hindu records, originally cased with yellow, white, or spotted marbles, brought from the quarries of Arabia, though built of the Libyan stone on the spot.

These stupendous monuments are certainly of the remotest antiquity, and the Hindu record seems to be correct in ascribing the first and greatest pyramid to Apachnas, the third of the shepherd-kings, and the rest to his successors. It is, indeed, confirmed by the tradition of the native Egyptians, as related by Herodotus. This tradition says, they were built by one Philitis, a shepherd, who kept his cattle in these parts, and whose memory was held in such abhorrence that the inhabitants would not even repeat his name. The time employed in building the first pyramid, according to Herodotus, was thirty-two years and six months, which ranges within the reign of Apachnas of thirty-seven years and seven months, according to Manetho. The three great pyramids, Pliny says, were built in the space of seventy-eight years and four months; if, therefore, the first was erected by Apachnas, the others must have been built by his two immediate successors, concerning whom we have no precise information. At length, under the sixth king,

ASSIS, APOPHIS, OR APHOBIS,*

the Egyptians, wearied out with such long continued tyranny, and insupportable labours, rebelled; and after a war of thirty years, succeeded in obliging their oppressors to withdraw from their country, after they had enslaved it upwards of 250 years. Those who survived this warfare withdrew, it would appear, to Palestine, where they became the Philistines, a name that is derived from Philitis, "shepherds," which comes from the Sanscrit, Pali, "shepherd." Manetho's account is clear on this point; though, at first view, an ambiguity is produced by his confounding them with another race of shepherds, the Israelites, who arrived not very long after the departure of the shepherds, and who, after a stay of almost equal duration, departed to the same country. That the Philistines came from Egypt is very generally agreed. Scripture states repeatedly that they came from the country of Caphtor, and that this signifies Lower Egypt, is now generally believed.

This race of shepherd-kings was succeeded by a dynasty of native kings; but of the history and chronology of the kings of this period little is known. One, whom the Scriptures introduce to our notice in the interesting narrative of Joseph, is supposed by Mr. Wilkinson to be Osirtasen I., of whom he says, that if the name of this mon

*Aphoph signifies a giant.

arch was not ennobled by military exploits equal to those of Rameses, the encouragement given to the arts of peace, and the flourishing state of Egypt during his rule, evince his wisdom; and his pacific character satisfactorily accords with that of the Pharaoh who so generously rewarded the talents and fidelity of a Hebrew stranger. But this author's data differ from the Scriptural dates of Hales, which appear to be clearly established, thereby involving a grave difficulty which cannot be overcome in any other way than by supposing he has lost the century which is wanting to make the time of Joseph and Osirtasen synchronise, and to produce a correspondence between the Egyptian and Hebrew history of the ensuing years. The name of Osirtasen, moreover, stands in the tomb of Beni Hassen as one of the kings of the sixteenth dynasty, according to the lists of Manetho. It is better, therefore, to introduce this monarch to the reader's notice simply under the Scripture name of Pharaoh. Passing over the circumstance of his having imprisoned his chief butler and baker, as recorded Gen. xl., the first notice we have of this monarch in the sacred narrative, is the circumstance of his having dreamed two remarkable dreams. He thought that he was standing on the margin of the Nile, when he beheld seven beautiful fat heifers come up from the streams and feed in a meadow. After a while, at the same spot, seven of the leanest and most ill favoured kine that he had ever beheld, came up, and stood on the banks with the seven fat and beautiful heifers, which they finally devoured. The king then awoke; but falling asleep again, he dreamed that he saw seven good and plump ears of corn spring up on one stalk; and after that, there sprang up seven other ears of corn, thin, and blighted by the east wind, by which the good ears were devoured, Gen. xli. 1-7. These dreams appeared to have a signification and analogy not common in dreams, and therefore the king was anxious in the morning to have them interpreted. But none of his "wise men," who usually interpreted his dreams, could solve their meaning, ver. 8, and their failure reminded the chief butler of the dreams which the chief baker and himself had dreamed in the prison-house, and which Joseph, who, as the reader will recollect, was imprisoned with them, interpreted in a manner that the events had justified, ver. 9-13. This he related to Pharaoh, and the monarch sent an order to the chief of the royal police to release Joseph, and send him to the palace. The mandate was obeyed, and Joseph came; when the king, addressing him, said, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it." To this Joseph modestly replied, not willing to encourage delusion in the breast of the monarch: "It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace," ver. 14-16. The king then related his dreams, and Joseph told him that they bare the same signification, which was, that seven years of exuberant plenty were approaching, which would be followed by seven years of famine, so severe, that the seven years of plenty would be utterly forgotten. Then perceiving how the exuberant supplies of the first seven years might be hus

banded so as to meet the deficiency of the seven succeeding years, he proceeded to lay his views before the king, advising him, at the same time, that some wise man should be invested with full powers to give effect to the measures suggested, ver. 17-36.

The king, pleased with the interpretation, and struck with the wisdom of the plans, by which Joseph proposed to avert the evils which that interpretation foretold, asked, "Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?" And then he addressed him thus, "Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou." After this, he proceeded to invest him with his high office. He took his own signet ring from his finger, and placed it upon the finger of Joseph, conveying to him, by that act, the highest powers he could delegate, and saying as he did it," See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt." He then ordered him to be arrayed in vestures of fine linen, such as were worn only by majesty, after which he placed with his own hands a chain of gold about his neck. Then, it being the custom in the east in those days to promulgate with great pomp and ceremony such acts of royal favour, and to make known the authority conferred, he commanded that Joseph should be conducted in procession through the city, in the second of the royal chariots, and that heralds should proclaim before him, "Bow the knee,"

ver. 37-43.

When Joseph returned, and again stood before the king, Pharaoh expressed in stronger language his own views of the powers he had conferred. Reserving his own authority, he said, "I am the king;" but he added, "without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt," ver. 44.

The act of raising a foreigner and a slave to such a high office appears to have been very unusual in ancient Egypt. All the avenues to power and in the state were zealously guarded by the priesthood, who disliked the intrusion of any one not of their own order. Hence, that the foreign origin of Joseph might not be constantly presented to their view, the king changed his name to Zaphnath-paaneah, "the revealer of secrets ;" and that he might establish him in his position, by securing him_the_countenance and support of the priestly order, he brought about his marriage with Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, the chief priest of On or Heliopolis, the city of the sun, who was, without doubt, one of the most eminent and influential of his illustrious order, that city being, as we have seen, the prime seat of the sacred mysteries and science of that country, ver. 45.

Shortly after his elevation, Joseph made a tour through the land of Egypt, in order to acquaint himself with the state of the country, and with the materials with which he had to work, and to determine the arrangements which might be necessary to give effect to his contemplated measures. In this tour of survey, he directed the construction of immense granaries in the principal cities, and established proper officers, who

were charged with the duty of buying up onefifth part of all the corn during the seven years of plenty within the surrounding district. For this purpose, the whole land was divided into districts, of probably nearly equal extent. All this was effected; and the corn thus purchased was stored away in the granaries for use during the years of famine, ver. 46-49.

Those years of famine arrived as was foretold. The countries from whence the Nile flowed not being visited with rains in their season, that circumstance kept back, for seven long years, the fertilizing intındations of that river, and a general dearth was the consequence.

ing countries, also, seem to have been visited with the same drought, as they experienced the like visitation of famine, ver. 54, 55.

66

When the pressure of the famine began to be felt by the Egyptians, they cried to Pharaoh for bread. The king referred them to Joseph, and that wise statesman now opened all the storehouses, and sold corn, not only to the Egyptians, but, with some restrictions, to other countries, ver. 56, 57. In the second year of the famine, when their money was all spent, they again came to Joseph for bread; and he offered to supply them with corn in exchange for their cattle, which was cheerfully accepted. By this means subsistence was secured for another year; but in the year following, they had no cattle left wherewith to buy food. In this exigency, they came to Joseph, therefore, and freely offered to transfer their lands to the king, and to place their persons at his disposal, on the condition that they should be supplied with food while the famine lasted, and with seed to sow the land when it again became cultivable. This was agreed to, and Joseph brought the people who were scattered throughout the open country into the adjacent cities, wherein the provisions were stored, for the greater ease of distribution. The lands thus voluntarily sold, Joseph farmed to the occupiers again, at the moderate and fixed crown rent of a fifth part of the produce. Thus, says Dr. Hales, did he provide for the liberty and independence of the people, while he strengthened the authority of the king, by rendering him sole proprietor of the lands. And to secure the people from further exaction, Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; which law subsisted to the time of Moses, Gen. xlvii. 21-26. By this wise regulation, the people had four-fifths of the produce of the lands for their own use; and were exempted from any further taxes, the king being bound to support his civil and military establishment out of the crown-rents. Whereas, by the original constitution, settled by Menes and his prime minister, Thoth, or Hermes, (as we learn from Diodorus,) the lands had been all divided between the king, the priesthood, and the soldiery, who possessed each a separate third part to support their respective establishments. The revenues of the crown, therefore, were rather abridged than increased by this regulation, while Joseph respected the primitive usage, and bought 'the land of the priests;" but during the continuance of the famine, he fed them at the king's expense: so that, by the royal bounty, they sold not their lands." Thus was this con

not "

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To understand the full force, and to appreciate the alarm this charge must have occasioned, the reader must recollect the circumstances we have before related concerning the reign of the shepherd race in Egypt, their expulsion, and their settlement in Palestine, under the name of the Philistines. The tyranny of these invaders was still fresh in the minds of the Egyptians, so that every shepherd was an abomination to them, and they could not endure to eat bread with the Hebrews, because they were shepherds, and came from the neighbourhood of Palestine. They were apprehensive, also, that the Philistines, who were a warlike people, and who probably had been gathering strength ever since their expulsion from Egypt, might again attempt to conquer that country. Hence that they were spies, come to seek an opening for future conquests, was an obvious suspicion for an Egyptian to entertain, and the charge, to strangers especially, must have been alarming. Traces of such attacks may be discovered in the First Book of Chronicles, from whence we learn that the Philistines were a nation that caused much alarm to

the different nations around.

But the brethren of Joseph protested their innocence, and, in their anxiety to repel the charge, they entered into a particular detail of the circumstances of their family, in which they afforded him all the information he required; namely, that his father, Jacob, was alive and well, and his brother Benjamin safe under the paternal roof, ver. 10—13.

The varied and touching incidents connected with this event are so beautifully narrated by the sacred historian, that it is best to refer the reader to that portion of holy writ for the details, (see Gen. xlii., xliii., xliv., and xlv.,) and pass on to that part of Egyptian history wherein it is intimated that Pharaoh heard the rumour that Joseph's brethren were come to Egypt.

D