THE SIXTH PLAGUE.

The monarch of Egypt had so often abused the respites and warnings vouchsafed to him and his servants, that now a sorer set of plagues, affecting themselves, began to be inflicted. By the Divine command, Moses, in the presence of Pharaoh, sprinkled ashes of the furnace toward heaven, and an ulcerous inflammation of the most painful and violent description broke forth; not only upon man, but on such of the cattle as had hitherto been spared. It affected even the priestly magicians themselves, which so shamed them, that they retired from the presence of Moses, thus relinquishing all rivalry and opposition.

This, says Dr. Hales, was a very significant plague; "the furnace" from which the ashes were taken, aptly represented "the iron furnace of Egyptian bondage, Deut. iv. 20; and the scattering of the ashes in the air, might have referred to the usage of the Egyptians in their Typhonian sacrifices of human victims; while it converted another of their elements, and of their gods, the air, or ether, into an instrument of their chastisement. And now THE LORD for the first time "hardened the heart of Pharaoh," after he had so repeatedly hardened it himself, "and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses." Though Pharaoh probably felt the scourge of the boil, as well as his people, it did not soften nor humble his heart. And when he wilfully and obstinately turned away from the light, and shut his eyes against the luminous evidences vouchsafed to him of the supremacy of the GOD OF THE HEBREWS, and had twice broken his promise, when he was indulged with a respite, and dealt deceitfully, he became a peculiar object of just punishment, and the hardness or obduracy of

his heart increased. And such is the usual and the righteous course of his providence: when nations or individuals despise the warnings of Heaven, abuse their best gifts, and resist the means of grace, God then delivers them over to a reprobate or undiscerning mind, "to work all uncleanness with greediness," Rom. i. 28; Eph. 4. 19; Exod. ix. 8-12.

THE SEVENTH PLAGUE.

This plague was announced to Pharaoh and his servants, with unusual solemnity. Moses was charged to make his wonted demand, which he did in these emphatic words: "Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now

thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? Behold, to-morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now." At the time appointed, "the morrow," Moses lifted up his rod towards heaven, and the predicted storm of hail, accompanied with fearful thunderings and vivid lightnings, the flames of which ran along the ground, commenced. The storm was so heavy, and the hailstones of such prodigious size and weight, that they killed man and beast, shattered the trees, and destroyed the crops of flax and barley. These effects had been intimated, and the prediction was mercifully coupled with the advice that those who believed, and feared the Lord, should place their servants and cattle under shelter before it took place; and the effect which had been produced upon the minds of the Egyptians is shown by the fact, that many of Pharaoh's servants did believe, and

caused their servants and their cattle to "flee into the houses," lest they should be destroyed.

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Seeing that rain is exceedingly rare, and hail almost unknown in Egypt, so fearful a storm as this must have been one of the greatest marvels to the Egyptians. And it must have appeared more striking, since the land of Goshen was totally exempt from its effects. The obdurate heart of Pharaoh was, indeed, struck with awe at this visitation he called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, "I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer." Moses, well acquainted with the monarch's character, plainly intimated that he placed no reliance on his promise; nevertheless, he engaged to obtain an immediate cessation of the storm. The storm ceased, and Pharaoh, when he saw there was respite, "hardened his heart, he and his servants; neither would he let the children of Israel go," Exod. ix. 13-35.

THE EIGHTH PLAGUE.

Another demand was made, and upon Pharaoh's refusing compliance, the arrival of an army of locusts was announced, which should destroy every green thing that had escaped the destroying effects of the hail. In announcing this visitation, mention is made of one very important object of this and the ensuing plagues: this was, that the faith of the Hebrews themselves might be confirmed.

The army of locusts came, and they completed the havoc begun by the hail. The sacred historian says, they "went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and

they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt." Now, although locusts are very common in Arabia, they very rarely appear in Egypt; the Red Sea forming a barrier against them, as they are not formed for crossing seas, or for long flights. On the present occasion, however, they were enabled, by a strong east wind, to cross that sea from Arabia, which is another remarkable circumstance, as the prevailing winds in Egypt blow six months from the north, and six months from the south. The plague must, therefore, have appeared to the Egyptians altogether preternatural. As such they looked upon it, and such was its powerful operation, that Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and avowed his fault, and begged for one reprieve more. "And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind," (which blew from the Mediterranean Sea, in a north-westerly direction,) "which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea," so completely, that "there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt." But when relief had been given, Pharaoh would not allow the Hebrews to take their families and flocks, though he was still willing that the men should do as they desired, Exod. x. 1—20.

THE NINTH PLAGUE.

This obduracy on the part of the Egyptian monarch brought a new and most extraordinary plague upon Egypt. In that land, where a dark cloud seldom throws an obscuration on the clear blue face of the skies, for three days there was utter darkness-a darkness which, to use the sacred writer's own emphatic words, “might be felt," and which prevented the people from seeing one another. This phenomenon must have been not only astounding, but humiliating to the Egyptians, since their great deity, the sun, and darkness, another of their deities, were made the instruments of their punishment. Their consternation thereat is strongly represented by their total inaction. Petrified with horror, no one rose from "his place for three days," and Pharaoh, compelled to relax, offered to let the men and their families go, but he wished to keep the flocks and herds, as security for their return. Moses represented that, as they were going for the express purpose of offering sacrifices to Jehovah, it was necessary that the cattle should go with them; and he peremptorily declared, that "not a hoof" should be left behind, Exod. x. 21-27. But the proud monarch determined not to relinquish this last security which would remain to him, and Moses, perceiving his obstinacy, proceeded to predict another visitation.

THE TENTH PLAGUE.

The account of the last and most severe plague is best given in the emphatic words of Scripture:-" Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth

upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out.' Such a threat, delivered in so high a tone, both in the name of the God of Israel and of Moses, exasperated the haughty monarch, and he answered, in sentences rendered abrupt by passion: "Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die." Moses withdrew from the monarch's presence, and finally from the court, to join the Hebrews in the land of Goshen, Exod. x.

On that night, while the Jews were celebrating a newly instituted feast, the passover, which had reference to the coming event, the destroying angel went forth in a pestilence, and smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, as predicted. Throughout the whole country, there were lamentations and bitter weeping, for there was not a house into which death did not enter. The monarch himself rose up in the night, with his nobles, and the Egyptian people, in great sorrow; and he sent to Moses and Aaron a message to this effect: "Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also." The Egyptian people, also, "were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men," Exod. xi., xii.

The Israelites obeyed the mandate, but the haughty monarch soon repented of what he had done; and, by a strange infatuation, "he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him," and pursued after them. He overtook them, encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, (the mouth of the ridge,) over against Baal-zephon. When the children of Israel beheld him marching after them, they were alarmed, and were disposed to submit without resistance to their oppressors. "Let us alone," said they, "that we may serve the Egyptians. For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." Moses did not deign to remonstrate with them, but meekly replied, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."

The Lord did interfere, and fight for Israel. At the lifting up of the rod of Moses, he opened a passage for them across the Red Sea; and the host of Pharaoh, presuming to follow after them, when the Hebrews were safely landed on the opposite shore, were involved in one common destruction.

Again the prophet stretched his dreadful wand: With one wild crash the thundering waters sweep, And all is waves-a dark and lonely deep;

And strange and sad the whispering surges bore The groans of Egypt to Arabia's shore.-HEBER.

The pride of Egypt was overwhelmed; "there remained not so much as one of them," Exod. xii., xiii., xiv.

Manetho, and the Egyptian writers, says Dr. Hales, have passed over in silence this tremendous visitation of their nation. An ancient writer, however, Artapanus, who wrote a history of the Jews about B. c. 130, has preserved the following curious Egyptian traditions: "The Memphites relate, that Moses, being well acquainted with the country, watched the influx of the tide, and made the multitude pass over the dry [bed of the] sea. But the Heliopolitans relate, that the king, with a great army, accompanied by the sacred animals, pursued after the Jews, who had carried off with them the substance of the Egyptians. And that Moses, having been directed by a Divine voice to strike the sea with his rod, when he heard it, touched the water with his rod; and so the fluid divided, and the host passed over through a dry way. But when the Egyptians entered along with them, and pursued them, it is said, that fire flashed against them in front, and the sea, returning back, overwhelmed the passage. Thus the Egyptians perished, both by the fire, and by the reflux of the tide."

The latter account is extremely curious: it not only confirms Scripture, but it notices three additional circumstances. 1. That for their protection against THE GOD OF ISRAEL, the Egyptians brought with them the sacred animals; and by this means, God executed judgment upon all the [bestial] gods of Egypt, as foretold, Exod. xii. 12, who perished with their infatuated votaries; completing the destruction of both, which began with smiting the firstborn both of man and beast. 2. That the recovery of the "jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment," which they asked and obtained of the Egyptians, according to the Divine command, Exod. xii. 35, 36, was a leading motive with the Egyptians to pursue them; as the bringing back the Israelites to slavery had been with "Pharaoh and his servants," or officers. And, 3. That the destruction of the Egyptians was partly occasioned by lightning and thunderbolts, from the presence of the Lord exactly corresponding to the psalmist's sublime description: "The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.—Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils," Psa. lxxvii. 16, 17; xviii. 14, 15.

The exode of the Israelites, and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, is dated by Dr. Hales, 1648 years B. C. This learned author, also, as well as other chronologers, enumerates many monarchs who ruled over Egypt after this period; but as Scripture, which is the most

ancient piece of history extant, is silent from the time of the exodus till the days of Solomon concerning Egypt, (a fact which proves that the storm of war had passed off either to the westward of Palestine, or that the Egyptian conquerors followed the maritime roads by Gaza and the Phenician coasts, leaving Judea to the right,) our knowledge of these monarchs is very limited. What is known, is derived partly from profane authors, and partly from the hieroglyphics and tradition, neither of which speak of some of the monarchs enumerated by chronologers.* The first monarch of whom there is any historical information after the exode is

MOERIS, OR MYRIS.+

The name of Moeris is not found on the Phonetic inscriptions; nevertheless, his reign is a well authenticated fact; and he seems to have been one of the wisest and best of the Egyptian kings. To him is ascribed the formation of the lake Moeris, now called Kairoun, which was designed to receive the redundant waters of the Nile, and to discharge them by sluices, for the irrigation of the lands when the river failed. According to Herodotus, this lake was about 450 miles in circumference, and, from the varied statements of modern travellers, from thirty to fifty miles long, and from six to ten miles wide, and its deepest part 200 cubits, or 100 yards; which is too great a work to have been excavated by human labours. Nothing, indeed, says Browne, can present an appearance so unlike the works of men. On the north-east and south is a rocky ridge, in every appearance, primeval. It would be safer, therefore, to understand, that Moeris only opened a communication between the river and this vast natural basin, which runs parallel thereto from north to south, about ten miles distant, and made a canal, eighty stadia, or about four leagues in length, and three plethra, or 100 yards, in breadth, as described by Diodorus. This would have been a stupendous work, and far more glorious than either the pyramids or the labyrinth, if we consider it with reference to its utility; for it was used for the three-fold purposes of agriculture, commerce, and a fishery. This canal is now called Bahr Jusuf, or "Joseph's river," and it is vulgarly ascribed to that great man, while regent of Egypt. This has arisen, probably, from the circumstance, that the famous Sultan Joseph Saladin (who made that wonder at Cairo called "Joseph's well," attributed also to the patriarch) repaired this celebrated work.

Besides this, Moeris is said to have built two great pyramids in the midst of this lake, 600 feet high, the half of which was covered by the water. These are mentioned both by Herodotus and Diodorus; the former of whom, whose veracity is unimpeachable, says that he saw them,

For the names of these monarchs we refer the reader to the lists of dynasties given at the conclusion of the book.

+ Between the exode of the Israelites, and the reign of Moeris, there were several monarchs of Egypt, but, as we have no authentic information concerning them, it must be considered as a blank in the history. Their names will be found in the lists at the end of the book.

and that on the top of each there was a stone colossus sitting upon a throne. These pyramids are not, however, mentioned by Strabo, nor are they to be met with at the present day; from which circumstance it has been asserted, that there is not a fact in history, in which testimony and observation are more at variance.

Moeris appears, also, to have been attentive to religious observances. He built the northern portico of the temple of Vulcan, at Memphis, which was more stately and magnificent than all the rest. This is noticed both by Herodotus and Diodorus, the former of whom sums up the notice of the various works of Moeris with this observation, "These are, indeed, lasting monuments of his fame."

The greatest work ascribed to Moeris was the famous labyrinth, from whose model that of Crete was afterwards copied by Dædalus; and in which, Pliny says, not a single piece of wood was used, being entirely constructed of stone. Herodotus, says Mr. Wilkinson, attributes its foundation to the twelve kings in the time of Psammeticus; but tradition seems to have ascribed it to Moeris, though it is possible that the son of Neco and his colleagues may have enlarged it. Pliny asserts, it was first built by king Petesuccus, or Tithoes, though others affirm it to have been the palace of Motherus, or the sepulchre of Moeris; and received opinion maintains that it was dedicated to the sun. Diodorus, again, mentions Mendes, or Maron, or Marrus, as the founder, while others have put forth the claims of Ismandes, probably Osymandas, and various other monarchs.

antiquity. Diodorus relates, that the father of Sesostris formed a design of making him a conqueror, while yet he was but an infant. For this purpose, he took up all the children throughout Egypt, born on the same day with his son, to be educated with him, and caused them to be trained alike in the same rigid discipline of the public schools, that they might compose a band of companions, attached to his person, and qualified to fill the first civil and military departments of the state. The chief part of their education was the inuring them to a hard and laborious life, in order that they might one day be capable of sustaining the toils of war, and of excelling in brute force. They were never suffered to eat till they had run on foot or horseback a considerable race, and hunting was their most usual exercise.

It is remarked by Elian, that Sesostris was instructed by Mercury in politics and the art of government. This Mercury is he whom the Greeks called Trismegistus, "thrice great," and to whom, some say, Egypt owes the invention of almost every art. But as Jambilicus, a priest of Egypt, affirms, that it was customary for the Egyptians to affix the name of Hermes, or Mercury, to all the new books or inventions that were offered to the public, it seems erroneous to ascribe them to one man, and the error may have arisen from that circumstance.

SESOSTRIS.

If the authority of Diodorus is admitted, seven generations intervened between Moeris and Sesostris; but Herodotus seems to place the latter as his immediate successor. By some writers, Sesostris, or, as Diodorus calls him, Sesosis, was reputed to have been the son of Amenophis III., whom Dr. Hales identifies with Moeris; and they record that about the period of his birth, the god Vulcan appeared to his father in a dream, informing him that his child should become lord of the whole earth.

Josephus supposed that this celebrated monarch of Egypt was the Shishak or Sesac of Scripture, who invaded Rehoboam and plundered the temple of Jerusalem; a supposition which has been adopted by many able chronologers, but which is now generally abandoned as untenable.

The incidents recorded in the life of Sesostris are more numerous and stirring, and better authenticated, than any of his immediate predecessors. He was not only, indeed, one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the greatest conquerors recorded in the annals of

his designs would prove unsuccessful, unless his army should be attached to his person by the ties of esteem, affection, and interest. He divided the country into thirty-six governments, called Nomi, and bestowed them on persons of merit and approved fidelity.

In the mean time, he made the requisite preparations, levied forces, and headed them with officers of bravery and reputation, chiefly taken from among the youths who had been educated with him. It is said, that the number of his officers was 1,700, and that his army consisted of 600,000 foot, and 24,000 horse, besides 27,000 armed chariots: all numbers, however, of so large an amount, at this early period, must be received with caution.

Sesostris began his expedition by invading Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, situated on the south of Egypt. This country he rendered tributary, obliging the nations thereof to furnish him annually with a stated quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold. He then reduced the islands of the Red Sea, or Persian Gulf, with his fleet. He is said, also, to have marched an army by land as far as India, eastwards, and to have penetrated even beyond the Ganges; but this is, probably, a fiction of the Egyptian priests, who reported it to Diodorus, from whom we derive the information. After this, he turned his arms north