The History of Antiquity Volume I Part 25

[599] Gen. x.x.xii. 24-32.

[600] Exod. iv. 24; xii. 1-18; xiii. 2, 12-14; x.x.xiv. 19; x.x.x. 11-16.

From the sacrifice of Isaac, the redemption of the firstborn and the Paschal offering, the conclusion may be drawn that in the oldest times human sacrifices were not unknown to the Hebrews. If such took place they were not offered in the same manner as the Moloch-offerings of the Canaanites. If Jehovah appears in fire, the fire is not, to the Hebrews, his essence, but only a form or mode of appearance. Sacrifices like those offered to Moloch were forbidden by the earliest text (Levit.

xviii. 22; xx. 2) under pain of death. The narrative of Jephthah's daughter lays especial stress on the sanct.i.ty of the vow. Of the other pa.s.sages which come into consideration only one or two deal with sacrifices; the remainder have reference to executions. In Numbers xxv.

4, we find, "Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel." Jephthah vowed his daughter and sacrificed her, Judges xi. 30, 34. "And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal," 1 Samuel xv. 33. In 2 Samuel xxi. 6-9, the Gibeonites say, "Give us seven men of his sons that we may hang them before the Lord in Gibeah. And they hanged them up on the mountain before Jehovah."

[601] Gen. xiv. 6; Deut. ii. 12, 22.

[602] Gen. xxviii. 1-9; Gen. x.x.xvi. 3, 10, calls the daughter of Ishmael, Basmath; cf. _supra_, pp. 317, 406.

[603] Gen. xlviii. 1. On the places of wors.h.i.+p at Beersheba and the "heights of Isaac" in Amos, cf. A. Bernstein, "Ursprung der Sagen," s.

14, 15.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HEBREWS IN EGYPT.

When the progenitors of the Hebrews had come from the Euphrates to Canaan, and had taken up their abode there at Hebron and Shechem, when Jacob and Esau had parted in peace, and the latter had gone to Mount Seir, Jacob, with all his sons, went to Egypt.

Jacob dwelt at Hebron--so runs the narrative--when he sent Joseph, the son of Rachel, to his elder brethren in Shechem, to see if all was well with them and their flocks. But his brethren hated Joseph, because his father loved him more than them; and when they saw him coming, they said: We will slay him. But the eldest, Reuben, said: Shed no blood, but throw him into the pit yonder. This they did; they took from Joseph the coat which his father had made for him, and thrust him into the pit.

Then there came a caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead; their camels carried spices, balsam, and myrrh to Egypt. And his brethren took Joseph again out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Then they slew a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood, and brought it to their father. Jacob knew the coat, and cried: An evil beast has eaten my son, and torn his garments; and he would not be comforted, but said: In sorrow will I go down to the grave to my son.

But Joseph was carried away to Egypt, and was bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian in the service of the king, and captain of the body-guard, from the Ishmaelites. Joseph found grace in the eyes of his master; and as everything which he undertook prospered, Potiphar set him over his house. Joseph was goodly to look upon, and the wife of his master cast her eyes upon him. But he resisted her, and when she caught him by his garment, he left his garment in her hand, and fled out. Then she kept Joseph's garment by her till Potiphar returned, and said to him: The Hebrew servant, whom thou has brought to us, came to me to mock me; and when I lifted up my voice, he fled away and left his garment. Then Potiphar was angry, and took Joseph and cast him into the house of bondage, where were the prisoners of the king. And it came to pa.s.s that the chief butler and the chief baker sinned against the king, and Pharaoh put them in prison. Each of these had a dream in the night, and Joseph interpreted the dreams; and it came to pa.s.s, as he foretold, that the chief baker was hanged, but the chief butler was restored by Pharaoh to his office, on his birthday, so that, as before, he gave the cup into his hand. Two years afterwards, the king of Egypt saw in a dream seven fat kine come up out of the Nile, and after them seven lean kine, and the lean kine ate up the fat. As none of the interpreters and wise men of Egypt could interpret this dream, the chief butler bethought him of the young man of the tribe of the Hebrews, who had interpreted his own dream in the prison, and told Pharaoh what had befallen him. Then Pharaoh sent, and Joseph was quickly brought out of prison, and shaved himself, changed his garments, and came before Pharaoh and said: Seven years of abundance will come in the land of Egypt, and after them seven years of famine. Let Pharaoh collect food in the good years, and gather together corn, and keep it against the years of famine, that the land be not destroyed. Then Pharaoh took his ring from his hand and placed it on the hand of Joseph, and clothed him in garments of linen, and placed a golden chain upon his neck, and said: I place thee over the whole land of Egypt, only by my throne will I be above thee. And Pharaoh called Joseph Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him Asenath, the daughter of the priest at On, to wife, and caused him to ride in his second chariot, and the people cried before him: Bow the knee. When the seven years of abundance came, Joseph collected food, and gathered up corn in the cities, without number, as the sand of the sea. And when the years of famine came, there was no bread in the land, and the people were compelled to buy bread from the granaries of Pharaoh; and when their money failed, they brought their horses, cattle, sheep, and a.s.ses to buy food from Joseph, and all the cattle in the land came to the king. And when they had no cattle left to buy corn, they gave their land and fields. Thus Joseph bought the land for Pharaoh, and the country became Pharaoh's, and Joseph said: Here is seed for you; sow your fields, and at the time of harvest, give the fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for food, for yourselves and your children, and those in your houses. Thus Joseph laid on the land of the Egyptians a tax of the fifth, until this day.

The famine was sore in all lands, and in the land of Canaan, and when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, he said to his sons: Go down and buy for us there, that we die not. Then the brethren of Joseph went down; but Benjamin, whom Rachel had borne after Joseph, Jacob sent not with them, for he feared that some evil might happen to him. Joseph, who sold corn to the people, knew his brethren when they bowed themselves to the earth before him, and remembered how he once dreamed at Hebron that he was binding sheaves with his brethren in the field, and his sheaf stood upright, and the sheaves of his brethren bowed before it; and that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed before him. The interpreter was between them, and he dealt roughly with his brethren, and said: Ye are spies, who are come to see the weakness of the land. No, my lord, they answered, we are true men, twelve brethren, the sons of one father in the land of Canaan. The youngest has remained with our father, and one is not. Then Joseph took Simeon, and bound him and said: Take corn for the need of your house, and then bring your youngest brother with you, that I may see that ye are not spies; then will I give you back your brother, and ye shall deal in our land.

When Jacob heard this, he said to his sons: Ye make me childless; Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and Benjamin ye would take from me.

All these things are against me. But when the corn was eaten which they brought out of Egypt, he sent his sons a second time to buy food; and Benjamin was with them. Judah had promised his father to be surety for him. Joseph caused them to be brought into his house, and gave them water to wash their feet, and food for their a.s.ses, and restored Simeon to them, and bade them eat at his table. And food was placed for the brethren by themselves, and for Joseph and the Egyptians by themselves.

And Joseph caused presents to be given to them, and Benjamin's present was the largest; and they were drunken in his house. Then Joseph caused his steward to fill the sacks of the strangers with corn, and to replace the purchase money in each sack, and in Benjamin's sack to place his own cup of silver. When the morning came, and the brethren went forth from the city with their sacks and their a.s.ses, Joseph's steward overtook them not far from the city, and demanded the silver and gold which they had stolen, and found the cup in Benjamin's sack. The brethren rent their garments and turned back, and cast themselves on the earth before Joseph. But he said: With whomsoever the cup was found he shall be my servant; the rest may go in peace. Then Judah came forward and said: When we set forth our father said, If ye take Benjamin also from me, and any evil happen to him, ye will bring my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. If then we go back to our father, thy servant, and the boy is not with us, he will die, for his soul hangs upon him; let me remain here in his place, and be thy servant, that I may not see the sorrow of my father. Then Joseph could no longer restrain himself: he caused the Egyptians to go out from his presence, and lifted up his voice with tears, and said: I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold. Hasten, and go to my father, and tell him of all my glory. Bid him come to me, and you shall dwell here with your possessions. But Jacob did not believe the words of his sons, till he saw the chariots which Pharaoh had sent to carry him to Egypt. And Jacob set out with his sons, their wives and their children, seventy souls, with his flocks, and his goods, to Egypt; and Joseph came to meet him in his chariot, and wept long on the neck of his father, and gave to his kindred food, and a dwelling-place in the land of Goshen. When Jacob's days came to a close, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: Thy two sons, born to thee in the land of Egypt, shall be mine; Ephraim and Mana.s.seh shall be to me as Reuben and Simeon. And he laid his right hand on Ephraim, and named Ephraim the younger before Mana.s.seh, and said: In thee shall Israel bless and say: G.o.d make thee like Ephraim and Mana.s.seh. And thus Jacob blessed his other sons also, and to Judah he said: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the staff of the ruler from between his feet; he shall bind his a.s.s to the vine, and the colt of his she-a.s.s to the choice vine; he shall wash his garment in wine, and his robe in the blood of the grape; his eyes are red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. But Joseph is the son of a fruit-tree by a well. The branches ran over the wall; the archers provoke and follow him, but his bow remains firm, and the strength of his hands is supple. So he blessed them, and said to Joseph: Bury me not in Egypt; bury me with my fathers in the cave which Abraham bought of Ephron the Hitt.i.te, where Abraham, and Sarah, and Isaac, and Rebekah are buried, and where I buried Leah. Then Joseph fell on the face of his father and wept, and the Egyptians mourned seventy days for Jacob, and Joseph carried the body with Pharaoh's servants, and the elders of Pharaoh's house and of all Egypt, and with all his brethren, and the whole house of Jacob to Canaan, and buried him in the cave of Machpelah. But Joseph dwelt in Egypt till his death, and he saw the sons of Ephraim till the third generation, and the sons of Machir, the son of Mana.s.seh, were born on his knees. Joseph died 110 years old, and they embalmed him, and placed him in a sepulchre in Egypt. And all Joseph's brethren died. But their sons were fruitful and increased, and the land was full of them.

Then there arose a new king in Egypt who knew not Joseph, and he said: The children of Israel are mighty; we shall be wise to prevent their increase, that they join not with our enemies if a war arise. And the Egyptians put taskmasters over the children of Israel, in order to oppress them with burdens. The children of Israel were compelled to perform heavy tasks in the field, and taskwork in clay and bricks; and they built for Pharaoh the treasure cities of Pithom and Ramses, and Pharaoh commanded all his people to throw into the Nile all the male children born to the Israelites, but to let the daughters live.

It is no longer possible to discover what motives were given in the Judaean text for the settlement of Jacob and his sons in Egypt. In it the land thus apportioned to the Hebrews is not called Goshen, but Ramses.

Yet it is clear that even in that account it was Joseph who procured a habitation and possessions for his father and brethren in Egypt.[604]

The reasons given for the change in the narrative, as it now stands, are taken from the Ephraimitic text, which describes in the most lively manner, the virtues and glory of the ancestor of this tribe. The prophetic revision only added a few details, and sharpened a few of the traits. The second text represented Joseph as falling into the hands of Midianite merchants, the revision added Ishmaelites. According to the second text, Joseph was a servant in the house of Potiphar, in whose house as captain of the body-guard the butler and baker of Pharaoh were imprisoned, and there Joseph interpreted their dreams. The revision inserts the temptation of Joseph by Potiphar's wife, and makes him, owing to her false accusation, a fellow-prisoner of the butler and baker.[605] Thus it was able to exalt Joseph, not from servitude only, but from the misery of imprisonment to the steps of the throne.

The ethical traits of the narrative, the national and religious views underlying it, are obvious. The evil of which his brothers are guilty towards Joseph, without any offence on his part, he bears with submission. In the service of the Egyptian he shows himself a faithful slave; he withstands the most enticing temptation. In return for this faithful honesty he is compelled again to suffer innocently. After long endurance he receives the highest exaltation; from prison he is summoned to be ruler of the land, and second only to Pharaoh. As he had been a faithful steward to Potiphar in small things, he is now a faithful servant to Pharaoh in great things; all the events, which he correctly foresaw, he knew how to turn to the advantage of his master. When he has shown his brothers, in order to touch their consciences for the evil they had done to him, how men may innocently fall into suspicion, punishment, and misfortune, he generously pardons them. In this pardon, this rescue of the whole tribe by the man whom they had attempted to destroy, rests the true punishment laid upon the brothers. It is the wonderful guidance of Jehovah which a.s.sists the innocent out of misery and distress, which turns the evil, which the brothers had committed against Joseph, in such a direction that in the grievous years of famine the race of Jacob finds a helper and protector near the throne of Egypt, who is able to give food and a habitation to that tribe, and allot to their flocks the magnificent pastures of the land of Goshen. The carrying of the corpse of Jacob to Hebron is intended to signify that Canaan, and not Egypt, was to be the lasting abode of the posterity of Jacob. At the same time the tradition of the Hebrews shows the benefits which a man of their race conferred upon the Egyptians in a time of evil; it marks how Egypt, owing to his foresight, was saved from destruction, in order at the same time to show how little the Egyptians regarded these benefits, and how great is the contrast presented by their subsequent conduct towards the Hebrews.

The description of Egypt corresponds exactly to the circ.u.mstances of the land as we have found them before. Both the author of the Ephraimitic text and the reviser were well acquainted with the life and customs of Egypt. We have found captains of the body guard in the retinue of Pharaoh (p. 190), a chief baker is also to be seen on the monuments, and although we cannot point to any butler of the king upon them, we know that in Egypt wine was not wanting at the table of Pharaoh, any more than among his workmen.[606] In the whole of the East, and demonstrably in Egypt, great importance was attached to dreams.[607] By knowing how to explain their meaning more correctly than the wise men and interpreters of Egypt--_i.e._ than the prophets, and temple-scribes of the Egyptian priesthood[608]--Joseph is liberated from prison, and raised to the position of grand vizier. The robes of byssus, in which Joseph is now clad, we have found to be the prescribed dress of the priests (p. 197), and if Pharaoh puts a golden chain round his neck, we have already met with an instance of this kind of distinction (p. 131).

That the Pharaohs regarded themselves as proprietors of the soil, that they collected a land-tax, and that the fields would require to be measured in order to collect this tax, has been already stated (p. 194).

This tax, so surprising to them, the Hebrews explained by a.s.suming that the Egyptians sold their plots to Joseph in the time of the famine, which were then given back to the proprietors in return for a fifth of the yearly produce. Hereby the services of Joseph to the throne are placed in the clearest light. We saw above that it was the first object of Pharaoh and his ministers to provide Egypt with life and sustenance (pp. 104, 184). Joseph's wisdom and providence put Pharaoh in a position to attain this object, even in the years of the famine. The names also quoted in the Hebrew narrative seem to correspond to the ancient Egyptian. The name Potiphar may be explained by Petphra, _i.e._ "dedicated to Ra," or by Puti-phra, _i.e._ "given by Ra." The name of the daughter of the priest at On (Heliopolis), Asenath, whom Joseph took to wife, can be explained by As-neith, and the Egyptian name of Joseph, Zaphnath-paaneah, by Zpentpouch, _i.e._ "creator of life" (in the time of famine).[609]

Setting aside these points in the narrative, what historical value can be given to the tradition that the children of Jacob went from the south of Canaan to the east of Egypt, that they remained there 430 years, according to the older text, and in this period increased into a mighty people?[610] The district given to the children of Jacob for their abode lies, as the tradition plainly shows, in the lower country east of the Nile, beyond the Eastern or Tanitic mouth. The name Goshen, given in the Ephraimitic text, appears to correspond to Keshem, the name of a province in Lower Egypt.[611] The chain of mountains running on the east of the Nile, sinks down between the Tanitic arm and the north-west corner of the Arabian Gulf, and on the slopes nearer the river presents a flat extent of pasture land. In Egypt a tribe of shepherds could have no share in the regular system of cultivation, and the fixed order of Egyptian life; a district suitable for the maintenance of their flocks would be allotted to them, and nothing more. On the north of this district, the nearest of the great cities of Egypt was Tanis (Zoan), on the south, Heliopolis (On, Anu), with which we have become acquainted as a great centre of religion, and the seat of the wors.h.i.+p of the sun G.o.d Ra, and the G.o.d of life Bennu-Osiris (pp. 44, 69). Hence with perfect consistency, the Hebrew tradition narrates that the daughter of a priest of Heliopolis was given to Joseph to wife.

But what could induce the children of Jacob to go to Egypt, or the Egyptians to give them a pasture-land on their north-eastern border? We arrived above at the conclusion that the tribe of Jacob was a branch of the Edomites, whose dwelling-place is fixed by tradition in the mountains between the north-east point of the Arabian Gulf and the Dead Sea, where in fact we find them in historical times. This tribe, therefore, both at the time when in union with the Edomites it pa.s.sed along the eastern and southern borders of Canaan, and after separating from the Edomites--who may have already taken Mount Seir from the Horites, or have pastured their flocks in the vicinity--was at no great distance from Egypt. When divided from the Edomites, the fear of the stronger part of the tribe from which they had separated, and the desire to find more fruitful pastures in the neighbourhood of the Nile, or want of corn, as the tradition says, might have induced the sons of Jacob to leave the borders of Canaan for the borders of Egypt. The tribes, or families of shepherds, who pastured their flocks in the neighbourhood of Canaan, may have been accustomed to purchase corn when their own cultivation was insufficient, from the corn-growers in Canaan. A blight in Canaan would therefore compel them to turn to the abundance of corn in Egypt. And to a shepherd tribe, which sought her protection, and submitted voluntarily to her rule, Egypt would be the more inclined to give up the pastures beyond the Nile, if this tribe was in unfriendly or hostile relations to the Semitic tribes in the neighbourhood.

If we attempt to fix the date at which the tribe of Jacob may have exchanged the pastures on the border of Canaan for the more fruitful regions on the Tanitic arm of the Nile, it soon becomes clear that the accounts of the Hebrews cannot be maintained. The older text puts 215 years between the time when Abraham entered Canaan and the arrival of the sons of Jacob into Egypt, and exactly twice this amount between their arrival in and exodus from Egypt. The fixed proportion between the two numbers, and the further circ.u.mstance that tradition can only mention a few generations of the sons of Jacob,[612] leads to the conclusion that those numbers do not spring from any record or actual remembrance, but have been invented upon reflection. The date of the exodus also is fixed by a round sum; from the exodus to the building of the temple 480 years are said to have elapsed.[613] The Hebrews reckoned 40 years to the generation; hence they put twelve generations between the exodus and the building of the temple, and fixed the interval on this computation; yet their scriptures could only mention by name nine or ten generations in this period.[614] Hence the dates 2140 B.C., and 1925 B.C., which are deduced from the older text for the entrance of Abraham into Canaan, and of Jacob into Egypt, if the beginning of the building of the temple is fixed according to traditional a.s.sumption in the year 1015 B.C., must be given up, as well as the year 2115 B.C. for the entrance of Abraham into Canaan, and the year 1900 B.C. for the settlement of Jacob in Egypt, which results from the fixing the beginning of the building of the temple in the year 990 B.C. The only fact in the ancient tradition which admits of an approximate date is the campaign of Kudur-Lagamer of Elam, mentioned in the Ephraimitic text.

This campaign we ventured to place about the year 2000 B.C. Genesis represents him as defeating the nations on the east and south of Canaan, and the Horites on Mount Seir, while at the separation of Esau and Jacob Mount Seir is no longer the abode of the Horites, but of the tribe of Esau. But we must contest the claim of tradition to bring the history of Abraham into connection with this campaign of the Elamites to the west.

On the other hand we may regard it as settled that the tribe of Jacob did not arrive in Egypt at the time when the valley of the Nile was under the dominion of the Hyksos, _i.e._ in the period from 2101 B.C. to 1591 B.C., which we have a.s.sumed for this dominion, and that during this time it did not dwell in Egypt. The tradition of the Hebrews was not likely to forget that their ancestors came to the Nile, not as fugitives, but as kinsmen of the ruler of Egypt, or that their race had once shared in the rule over Egypt, and thus they might have dropped the slavery and imprisonment, and the position of Joseph in Pharaoh's service. And if these grounds are not held to be sufficient--if the tribe of Jacob was in Egypt under the dominion of the Hyksos, it must have been involved in their overthrow and expulsion.

Thus it may be a.s.sumed as proved that the admission of the sons of Jacob into Egypt did not take place till after the complete expulsion of the Hyksos, _i.e._ till Tuthmosis III. had forced the shepherds to leave the region to which they were at last confined, _i.e._ till after the year 1591 B.C. And it can hardly have taken place immediately after this event. We cannot suppose any inclination among the Egyptians, immediately after the expulsion of foreign shepherd tribes, to admit shepherds of the same nationality to the Nile. But when Tuthmosis III.

had carried his weapons as far as the Euphrates, and received yearly tribute from the Syrians, the Cheta, and the Retennu, there would be no scruples felt about allotting pastures on the edge of the desert to an inconsiderable shepherd tribe. Hence the settlement of the sons of Jacob in Goshen may be placed about the middle of the sixteenth century B.C.

The tradition of the Hebrews informed us that their ancestors were compelled to build the two treasure-cities Pithom and Ramses for Pharaoh. This statement is in the Ephraimitic text, while the Judaean text calls the land given to the Hebrews Ramses.[615] The ruins of Pithom and of Ramses we found on the ca.n.a.l which Sethos I. and Ramses II. intended to carry from the Nile at Bubastis into the Arabian Gulf, and which was completed as far as the Lake of Crocodiles (p. 157). The depression of the Wadi Tumilat, which the ca.n.a.l followed, crosses the land of Goshen. Cities could not be founded here till the ca.n.a.l from the Nile had provided water in sufficient quant.i.ty. A city of the name of Pa-Rameses, _i.e._ abode of Ramses, could only be founded by a prince of that name. Being situated on the ca.n.a.l of Ramses II. and further to the east than Pithom, the city could only have been built by the prince whose reign we have placed from 1388 B.C. to 1322 B.C. As a fact his image is found here on a block of granite in the ruins between the G.o.ds Ra and Tum, and the bricks in the remains of the outer walls are mixed with cut straw, the use of which in moulding the bricks for these buildings is mentioned by the revision.[616] This city of Ramses must have been of considerable importance for the district allotted to the Hebrews, as the whole region was called after it. Hence the sons of Jacob were in the land of Goshen in the reign of Ramses II. The tradition allows them to remain unmolested in Egypt for a long time--"not till the land was full of them," so runs the older text, without ascribing any other motive, "did the Egyptians force the children of Israel to work in clay and brick, and in the fields."[617]

In the former cla.s.s of works comes the building of these two cities.

Hence the Israelites must have reached Goshen before the time of Ramses II.

The desired evidence of the presence of the children of Jacob in Egypt could be obtained from Egyptian writings and monuments if it were certain that a name used in them referred to the Hebrews. On a hieratic papyrus (now at Leyden) an officer intreats his superiors to give him corn "for the soldiers and the Apuriuu who drag stones to the great fortress of the house of Ramses, beloved of Ammon," _i.e._ king Ramses II.[618] In other places in the same papyrus the name occurs as Apruu.

Another papyrus observes under date of Ramses III. (p. 163)--"2083 Apruu at this place" _i.e._ at Heliopolis.[619] In an inscription in the quarries at Hamamat it is said that 800 Apuriu or Apriu are mentioned as workmen.[620] But is the Egyptian name of the Hebrews really Apru or Apuriu? The wife of Potiphar, it is true, calls Joseph "the Hebrew servant" (p. 421); but did the sons of Jacob really bear the name of Hebrews--_i.e._ men of the other side--when they came to Egypt? Does not the meaning of the name in the places quoted seem rather to be of a general kind, than to denote any one particular stock?

The kings Sethos I. and Ramses II. (1439-1322 B.C.) were engaged in battle, as we have seen, with the Schasu, _i.e._ the shepherd tribes between Egypt and Canaan, with the Hitt.i.tes, who possessed the south of Canaan, and other tribes of Syria (p. 150). Even though they obtained successes over these nations, and Sethos I. once forced his way to the Euphrates, and Ramses II. as far as the coasts of the Phenicians, yet the Schasu, like the Cheta, continued to be dangerous enemies of Egypt.

If this were not so, why should Sethos have hit upon the plan of protecting the eastern frontier from Pelusium to Heliopolis, by a vast fortification? What induced Ramses, after several campaigns in Syria, to conclude a peace with the Cheta in the year 1367 _B.C._ (p. 152), in which the advantage was not with Egypt? Ramses III. had again to fight with the Schasu, the Hitt.i.tes, the Amorites, and the Philistines (p.

164). But if Egypt had to take measures to keep off the shepherds and the Syrians, they would hardly suffer doubtful subjects of the same nation within their own borders; in the peace just mentioned it was expressly stipulated that neither party should receive the subjects coming to him from the other side (p. 153). Under such circ.u.mstances it was necessary to take measures that the Hebrews should "not join with the enemies," as the second text says.[621] The attempt had to be made to settle and a.s.similate them, and make them Egyptians. The fortifications from Pelusium to Heliopolis included just the region allotted to the Hebrews. These works required hands to build them. There was also the project of the ca.n.a.l from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf. As the fortification surrounded Goshen, so the ca.n.a.l ran athwart it, from Bubastis to the Lake of Crocodiles. If this ca.n.a.l, as well as the fortifications, required a great number of hands--and naturally those who were nearest would be first employed--the water brought by the ca.n.a.l made it possible to change the pastures along the ca.n.a.l into arable land, and to build cities upon it. From all this it is not improbable that the oppression of which the Hebrews speak commenced under the reign of Sethos I. continued under Ramses II, and was increased by the building of those two cities.

The tradition of the Hebrews maintains that the Hebrew nation arose in Egypt; in that country the family became a nation. The Egyptians could endure a tribe of shepherds on their borders, but not a powerful nation.

With seventy souls, according to the first text, Jacob came into Egypt, and at the end of their sojourn the Hebrews, according to the same authority, had increased to 600,000 men, besides women and children.[622] Supposing the seventy to be a sacred number, and reckoning into the total "a number of strangers," who according to the revision joined the Hebrews, it is still quite impossible, even if the tribe which, as we a.s.sume, exchanged the pastures of the south of Canaan for those on the Nile about the middle of the sixteenth century numbered its thousands at the time of the change, that they should have increased to 600,000 full-grown men, _i.e._ to more than two millions of souls, within the given period of something less than the 250 years, to which the length of their settlement on the Nile will be shown to be limited.

Even if we a.s.sume that the strangers made up a third of the whole total, this is impossible. At a much later time the number of the fighting men among the Hebrews can scarcely be reckoned higher than from two to three hundred thousand. Even if we regard the total as including the whole population, and not confined to the fighting men, it still appears very high. Granting, too, that an enumeration was not in itself impossible (the Hebrews had long had before them the pattern of the enumerations in Egypt), yet a closer examination shows, that the total is founded upon an average of 50,000 souls for each of the twelve tribes. This total therefore must be given up as a mere attempt to glorify the ancient times.[623] The events which follow show that the Israelites did really increase from a tribe to a nation under the protection of Egypt, and could put in the field from fifty to sixty thousand warriors,--a growth and increase which in their old pastures, the proximity of the far more powerful Edomites, Hitt.i.tes, Midianites, and Amalekites, could hardly have allowed sufficient s.p.a.ce.

The twelve tribes, into which the nation of the Hebrews was divided, were carried back to the sons of Jacob, who were thought to be their ancestors. This fact has obviously influenced the number and position of these sons in the tradition. The tribes which claimed to be the oldest must have sprung from the oldest sons of Jacob; those who boasted of the purest descent must have for their progenitors sons born in lawful marriage; those whose blood was less pure were derived from sons born to Jacob by the handmaids of his wives. We found above (p. 409) that Leah, sprung from the true blood of the fathers, while yet in Haran, had borne Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon. The oldest families of the Hebrews were named after Reuben. These, "the sons of Reuben,"

were "brave men who carried the sword and the s.h.i.+eld, and drew the bow, and were skilful in war;"[624] but even in later times they still pursued the old pastoral mode of life in the mountain glades on the east of Jordan, and hence had no important influence on the development of the nation. This remarkable insignificance of the oldest tribe is accounted for in the revision by a sin of the ancestor, who lay with Bilhah, his father's handmaid.[625] According to the same prophetic authority, Simeon and Levi also had done an unclean deed, and Judah had once been equally guilty.[626] It is for his account of Judah only that we must make this narrator entirely responsible. For the deeds of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, he has merely developed hints contained in the "Blessings of Jacob," a poem of the time of the Judges, which he found existing in the Ephraimitic text.[627] That poem says expressly that Reuben, though the firstborn, was not to have the pre-eminence; and Simeon and Levi, "because in their anger they slew a man, and in their pa.s.sion lamed a bull," were to be scattered in Israel, _i.e._ were to have no district specially their own. In contrast to the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, this poem celebrated the tribe of Joseph--under which name the tribes of Ephraim and Mana.s.seh were included--whose praise has been already given, and it brings into prominence the tribe of Judah. The strength of the nation rested on the tribes of Ephraim and Judah; they had done the best service at the conquest of Canaan, and were the foremost in defending the land. The tribe of Ephraim was first in battle, and it retained this superiority for centuries. The tribe was not sprung from the oldest, but from the most beloved son of Jacob, the late-born son of Rachel. Ephraim was the younger of the two sons born to Joseph by the Egyptian woman, but Jacob had placed his right hand on the head of the younger son, and said, "By thee shall Israel bless."[628] Such is the account of the Ephraimitic text. In the Judaean Jacob is made to say, "Ephraim and Mana.s.seh shall be as my two firstborn."[629] The fathers of the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were considered to have been born to Jacob by his handmaids.

FOOTNOTES:

[604] Noldeke, "Untersuchungen," s. 32.

[605] De Wette-Schrader, "Einleitung," s. 273 ff.

[606] Ebers, "Durch Gosen," s. 430; "aegypt. und die Bucher Moses," s.

330, 323 ff.

[607] Ebers, "aegypt. und die Bucher Moses," s. 321, 322.

[608] Above p. 196; Ebers, _loc. cit._ s. 347.

[609] Lepsius, "Chronol." s. 382; Ebers, "aegypten und die Bucher Moses,"

s. 296; Lauth, "Moses," s. 77.

[610] Exod. xii. 40.

[611] Ebers, "Durch Gosen," s. 505 ff.

[612] Generally only two or three. The longest genealogy is that of Joshua: Ephraim, Beriah, Rephah, Telah, Tahan, Laadan, Ammihud, Elishama, Nun (1 Chron. vii. 20 ff; cf. Numb. xxvi. 35; vii. 48; x. 22), from which, if it were to be regarded as certain (Ewald, "Gesch.

Israel's," 1, 490, thinks that it is certain), it would follow that the Hebrews were over 200 years in Egypt, a.s.suming 25 years as the length of a generation.

[613] 1 Kings vi. 1.