511 66 Add to these the whole time of the shepherds This makes the commencement of the shepherd rule 2159 2153" It is therefore obvious, that during Abraham's time there was abundant reason why he should not be slighted or despised in Egypt as being a shepherd.* But the question may arise, whether the shepherd kings were known by the title Pharaoh; inasmuch as the Bible applies it to the reigning monarch of Egypt at the time of Abraham's visit. It would appear from all the light yet shed on the subject, that the shepherds, during their stay, had adopted the religion, the manners, and the customs of Egypt. Considerations derived from the monuments also justify the opinion, that the name, or rather title, of the first monarch of Egypt, Phra, became the generic title of all his successors. 9. The gifts made to Abraham consisted of sheep, oxen, he and she-asses, men and maid-servants, camels, gold and silver. To this a German writer (Von Bohlen) objects as follows: * Those whose curiosity may lead them to further investigation on the obscure and much-discussed subject of the shepherd kings, are referred to Bunsen, Hengstenberg, Wilkinson, Nolan, and the notes of Kitto in his Pictorial Bible, particularly to that on Gen. xlvi. 34. In that the reader will find a substantial agreement with the views expressed in the text, though there is a difference on the subject of Manetho. We gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity of making a distinct acknowledgment to this author for the very valuable aid we have derived from his labors, both in his Bible and his "Palestine." We have used them freely when they were applicable, not with the view of appropriating his toil, or robbing him of his merited honors, but to make our compilation more valuable to the general reader. very "The narrator mentions the animals of his own native land, a part of which Abraham could not receive in Egypt. He ascribes to him no horses, which were native to Egypt, as the relator is indeed aware. But, on the other hand, he mentions sheep, which are found in the marsh lands of Egypt" [Abraham's visit was to the lower part of Egypt] "as seldom as camels (hence these last are denied to the country by the ancient writers) and asses, which were specially odious to the Egyptians, on account of their color." Hengstenberg has satisfactorily answered all this. Horses certainly were abundant among the Egyptians, as the monuments show. They were used chiefly in the war chariots; and though there were horsemen in Egypt, it is remarkable that but a single instance of a man on horseback has yet been found among the representations. But, common as the animal was in Egypt, it was not used among the Israelites until the time of the kings. There were none used, either in peace or war, in the time of Joshua. Horses were not likely, then, to be used in the earlier days of Abraham's time, when, as far as we know, the chief object of keeping them in Egypt did not exist in Canaan. If this be the reason why the horse was not among the gifts to Abraham; if the present would have been useless, because the habits of his country did not require its use; then,. as Hengstenberg remarks, the omission of horses among the gifts, is a fact in favor of the true historical character and Mosaic ɔrigin of the narrative. For if the history had been compiled in the time of the kings or afterward, the horse (which was then used in Israel) would probably have been mentioned; since we cannot suppose the precise time of their introduction would have been accurately known. In fact, the introduction of the animal among the Israelites was gradual, and we have no direct historical account of the time when it commenced. By an examination of many scattered passages, modern scholars have proved it to have been about the time of the kings; but the Israelites, after that day, finding horses in the country, troubled themselves not with an inquiry as to the time of their introduction. How many of our own countrymen can, at the present day, tell when and how the horse was introduced into America? In all the enumerations of patriarchal wealth in the Bible, horses are never mentioned; oxen drew the tabernacle in the desert, and in truth, in the further history of the people descended from Abraham, we find that God specially forbade their kings to have many horses, or to trust to Egyptian cavalry; for his purpose was to hedge his people around from the temptation of coming into contact with idolaters, and Egypt would have been the great horse-market of the Israelites. The non-introduction of the horse by Abraham, may, therefore, have been a part of the providential designs of God for the future. Von Bohlen, also, denies that there were asses in Egypt; but, as Hengstenberg says, it never occurred to any one before to deny it. There are numerous representations of them on the monuments. It is also said there were no sheep. They are very often mentioned by ancient authors. Herodotus informs us that the Egyptians had them, so also does Diodorus. They may be seen in large numbers on the monuments; and numerous flocks of them were kept near Memphis, the region where Abraham was. As to the camel, it is reasonable to infer, from present facts and usages, that it existed in ancient Egypt. Munitoli thinks that he discovered traces of the representation of a camel on the obelisks at Luxor. They may not, however, have been very numerous in Abraham's day, yet the king of Egypt would possess them. Men and maid-servants were also given. It has, by some, been deemed probable, that among these maid-servants was Hagar; for she is expressly said in Scripture to be an Egyptian. If this conjecture be well founded, it would serve to prove that, though the great body of slaves were foreigners and captives taken in war, yet that sometimes Egyptians held their own people in servitude. The monuments confirm this view. 10. Abraham accepted the gifts of Pharaoh. However unnatural and unmanly such conduct may appear in our time and in our state of society, yet, as Kitto has remarked, those who are acquainted with the usages of the East, know that he dared not refuse them. CHAPTER VII. JOSEPH. THE greater part of the life of Joseph having been passed in Egypt, many incidents in his career furnish us with the means of comparison, in the work on which we have entered. Indeed, from the time of his sale to Potiphar, through the bondage, up to the exode, the Jews are brought into uninterrupted intercourse with the Egyptians for several hundred years. In this period, therefore, we may expect to meet with abundant facts, to the consideration of which we now proceed. The story of Joseph, touchingly simple and beautiful in the Scripture narrative, is so familiar, that any outline of it here would be perfectly needless, but for the advantage of bringing at once into view the facts connected with our subject. We shall condense it as much as we can. At the age of seventeen, he incurred the displeasure of his brothers, "who hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him," and this aversion was, soon after, carried to the highest pitch. Availing themselves of a favorable opportunity, they sold him to a caravan of Arabian merchants, who were bearing spices and aromatic gums of India, to the well-known and much frequented market of Egypt. On arriving in Egypt, the merchants disposed of their young slave, by sale, to |