tribes as well as to their individual ancestors. At the end of his
charge, he gave to all his sons, collectively, the same command that
he had previously jr ; "en to Joseph individually, "I am to be gath-
ered unto my people. Bury me with my fathers " in the cave of
Machpcln.li (Gen. xlix. 29), and, "gathering up his feet into the
bed, he yielded up the ghost," at the age of one hundred and forty-
seven.

Joseph then fell upon his father's face, and passionately wept
over him and kissed him. He afterwards gave orders for his body
to be embalmed, which occupied forty days, and there was a public
mourning for him among the Egyptians, which lasted altogether
seventy days. With Pharaoh's permission, he then went, with all
his brethren, and the elders both of Israel and of Egypt, and a great



56



SCRIPTURE HISTORY.



CHAP. III.



company of chariots and of horsemen, to bury his father in the land
of Canaan.

To avoid, probably, the tribes of the frontier, they did not take
the nearest road, but made a circuit to Atad, a little to the west of
the Jordan, where they kept so great and sore a lamentation for
seven days that the astonished Canaanites called the place Abel-
Mizraim (the mourning of Egypf). Thence they continued their
journey to Hebron, and there buried him in the cave of Machpelah,
is he had commanded them (Gen. 1. 12, 13). After the burial of Ja-
:ob, Joseph and all his company returned to Egypt. He outlived
his father about fifty-four years. He saw Ephraim's children of
the third generation, and had Manasseh's grandchildren on his
knees (Gen. 1. 23). At length he died, aged one hundred and ten
years. His body was embalmed and preserved in a coffin (sarcoph-
agus), but not buried. The last instructions that he gave his
brethren, and made them swear that they would fulfill, were, " God
will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land
which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And ye shall
carry up my bones from hence" (Gen. 1. 24, 25). From that time
forward the coffin with Joseph's remains bore silent witness to the
fact that the children of Israel were only temporary sojourners in
the land of Egypt. When God led them forth under Moses, they
did not forget the trust ; and when they were settled in Canaan,
they buried Joseph at Shechem (Exod. xiii. 19 ; Josh. xxiv. 32).

NOTE. Concerning the "Pharaohs" (i. e., Kings) tinder whom the events
recorded in Genesis and Exodus took place, see the " Smaller Ancient Histo-
ry," chapters vi.-ix., especially vii. and ix.




AD Egypt**" Sarcophagus, on the funeral sledge, with an open panel, showing tha head of the
mummy.




Egyptian Archers.



CHAPTER IV.

ISRAEL IN EGYPT. FROM THE DEATH OF JOSEPH TO THE EXODUS
OR DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT. B.C. 1G35-1491.

IN the period between the death of Joseph and the beginning of
the bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel " increased abundant-
ly, and the land was filled with them " (Exod. i. 7). The duration
of their sojourn there may be reckoned in round numbers at 430
years (Exod. xii. 41): but thi9 includes the whole pilgrimage of the
chosen family, from the time when Abram was called to leave hir
home for "a land that he should ^afterward receive as an inherit-
ance," to the time when his heirs did actually receive it. The
bondage itself was probably about one hundred years, as the whole
period from the death of Joseph to the Exodus was one hundred
and forty-four years (B.C. 1635-1491).

The story of the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt begins with
the words, "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt whio'*
knew not Joseph " (Exod. i. 8). The descendants o( Jaeoo had
then grown so numerous that Pharaoh was afraid that in the event



68 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. IV.

of a war they might go over to the enemy, and so ecape out of the
land. He resolved, therefore, to weaken them by degrees, hy forc-
ing them to hard labor and reducing them to slavery. The service
which he compelled them to perform consisted in field-work, and
especially in making bricks and building the treasure-cities Pithotn
and Raamses, in the land of Goshen. Although the lives of the
Israelites were bitter with hard bondage and oppression, still they
multiplied and grew. Pharaoh then adopted a more severe and
cruel course to diminish their numbers. He commanded the He-
brew midwives to kill the male children at their birth, but to let
the females live. The midwives, however, " feared God " and dis-
obeyed the king, and they saved all the children that were born.
Pharaoh then charged all his people to cast the new-born sons of
the Israelites into the river, but to save the daughters (Exod. i.
8-22).

Pharaoh's edict led, by the Divine providence, to the bringing up
at his own court of that very child whom God designed to be the
future deliverer of his people Israel. Amram, the son of Koh.-Uh,
son of Levi, had for his wife Jochebed, also of the tribe of Levi.
They had already two children, a daughter called Miriam, and a
son named Aaron. Soon after the king had issued his edict, an-
other son was born to them. The child was so very fine and good-
ly, that his mother could not bear to part with him in obedience to
the cruel ordinance. She hid him, therefore, three months. When
she could no longer conceal him, she was forced to expose him like
the rest. Accordingly, taking a covered basket of papyrus the
flags of which the Egyptians made their paper and daubing it
with bitumen to make it water-tight, she put the child therein and
laid it among the rushes on the banks of the Nile, leaving Miriam
a little way off, to see what would become of her infant brother.
Close to that spot the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe ;
and as soon as she saw the ark, she sent one of her maidens to fetch
it. And when she opened it, "behold the babe wept." Touched
with pity, she said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." At
this moment Miriam came forward, and having asked whether she
should go and fetch a nurse of 4ie Hebrew women, she was told to
do so, "when she went and called the child's mother." "Nurse
this child for me," said Pharaoh's daughter, "and I will give thee
thy wages." When he grew up, Jochebed brought him to tho
princess, who adopted him for her son, and gave him the name of
Moses (drawn out), because she said, "I drew him out of the wa-
ter" (Exod. ii. 10).

Moses was no doubt taught by his Hebrew mother the knowledge
of the true God, and the history as well as the destiny of the chosen



B.C. 1G35-14'J1. EAKLY LIFE OF MOSES. 69

race. In all other respects, he was brought up as an Egyptian
prince, and was instructed in " all the wisdom of the Egyptians "
(Acts vii. 22). When he was full forty years old, the crisis came
when he decided to cast in his lot with his own people, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
treasures in Egypt, for he regarded "the recompense of the re-
ward " (Heb. xi. 25, 26). This was the time when he went forth to
make himself acquainted with the state of his brethren. The first
sight he saw was an Egyptian overseer beating one of the Hebrews
who worked under him. Stung with indignation, after looking
round to see that no one was near, he killed the Egyptian on the
spot, and buried his body in the sand. When he went out the next
day, he saw two men of the Hebrews striving together; and his
interference was scornfully rejected by the wrong-doer, who asked
him, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest
thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian ?" The story reached
the ears of Pharaoh, and he ordered Moses to be put to death. He
fled, however, into the desert which surrounds the head of the Red
Sea, then inhabited by the people of Midian, who were descended
from Abraham and Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2). As he was one day
seated beside a well, the seven daughters of JETHRO, the chief or
sheykh of the Midianites, came to water their flocks. The shep-
herds of other flocks, coming also to the well, rudely drove away
the women, that they might serve their own cattle first, but Moses
helped them and watered their flock. When Jethro heard of this,
he welcomed "the Egyptian," and Moses dwelt with him, like Ja-
cob with Laban, for forty years feeding his flocks. He married his
daughter Zipporah (Exod. ii. 21), who bore him a son, named Ger-
shom (a stranyer here"), and afterwards a second son, named Eliezer
(my God is a hel/>).

Moses had been forty years in Midian, pondering amidst the
seclusion of the deserts and unfrequented vales where he fed his
flocks, the past history of his fathers, and the condition of their de-
scendants in Egypt, when God's time arrived for the deliverance of
his people. When the King of Egypt, from whom Moses had fled,
lied, the oppression of the Israelites under his successor became
more severe. "And they cried, and their cry came up unto God by
:eason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God
remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Ja-
cob " (Exod. ii 23, 24).

Moses, while he was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Je-
thro, in the land of Midian, little thought, that God had chosen him
to be the future deliverer of the Israelites. Yet so it was. The
scene selected for the revelation to him of his divine mission ia <via



CO SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. IV.

of the most remai'kable spots on the surface of the earth. The pe-
ninsula of Sinai is the promontory inclosed between the two arms
of the Red Sea, terminating in its southern part in the terrific mass
of granite rocks known by the general name of Sinai. This desert
region still furnishes a scanty pasturage. As Moses was one day
leading his flock to its inmost recesses (or its west side), he came
to a mountain even then called the " Mount of God," " even Ho-
reb," from its sanctity among the Arabs. There he saw one of the
dwarf acacias of the desert wrapt in flame, which, had it been a
natural fire, would soon have consumed the dry branches, but "be-
hold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."
As Moses turned aside to see this great sight why the bush was
not burnt, the "angelJehovah" called to him out of the bush, and
said, "Draw not nigh hither ; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." The same voice
then said, " I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ; I have surely seen the afflic-
tion of my people in Egypt, and I am come down to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians. Come now, therefore, and I will
Bend thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people."
"Who am I," said Moses, "that I should go unto Pharoah, and
that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ?"
He was assured that God would be with him, and that his mission
should be fulfilled by bringing the people to worship in that mount-
ain. The,n another difficulty arose. So corrupted had the peo-
ple grown by the idolatry of Egypt, that they had most probably
forgotten the God of their fathers. They would ask, " What is his
name ?" "I AM THAT I AM," God said unto Moses. " Thus shall
ye say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you"
(Exod. iii. 1-14). He was then told to go and gather the elders
of Israel together, and to tell them that the God of Abraham, of
Isaac, and of Jacob had appeared unto him, and had said, " I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Ca-
naanites a land flowing with milk and honey." "They will not
believe me," answered Moses. "They will say, 'The Lord hath
not appeared unto thee.' " To remove the doubts of Moses about
his reception by the people, God added two signs, which he wrought
in his presence. The first was by turning his rod into a serpent,
and then into a rod again. The second was by making his hand
as white with leprosy as snow, and then turning it again as his oth-
er flesh. To these signs was added a third, the power to turn the
water of the Nile to blood (Exod. iv. 1-9).

But the clearer his mission was made to him, the more reluctant
did he feel to undertake th arduous work. He next pleads his



B.C. 1635-1491. MISSION OF MOSES. 61

want of eloquence. " O, my Lord," he says, " I am not eloquent ;
I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." He was now eighty
years of age ; for forty years he had spent a quiet and solitary
life, and the self-confidence of his earlier years had passed away.
" Go," said the Lord, " and I will be with thy mouth, and teach theo
what thou shalt say." As he was still reluctant, he was told that
his brother Aaron would meet him on his arrival in Egypt ; " he
can speak well, and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people.'
But yet the word was not to be Aaron's own. The two great func.
tions conferred by the divine mission were therefore thus divided :
Moses became the prophet, and Aaron the jiriest.

Moses then quitted Horeb and returned to Jethro. " Let me go,
I pray thee," he said to him, "and see whether my brethren in Egypt
are yet alive." "Go in peace," said Jethro. And the Lord said unto
Moses in Midian, " Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead
which sought thy life " (Exod. iv. 18, 19). Aaron, by the command
of God, went forth into the desert to meet Moses. They met at
Horeb, at the mount of God, the very spot where Moses had re-
ceived the revelation. There he informed his brother Aaron of the
mission on which he was sent, and of the signs with which it had
been accompanied. On reaching the land of Goshen, they assem-
bled the elders of Israel. "And Aaron spake all the words which
the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of
the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that
the Lord had looked upon their affliction, they bowed their heads
and worshipped" (Exod. iv. 30, 31). Moses and Aaron next sought
the presence of Pharaoh, to open the mission with which they were
charged. They told him that the Lord God of Israel had said,
"Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the
wilderness " (Exod. v. 1). " Who is the Lord," said Pharaoh, "that
I should obey his voice ? I know not the Lord, neither will I let
Israel go." Not only did the king refuse their request, but tlie
very same day he increased the burdens of the Israelites. He com-
manded the Egyptian task-masters no longer to give them the
chopped straw which was necessary to bind the friable earth into
bricks, so that the people had to lose their time in gathering straw
out of the fields for themselves. But still the full tale of bricks
was exacted from them. "They bo idle," said the king, "there-
fore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God." The
people, with this additional work, could no longer make the samo
number of bricks as before, and then the Hebrew overseers, who
were under the Egyptian task-masters, were beaten. They went to
Pharaoh, therefore, to make their troubles known. "There is no
straw given to thy servants," they said, " and yet we are required to



63 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. IV.

make brick." Their appeal was rejected : as they left the king
they met Moses and Aaron, and turned upon them, accusing them
of making the people to be still more abhorred of Pharaoh and hig
servants (Exod. v. 21).

In this strait, Moses complained to God that his mission to Pha-
raoh had served no other purpose than to increase the affliction
of the people. God then renewed his promise, and assured him
that his time was at hand. "Now thou shalt see what I will do to
Pharaoh. I appeared of old," he said, " unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name
JEHOVAH was I not known to them " (Exod. vi. 3). After this rev-
elation of His great name, the Lord made mention of the covenant
He had established to give them the land of Canaan. " I have also
heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians
keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. And I will
redeem the people out of Egypt with a stretched-out arm and with
great judgments." Moses spake all this to the children of Israel,
but they were too heart-broken to accept the consolation. Jehovah
then gave Moses and Aaron their final charge to bring the people
out of Egypt, warning them that Pharaoh would resist, but that
his resistance would only give occasion for more signal displays of
His own power. He would multiply His signs and His wonders in
the land of Egypt, that the Egyptians might know that he was the
Lord (Exod. vii. 5).

Then began that memorable contest between the King of Egypt
and the King of kings, the type of all others between the power
of God and the hardened heart of man, which was stilled only in
the waters of the Red Sea. Moses and Aaron again entered the pres-
ence of Pharaoh, and, to confirm their mission, Aaron cast down his
rod, and it became a serpent. This was the first miracle wrought
by them; but Pharaoh, still incredulous, sent for the magicians of
Egypt, who did likewise with their enchantments. The rod of
Aaron then swallowed up those of the Egyptians. But Pharaoh's
heart was still hardened, so that he hearkened not unto them, as the
Lord had said (Exod. vii. 13). The following morning, Moses was
directed to remind Pharaoh of his refusal to let the Israelites go and
erve God in the wilderness, and, as his heart was hardened against
conviction, to teach him by suffering that Jehovah was the Lord.
The miracles that followed were judgments on the king, the people,
and their gods, forming the TEN PLAGUES OF EGYPT.

i. The Plague of Blood. After a warning to Pharaoh, Aaron,
at the word of Moses, lifted up his rod, and smote the Nile in the
sight of the king and of his servants, and the river, with all its
canals and reservoirs and every vessel of water drawn from them.



B C. 1635-1491. THE TEN PLAGUES. 63

was turned into blood. The fish died ; the river stank, and the
Egyptians could not drink of its waters, but had to obtain water to
drink by digging wells. The miracle lasted for seven days ; but as
it was imitated by the magicians of Egypt with their enchantments,
it produced no impression upon Pharaoh. His heart was still
hardened (Exod. vii. 19-25 : comp. Psalm cv.).

ii. The Plague of Frogs. When Moses and Aaron were again
sent to Pharaoh, Moses was directed by the Lord to say, "Let my
people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them
go, behold I will smite all thy borders with frogs." In obedience
to the Divine command, Aaron stretched forth his hand with his
rod over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up from their
natural haunts, and swarmed in countless numbers, "even in the
chambers of their kings," and defiled the very ovens and kneading-
troughs. From this plague there was no escape, and, though it
was imitated by the magicians, Pharaoh was reduced to send for
Moses, and was fain to seek relief through prayer, and by promising
to let the people go. On the morrow the frogs died where they
were out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields
and they were gathered together upon heaps, and the land stank.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his
heart and refused to keep his word (Exod. viii. 2-15).

iii. The Plague of Lice. From the waters and marshes the pow-
er of God passed on to the dry land. When smitten by Aaron's
rod, the very dust became lice in man and in beast. The magi-
cians did the same with their enchantments, but they could not
bring forth lice. Then they said unto Pharaoh. "This is the fin-
ger of God ;" but he hearkened not unto them, for his heart was
still hardened (Exod. viii. 16-19).

iv. The Plague of flies or Beetles. Moses was now directed to
threaten Pharaoh with another plague if he refused to let the people
go. As he continued obstinate, after the river and the land, the
air was now smitten. Swarms of flies filled the air, and came into
the huuses and devoured the land ; but Goshcn was free from the
plague. Pharaoh then sent for Moses and Aaron, and gave per-
mission for the Israelites to sacrifice to their God in the land ; but
Moses replied that the Egyptians would stone them if they sacri-
ficed the creatures they worshipped. He demanded that they
might go three days' journey into the wilderness. Pharaoh now
yielded ; but no sooner was the plague removed by the prayer of
Moses, than he hardened his heart at this time also, neither would
he let the people go (Exod. viii. 21-32).

v. Plague of the Murrain of Ileasts. Still coming closer and
closer to the Egyptians, God next sent a disease upon the cattle.



64 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. IV.

At the set time, all the cattle of Egypt died, but of the cattle of the
children of Israel died not one. Still the heart of Pharaoh was
hardened, and he did not let the people go (Exod. ix. 4-7).

vi. The Plague of Boils and Blains. The next plague came
closer still. From the cattle the hand of God reached to their own
persons. Moses and Aaron were commanded to take handfuls of
ashes of the furnace, and sprinkle them towards the heaven in the
j:ght of Pharaoh. They did so ; and it became a boil breaking
forth with blains upon man and upon beast. The magicians, be-
ing themselves smitten with boils, could not appear before Moses.
Pharaoh, however, remained unmoved (Exod. ix. 8-12).

vii. The Plague of Hail. The first six plagues had been attend-
ed with much suffering and some loss, but the lives of the Egyp-
tians and their means of subsistence had not yet been touched.
Moses was now sent to threaten Pharaoh with a more terrible
judgment. He was charged to make the usual demand of the
king. " Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else I
will this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, that thou may-
est know that there is none like me in all the earth." First of all,
they were threatened with a very grievous storm of hail. Pharaoli
was told to send and collect his cattle and men under shelter, for
that every thing would die upon which the hail descended. Some
of the king's servants heeded the warning thus given, and brought
in their cattle from the field. Others disregarded it, and left them
where they were. Then the Lord sent a terrific storm of hail, thun-
der, and fire running along upon the ground, such as had never
been seen in Egypt. All that was in the field, both man and
beast, was killed ; plants were destroyed, and trees broken to pieces.
But in the land of Goshen there was no hail. Pharaoh, more
moved than he had yet been, confessed that he had sinned, prayed
that the thunder and hail might cease, and promised to let the
people go. Moses consented to prove to him once more how that
the earth is the Lord's. The storm ceased at his prayer ; but when
Pharaoh perceived that it was over, ' ' he sinned yet more, and hard-
ened his heart, he and his servants" (Exod. ix. 23-34).

viii. The Playue of Locusts. The herbage which the storm had
spared was now given up to a terrible destroyer. After a fresh
summons and a fresh warning, Pharaoh seemed inclined to let the
men go ; but when he found that they wanted to take with them
their wives, their children, and their cattle, he was highly incensed,
and Moses and Aaron were driven out from his presence. On
omitting the palace, Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of
Egypt, and an east wind sprang up, bringing with it by the next
morning myriads of locusts, which alighted upon the fields green



B.C. 1035-1491. THE PASSOVEU INSTITUTED. 65

with the young blades of corn, so that the land was darkened, and
in a little time they ate up every blade of grass, and every green
thing that the hail had left. Pharaoh then called in haste for
Moses and Aaron. "Forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once,"
he cries, " and entreat God to take away from me this death only."
Then the Lord sent a strong west wind, which took away the lo-
custs, as an east wind had brought them ; but their removal left his
beart harder than ever (Exod. x. 1-20).

ix., x. The Plague of Darkness, and the Prediction of the Death of
(fie First-born. Still Pharaoh remained obdurate. For three days,
therefore, there was a thick darkness over the sunny land of Egypt,
" even darkness which might be felt ; while all the children of Is-
rael had light in their dwellings." While it lasted, the Egyptians
were unable to see one another, or to stir -out of their houses.
Pharaoh then sent for Moses, and said that they might go, with
their wives and children, but their flocks must be left. Moses re-
plied : " Our cattle also shall go with us ; there shall not a hoof be