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 pass 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 pass, 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 asses 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 asses, 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 asses, 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 Manasseh shall be to me as Reuben and
Simeon. And he laid his right hand on Ephraim, and named Ephraim the
younger before Manasseh, and said: In thee shall Israel bless and say:
God make thee like Ephraim and Manasseh. 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 ass to the vine, and the colt of his she-ass 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 Hittite, 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
Manasseh, 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 assists 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 circumstances 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 assuming 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 worship of the sun god
Ra, and the god 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 passed
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 circumstance 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 assumption 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 assumed 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 assumed 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 canal 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 canal followed, crosses the
land of Goshen. Cities could not be founded here till the canal from the
Nile had provided water in sufficient quantity. 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 canal 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 gods
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 class 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 Hittites, 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 Hittites, 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 circumstances 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 assimilate 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 canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf. As
the fortification surrounded Goshen, so the canal ran athwart it, from
Bubastis to the Lake of Crocodiles. If this canal, 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 canal
made it possible to change the pastures along the canal 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 assume, 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 assume 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, Hittites, Midianites, and Amalekites, could hardly
have allowed sufficient space.
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 shield, 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
passion 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 Manasseh 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 Manasseh 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] Noeldeke, "Untersuchungen," s. 32.
[605] De Wette-Schrader, "Einleitung," s. 273 ff.
[606] Ebers, "Durch Gosen," s. 430; "AEgypt. und die Buecher Moses," s.
330, 323 ff.
[607] Ebers, "AEgypt. und die Buecher Moses," s. 321, 322.
[608] Above p. 196; Ebers, _loc. cit._ s. 347.
[609] Lepsius, "Chronol." s. 382; Ebers, "AEgypten und die Buecher 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, assuming 25 years as the length of
a generation.
[613] 1 Kings vi. 1.
[614] Lepsius, "Chronolog." s. 365. On the possible twelve
representatives of those twelve generations, Noeldeke, "Untersuchungen,"
s. 190.
[615] Exod. i. 11; Gen. xlvii. 11.
[616] Exod. v. 6-11.
[617] Exod. i. 7, 13, 14.
[618] Chabas, "Melang. egypt." pp. 2, 42 ff. That _lutu_ means
"Egyptians," as Ebers ("AEgypt." s. 96) thinks, is by no means certain.
[619] Ebers, "Durch Gosen." p. 494.
[620] Lauth, "Moses," s. 1.
[621] Exod. i. 10.
[622] Exod. xii. 37. Numb. i. 46.
[623] "With 600,000 men, besides the children," Exod. xii. 37, 38.
Numbers i. 22-46, enumerates 603,550 fighting men, who could take the
field, in the total sum, and in the totals for the several tribes, to
which must be added 22,000 male Levites, men and boys, Numb. iii. 39.
The question seems to me to be settled by Noeldeke ("Untersuchungen," s.
117).
[624] 1 Chron. vi. 18.
[625] Above, p. 409; Gen. xxxv. 22.
[626] Gen. xxxiv. 13, 25-30, xxxviii.
[627] De Wette-Schrader, "Einleitung," s. 280, n. 54.
[628] Gen. xlviii, 20.
[629] Gen. xlviii. 5; above, p. 425.