2. THE EXILES IN EGYPT.

(B. C. 1491-1406.)

AFTER many years of domestic trouble, although very rich in herds and flocks, Jacob, the "farmer shepherd," was compelled during a period of short crops to seek aid from Egypt, as his grandfather had done many years before. Unknown to him, his favorite son Joseph, long mourned as dead, was living in that country. The memory of home and country had protected him from the vices of Egyptian life, and he had become so prized for temperance, integrity, and wisdom that the proud Pharaoh had made him his prime minister and guardian of the national charities and treasure.

At one time the king had strange dreams, and his shrewdest advisers could give them no sensible meaning. In those days, all dreams were supposed to have some prophetic meaning. An officer whom Joseph had befriended under similar circumstances brought him to the king, and he at once proved himself to be "the most wise and discreet of all;" for he so accurately foretold a future failure of the river Nile to supply sufficient water for a crop, that ample supplies were secured in advance. to meet the famine which the dream predicted. And so it happened that Joseph, at the age of thirty, after an exile of thirteen years, was loved and honored second only to the king himself. Meanwhile, his cruel brothers. who had sold him into slavery were actually at the point of starvation, and were sent by their aged father to beg help of Pharaoh.

The boy of seventeen had become a mighty prince, and held the keys of the vast grain warehouses whose ruins have recently been unearthed and fully recognized.

Without avenging his wrongs upon his dependent brothers, and ever mindful of the cherished traditions of his people that they were to have a country of their own, and one which should exceed all others in richness and beauty, he invited the family to make a temporary home with him. The aged father promptly emigrated to Egypt; and, because of their pastoral tastes, the entire family were located in one of the best agricultural tracts of land in the valley of the Nile.

As the venerable patriarch declined in years, he adopted the two sons of Joseph as his own, and died with the parting blessing which foretold the future greatness and power of his people.

"A procession of more than ordinary pomp," says Geikie, "accompanied his remains to the old home.

"Three generations were brought up on Joseph's knees, until his life also drew to its close. But princely surroundings and the luxury of a brilliant court had not abated his patriotic fervor, nor weakened his faith in a future national existence of his people. He solemnly bound his countrymen by an oath that when they should be brought out of Egypt, 'into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' his own bones should be borne thither, to rest with those of his fathers."

Long years passed away. The prosperous shepherds, located in a fertile valley, and for a long time favored as the kinsmen of the mighty Joseph, became content with their easy lot. It was not until his memory had faded out, and jealousy of their prosperity and growth had aroused Egyptian jealousy and hate, that they felt the burden of an increasing oppression which despoiled life of all that made it restful and blessed. Then they began to realize something of the inspiration, energy, and faith of their fathers, and found a deliverer able to lead them to the new country of their promised destiny.

3. A PEOPLE DELIVERED.

(B. C. 1491.)

A VAST host started from Rameses under Moses, the earliest proclaimer of the essential equality of all ranks and races. He was virtually king, but disdained the ambition of the name. His office brought with it immeasurable difficulties. Out of a horde, he had to form a nation, conquering a home for it, giving it social and religious laws, and making it a people fit for a noble, religious life.

Yet, at first, all went well. Intense anxiety to escape from the hated oppressor, joyful trust in their leader, and bright hopes of the future, had aroused the long-enslaved masses to a wondrous energy; and the sight of thousands on every side must have awakened a new sense of power. They still had fresh water and fodder for their cattle, and the way was still open before them. The one thought in every bosom was, "Canaan, the land flowing with milk. and honey," and their one tacit demand was, that they should be led thither at once.

At the close of a march of about fifteen miles they encamped at Succoth, "place of tents," perhaps already the settlement of some shepherd tribes. Camping the next day near the bastions of Etham, a fortress at the edge of the wilderness of the same name, voices were heard regretting that they had not remained slaves. Their great leader, however, knew not only the character of his countrymen, but also the relations of the kings of Egypt with the kings of Palestine, and had foreseen exactly what had now happened. The people had set out, full of hope that they would soon reach, and if necessary conquer, the promised land. He had led them to the

frontier fortresses; and now that they stormily clamored for their old life rather than face the dangers that threatened them, he was ready to cheer them by the intimation that they would not have to fight, but might take another, less dangerous, road towards the sea. He had first to lead them out of Egypt, and then to train them to discipline, order, and worthy aims in life.

Turning, therefore, to the south, at some distance from the frontier-wall, the multitude hastened on. Their retreat from before Etham had the effect of deceiving the Egyptians, by leading them to suppose that Moses had lost his way, or had given up the design of breaking through to the east, and was wandering in the desert.

Ordering his own war-chariots and six hundred selected chariots besides, as his immediate escort, supported by all the chariot force of Egypt, with fighting men in each, Pharaoh started in hot haste after the Hebrews. Launching his magnificent squadrons upon the prey, the horses, to use the words of an old papyrus, "swift as jackals, their eyes like fire, their fury like that of a hurricane when it burst," the doom of the Hebrew seemed sealed.

The fugitives had broken up their encampment. Marching slowly towards the sea, the murmur of the waves on the beach was already heard, when the clouds of dust on the horizon told them that they were pursued. Terror once more seized the host at the sight, and fierce accusations of Moses were mingled with loud cries of despair of escape. And still their great leader, ever calm in the midst of danger, kept the alarm from degenerating into a ruinous panic, by words which, after the fine figure of Ebers, "shone out over the wailing multitude like the sun rising in his majesty on the lost and almost spent travelle." The order was given, "Go forward!" though the water apparently barred their way. The pursuing Egyptians reached the strand when most of the Hebrews,

with their cattle, had crossed in safety. It was a question whether the pursuers should at once dash in after them, or seek to overtake them by a circuit along the shore. Man and horse were tired out by forced marches, and the night was inpenetrably dark. At Etham, Jehovah had vouchsafed to guide His people by a cloud during the day, and fire by night, as Eastern armies still follow, in many cases, signals of fire and smoke at the front of the march. This light, which Pharaoh may have taken as a signal common to advancing armies at night, had moved from before, to the rear of the Hebrews, quickening and guiding laggards and stragglers, while misleading the Egyptians as to the progress of the host, as a body. Thinking that the storm would keep the waters back, and seeing the prey so near, the passion of the pursuers overcame their prudence. Their squadrons therefore rushed to the ford, rank pressing on rank, after those who claimed to know the way, towards the light which they might well fancy marked the leader's place in front. Meanwhile, according to Josephus, a terrible storm of rain, with dreadful thunder and lightning, broke out, and helped, with the loud and fierce wind, to bewilder the charioteers. Advance was henceforth hopeless, but so also was retreat; for the wheels sank in the water-covered sand, and bent or snapped the axles, hurling the charioteers headlong from their places, "like stones from a sling." Ere long, the chariots and the heavily mailed soldiers of Pharaoh, held in the remorseless grip of the yielding sands, were overwhelmed, and miserably perished.

Next morning all was over, and the triumphant Hebrews "saw the Egyptian dead lying in heaps upon the shore."

CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE.