"My brethren, and my father's house, that were in the land of Canaan, are come to me, and the men are shepherds."

"And when he shall call you and shall say," What is your occupation ?"

"You shall answer: We thy servants are shepherds. ... And this you shall say, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, because the Egyptians have all shepherds in abomination." Gen. xlvi, 31, 34.

How could Joseph expect his father and brothers to be received the more favorably by Pharaoh on account of their occupation as shepherds, whereas shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians?

The answer to this is found in the fact which a stranger to Egypt would not have known. Pharaoh was one of the shepherd kings, a foreign race from Canaan. Thus he would the more readily admit strangers to power in his dominion, and especially Canaanites, though the Egyptians were very jealous against strangers. Thus also the circumstance of these strangers being shepherds, though it would render them odious to the Egyptians, would make them more dear to the king whose family were of the same occupation.

An impostor writing hundreds of years after Moses could never have dreamed of inserting such a circumstance into his history; or if he had done so, he would have given an explanation which would have reconciled the apparent contradiction. The history is told with the simplicity of truth, by one who was conscious that he was telling the truth and that the truth would vindicate itself; and now, after the lapse of more than 33 centuries, the testimony of witnesses

who have been 36 centuries in their tombs has been recovered, and this testimony authenticates the Mosaic record.

CHAPTER XXV.

AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF THE PENTATEUCH. THE BONDAGE IN EGYPT.

AFTER the death of Jacob and his sons, the Israelites "grew exceedingly strong and filled the land." (Ex. i, 7.)

"In the meantime there arose a new king over Egypt that knew not Joseph."

"And he said to his people, Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous, and stronger than we.'

"Come, let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply, and if any war shall rise against us, join with our enemies, and having overcome us, depart out of the land."

"Therefore he set over them masters of the works to afflict them with burdens, and they built for Pharaoh cities of tabernacles, Pithom and Rameses."

"And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them, and mocked them." (Exod. i.)

Concerning the exact date of these events there is some uncertainty. It is generally acknowledged that the Exodus of the children of Israel occurred about 1491 B. C. Assuming this as correct, or very nearly so, we would have the date of the decree for the destruction of the male Hebrew children, 1571 B. C., and the king who knew not Joseph would be reign

ing at that date. This brings us necessarily into the 18th or 19th dynasty of Egyptian history.

There is a great deal of difference of opinion between learned Egyptiologists as to the exact dates when the monarchs of the 18th and 19th dynasties reigned. I do not pretend to settle these differences, but there are some facts which are acknowledged as demonstrated by the testimony of the monuments. We have already shown how aptly the history of Joseph fits the reigns of some of the shepherd kings, during whose reigns Joseph must have flourished. We shall now see how the monumental testimony fits the history of Moses.

"A king arose that knew not Joseph." We have seen how this fact is confirmed by the expulsion of the Shepherd dynasty. A king succeeds to the throne who would naturally be hostile to the Canaanites, who would be supposed to be favorable to the Canaanite dynasty. The Israelites are therefore illtreated and reduced to slavery. Even an attempt is made to exterminate the nation in a short time by a decree for the destruction of the male children.

The cruelty with which slaves were treated is often depicted on the monuments of Egypt. The huge stones which are found in the walls of the temples and their quadrangular precincts, and those which are found in the colonnades were brought to their places by sheer human force, working on inclined planes, and any dilatoriness or mistake was visited on the unhappy delinquent with most cruel scourgings. This accords exactly with the description given in Ex. i: "Come, let us wisely oppress them," and "he set over them masters of the works to afflict them with burdens."

When the Israelites were thus reduced to slavery, an immense number of men were at once added to the usual number employed on the public works. Indeed, when the Egyptian priests related their history to Diodorus they explained that the great works of Sesostris had been entirely erected by forced labor of his captives. This was to be expected, for such was always the custom, when possible. The memory of Cheops was detested in Egypt because he had employed upon the great pyramid which bears his name, the forced labor of his own subjects. Sesostris would also have been held in detestation if he had done the same. The fact that he was always venerated confirms what Diodorus states.

With the immense number of workmen added to the usual workmen, it is to be expected that the monuments of some one limited period, or of some one king would far exceed the works of many of the most famous building periods together, and if the Bible account be true, we may reasonably look for this to be the case; and if this be the case, we shall have at once a strong confirmation of the Bible history. We shall have a proof that the writer of the Pentateuch was familiar with Egypt and its past history.

Diodorus and Herodotus both visited Egypt, and many of the things they repeat are fabulous. They repeat the stories told them by the Egyptian priests, and many things they say will not stand the crucial test of comparison with the monumental records. Any impostor of later days than Moses would have fallen into similar errors, more especially as the details given are such as would expose to an easy detection as soon as they would be tested by the facts.

What then is the testimony of the monuments in regard to the accession of so many workmen? The entire number must have been about 300,000 or 400,000 at least.

There is a short period in the monumental history of Egypt which in the grandeur and number of its public works excels the ages of all the Pharaohs that came before and after it. This period is the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty. Seti II. reigned probably about thirty years. "He erected the great temple of Osiris, at Abydos, and built the famous hall of columns in the palace of Karnak.” His warlike exploits are represented by an immense series of magnificent sculptures. Ramesses II. succeeded him and reigned at least 66 or 67 years. Ramesses was the greatest builder among the Pharaohs. Obelisks, temples and magnificent edifices of all kinds are among his works.

In the Delta, in Nubia and Egypt proper, nearly every mound and every ruin is marked with his name. Truly, then, this must be the period when the "king arose who knew not Joseph." The persecution of the Israelites must have begun with one of the kings of this period, perhaps with Ramesses himself.

Since Champollion's day, learned Egyptiologists have come to the conclusion that the accounts given of Sesostris by Herodotus and Diodorus are grossly inaccurate. In this case the views of Mr. Champollion may need to be modified. It becomes unnecessary to account for the silence of Moses concerning Sesostris. It is now generally believed that Ramesses II. was the Sesostris of the Greeks (American Cyclopædia, Art. Egypt,) and the silence of Moses is suffi