they arrived in the presence of their father, and related the hard condition which had been imposed upon them by the Egyptian governor, he positively refused to allow Benjamin to be taken from his sight; nor would he consent to the request, nor trust the solemn asseverations, of his sons, until he found his family again on the brink of starvation.

To describe the meeting of Joseph with Benjamin, the affecting scene which was exhibited when he discovered himself to his brethren, and the joy of the venerable patriarch, when he once more received to his embrace the child of his tenderest affections, is as unnecessary for the purposes of this history as it is impossible. The spirit and beauty of the inspired narrative would evaporate and be tarnished in the attempt, and the fascination which attaches to the matchless history would be lost in the transmutation of the language.

What was the consequence of the restoration of Joseph to his father?

The result of the restoration of Joseph to his father and brothers, was the migration of the whole

family of Jacob into the land of Egypt. Prior A. C. 1796. to the departure of the Patriarch from Canaan, he performed a special act of worship at Beersheba, because the change in the residence of his family required the peculiar protection of God, and especially because the covenant which was made with him and his fathers having respect to the inheritance of Canaan, it was necessary, in departing from that country, to refer to the divine direction, and to plead the fulfilment of the divine promise. In accordance with this representation, God repeated his assurances upon this important subject, he solemnly promised the increase of the posterity of Jacob into a great nation in Egypt, and the certainty of their deliverance and return by the special interposition of his providence and power.

What was the number of the family of Jacob at their migration into Egypt, and in what part of the kingdom were they settled?

The family of the Patriarch consisted of seventy persons when they arrived in Egypt, and they were

D

immediately stationed in the land of Goshen, where they resided distinct from the native population of the country. Shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians, because they vividly retained in their recollection the horrible devastations and cruelties of a pastoral Asiatic tribe which burst in upon their country, polluted their altars, murdered their priests, and through the reigns of six successive monarchs, indulged in the wildest excesses of ferocious and tyrannical barbarity. The aversion of the Egyptians against the shepherds, has also been accounted for by the fact, that the latter were accustomed to make those animals articles of food, which the Egyptians worshipped as Deities. Goshen was admirably calculated for the residence of the Hebrews; it was the frontier province of the kingdom next to Canaan; and the prodigious fertility of its pastures, afforded ample supplies for their numerous flocks and herds. Their reception in Egypt was highly honourable, and accorded with the national obligations to the wisdom and vigour of the administration of Joseph. The venerable Israel was presented before the throne of Pharaoh; some of his family were appointed to pastoral offices under the king; and supplies were afforded with royal munificence to the numerous persons composing his retinue, notwithstanding the ravages of the famine, and the prejudices of the people.

How were the sons of Joseph rendered the heads of tribes?

When seventeen years had rolled away, in which the family of Jacob wonderfully increased in numbers and in wealth, he felt that the termination of his eventful life was at hand. Joseph repaired to his dying father, with his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. The patriarch recapitulated the glorious promises and the innumerable mercies of his God; he gave to Manasseh and to Ephraim a station in his family corresponding with that of his own sons, thus constituting them the legitimate heads of tribes; and, directed by a divine influence, he gave to Ephraim the younger a superior blessing to that of Manasseh the elder. He then collected his sons, and gave them a sublime and splendid description of the destiny of their descendants-a de

scription which to the very letter was fulfilled in the subsequent ages of the world.

For what was the dying prophecy of Jacob memorable? The dying prophecy of Jacob is principally memorable for one particular prediction, which has not only a momentous reference to the vital interests of the human race, but which furnishes a principle of peculiar importance in the history of the Jews. This prediction is contained in the description of the destiny and glory of the tribe of Judah. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." It neither accords with the limits of this work, nor does it belong to the province of an historian, to present any professed criticism upon such a passage as this. It is sufficient to observe, that the original meaning of the word Shiloh, in this passage is, "He whose right it is ;" and the import of the declaration is "The legislative and executive authority shall not depart from Judah, until he shall come to whom the sovereignty rightfully belongs, and to him shall the homage of the people be rendered." The best of the Targumists thus expresses its signification, "There shall never be wanting a ruler out of the house of Judah, nor a chief judge out of her sons sons, until Messiah shall come, to whom the kingdom belongs, and the nations shall hear and obey him." This prediction then asserted that from the tribe of Judah this great personage should come; that until his appearance the independence of that particular tribe should not be permanently lost; but that subsequently to his advent, its glory might be eclipsed, the sceptre be wrested from its grasp, and its preeminence disappear for ever. How far this representation of this prophecy accords with the events which have occurred in the history of the Jews, the following narrations of this volume will sufficiently prove.

Mention the deaths of Jacob and Joseph.

When he had concluded his last instructions to his lamenting children, when he had thus accomplished the will of God and finished his eventful course, Israel "gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the

ghost, and was gathered unto his people." His command to be interred in the cave of Macpelah the burying-place of his fathers, was obeyed by his children. A magnificent cavalcade surrounded the remains of the patriarch, and "the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, with their chariots and their horsemen, an exceeding great company," conveyed him to his paternal grave. Almost sixty years Joseph survived his father, and he died with an exclamation of conA. C. 1635. fidence upon his lips, that his family would return from Egypt a great and powerful nation according to the promises of God. His body was embalmed, and was sacredly preserved by his kindred, until their conquering entrance into Canaan enabled them to place it in the promised land.

What was the condition of the Israelites after the death of Joseph ?

From the time of the death of Joseph, the Israelites begin to appear as a distinct and increasing nation; and instead of having to record the actions of mere individuals, and the migrations of a single pastoral family, the historian will be called to describe a series of national revolutions, beyond all comparison, the most interesting and sublime that ever arrested the attention, or demanded the investigation, of the human mind.

CHAPTER III.

FROM THE SLAVERY IN EGYPT TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW.

SECTION I.

THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT.

DID the Children of Israel increase in the land of Egypt?

THE children of Israel, in the favourable circumstances in which they were permitted to flourish in the land of Goshen, soon multiplied so prodigiously, that the whole province was filled with their numbers. Without fully acceding to the representations of the Jewish, and of some Christian, writers, who have considered their rapid increase as the immediate consequence of miraculous agency, it is certain that it was in a great measure to be attributed to the peculiar blessing of God.

What was the conduct of the Egyptians to the Israelites?

The Egyptians soon became alarmed at the growing greatness of a people, whose actions showed that they were capable of formidable enterprise, and endowed with resolute valour. An inroad of the children of Ephraim upon the inhabitants of Gath, mentioned by the author of the book of Chronicles, though it was unsuccessful, proves that the Israelites were not destitute of martial energy. When a sovereign ascended the throne, who was insensible to the debt of gratitude his subjects owed to the posterity of Joseph, the Israelites began to feel the full effects of the jealousy and animosity of their neighbours. Apprehending that upon any invasion of their country, which past