On the Arabian Frontier of Egypt. 231 



It may not be unworthy of a passing notice to add, in con- 

 clusion, that by comparing the present state of the Egyptian 

 frontier district with its primitive condition, as deduced from 

 the numerous historical and topographical details upon which 

 this inquiry is founded, we obtain a natural explanation of a 

 very remarkable passage in Isaiah, intended as a prophetic 

 intimation of the desolate state in which the land, once so 

 familiar to the Hebrews, was destined to remain during the 

 latter days preceding the final restoration. 



" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD will 

 again set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of 

 his people. * * * And the Lord will utterly destroy 

 (or dry up) the tongue of the Egyptian Sea, and with his 

 mighty wind He will wave his hand over the river, and smite it 

 in the seven streams, so that one may walk over in sandals ; 

 and there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, 

 that are left of Assyria, as there was to Israel in the day 

 that he ascended out of Egypt."— (Isaiah, ch. xi., ver. 11-15.) 



Sir Gardner Wilkinson* has already suggested the possi- 

 ble application of the last clause in ver. 15, to the present 

 physical condition of the river of Egypt. May not its be- 

 ginning be deemed an equally significant allusion to the fu- 

 ture condition of her sea, under the same stage of the great 

 providential dispensation] If it has really come to pass, 

 that all the natural mouths of the Nile are so reduced as to 

 be, literally, crossed over " in sandals ;" the only channels 

 remaining navigable all the year round being the two which 

 Herodotus says were the work of art ; it is equally true that, 

 since the days of Isaiah, " the tongue of the Egyptian Sea" 

 lias ceased to exist. For whether we read, as in the present 

 state of the Hebrew text, DnnPl.t incorrectly translated, 



* Modern Egypt and Thebes, vol. i. 



t Gesenius follows the present text, and takes it in the sense of a threat or 

 imprecation. This is not far from the radical sense of the word ; which is to de- 

 vote, excommunicate, anathemke, a sentence which, in some cases, did involve 

 he destruction of whatever had been so devoted ; but the word does not in itself 

 mean " to destroy," and, therefore, does not seem a fit expression to apply to a 

 ea in the present case. The slight difference in the formation of the final 

 letter, which would alter its signification to " dry up," is supported by the 

 Chaldce version that has {J^^» dnj up. The Scptu.igint translators also must 

 have read ^>")nn. ■'''"«<' thoy render this word in the passage in qiicslion 



