Chap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 2c-. 



under the patriarchal government of Jacob, the third in defcent from 

 Abraham. At this time we are told that all the fouls of the houfe 

 of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three /core aiid ten^ includ- 

 ing Jofeph and his two fons, and Jacob himfelf, but without rec- 

 koning the wives of Jacob's fons *. They increafed fo much in 

 Egypt, that Pharaoh, the king of the country, began to be afraid 

 that fome time or another tliey might join with his enemies f. He, 

 therefore, laid very heavy burthens upon them, and made them la- 

 bour very hard in building cities; and, not content with that, he 

 wanted that the midwives fhould kill all the males that were born of 

 the Jewiih women J. But v/e are told, that the more they laboured 

 and were afflided, the more they multiplied and grew§; in fo much, 

 that though they Vv^ere in Egypt no longer than 430 years |j, they 

 were multiplied from 70 to 600,000, that were men, that is, as 

 I underftand the word, were grown to be men, befides children 1[, 

 Now thefe with the children, (which muft have been very numer- 

 ous, among a people whofe children did not die under age as ours 

 do; — not lefs, 1 think, than thrice the number of grown men), mull: 

 have made altogether little lefs than two millions, befides the w^o- 

 men, whom we cannot fuppofe to be fewer than the men ; fo that 

 altogether they were four millions ; — an amazing increafe of 70 men 

 and their wives, in the fpace of 430 years. When they w^ere in the 

 wildcrnefs of Sinai, in the fccond year after their departure from E- 

 gypt**, they were numbered accurately by their tribes; and we have 

 the numbers of each tribe, which altogether amounted to 603,500, 

 of men that were 20 years old and upwards, and fit to eo furth to 

 war ft, befides the tribe of Lev'i^ which was numbered by itfelf 

 and amounted to 22,000 males of a month old and upwards fj. 



But 



* Genefis* chap. xlvi. v. 26. and 27. f Exod. chap. i. v. 9. and ro. 



-t Ibid. V. 1 1, c^x. § Ibid. V. 12. I) Ibid. chap. xii. V. .10. 



1 Ibid. V. 3;. ** Numbers, chap. i. v. i. 



H" Ibid. V. 45. and .\Cu J.|. Ibid, cliap. iii, v. 3c). 



