



<, l.cfore oon*idcrintf tho constitution of the kingdom of 



Israel, nk--t'-li l>ri<>Ily tin- priiH'ipul feature* of Jewish history 



no when a kin? wan demanded. Certain Arabs, 



known to us in Itihlical writings an the sons of Jacob, fed 



t!n< <-mitry westward of Lower Egypt, 



lii- life of shepherds in a land barely fruitful 



t them. This difficulty naturally increased 



with tli.- !!: i-o of population, and at times the chiefs 



were straitened to know what to do for food. These chiefs 



were non-elective heads of families, exercising despotic power 



over children and children's children, their authority being 



chocked only by fear of physical resistance in their subjects. 



They were what Tartar or Arab chiefs are in the present day 



hiiil rulers, governing not according to any fixed law, 



hut giving judgment according to discretion upon each case as 



it arose. 



It so happened that about the year B.C. 1706 a drought of un- 

 usual severity forced those Arabs to look beyond their own mi- 

 ni. ,liuto compounds for sustenance for themselves and their little 

 ones. Many of tho cattle and sheep died, and it was becoming 

 a question of human lives also. To the neighbouring land of 

 Egypt the eyes of the Arabs were turned ; the dread of famine 

 overcame their repugnance to mix with people alien to them- 

 selves, and some of the great chief's sons were sent down by 

 their father to buy the necessary supplies in the fruitful land 

 of Egypt. Egypt was tho market in which they hod been 

 accustomed to sell the surplus of their own stocks. It was 

 already known to them commercially and by repute as one of 

 the most flourishing and richest countries in the world. Peri- 

 odically it had been their practice to send down thither, and we 

 have mention mode in the Bible of some of these visits. 

 Generally, however, they did their business through agents, 

 merchants who came up expressly from Egypt to deal with the 

 wanderers, and returned with their purchases in a caravan. To 

 such dealers, a short while before the famine alluded to, the 

 sons of Jacob sold their younger brother Joseph, against whom 

 they had a jealousy ; and from such dealers they would gladly 

 have bought all the supplies of food they needed. But the 

 famine was so sore in the land that the merchants would not 

 come up into it, and those who sought produce from Egypt 

 were therefore compelled to go down into that land and seek 

 it there. The sons of Jacob went down, under the circum- 

 stances so familiar to readers of the Old Testament history, 

 and found "corn in Egypt." This was sold to them by the 

 governor of the province, who proved to be their owu brother, 

 and whose excellent behaviour and able administration had 

 won for him the rnlership over many cities, and the right of 

 entry into the joy of his lord. 



Political circumstances, which were stated at length in the 

 Historic Sketch of Ancient Egypt. (Vol. HI., page 206), in. 

 duced the Pharaoh who at that time roigned over Egypt to 

 invite the Israelites to settle in that country. He knew what 

 Joseph had done towards re-organising the kingdom, and he 

 doubtless thought that a whole nation of such men would be 

 a splendid leaven to mix with the elements of his own state. 

 Besides, the Israelites were children of the desert, accustomed 

 to rough it, and likely to shame the Egyptians out of some of 

 the efl'eminacy into which they had fallen. They would also, 

 established on the confines of the kingdom desertwards, act as 

 a shield between the Egyptians and those marauding dwellers 

 in the desert who afterwards overthrew the native rulo in 

 Egypt. Thus we find that, by the space of about 215 years, 

 the Israelites, invited by the Pharaoh who was Joseph's friend, 

 abode in the land of Egypt, and suffered all and more than tho 

 tyranny imposed upon the Egyptians by those Hyksos, or 

 shepherd-kings, who looked upon the Israelites as traitors to 

 tho original nomadic mode of life. The history of their ad- 

 versity is more familiar to us than that of their prosperity, and 

 we know comparatively little of what they did, or of what 

 influence they exorcised in the land of their adoption. Probably 

 their influence was less beneficial than the Pharaoh, who judged 

 of them by what Joseph was, hoped it would be. They were in 

 more senses than one " a peculiar people, ' ' living distinct from the 

 rest of mankind, not likely to weld themselves in with tho mass 

 of the people, and not calculated, therefore, to perform tho part 

 of the leaven which Pharaoh had hoped for. But they were treated 

 with a wise liberality and a uniform kindness till there arose a 

 Pharaoh " that knew not Joseph," till the shepherd-kings had 



come in from the dcnert and mingled Egyptian and Israelite in 

 a common ruin. The story of their wrong*, and of the mar- 

 vellons circumstances under which they wen delivered from the 

 most galling bondage, w written in the book* of Mo*e*. There, 

 too, will be found the hwtory of their wandering* for forty 

 years in the wilderness. Moaos, committed to pocitfo* action 

 in behalf of his people by the homicide of the Egypt**" "Horn 

 he slow for insulting a Hebrew, wa* the man under whose 

 guidance the Inraelite were brought out of the land with a 

 mighty hand and a stretched-oat arm. The difficult*** he 

 encountered in getting permiuion to go, the miracle* that had 

 to be wrought the last with *o much dreadful destruction to 

 life before the permission wa* accorded, the pursuit by the 

 King of Egypt, the overthrow of hi* army in the Red Sea, the 

 entry of the Israelite* into the desert beyond, and their history 

 during the forty years before they entered the promised land, 

 we know from the hand of MOM* himself, or of one who wa* hi* 

 companion and amanuensis. By the light of that bi*tory it i* 

 not difficult to see that the Israelites were just exactly the 

 people not to be contented with the theocratic government 

 which Moses established over them. Though educated enough 

 to comprehend the folly .of idol worship, and to know that dis- 

 union in the state meant political weaknes*, they, neverthele**, 

 under circumstances whi. h made it extreme sin in them, again 

 and again committed idolatry, and conspired also to overturn 

 the authority of him under whose solo leadership alone they 

 were safe. In the same spirit as that of the insulting inquiry, 

 "Who made thee a ruler over us? " the Israelite* conspired 

 against the authority of Moses, who, rigorous a* he neces- 

 sarily was, in the presence of facts that rendered it impera- 

 tive there should be "a dictator whom all men should obey," 

 exercised his authority with a wonderful amount of self-denial, 

 and with a constant feeling of intense responsibility to the 

 visible majesty of Jehovah, who was the Lord and King 

 of the people. If we sometimes pause as we road the narrative 

 of Moses' acts, and note that in some cases the punishment 

 meted out by him to rebels appears to be in excess of tho 

 offence, we should remember that under circumstance* like 

 those which surrounded him cruelty is often merciful, and 

 that he resented not any injury to himself, though he was 

 insulted, maligned, and provoked every day of his life, but 

 high treason to Him whose steward and servant he wa*. 

 When he himself, or when Aaron was in question, he could afford 

 to let the slanderer speak, to brook the insulting word and 

 gesture, and to pass by in contempt the murxnnrings of the dis- 

 contented. But when the words and deeds of rebellion were 

 directed towards the Almighty, the zeal of God's servant knew 

 no bounds ; he called down the lightning from heaven upon the 

 offenders, and bade the earth open and swallow them up ; the 

 quality of mercy was dried up in him ; he invoked God's 

 "wrath, anger, and displeasure" upon the people, and prayed 

 of Him to send evil angels among them. Only when the people 

 were humbled and cowed would he intercede for them, only 

 when they had been persuaded by the terrors of the Lord would 

 he consent to ask God to hold his hand. 



A government like that of Moses was new to the people. 

 They had seen priestly government, or rather the priestly 

 ascendancy in the government, in Egypt, but there the jealousy 

 of statesmen and the need for secular aids had prevented the 

 complete domination of the priesthood. But a pure priesthood, 

 reflecting the image of the heavenly King, was more than they 

 could tolerate, if not more than they could understand. They 

 could not bear the light which as a pillar of fire accompanied 

 them, they resented the prying gaze of an eye which was unable 

 to look on iniquity. Moses was the human representative of 

 that light, of that eye ; tho incarnate expression of that Law- 

 giver whose laws it was so impossible for poor human nature to 

 obey ; and therefore the rebellion* against him and his autho- 

 rity were not many only but desperate, exhibiting a complete 

 abandon of all the higher and better instincts, such as might be 

 naturally expected of those who felt they could not attain to the 

 brilliancy of the light at tho same time that they could not 

 escape from it. The Jews seem to have been utterly unaware of 

 the representative part they were destined to play in the history 

 of the world, and to have looked only to present ease or 

 advantage in framing their rules of conduct. They walked 

 by sight and not at all by faith, and they stumbled at every 

 turn. 



