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teeuth dynasty the Egyptian people uiulerweufc a gieat change, as great a 

 change as we underwent at one time by our relations with France. The 

 language of Egypt also underwent a considerable alteration, and a number of 

 Semitic words were then introduced into that language, just as a large number 

 of French Avords were inserted into ours, until at length it became a mark 

 of good breeding to interpolate the literature of Egypt with Semitic words. 

 This was one of the great etlects produced by the contact that had taken 

 place between Semites and Egypt. But there is another question that awaits 

 solution on the part of those who wield the pick and the shovel, and that is. 

 What was the influence of Egypt on the Semites, and Avhat did the Jews 

 bring out of Egypt ? It is a very remarkable thing, with regard to Numbers 

 and Exodus, that there are numerous strong proofs of the truly historical 

 and Egyptological character of these books. It is important to notice the 

 numerous indications of Egyptian knowledge exhibited by the writer of the 

 Pentateuch, yet it is quite evident that the Levitical code was not based 

 upon an Egyptian model, but rather was a revival and elaboration of the 

 code common alike to all the great Semitic family in Arabia, Syria, and the 

 Euphrates Valley. The discovery of the dyed leather funeral tent of the 

 Egyptian queen proves the employment of such materials by the Egyptians 

 at the time of the Exodus as are described in the Hebrew writings as used 

 in the construction of the Tabernacle ; but the Tabernacle itself must be 

 regarded rather as a form of the great sacred tent common to the Arabs 

 long before the time of Abraham ; while the sacrificial code resembles in the 

 most minute details that of the Semitic Babylonians, I think that, if the ex- 

 plorations that are to be undertaken are carried out on the site of Zoan, we shall 

 have put before us more clearly and fully the influence that was brought to bear 

 on the Jews. In the houses and lower parts of the town we may find records of 

 the Jews, even at the time of the Exodus, and possibly some few specimens of 

 the writing which the Jews brought out of Egypt, and which they borrowed 

 from the Egyptians. There is one point on which I might be able to throw 

 a little light derived from the evidence coming to us of the civilisation of 

 Asia. The word Zar has been much spoken of in this paper, and attention 

 is called to the passage which is quoted from the 13th chapter of Genesis :— 

 "Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain (KiJcliar) of Jordan, that it 

 was well watered everywhere (before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and 

 Gomorrah), like the Garden of Jehovah, like the land of JNIizraim when 

 thou enterest Zar." It is a curious fact that, in the appendix to J\Ir. 

 Rassam's paper on the interesting discoveries recently made in Assyria, 

 reference is made to that extremely fertile plain to the north of Babylon, 

 which was watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates, and Mhich was called 

 by the word Akkadians Edina, and that this word was translated by the 

 Semitic people as the word ZERIJ. Therefore, the peculiar expression which 

 appears in the passage quoted as first referring to the Garden of Eden, and 

 then to Zar, would seem to indicate a rich, fertile plain, and the entrance to 

 such a plain from desert, when Egyptian civilisation was at its height. I would 

 just refer to another matter. The expedition for which Mr. Tomkins has pleaded 



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