64 



drought atGerarin B.C. I SO 1 is 21 cycles of 171 years before 

 A.D. 1787. A glance at tlie diagram will show the 

 character of the drought which is one of the most serious 

 and prolonged in the whole record of the Nile. It had 

 already lasted seven years, and continued for ten years 

 more without a break above the average. It is plain, 

 therefore, that Egypt was a place to keep out of, and 

 accordingly we find in XXVI, 2 : — 



"And the Lord appeared unto him and s.-iwl, '(Jo not down into 

 Egypt, dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.'" (6)' "And 

 Isaac dwelt in Gerai." 



No doubt the drought was there also, although probably 

 not so severe as in Egypt, for in (12) it is recorded that he 

 sowed in that land and received in the same year an hun- 

 dredfold. It is evident, however, that dependence had to 

 be placed upon wells, several of which were sunk in the 

 place formerly occupied by Abraham (see 15 to 22). Being 

 driven away from there by the herdsmen of (Jerar, who 

 claimed the wells, he ultimately settled at Beersheha, 

 where he sank a well, and found permanent water (xxvi, 

 32), which, no doubt, enabled him to exist during the 

 extremely dry period, denoted by the long and very per- 

 sistent fall in the Nile curve shown on the diagram. 



Pharoah's Drought.— Genesis xli, 46 " And Joseph went 

 out from the presence of Pharoah and went throughout all the 

 land of Egypt." 

 M.. i ~ ^Wkte (47) « And in the seven plenteous years the earth 



v brought forth by handfuls." 

 commenced. (4g) «< And he gathered up all the food of the sevea 

 years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up 

 the food in the cities." 

 M.i. inflate (53) "And the seven years of plenteousness that 



b.c. 1708. . y V 



was in the land of Egypt were ended." 



(51) "And the seven years of dearth began to come 

 according as Joseph had said and the dearth was in 

 all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.' 



