THE WITNESS OF ARCHEOLOGY TO THE BIBLE. 20^ 



tioned, for it was well known by the people for whom the account 

 was written. But it explains several things which otherwise 

 would have been unintelligible to us, such as the royal reception 

 accorded to Abraham, and again to Isaac; it accounts for tiie 

 mention that Potiphar, a high official was an Egyptian; for 

 Joseph's instruction to his brethren to tell the king that they 

 were shepherds, and for the king making them rulers over his 

 cattle. 



The Egyptian colouring of the dreams is striking. Formerly 

 the mention of wine was used to discredit Genesis, as the culti- 

 vation of the vine and its use in Egypt was denied by Herodotus. 

 But the frescoes picture the vintage in all its details, even to 

 the grapes being pressed into Pharaoh's cup as he holds it in 

 his hand, just as recorded in the chief butler's dream. 



The whole process of baking is also portrayed, down to the 

 carrying of the " bakemeats " in baskets on the head. One 

 record describes the chief baker as delivering more than a hun- 

 dred thousand loaves at a time for the use of the royal house- 

 hold. 



Pharaoh's dreams were exactly calculated to make the deepest 

 impression upon him. The Nile was the life of Egypt, on its 

 overflow depended the fertility of the land. The gods Osiris and 

 Isis, symbolised by a bull and a cow, were associated with its 

 rise and its overflow. They were sometimes represented as 

 accompanied each by seven cows. Seven-eared wheat was well 

 known in Egypt. 



The plagues which were sent upon Pharaoh were directed 

 against the gods of Egypt. The conflict was thus in reality a 

 war between the powers of hght and of darkness. 



On the walls of a tomb at Thebes there is an accurate picture 

 of such bondage as the Israelites endured. The features of the 

 workmen seem to be Semitic. All the processes of brick-making 

 are represented, including the Egyptian task-master with his 

 rod, and he is saying to the workmen, " The stick is in my 

 hand ; be not idle. " 



Pharaoh's treasure cities, Pithom and Eameses, are men- 

 tioned on the monuments, and the remains of both have been 

 discovered. 



Each reference in later Bible history to kings of Egypt fits 

 with the monarch known to be reigning there at that particular 

 time. 



Professor Petrie's discovery of the site of Tahpanhes, a forti- 

 fied palace and outpost on the borders of Egypt, is a remarkable 

 confirmation of Jeremiah's account of his forced flight thither. 

 At the entrance of the fort Prof. Petrie found a large platform 

 of brickwork, and he writes: — ** This platform, or mastaha, is 

 therefore unmistakably the brickwork, or pavement, which is 



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