130 
these Asiatics, even while the sturdy rebels met with chastise- 
ment, as Amenemha I. boasted of making the Sati “ come to 
him like a whelp. " * 
81. These, then, are records of the South of Canaan before 
the time when Abram was led thither, as we find them in the 
monuments of Egypt. They show centres of cultivation, 
settled rule, and civilization assailed by the restless waves of 
nomad barbarism, and reveal already the strong predominant 
power of Egypt, the great monarchy restraining its Asiatic 
neighbours by expeditions and outlying fortresses and garri- 
sons, and defending its eastern frontier by a fortified line in 
the “ land of Khetam " ; all powerless, however, to exclude 
the western-flowing tide, which perhaps even before Abram's 
visit had submerged the defences of Egypt in its lower 
kingdom. 
82. It is a suggestive fact that Abram was “confederate" 
with the Amorite chiefs, and at the same time on good terms 
with the Pharaoh. It was the power of Elam and Chaldtea 
on the east which, sweeping the country down to the very 
confines of Egypt, attacked the Amorites. We do not gather 
that Egypt was at all hostile to them. 
83. This looks like the commencement of the Shepherd 
domination, and agrees very well with what Manetho says of 
Salatis fearing the Assyrian power on the east. 
84. Let us now return to that remarkable clue which con- 
nects Hebron with Zoan, built seven years later, and, as we 
may well suppose, by the same builders, who are identified by 
their eponymous “ father " Anak, and their “ great man " 
(“ Adam") Arba. We have these two names to follow, Arba 
and Anak. 
85. The Rabbinical interpretei’S gave a numerical signifi- 
cance to Ai’ba, which means four, and made the four to be 
Abraham, Isaac, J acob, and A dam ; the last by a strange 
blunder as to the word applied to Ai’ba. f 
86. Now, in view of the symbolic use of numbers for gods, 
it struck me that Ai’ba might be the number of a god from 
whom the Anakim traced their descent. 
87. I suggested this to Mr. Sayce, asking him whether in 
a tablet cited by Lenormant any god is designated by the 
number 4. Mr. Sayce replied that my suggestion was very 
plausible, but that the tablet in question does not symbolize 
any god by the numeral 4. “ Still" (he said) “ there was no 
* Records, ii. 14. 
f See Mr. Grove’s article, “ Kiriath-Arba,” in Smith’s Bib. Die. 
