102 
own ass ; else, liow could it be said that the cup was hidden, 
and afterwards found in Benjamin's special sack ? " And 
so on. 
The Pharaoh , Joseph, and Jacob’s house. 
The knotty question of the true inferences to be drawn from 
the mutual behaviour of Joseph and Jacob's house on the one 
part, and the Pharaoh on the other, has called forth various 
attempts at a solution. I cannot but think that a reasonable 
explanation awaits the reader who looks at the matter as a 
part of the condition of things under the Hyksos rule. The 
plain meaning of “ abomination," Heb. ft237in,, to’evah, must 
be kept (and we may, perhaps, notice that in Egyptian, tui, 
tua, “ a bominable," “ detest- 
able.")* 
That to the Egyptians every shepherd was an abomination 
was a consideration that would lead to the family remaining 
in G-oshen, where they already were, the best of the land." 
If “ Egyptians " or <e Egypt " (Mizraim) meant the native 
race, as distinct from the Hyksos and mixed people of the 
Delta (as Potiphar was noted “ an Egyptian"), then the 
reasoning is plain, and would prevent Joseph's kinsfolk from 
being sent up the country. 
The Pharaoh, kindly entering into this plan, orders that any 
men of ability among them should be made superintendents 
of his own cattle. They were no abomination to him, as his 
whole demeanour towards them plainly testified; and this 
helps to show that he was of Asiatic race. 
Joseph and his Father. 
A very curious inquiry it is : what is the real meaning of 
the words which describe the solemn transaction between Jacob 
and Joseph at the end of chapter xlvii. of Genesis ? 
“ And he (Jacob) said : f swear to me,' and he (Joseph) sware 
to him. And Israel bowed himself down to the head of the 
staff." For I take the sense given by the LXX. and the 
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews,! namely, staff, and not 
bed. It is observable that the Hebrew says “ the top of the 
staff," not “ of his staff." And it has often been referred to 
Joseph's, and not to Jacob's own, staff. And this explana- 
tion has been repudiated, with good reason, if it were supposed 
that the bowing-down implied a religious act of worship to the 
head of Joseph's staff. 
* Pierret, Vocab., 665. 
t Heb. xi. 21. 
