62 
in all the other districts of Egypt there was corn in mine 
This Bunsen pronounced to be “a certain and incontrovertible 
proof” of the seven years’ famine in Egypt. Brugsch more 
wisely considers that Bunsen’s conclusion is “ impossible for 
reasons chronological, ”f which seems to be the more correct 
view ; for independent of the fact, that the reign of Sesertesen I. 
preceded that of Joseph’s Pharaoh by fully two centuries, which 
compels us to reject this theory, if we note what is said in 
Scripture respecting the famine, we shall at once see the dis- 
tinction between the two. “And the seven years’ dearth was 
in all lands ; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And 
the famine w r as over all the face of the earth. And all countries 
came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn ; because that the famine 
was so sore in all lands.”J I can scarcely imagine that these 
two statements speak of the same event ; for whereas the 
inscription specifies that the famine extended over all Egypt, 
save in that one Nome or district of which Amenj Amenemha, 
the occupant of the tomb, had been governor, Scripture records 
that the seven years’ famine was in all lands but Egypt, where 
want was unknown through the wise provision of Joseph. 
43. We have in the annals of another nation a very singular 
confirmation of the truth of the Scripture record respecting the 
seven years’ famine, as well as of the time of its appearance. 
In the archives of the Chinese empire it is recorded that “in 
the beginning of the reign of Ching-tang there happened a 
drought and famine all over the empire, which lasted seven years, 
during which time no rain fell.”§ According to Biblical 
chronology the seven years’ famine in Egypt may be dated 
B.C. 1796 — 1789. According to the “Chinese chronology,” 
the Emperor Kie, the immediate predecessor of Ching-tang, 
began to reign B.C. 1823, and Ching-tang died B.C. 1758. 
Kie is represented in Chinese history as the greatest monster of 
vice and cruelty ever known. His cruelties, which commenced 
in the nineteenth year of his reign, caused the nobles to rebel 
* Egypt's Place in Universal History, vol. iii. p. 334. In the interesting 
Memoir of Baron Bunsen, published in 1868, his daughter writes : “My 
father received a communication (April 8, 1853) from Mr. Birch which 
greatly delighted him ; that he had found an inscription on the tomb of 
an official in the time of Sesortosen, alluding to the great famine which had 
taken place ; a confirmation of the opinion my father has held for years, 
that just under that king Joseph had lived.” Vol. ii. p. 311. 
f Brugsch, Ilistoire d’Egypte, p. 56. 
J Genesis xli. 54 — 56. 
§ History of China, collected out of Martinus, Couplet, and Du liable, 
by Jackson, in his Chronological Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 455. 
