FIRST STEP

TOWARDS THE

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION.

ISRAEL'S SOJOURN IN EGYPT;

OR

THE PREPARATION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE COVENANT.

A PERIOD OF 430 YEARS.

CONDITION OF THE ISRAELITES

AND

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION DURING THE PERIOD SPENT IN EGYPT.

§ 14. (Exodus i.)-The historical records of the Old Testament pass very quickly over the first three centuries and a half of the period of 430 years (1), to which the sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt extended. Still there is no ground for attributing to these records either faultiness or omissions, provided we do not measure them by such a standard, as is foreign both to the intention of the records and to the circumstances of the case (2). In accordance with both of these, the historian is content to relate the extraordinarily rapid increase of Jacob's descendants in general but characteristic terms (ver. 6, 7), and then passes at once to a description of the circumstances, which eventually led to Israel's departure from Egypt. The rapidity with which their numbers increased may be learned from the census, taken shortly after the Exodus, from which we may infer that there were in all about two million souls (3). So long as there was a continuance of the good understanding, established by Joseph between the ruling dynasty in Egypt and the Israelitish settlers,―so long, that is, as the former could ensure the faithfulness and attachment of the latter,—this rapid increase in the number of the Israelites must have been a most welcome thing to the Egyptian rulers; for it enabled them with the greater ease to fulfil the task which the policy of Egypt imposed upon them, of guard

ing carefully against incursions on the part of the hostile hordes to the East. But the government of that time was apparently overthrown by force, and a new dynasty (4) arose. As this put

an end to the relations of confidence and devotion, which had existed from the time of Joseph, between the government and the nomadic settlers in the land of Goshen, the extent to which the latter were increasing could not but suggest the possibility, that opposing interests might one day give rise to political difficulties. On the one hand, for example, it must have appeared a dangerous thing to have so powerful and numerous a body of men, estranged from the ruling government, just in that border province of the kingdom, which was continually threatened by the tribes on the East, who were ready to invade it for the purpose of plunder or conquest. How easily might it happen, that the latter would find in the Israelites, not protectors of Egypt, but confederates in their enterprise. On the other hand, it was to the interest of the government to prevent the settlers from leaving the country, that they might not lose so considerable a body of useful subjects; and it became all the more important to put a timely check upon their wish to emigrate, on account of the increasing desire of the descendants of Jacob to possess the promised land, which they regarded as their proper home. Under these circumstances it seemed most advisable to break the free and independent spirit of the shepherd-tribe, and to set bounds to the excessive rate at which they were increasing, by forcing them to hard labour and tributary service (5). But this was so far from accomplishing the end desired, that the dreaded increase went on at a still more threatening rate. This partial failure in their plans only drove the government to adopt severer measures still. The Hebrew midwives received secret orders from the king, to put the Hebrew boys to death in some private way, as soon as they were born. But these measures were also unsuccessful, and, therefore, the king of Egypt made known his ruthless policy in

the most undisguised manner, by issuing a command to all the Egyptians, to drown the new-born sons of the Israelites in the river Nile (6). It is not known how long this command was strictly enforced, but its extreme inhumanity is sufficient to warrant us in believing that it could not be carried out for any considerable length of time. Moreover, the Egyptians knew well, that whilst it was policy on their part to weaken, it was highly impolitic to exterminate the Israelites.

(1). The length of their stay in Egypt is clearly and unequivocally stated in Exodus xii. 40 to have been 430 years: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." In the Septuagint, however, (Codex Vaticanus) we read: Ἡ δὲ παροίκησις τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, ἦν παρῴκησαν ἐν γῇ ̓Αιγύπτῳ καὶ ἐν γῇ Χαναὰν ἔτη τετρακόσια τριάκοντα. In the Alexandrian Codex the word παρῴκησαν is followed by the clause αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν. We find the same reading in the Samaritan texts and the Targum of Jonathan. Hence, according to these, the 430 years included the 215 years, during which the three patriarchs sojourned in Canaan.

We must first enquire, therefore, which is the reading of the original text: whether the words in question have been omitted from the Hebrew, by accident or design, or whether they have been interpolated in the versions in which they occur. To this we reply, that an impartial examination of all the arguments pro and con yields the most decided and indisputable testimony to the genuineness of the Hebrew text. There are no various readings in the Hebrew MSS. (vid. Rosenmüller Comm. ii. p. 222), which might lead us to doubt the authenticity of the received version; and whilst the Hebrew is recommended by its simple, natural, and inartificial construction, the Septuagint is rendered just as suspicious by the opposite qualities. At the very first glance these additions look like artificial emendations of the text, which have been made on the supposition that 430 years was too long a period for the stay in Egypt. Starting with this assumption, it was very easy to include the period spent in Canaan, especially as this embraced exactly half of the 430