1. The promise that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed renders the history of Abram one of great interest, especially as recent discoveries of the monuments and literature of ancient Chaldæa have given us more correct knowledge of those early ages than had been acquired for more than 3,000 years. In the eleventh chapter of Genesis, beginning at the tenth verse, is given the ancestry of Abraham, the father of the Hebrews. Abram, afterward called Abraham, for reasons stated in chapter 17:5, was the ninth from Shem. Until the birth of Abram his ancestors appear to have lived in the region known as Chaldæa. Abram’s birthplace was Ur, 150 miles southeast of Babylon and a few miles west of the Euphrates. The ruins of Ur include, at the present day, a part of an ancient temple dedicated to the moon. This temple seems to have been erected many years before the days of Abram. A vast number of tombs surround it and the city, in the times of Abram, must have been a place for burial and considered sacred. Eupolemus, a Greek writer who is quoted by Eusebius, speaks of it in his time, about 446 B. C., as “the place of the Chaldees.”43 Its ruins on a vast mound are so largely cemented with bitumen that this fact has given rise to its present name, Mugheir, which means “bitumen.” The tablets and bricks bear the ancient name of Ur as well as the names of its earliest kings and the builder of its temples.
2. Although at the present day the Persian Gulf is about 140 miles distant from Ur, only the deposits from the rivers Euphrates and Tigris have removed the waters of the gulf to this distance. Certain coast marks show that the sea must have sent its waters up the river to a distance of nearly, if not quite, 124 miles, and in the time of Abram Ur must have been a maritime city.
3. From this city Terah, Abram’s father, removed with his family to Haran. This city was 580 miles northwest of Ur on the banks of a small tributary stream which runs seventy miles southward before it joins the Euphrates. Both Ur and Haran were the seats of the Moon-god, called “Sin” in the Chaldee language. This deity was masculine in the same language and the Sun-god was feminine, as is apparent from the omens of that day as seen in the following translations of certain priestly utterances and directions by Prof. Sayce.44
Of the month Elul it is said: He shall make his free-will offering to the Sun, the mistress of the world, and to the Moon, the supreme god.... The fifteenth day is sacred to the Sun, the Lady of the House of Heaven.... The Moon the Lord of the month.
4. In this age we read that the seventh day was “a day of rest,” and the very ancient name for “rest” was very similar to the word Sabbath used in the Hebrew, and special observance of the day was ordered by the priests; thus “the shepherd of mighty nations (king) must not eat flesh cooked on the fire or in the smoke. He must not drive a chariot. He must not issue royal decrees; the lifting up of his hands finds favor with the god,” etc.45
5. It is plain therefore that the seventh day was a day of rest, a sacred day, in the time of ancient Babylonish kings. It was so in the era of earliest Chaldæan records, and it was not an institution derived only from the Jewish nation, but the day was regarded as a Sabbath among the Chaldæans in the time and long before the days of Abram, for the records above translated and preserved in the library of Assur-bani-pal, King of Assyria, as we have said, page 26, were derived from far more ancient records, existing even before the Deluge, of which latter event they give a history. So that the Chaldæan records of the Creation, the Deluge, and the Sabbath may very reasonably have been derived from one and the same source.
6. The name Abram is of Babylonish-Assyrian derivation, but was changed by the Lord into Abraham, which was a purely Hebrew name, as is recorded in Gen. 17:5.46
7. It is not stated how long Terah remained in Ur after the birth of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, but the removal was not made until Lot was born to Haran and until the death of the latter. Then Terah left Ur for Haran, six hundred miles northwest, where they remained probably many years (see Gen. 12:5).
8. The fact that Abram’s name occurs first in the mention of the three is no proof, judging from the Scripture method of naming sons, that Abram was the oldest, but only that he was the most important character, for Shem is mentioned first in the three Shem, Ham, and Japheth, although Japheth is called the elder, Gen. 10:21, Shem being the most important as the head of the Hebrew race.
Abram was probably born when Terah was 130 years old, for it must be remembered that there is no good reason for supposing that the three sons of Terah were born in the same year, but only that one of the three mentioned (Gen. 11:26) was born when Terah was 70 years of age and the two others at some time after. If Abram was born when Terah was 130 and lived to be 75 years old at the death of his father, his father’s age would have been 205 as given in the text. It seems that Haran was the elder of the three, though mentioned last as in the case of Noah’s three sons.
9. Abram, at the call of the Lord, left with a large retinue of servants and crossed the Euphrates and came into Canaan, probably by the way of Damascus. He immediately entered into the land known then as Canaan, and the first place named on his way is “Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh.” Sichem is the place also called Shechem, and the word Sichem is in the Hebrew precisely the same as Shechem, the variation being one due only to the translator of the Hebrew name into English.
10. Shechem is almost exactly half way between Dan on the north and Beersheba on the south. It was therefore not till Abram arrived in the midst of the land that he erected an altar to Jehovah after the Lord had promised that to his seed He would give this land, Gen. 12:7. Various tribes of Canaanites occupied the whole future land of Israel, Gen. 10:19.
11. The plain of Moreh was a mile east of the city, or town, of Shechem. It is evident that both Moreh and Shechem were names of Canaanites, as Shechem is seen in Gen. 33; 34; Num. 26:31; Josh. 17:2, and other places, as a personal name.
12. The word translated “plain” is equally applicable to a grove of trees, and it may be that Abram chose this grove as a shelter from the heat. Twenty-seven miles north of Shechem is probably the hill called in Judg. 7:1, after the same person, the hill of Moreh. The city of Shochen, which exists at the present time, is between the high hills of Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north.
For the reasons why the word “plain” should be rendered “oak” see Josh. 24:26 and Judg. 9:6, wherein it is evident that a pillar by the oak is meant. Also see that the word “oak” is in the Hebrew exactly the same as that translated “plain” in the text referred to above, Gen. 12:6, and this identical oak seems to have been used for an important purpose many years after. In Deut. 11:30 the name is in the plural, leading us to suppose that it was a grove continuing through many centuries. Groves always were important and sometimes sacred, as it appears from the action of Abraham, for in Gen. 21:33 it is stated that “Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.”
13. The next place visited by Abram was an unknown place between Bethel and Hai.47 Bethel was not so named until 160 years afterwards, by Jacob, Gen. 28:19. Hai and Ai48 are the same, and this place was probably a Canaanitish town at this time. The distance south of Shechem was 20 miles to the place occupied by the patriarch, where he seems to have remained only to build an altar and then moved on, evidently seeking pasture for his flocks and herds.
14. The name of Egypt occurs now for the first time in Scripture, and we may judge of its importance from the fact that the name occurs six hundred and thirteen times, twenty-four of which number are to be found in the New Testament. In this instance the mention is made about 1920 B. C.,49 and the kingdom is referred to as fully established and well known.
The occasion of Abram’s visit was the famine existing in the land of Canaan. Abram journeys southward with the intention of entering Egypt to provide sustenance for himself and his retinue against this famine.
15. The condition of Egypt at or just before the time of Abram’s first visit was one of great prosperity. The reigning Pharaohs, generally called those of the twelfth dynasty, were most probably the Usertesens and the Amen-emhats. Under this dynasty the sceptres of Upper and Lower Egypt were united. All the kings were powerful and prosperous and art flourished, the Sun temple at Heliopolis (six miles northeast of the present Cairo) was magnificently restored, and in the Fayum on the west of the Nile (about 50 miles southwest of Cairo) the practice of building pyramids was revived. Here was the vast lake or inland sea made by Amen-emhat III., to receive the overplus waters of the annual overflow of the Nile and to distribute them in case of need. This king also built the great labyrinth in the Fayum, the latter name being an alteration of the Egyptian word for “sea,” namely “Piom.”
16. During this period fortifications were erected on the northeastern frontier of Egypt, which appear to have extended across the whole of the present isthmus of Suez (Socin). The term Shur used six times in Scripture is now supposed to refer to this “wall.”50
17. As the pyramids of Gizeh were built in the fourth dynasty (the most recent date of which is given by Wilkinson as 2450 B. C.), they had been in existence more than 400 years before Abram’s visit. The Sphinx was then existing also, as seems probable from an inscription found by M. Mariette, which indicates that there was a “temple of the Sphinx” in the time of Cheops,51 the builder of the great pyramid. It seems also probable that the rule of the foreigners, called the Shepherd Kings, had begun before Abram’s visit.
18. These foreigners took possession of Lower Egypt and drove the original rulers up the Nile to Thebes and other parts of Upper Egypt. Long before this period emigrants from the East had been admitted to Egypt and had settled in various places upon the rich lands of the Delta, until, finding themselves sufficiently powerful, they usurped all authority without a battle. They were called the Shepherd kings, or Hyksos, from what was supposed to be their employment. They governed Lower Egypt for about five hundred years, until they were finally driven out by the Egyptian royal family.
19. Abram’s first visit seems to have been made at or near the beginning of the Hyksos era. The most recent date of the beginning of the rule of the Shepherd Kings is that of Wilkinson, 2091 B. C., and if the date usually given for the visit of Abram was 1920 B. C., then these invaders had already had possession of the land for over 170 years. Egypt was therefore renowned and its rulers were of a race acquainted with the employments to which Abram was not a stranger. They spoke the dialect of Canaan, as it is very evident that many came from the region of Canaan.
20. In this age the horse is not mentioned as in Egypt. Oxen and asses and sheep are found depicted upon the walls and tablets, but the horse does not appear in Egypt till the reign of Thothmes I., who met with them in his wars in Assyria. This king was the third Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty.52 This dynasty began immediately after the expulsion of the Hyksos. So that while it is probable that the horse might have been known only as a foreign animal, it was introduced into Lower Egypt by Thothmes I., and Egypt became known after this for its fine breed of horses, which took the place of the asses previously used throughout the land. It is for this reason that Abram’s list of animals excludes the horse, Gen. 12:16.
21. The next important occurrence in the history of Abram is that of the first battle mentioned in Scripture. Abram had returned to Canaan with large additions to his herds. This increase brought about a necessary separation between Abram and Lot. Abram settled in Hebron, while Lot chose his residence in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain. Soon after four kings from Chaldæa approached Canaan on a tour of conquest, and passing to the south and east of the Dead Sea went down to Mt. Seir and thence to Kadesh, then called En-mishpat, and thence north to Hazezon-tamar. They then met the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah in battle, defeated them, and carried off Lot and others captives. Upon knowledge of this captivity Abram set out to overtake the invaders. He was joined by the forces of the three Amorites confederate with him, and found the kings at Dan, about 140 miles from Hebron northward, as they were leaving the country on their way home to Chaldæa. A battle now took place at night, and the four kings were defeated, and Lot and other captives, together with the stolen goods, were all retaken and brought back in safety.
22. The exact location of these cities has not yet been discovered. They were, with the other cities of the plain, situated very near the Dead Sea, and the traditions place them at the western part of the southern end, where there is a salt hill five miles long, called the hill of Sodom, Jebel Usdum. There are good reasons for supposing that when Abram and Lot stood overlooking the land from the heights near Bethel, Lot chose the region north of the Dead Sea, which was visible, in preference to the southern part, which was more than forty miles distant. But from the Scripture account, considered in view of the evident volcanic nature of this part of Palestine and the fearful earthquakes which have happened in the vicinity in recent times, there is reason to believe that some terrible convulsion not only buried the cities, but submerged the plain at the south end of the sea, and no other interpretation seems to suit the history, which definitely states that the plain and all that grew upon it were destroyed, the water system of the plain being all entirely changed. The submerged plain at the south, therefore, which is covered for the area of about fifty square miles with water only a few feet deep, has given occasion for the theory that the cities of the plain are to be sought beneath these waters, which are by some supposed to cover the vale of Siddim.
23. Hazezon-tamar is the same as En-gedi, 2 Chron. 20:2. It is upon the west shore of the Dead Sea, twenty-three miles south of the mouth of the Jordan. Hobah, whither Abram pursued the kings, is two miles north of Damascus.
24. Abram was near Hebron, twenty miles west of the Dead Sea, when the news reached him of the defeat of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the capture of Lot. Hebron is almost equidistant from the north and south ends of the Dead Sea, at an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean, while the waters of the Dead Sea are 1,293 feet below those of the Mediterranean.
25. The recent discoveries in Chaldæa and the surrounding countries show that the names of these four kings—Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, are names which have in large part been found on the tablets and in the history of the countries mentioned. Amraphel is the same in the Hebrew as Amarphal, and it was so translated in the Septuagint made more than 250 B. C. This name was that of a viceroy of Sumir, the district around and south of Babylon, called Shinar in Genesis, and the name Amar-pal has been found “borne by private persons on two cylinders of ancient workmanship” (Lenormant). The Septuagint has for Tidal, Thargal, which seems to be the proper spelling; the difference between the two spellings in the original Hebrew is only that between an r and a d, which in that language is exceedingly small. In the Akkadian (same as Accadian), which was the language used in the ancient Chaldæan times, Turgal meant “great chief.”53 This king was chief of a people called the Gutium in the monumental inscriptions, and this tribe or small nation has been identified with the Goim of the Hebrew text, which in our English version is translated “nations.” So that the “Tidal king of nations,” of the text in Genesis, is shown to be the “great chief” of a tribe living in Northern Babylonia, of which one part became afterwards the nation of the Assyrians.54
Chedorlaomer, the monuments show us, was truly an Elamite name, Chedor, or Kudur, forming part of several names of the early kings of that district, and Laomer, or Lagamar, being the name of a most important Elamite god. The name Arioch is very similar to that of the son of an Elamite king who was king of Larsa, which itself is similar to the Hebrew name Ellasar, and the circumstances have led the best Assyriologists to believe that they are the very same.
26. The monumental records show that this king of Elam, on a previous occasion, when Abram was still at Haran, had passed over the Euphrates and conquered Phœnicia and a country to the south. He is called both king of Elam and king of Phœnicia, as the land of Canaan was called by name “Martu,” “the land of the setting sun,” or Phœnicia. So that 14 years before, at the time when Chedorlaomer crossed the Euphrates on his first expedition, Abram may have beheld the troops of that king whom he afterward conquered, with his viceroys, when they came on their second invasion of Canaan. At that time Abram was with his father Terah at Haran, as we may see from the dates in the context, Gen. 16:3; 14:5.
27. Some years after this battle we have the account of the birth of Ishmael, the son of Abram by Hagar. As the descendants of Ishmael exerted great influence in years afterward, it is well at this point to study the early history of this son of Abram. When Isaac was born Ishmael was about 16 years of age, Gen. 17:21, 25; 21:1, 8, and until the day of the divine promise to Abram, at which time his name was changed to Abraham, he was evidently, from the context, greatly attached to Ishmael. Moreover, Abram was considered by his neighbors as “a mighty prince among them,” Gen. 23:6. Under these circumstances this only son must have been allowed privileges and attentions at the hands of the hundreds of Abram’s servants such as an heir apparent to all the wealth of Abram would be certain to receive. When, however, Sarah became the mother of Isaac a change necessarily transpired. Ishmael was no longer the expected heir. Hagar’s spirit of self-importance, which showed itself before so positively that she was forced to leave the family, was now repeated in some disagreeable actions of her son Ishmael, and, despite the persistent love of Abraham, Ishmael and his mother were summarily dismissed from the family.
28. There can be no reasonable doubt that the action of Abraham in sending Hagar and her son out upon the desert with only sufficient food to support them for a time was greatly or almost entirely influenced by the direct revelation to Abraham that the divine interference would be exerted on behalf of the exiles. That had been assured, as we see in verses 12 and 13 of chapter 21. At the same time both the mother and son, after all the preceding years of privilege, would naturally imagine that a great wrong had been done them, and Ishmael readily became a wild wanderer upon the vast deserts east of Egypt.
He was the progenitor of twelve great tribes whose names in part are recognized among some of the tribes existing at the present day and whose characters are accurately represented in the description of what they were to be, as it occurs in Gen. 16:12, and the expression “he shall dwell in the presence of his brethren” simply alludes to the fact that his race should be wanderers upon the desert without any fixed habitation, this being the life of all the most pleasurable to the desert Arabs.
29. As Abraham was 99 years of age when Ishmael was 13, Gen. 17:24, 25, and died at 175, it is plain that Ishmael must have been about 90 years of age at Abraham’s death. The love and reverence which Ishmael had for the patriarch were apparent after this long time in the fact that at the death of the latter, Isaac and Ishmael united to perform the burial at the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, Gen. 25:9.
30. Hebron is a very old city, having been founded long before Abram’s time, and it is in existence at present. It is south of Jerusalem eighteen miles, and is unlike nearly all the cities in Palestine in that it is situated in a valley. The cave of Machpelah is on the east side of the valley, which runs nearly north and south.
This city becomes important in Biblical history at the time when Sarah, the wife of Abraham, died, and then this cave was purchased by Abraham as a family burying-place. It was the first spot possessed by any of the ancestors of the Hebrew race in Palestine. Here Sarah and Abraham were buried and in after times Leah and Isaac, and Jacob’s remains were, by his desire, removed from Egypt and placed by the side of his wife Leah.
Although Hebron has suffered several attacks and partial destruction, it is probable that the sacredness of the place may have protected it so that the actual remains of some of the bodies deposited there may yet be there, under Moslem guardianship.
After the birth of Isaac, Abraham remained in the region of Gerar, whose precise location is not known, although it must have been in the southwest of Canaan and in the land of the Philistines. From thence he removed to Beersheba.55
31. Beersheba bears, at the present day, the same name and contains two wells, one about 12 feet in diameter, the other about 5 feet. The larger appears to be very old and may well have existed since the days of the patriarch. It is about 40 feet deep to the water and is still used daily by the Arabs. The exact distance from Hebron to Beersheba is twenty-six and a half miles southwest. There are some ruins 24 miles southwest by south from Beersheba, called Umel Jerar, which possibly may indicate where the ancient Gerar was.
32. From Beersheba Abraham travelled with Isaac to Mt. Moriah, which was at the present site of Jerusalem and distant in an air line 45 miles northeast. Here his obedience and faith were severely tried in the command to offer up, as a burnt-offering, his only son Isaac. This act might have been more trying to the faith of Abraham because it was the practice of the Canaanites at that time. That the immolation of children was practised by the Phœnicians at that age and in the land of Chaldæa is proved by an Accadian text which expressly states that sin may be expiated by the vicarious sacrifice of the eldest son.56 In after times it was practised by the Moabites, 2 Kings 3:27. But Abraham’s faith never failed him, and the offering was accepted, though the act was arrested.
33. Abraham after this purchased the cave of Machpelah, of which we have spoken, where Sarah was buried, and he himself was laid away in the same place at his death, having given all his possessions to his son Isaac, except some smaller gifts to his other children by his second wife Keturah, when he sent them away from Isaac his son “unto the east country.”
34. The character of Abraham has been revered among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians alike in all ages and parts of the world. His tomb now existing at Hebron is among the very few places in the East about which there has never been any doubt. The structure, now a mosque, is a Mohammedan addition to a building which was in part erected near the beginning of the Christian era.
1. Isaac, as appears from sacred history, towards the close of his father’s life, dwelt in the “south country,” a term given to the large district far to the south of Hebron, where also Abraham was probably living at the same time.
The exact place called Beer-lahai-roi, or “the spring of Lahai-roi,” is not known, but it was that spring, called a “well,” which was mentioned in connection with the first departure of Hagar, and it was evidently on the way towards Egypt, between Kadesh and Bered, some thirty miles nearly south of Beersheba.
2. The pastures were excellent here, and Isaac, now about 40 years of age, had come into possession of large herds whose care devolved upon him. It was here that he received his wife, whom his father Abraham had selected for him from among his kindred in the far-off land of Mesopotamia in preference to the people of the land where he dwelt, who were Hittites, and descendants of Canaan the son of Ham, Abraham being a descendant of Shem. The Philistines who dwelt on the southwest coast of Canaan and of whom the Abimelech of the text was king, were formerly a mixed race. In this age they are considered to be the immediate descendants of a tribe which took possession of the dry, salt region stretching from the Delta of the Nile on the coast around towards Canaan. Here, in early times, they became the great salt producers and of great importance to the salt fisheries which supplied various surrounding countries. The Mt. Casios in their territory was the “Kas-lokh,” or “dry” “burnt up hill” of the ancient Egyptians, hence the name of Casluhim, of the Hebrew text, as that of the people from whom the Philistines were derived, Gen. 10:14.
3. They seem many years before to have left the Phœnician shores and settled near the coast of the Egyptian Delta. Thence they moved to the salt regions, but they adapted themselves fully to the Egyptian method of life and literature, as appears from their history gathered from the ancient records. These records have fully corroborated the statement of Genesis.57
4. In the time of Abram they had taken possession of the southwestern part of Palestine and had largely modified their habits of life. They are represented on the monuments of Egypt as fine-looking warriors, wearing a head-dress of peculiar and very ornamental form, with the back of the neck protected, and when marching, moving in great order, using the javelin and the short sword for close combat.
5. At this time, about B. C. 1800, the Philistines had not arrived at that condition of power and wealth which they possessed in later centuries. They afterward became most formidable enemies of the Israelites, and possessed at least five grand cities. In this era of their history Gerar seems to be the residence of the king, Abimelech, as it was of his father of the same name in the time of Abraham, 90 years before. Being a small tribe, its king was anxious to form an alliance with Isaac, whose household and possessions had become very great, and, judging from the context, his retinue of servants and his wealth exceeded all that Abraham had possessed before him.
6. There are, at present, two wells at Beersheba of the same general architecture, and both seem to be very ancient. The one about 300 feet off from the large one, spoken of before, is only about five feet in diameter. As the men of Gerar, at Abraham’s death, filled up “all the wells” built by the patriarch, it is probable that the second well was dug by the servants of Isaac and called also Beersheba as commemorative of the second oath of treaty made by Abimelech, the second of that same name mentioned in Scripture, and his commander-in-chief, as Phicol means.
The life of Isaac seems to have been spent chiefly in the region of Beersheba, but he died at Hebron, at the age of 180 years. Esau and Jacob are his only sons named in the sacred history.
7. Jacob was a native of Beersheba, and, having incurred the displeasure of his brother Esau by the practice of a deceitful act towards his father, as narrated in the text, Gen. 27, fled to the same region whence his father obtained his own wife, and there found his wives Leah and Rachel in Mesopotamia.
In that act of deceit he was aided by his mother, who probably never lived to see again the son she loved so much. Jacob returned not for many years, although when his mother parted with him she supposed it was for “a few days,” Gen. 27:44. He returned to Hebron shortly before the death of his father, in whose burial, in the cave of Machpelah, both his sons, Esau and Jacob, united, Gen. 35:29.
8. Jacob and his twelve sons remained near Hebron for some time after the death of his father Isaac, when an event occurred which changed the history of the entire family and led to their long residence in the land of Egypt.
Joseph, the son of Jacob’s old age, because of jealousy on the part of his brethren, was sold by them to a party of trading merchants, called “Ishmaelites.” These “came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.”
Gilead was the large district east of the Jordan, beginning some 15 miles southwest of Damascus, and whose southern limit was a few miles north of the Dead Sea. Their way towards Egypt was by Dothan, where the brethren were tending their father’s flock.
Dothan was a Canaanitish town about five miles southwest of the Carmel range of mountains and thirteen miles north of Shechem. It was fully 900 feet above the sea, and on the south of a beautiful plain five miles long and two wide.
9. The Ishmaelites sold Joseph in Egypt, where, through his ability to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, he became, under the king, the second ruler of Egypt and prepared for the seven years of famine which were preceded by seven years of extraordinary harvests. The famine in Egypt was attended by famine in Canaan, as also in other lands. This condition of famine caused Jacob to send his sons into Egypt for corn. It should be remembered that in these countries the word “corn” was applied to almost any kind of grain, but especially to wheat and barley, as indeed it is at the present day in several other countries. It is not probable that Indian maize, called corn in our land, was ever referred to in Scripture.
At the second visit of the patriarch’s sons, Joseph, who recognized them at the first visit, made himself known unto them and sent them back with the direction to bring his father, and all that made up the entire family, into Egypt.
10. After some hesitation on the part of Jacob, he left Hebron, and passing through Beersheba, started on his way to Egypt, where he arrived and was met by Joseph, on the plains of Goshen. Recent discovery has located this region about 40 miles northeast of the present Cairo, in its central point, with a diameter of about 15 miles.58
Jacob was introduced to the reigning Pharaoh when he was 130 years of age. His interview was followed by the settlement of the entire family, with all their herds and possessions, in the district above mentioned. This was a small district included in a much larger one called, in after times, the land of Rameses, which name had reference to a second king of that name, Rameses II., who was the great builder monarch, and who lived not long before the time of the Exodus. He died when Moses was 80 years of age.
[The student of Biblical chronology should use considerable caution in accepting the dates and surmises offered by some writers in connection with this history. The ages already given us in the text, namely, 130 for Jacob when Joseph was 39 by the texts preceding, show that Jacob was 91 years of age at Joseph’s birth, but by Gen. 31:38 he had been at least 14 years with Laban, in Mesopotamia, just preceding the birth of Joseph. So that 14 years before the birth of Joseph he left his home for Haran, at the age of 77. It seems somewhat probable that Jacob was 40 years in Haran, and that he means to make that assertion when, in Gen. 31:38, 41, he separates the two 20 years. This affords more time for his sons to grow to the ages of that manhood necessary for the after occurrences narrated in the history. For the eldest, Reuben and Simeon, were born not until the marriage with Leah, and this appears to have been only seven years before the birth of Joseph. Six years after the birth of Joseph, Jacob leaves with all his family for Shechem, where he remains eight years. It appears, therefore, that Simeon and Levi, when they attacked and overthrew Shechem and sacked the town, were not over 19 or 20 years of age, as six of the last years and re-engagement for six years in Mesopotamia, and eight in Shechem, and perhaps a year on the travel, and various stoppages, give grounds for that supposition, if Jacob was only 20 years with Laban. It would then be as follows, remembering that Reuben was the first-born of the sons of Jacob:
8th year. Reuben born first year after Jacob’s marriage.
14th year. The rest born during the six remaining years; Joseph now born.
20th year. At the close of the last seven years Jacob is newly employed for six years, which, with the previous 14 years, makes 20 years with Laban, Gen. 31:38.
21st year. Jacob and all the family start for Canaan, and reach Shechem, including stoppages, in the 21st year, or 13th year after Reuben’s birth.
When Jacob arrived in Shechem he bought land, dug a well, and is considered as resident for eight years.
29th year. At the close of this year Simeon and Levi attack the Shechemites. This would make Reuben about 21 or 22, and Simeon and Levi 19 and 20, but old enough, with their servants and probably others, to have executed their revenge. But we must understand that this is the extreme shortest period, and several circumstances might have detained them longer on their journeys and made the sons older.
In the above calculation it is not necessary to suppose that Jacob was any longer than 20 years engaged with Laban. It is impossible to suppose, with some writers, that Jacob was only 40 years of age when he left his home for Haran.]
11. Jacob, having had the land of Goshen, in Egypt, appointed him, remained there until his death at 147 years of age, having dwelt in the land of Egypt 17 years.
As Joseph died at 110 years of age, he lived 56 years after the death of Jacob, as governor of Egypt, very probably, since the last account of him was that “they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” He lived to see his great grandchildren, and therefore was prominent in Egypt for a term of 80 years.
The recovery of the meaning of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the many discoveries of monuments illustrating the early history and literature of that nation, have added great interest to the study of Scripture and established the accuracy of Biblical accounts of this period.
1. The articles which the Ishmaelites carried to Egypt at the time Joseph was sold are, in part, recorded in a list upon one of the tablets at Edfu, on the Nile. The first and second of the articles named in Gen. 37:25 are recorded by name, the article rendered “spicery” being the name of a gum found in Syria.
2. The price of a common slave of Joseph’s age is recorded in the time of Rameses XIII. as about $10. This agrees with the statement, Gen. 37:28, where it is stated that Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, shown to be shekels of about 50 to 56 cents’ value, which was high, but Egyptian records show that young men from Syria were unusually valuable.59
3. The existence of slavery is frequently alluded to upon the monuments and in manuscripts, wherein those who had lost slaves offer rewards to any one who will bring them back. Moreover, Syrian slaves are recorded as of great value, and a treaty record is still preserved, made between Rameses II. and the king of the Hittites, in which it is agreed to return fugitive slaves.
4. The statement has been made by several Greek historians that the Egyptians never cultivated the grape nor drank wine. Therefore the statement that Pharaoh drank the juice of the grapes, or wine, and had a chief butler, as stated in Gen. 40, was said to be inaccurate. But the discoveries show that not only were vineyards cultivated, but the grapes were pressed in the wine-press, grapes were eaten, and wine made and used before the time of Joseph.
5. Various terms as descriptive of official position, of names of places and objects of art or commerce, are now shown to be of ancient Egyptian origin, although brought into the Hebrew language. The use of these terms and names proves that the early Israelites were in familiar contact with the Egyptians.
6. The name of Rameses, used in the history of Joseph, as afterward in the history of the Israelites, has been shown to be that of the chief Pharaoh of Egypt, and his mummy has recently been recovered with his name and titles inscribed upon his body, and certified to by the high-priest.
7. The singular remark made by the writer of Genesis concerning the shepherds, 46:34, has been thoroughly attested by the history of the incursion of the Shepherd Kings, who oppressed the land, seized upon the government in the Delta, and drove the native kings up the Nile to Thebes, occupying and ruling the land for about 500 years. It was at the close of their rule that Joseph is supposed to have entered Egypt.
8. The keeping of the birthday of Pharaoh as stated in Gen. 40:20 is fully attested in the history of the early Egyptian periods. An inscription of the era of the Exodus tells us that the birthday of Rameses II. “caused joy in heaven.”60 Great gatherings and feasts were had, and the king dispensed his favors as he saw fit.61
9. The name for the Nile used in the Hebrew is the Egyptian name for that river found in the papyri, and translated in our English version as “the river.” It is not the word the Hebrews used for a river, and its use proves that the writer was familiar with Egyptian usage.
10. The statement as to the offices of chief butler and chief baker, as appointed to the Pharaoh, is remarkably attested by the Egyptian records, which show that these two were very high and important offices, “for both had the responsible duty of protecting the king’s life from poison.”62
11. A most remarkable illustration of the accuracy of Joseph’s history, as narrated in Genesis, is seen in the statement that he was required to change his clothes and be shaven before going into the presence of the king. Among the kindred of Joseph shaving was never practised, except as a disgrace. But with the Egyptian the law of cleanliness required shaving, not only of the chin, but of the hair also. Not only every priest, but the king himself, was shaven, and the appearance of great heads of hair, and even of beard, in some pictures is due to the wigs and artificial beards worn by priests and laymen alike to cover the bald head. All foreigners were known by being unshorn.
The accuracy of Scripture in its references to the land of Egypt in ancient times has been proved only since the discovery of the meaning of the hieroglyphics, as Greek historians knew little of Egypt in its ancient history, and their accounts were erroneous, as is frequently apparent in Herodotus.63