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were eunuchs in Egypt, and that the author is justly suspected of transferring that, which belonged to the Hebrew court, to Egypt. But this suspicion is removed by what Rosellini says of the existence of eunuchs in Egypt. Men are sometimes represented, he remarks, on the Egyptian monuments with evident marks of fulness, especially of the chest and stomach, which is unusual among the Egyptians in this hot climate. Their complexion is almost a medium between the brown and yellow by which men and women are generally distinguished from one another. These marks are characteristic of eunuchs. The employments of these men are also in favor of this opinion. They are repeatedly represented as attendants of the women, then as musicians, and finally as servants, who are entrusted with the important duties of household management. It is evident from Herodotust, that the kings of Egypt had a guard who in addition to the regular income of the soldier, also received a separate salary. In the paintings of marches and battles on the monuments, these royal guards are commonly seen to be employed in protecting the person of the king, and are distinguished by a peculiar dress and weapons. During the reign of the Ptolemies, who in general adhered to the usages of the ancient Egyptians, the office of the commander of the body-guard was a very important one. They possessed the confidence of the king, and were often employed in the most important business transactions. Finally, the superintendence of executions belonged to the most distinguished of the military cast.¶

Joseph's Exaltation.

According to chap. 39: 4 and 5, Potiphar placed Joseph over his house and over all his substance, and the Lord

* Vol. II. 3. p. 132 seq.

Ros. II. 3. p. 201.

|| Comp. Rosellini, p. 202.

† 2. 168.

§ ἀρχισωματοφύλαξ.
¶ p. 273.

blessed him, for the sake of Joseph, in all which he had in the house and in the field. Joseph had also, after his exaltation, a man who was over his house.* A peculiar and characteristic Egyptian trait! "Among the objects of tillage and husbandry," says Rosellini, "which are portrayed in the Egyptian tombs, we often see a steward, who takes account and makes a registry of the harvest before it is deposited in the store-house." "In a tomb at Kum el Ahmar, the office of a steward with all its apparatus is represented; two scribes appear with all their preparations for writing, and there are three rows of volumes, the account and household books of the steward," etc. The same author remarks in reference to a painting in a tomb at Beni Hassan: "In this scene, as also in many others which exhibit the internal economy of a house, a man carrying implements for writing, the pen over his ear, the tablet or paper in his hand, and the writing table under his arm,—either follows or goes before the servants." According to the inscription, this is the overseer of the slaves or the steward. Compare also the representation in Wilkinson of an Egyptian steward in his employment, "overlooking the tillage of the lands."§

Joseph's Temptation and the Morals of the Egyptians.

With impudent shamelessness Potiphar's wife seeks to seduce Joseph.|| How great the corruption of manners with reference to the marriage relation was among the Egyptians, appears from Herodotus, whose account Larcher has compared with the one under consideration. The wife of one of the oldest kings was untrue to him. It was a long time before a woman could be found who was faithful to her

* Gen. 43: 16, 19. 44: 1.

II. p. 403, 4.

|| Chap. xxxix.

+ II. 1. p. 329.

§ II. p. 136.

T 2. 111.

husband. And when one was, at last, found, the king took her without hesitation for himself. From such a state of morals, the Biblical narrative can easily be conceived to be natural. The evidence of the monuments is also not very favorable to the Egyptian women. Thus, they are represented, as addicted to excess in drinking wine, as even becoming so much intoxicated as to be unable to stand or walk alone, or "to carry their liquor discreetly."*

Potiphar's wife avails herself of the opportunity when her husband and the rest of the men of the house were gone out, and Joseph had come in to perform some duty. It has lately been affirmed, that an error against Egyptian customs is here detected. V. Bohlen says: "Since eunuchs are supposed to exist, Joseph could not so much as come into the presence of the women, still less into the harem;" and Tuch remarks: "The narrator abandons the representation of a distinguished Egyptian, in whose house the women live separately, and descends to a common domestic establish'ment," etc. The error, however, lies here, not on the side of the author, but on that of his critics. They are guilty of inadvertently transferring that which universally prevails in the East to Egypt, which the author avoids, and thereby exhibits his knowledge of the condition of the Egyptians. According to the monuments, the women in Egypt lived under far less restraint, than in the East, or even in Greece.t

The delineations of Egyptian social intercourse are especially appropriate here. Taylor, collecting in few words the results as they are, without reference to our passage, says: "In some entertainments, we find the ladies and gen'tlemen of a party in different rooms; but in others, we find 'them in the same apartment, mingling together with all the social freedom of modern Europeans. The children were

p. 167.

389.

* Compare Wilkinson, Vol. II.
See the proof in Wilk. Vol. II. P.

+ Comp. v. 11.

§ p. 171.

allowed the same liberty as the women; instead of being shut up in the harem, as is now usual in the East, they were introduced into company, and were permitted to sit by the mother or on the father's knee."

The Dream of the Chief Baker of Pharaoh.

According to chap. 40: 16, the chief baker, in his dream, carries three wicker baskets with various choice baker's commodities on his head. Similar woven baskets, flat (which the circumstance that the three are placed one upon another here implies) and open, for carrying grapes and other fruits, are found represented on the monuments.* The art of baking was carried to a high degree of perfection among the Egyptians. Rosellini says, after describing the kitchen scenes upon the tomb of Remeses IV. at Biban el Moluk: "From all these representations, it is clear that the Egyptians were accustomed to prepare many kinds of pastry for the table, as we see the very same kinds spread out upon the altars and tables which are represented in the tombs. They made even bread in many and various forms. These articles are found in the tombs kneaded from barley or wheat, in the form of a star, a triangle, a disk, and other such like things."+ But the custom of carrying on the head is most peculiar and characteristic of Egypt, and it is so much the more to be remarked, as it is mentioned incidentally, and the author does not characterize it as a custom peculiar to the Egyptians. Herodotust mentions the habit of bearing burdens on the head by the men, as one by which the Egyptians are distintinguished from all other people: "Men bear burdens on their heads, and women on their shoulders." Examples of * Wilk. II. 151-2.

+ Vol. II. 2. p. 464. Compare the representation of these different kinds of pastry, etc., in Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 385.

+ 2.35.

this custom are frequently found upon the monuments.* To be sure, the monuments also show, what is evident without argument, that the custom was not universal.†

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Pharaoh's Dream and the Magicians of Egypt.

In the account of Pharaoh's dream, chap. 41: 1 seq., we are first struck with the use of the wordy (Achoo), Nile-grass, an Egyptian word for an Egyptian thing. In the next place, the seven poor and the seven fat kine attract our attention. The symbol of the cow is very peculiar and exclusively Egyptian. Upon the signification of this symbol we have two important passages, one from Plutarch:‡ "They consider the cow as the image of Isis and the earth," i. e. the symbol of them. The other is found in Clemens: "The cow is the symbol of the earth itself and its cultivation, and of food." Now, therefore, since the cow is the symbol of fruitfulness, it appears entirely natural, that the difference of the year in respect to fruitfulness was represented by the different condition of the kine—that unfruitful years were denoted by lean kine. It is scarcely conceivable that a foreign inventor should have confined himself so closely to the peculiar Egyptian symbols. The circumstance that the kine come up out of the Nile, the fat and also the lean, has reference to the fact that Egypt owes all its fertility to this stream, and that famine succeeds as soon as it fails.

*

Compare drawings in Wilkinson, Vol. II. p. 151-2 and Vol. III. p. 385, where a man is carrying bread or cakes to the oven upon a long board.

Costaz in the Descr. t. 6. p. 138. Wilk. as above. Rosellini, II. p. 453.

In Bähr upon Herod. 2. 41.

§ Βοῦν γάρ Ισιδος εἰκόνα καὶ γῆν νομίζουσι, upon which Bähr: Manet vacca Isidis signum procreatricisque naturae symbolum. Strom. B. V. p. 671. Potter.

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