Gulf in Egypt, it is cut off from the Nile by the eastern mountain range, the Mokattam, and cannot even press in, much less then scorch the ears of corn.* On the contrary, it is the south which is the hot wind in Egypt. A similar error is found in Ex. 16: 13, where the locusts should be represented as coming with the south wind out of Nubia. We will first examine Gen. 41: 6, where the seven thin ears, and "blasted with the east wind," are mentioned. The quotation from Abdollatiph, by which it is said to be proved, that there is no east wind in Egypt, is not conclusive. That author himself shows that he does not intend to be understood as speaking of all of Egypt, and particularly not of the part with which we are here concerned, the Delta: "For this reason without doubt the ancient Egyptians chose for the residence of their kings, Memphis and the places which like Memphis are most remote from the eastern mountains." It is conceded, that there is seldom a wind directly from the east or west in Egypt.|| But there is oftentimes a southeast wind, which is precisely the one to produce the effects which are here ascribed to the east wind; and besides, it blows commonly at the time in which these things are understood to have taken place, before the corn harvest, which in Egypt is in March and April.¶ Ukert** thus sums up the accounts of modern travellers with regard to the east wind: "In the spring the south wind oftentimes springs up towards the south-east, increasing to a whirlwind, etc. The heat then seems insupportable, although the thermometer does not always rise very high. The south wind is called Merisi, the south-east, Asiab or Chamsin. As long as the south-east wind continues, doors and windows * Abdollatiph, p. 16. Hasselquist, 254. Compare verses 23, 27 of the same chap. § P. 5. De Sacy. ¶ Nordmeier calend. Aeg. oecon, p. 29. + Abdollatiph, p. 19. Rüppell in Ukert, S. 113. ** S. 111. are closed, but the fine dust penetrates everywhere; everything dries up; wooden vessels warp and crack. The thermometer rises suddenly from 16-20 degrees up to 30, 36, and even 38 degrees of Reaumer. This wind works destruction upon everything. The grass withers so that it entirely perishes, if this wind blows long." Volney says: "The south and south-east wind produce no dew, since they come from the African and Arabian deserts. But the north and west winds bring the evaporations of the Mediterranean to Egypt. In March the southeast, the due south and the south-west winds prevail. Then they become sometimes westerly and sometimes northerly and easterly." That this south-east wind is here designated by the word, , which commonly signifies, east wind, is not surprising, since the Hebrews had terms only for the four principal winds, and besides, if a more accurate designation had been possible, it would still have been entirely unsuitable here in relating a dream. But we can even quote a traveller who does not scruple to designate the south-east as merely the east. Wanslebt says: "From Easter to Pentecost is the most stormy part of the year; for the wind commonly blows, during this time, from the Red Sea, from the east." So much upon Gen. 41: 6. We do not trouble ourselves with Ex. xvi, since the assertion, that the east wind is not the appropriate one, depends upon the arbitrary supposition, that the passage of the Red Sea took place at the time of the ebb tide. There is therefore now remaining to us only Ex. 10: 13. V. Bohlen is not the first who has thought the mentioning of the east wind here a suspicious circumstance. Bochart, as long ago as his time, supposed that Dp must in this place signify the south wind, since the east wind could * Voyage En Syrie et in Egypte, t. 1. pp. 54, 55. In Paulus Reisen Th. III. p. 18. + Hieroz. 3. p. 287. bring locusts hither only out of Arabia, while the south wind would bring them from Ethiopia, which produces them in far greater numbers. Eichhorn* says: "Since the locusts, from blind instinct, always move from south to north, without ever turning to the east or west, their swarms never come out of Arabia to Egypt, but always from Ethiopia." It is certain, without argument, that the author has here neither used with the signification of south wind, nor inadvertently named the east, where the south should be; but that, on the contrary, with clear knowledge of the natural relations of Egypt, he meant to say, that the locusts came hither from the east, from the Arabian Gulf. This is clear from verse 19: "And the Lord turned a mighty, strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea." The west wind, which is expressly represented as the opposite of p, carries the locusts directly back to the region whence they came. It cannot, therefore, be asserted that the author betrays himself, and incautiously transfers a condition which belongs to Palestine to Egypt. But it is yet asked, Can the locusts possibly come to Egypt from the east, from beyond the Arabian Gulf? The argument which Eichhorn urges against this, that the locusts always travel from south to north, is not tenable. Credner, who in his commentary on Joel decidedly substantiates the correctness of the statement in our passage, has shown that they come with every wind. It also can be no objection to this opinion, that the swarm coming from the east must pass the Arabian Gulf. For Crednert has shown, that the flight of the locusts is successfully made, not merely over smaller channels, as the Straits of Gibraltar, the Red Sea, etc., but over larger bodies of water, as the Mediterra ↑ S. 286. * De Aeg. anno mirabili, p. 26. ‡ S. 288. § Niebuhr remarks that, the wind drives the swarms of the locusts over the Arabian Gulf in its broadest part. Beschr. S. 169. nean Sea, in case they are favored by the wind. As soon as this fails them, changing to a storm, or when a calm succeeds, the whole numberless swarm is precipitated into the sea, just as it here occurred after the locusts had accomplished the work of the Lord upon the Egyptians. If it is true, that the locusts come from the east not less than from the south, and that the sea is no hindrance to them, and if it is further settled that Arabia is one of the principal places, where the locusts are found, it is also certain that they come from there to Egypt not less than from Nubia. A single case of this kind, a plague of locusts of peculiar severity, which came from the east upon Egypt, is described by a Syrian writer, the continuator of Barhebraeus: "In the year 1774 (1463, A. D.) many locusts came from the east. They advanced even to Egypt, destroyed the crops," etc. The Cultivation of the Vine in Egypt. Ignorance of the condition of Egypt is also said to appear in the dream of the chief butler of Pharaoh.t In reference to this, v. Bohlent remarks: "An important specification of time for the late origin of the narrative, is contained here in the dream of the butler, in which the existence of the vine in Egypt is implied. For, after Psamaticus, consequently just about the time of Josiah, had its cultivation first been commenced, in a small degree, and could, in a low country, which at the time of the ripening of the grape is overflowed, find entrance only at some few points. The Egyptians used for drink a kind of beer, in speaking of which, Herodotus explicitly adds that no vines grow in the land. Among the orthodox Egyptians it is considered as the blood of Ty * In dem neuen Repert. von Paulus, Th. I. S. 67. + Gen. 40: 10, seq. + S. 373. phon. They did not drink it, says Plutarch, before the time of Psamaticus, and they also did not offer it in sacrifice." Tuch shares with v. Bohlen unbounded regard for every disconnected saying of Plutarch, which, if we take into view the whole character of this writer, appears to have very poor foundation. He also, as well as the author before mentioned, has no regard to the information which the monuments have furnished, since the beginning of this century, upon the question concerning the cultivation of the vine in Egypt. He does not even seem to have noticed that which Heeren has adduced from the Description of the French scholars.† In vindication of the author of the book of Genesis, he assumes that there is no mention made of wine in the passage, but of drinking the newly expressed, unfermented, unintoxicating juice of the grape. The procedure described in the chapter supposes an evasion, consequently the continued existence of the prohibition of wine, and an observance of this prohibition; and it is an escape from a difficulty which besides him, Rosenmueller has also borrowed from J. D. Michaelis, for whom it was exceedingly convenient, but yet it is nothing more than an escape from difficulty. It rests upon the fact that one does not pay attention to what passes in dreaming, and it does not take into account that the words, "I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup," if they are separated from their connection with the dream, show a procedure in the preparation of the royal drink, which has nowhere else any analogy. Besides, the employment of cup-bearer, as a distinguished office at court, could scarcely exist, where the drink and its preparation are so extraordinarily simple-the latter such as is elsewhere practised only by children. Still further, if the passage in Plutarch be allowed to have any force, we cannot * In dem Comm. zur Genesis, S. 513. Mos. Laws, Vol. III. p. 120. + Ideen, Aegypt. S. 362. |