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of Egypt is yours. 21. And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them carriages, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment: but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23. And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father on the way. 24. So he sent his brothers away, and they departed: and he said to them, Do not be afraid on the way.-25. And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to

were considered to have been so remarkable for elegance and costliness that they mainly contributed to make Jacob believe the royal elevation of his son (ver. 27). But battle-chariots were in Canaan, as in other eastern countries, extensively employed from early times. About the different kinds of Egyptian carriages we refer to Comm. on Exod. p. 181.

22-24. To seal the reconciliation with his brothers, Joseph dismissed them with such presents as are not unusually given in the east to testify love or respect. As in warm countries a frequent change of dress is more a matter of comfort than of luxury, suits of clothes, varying in value and richness, in accordance with the ability of the donor and his regard for the recipient, are an acceptable gift offered to welcome guests, or to friends after a longer separation, and even to kings as a mark of homage. If Joseph, on this as on a former occasion, in signally distinguishing Benjamin by more liberal presents, appears almost guilty of the same weakness which he had reformed in Jacob, it will be remembered, that nature herself justified him in bestowing a larger share of affection on his only full brother.

-Anxious to show the fervent love he bore to his father, instead of offering him presents on his arrival in Egypt, he sent him, besides the necessary provisions, ten camels, laden with every kind of wealth, unconcerned at the additional burden thus

imposed upon him during a journey sufficiently encumbered in itself. The brothers, still astonished and overwhelmed, were about to return to Canaan with feelings singularly conflicting. They had indeed to convey to their mourning father a most joyous and happy message: but in doing this, they were obliged at once to confess to him the detestable crime committed by them against Joseph. How could they face his look of mingled reproach and horror? They might well tremble in depicting to themselves the terrible moment. Joseph, therefore, shrewdly reading their sentiments, exclaimed, when they were departing, "Do not be afraid on the way" but he added no other word of encouragement. By maliciously sacrificing him to their jealousy, they had sinned against their father also; they were to atone for it by a scene of the deepest shame and confusion; and Joseph, who in more than one respect, represents the working of Providence, could not wish to check its justice.

25-28. How, indeed, should Jacob credit his sons, when they told him of Joseph's life and greatness, as this very account made it manifest, that during more than twenty years they had hypocritically feigned to believe in their brother's death, and to be ignorant of its cause? But when, together with their guilt, he saw their earnest repentance; when he heard the lofty view taken by

Jacob their father. 26. And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and indeed he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart remained cold, for he did not believe them. 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them: and when he saw the carriages which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28. And Israel said, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

Joseph of his abduction to Egypt, and the cordial pardon granted by him to his brothers (ver. 5); and when he beheld the beautiful presents and carriages which they had brought from Egypt: his heart, so long dead to joy and almost to hope, once more shook off the habitual torpor into which it had fallen; life recovered its charm; he seemed born to new vigour: but his mind, purified and freed, at length, from worldly vanity and weakness, seemed entirely indifferent to the splendour of the Egyptian grand-vizier, and agitated only by the fond sentiments of the father, he exclaimed: "It is enough that my son Joseph is still alive"! It cannot escape the attention of the reader, that henceforth the patriarch is represented not only as fully prepared for

death, but as rapidly approaching towards it; thus even on hearing of Joseph's preservation, he added, "let me go and see him before I die" (comp. xlvi. 30; xlvii. 9; xlviii. 1, 10); whereas hitherto he had appeared to dread the thought of the grave (xxxvii. 35; xlii. 38). He had completed the third period of his life, atonement by suffering (see p. 388); he felt reconciled with God and the deeds of his youth and manhood; he had borne the yoke of chastisement; and though he was justified in expecting a last stage of undisturbed blessing, he willingly renounced it, having long since acknowledged the undeserved abundance of Divine mercy towards him (xxxii. 11); and being now satisfied with the peace of his mind, and with the noble privileges of Abraham's faith (xlvi.1).

CHAPTER XLVI.

1. And Israel journeyed with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2. And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here am I.

1-7. When Jacob, on his way from Hebron (xxxvii. 14) towards Egypt, passed Beer-sheba, destined to form the southern frontier-town of the future land of the Hebrews (see p. 286), he imitated the example of his father and his grandfather who had there built altars and in

voked God in prayer (xxi. 33; xxvi.24,25). But his position was at that time much more calculated to rouse religious sentiments than either that of Abraham or Isaac had been when they worshipped at the same place. Though on the point of meeting a beloved son, he might naturally

3. And He said, I am the Omnipotent, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thy eyes.-5. And Jacob rose from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel brought Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the carriages which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6. And they took their cattle, and their property which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: 7. His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed, he brought with him into Egypt.

8. And these are the names of the children of Israel,

feel that his immigration into Egypt with his whole family was the first step towards the realisation of the stern prophecy given to Abraham regarding the sojourn of his descendants in a strange land during four centuries, and their merciless oppression by a heartless nation (xv. 13). He knew that this prediction applied to no land more appropriately than to Egypt, famous for its irrational hatred against strangers; that Abraham had been promised to die peacefully in Canaan (xv. 15); and that Isaac had been forbidden to enter Egypt, because the time of fulfilment had not yet arrived (xxvi. 2; see p. 327). He, therefore, having reached the last town on the sacred soil, paused once more, and poured out before God his joy, his gratitude, and his fear. He felt certainly relieved, when he surveyed the circumstances under which he approached the land of the Pharaohs; his chief guarantee was not the almost unlimited, but transitory, power of his son, nor the deep, but fluctuating, obligation of the people towards him as their rescuer, but the express permission of the king in terms of official authority (xlv. 18—20). But how, if the political condition of Egypt, by some unforeseen event, as, for instance, by a change of dynasty, should

be so fundamentally altered as to cause either oblivion or disregard of the old conventions and pledges? (Exod. i. 8). Would the sympathy of the people be sufficient to shield a helpless colony, the invited guests of a benevolent king, against the cruelty of tyrannical successors? Therefore God appeared to Jacob, calmed his anxieties, and exhorted him fearlessly to enter Egypt, wherewhatever their prosperity or general wellbeing- a numerous people would spring from his sons; and whence, in accordance with former promises, they would in due time be gloriously led out to conquer the land of Canaan (xv. 16). But Jacob himself would certainly not see the beginning of oppression; he would end his days in happiness in the arms of his favourite son; and though dying in the strange country, he would be buried in the land of promise (comp. xv. 15).—It was considered a happy privilege to know that the eyes would, in the moment of death, be closed by some loving hand, especially a devoted child; not less than to be buried by affectionate sons, and in the land, if not the grave, of ancestors or relatives (xxv.9; xxxv. 29; xlix. 29-32; 1.25).

S-27. The list of Jacob's family, here appropriately inserted, offers various and

who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.-9. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.-10. And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Saul the son of a Canaanitish woman.— 11. And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. -12. And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.-13. And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.-14. And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.-15. These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan-aram, with his

grave difficulties; but they are of a nature to open a welcome insight into the peculiarities of the historical style of the Bible.

The text distinctly observes, “All the souls of the house of Jacob that came into Egypt were seventy" (ver. 27). The same statement is as clearly repeated in other passages (Exod. i. 5; Deut. x. 22). It is, therefore, scarcely possible to doubt that this was a historical tradition generally received among the Israelites. However, the tenour of the present list certainly leads to the inference, that the total number of Hebrew settlers in Egypt was considerably larger than seventy. For 1.Jacob had daughters (ver. 7); and yet Dinah ⚫ alone, known from a former occurrence, is mentioned in this place (ver. 15). 2. His sons came with their wives (ver. 26), none of whom is here counted. 3. They had likewise daughters (ver. 7); but Serah only, the daughter of Asher, is introduced.

Further, are these names fictitious and chosen at random? or which was the author's source or guide? The reply to these questions will lead us to a solution of the difficulty just pointed out.

Our text evidently embodies the chief families which subsequently became important or powerful in each tribe; as in almost all preceding genealogies, the names are, on the whole, not those of individuals, but represent divisions or

clans; and if the introduction of Dinah is explicable from the preceding narrative (xxxiv.), Serah may later have become noted in the organization of the tribe of Asher (comp. Num.xxxvi. 1—5).

This view is confirmed by a comparison with the similar list inserted in the history of the wanderings of the people in the desert, when the census was actually taken (Numb. xxvi. 5-60). The persons here mentioned appear there as the founders or heads of families; and the house of Jacob corresponds with the people of Israel. Yet both lists offer a considerable number of differences which but partially admit of a conciliation. 1. In one case a letter is changed, in another transposed, and in others omitted or added, while in one instance a syllable is left out. (We refer to the larger edition of this work). These variations are possibly attributable to the inattention of copyists; and, therefore, do not necessarily demand the supposition of two different traditions; though even the former alternative would naturally derogate from the critical accuracy of the Hebrew text. 2. Some names here introduced are omitted in Numbers; while some new ones, not found in our list, are mentioned in the later portion. This circumstance may certainly be explained by the conjecture that these families, existing in the time of Jacob, had become extinct in the time of Moses; whereas

daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

16. And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.-17. And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Jishvah, and Jishvi, and Beriah, and Serah, their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.-18. These are the sons of Zilpah whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, sixteen souls.

19. The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife were Joseph and Benjamin. 20. And to Joseph were born in the land of Egypt Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bore to him.-21. And the

others may have been formed since the earlier period. 3. But some names are entirely altered. It is true, that many persons had more than one name, and that therefore the individuals might here be mentioned by one, and the families in Numbers by another; that in one instance the two names are synonymous, and that in another the one corresponds with the other in a kindred dialect; and that, referring to the preceding head (No. 3), one family might have disappeared and another arisen in its stead. But it is evident that all these arguments are artificial expedients scarcely amounting to more than a feeble appearance of probability; and that the impression of the unbiassed reader is that those differences of the names imply likewise inaccuracies of the tradition. 4. This opinion gains still greater force by the fact, that in some instances the relative connection of the families is altered in the two lists: the descendants of Benjamin especially are so essentially different in both cases that no means of conciliation can possibly be effectual. Not only are two names added in our list, and there others appear in a more or less modified form: but one, Becher, here mentioned among the Benjamites (ver. 21), is in Numbers (xxvi. 35) counted among the Ephraimites; while two others (Naaman and Ard) here stated as sons of Benjamin, are there introduced

as his grand-sons (by Bela, ver.40). It
may here be again observed, with a cer-
tain specious plausibility, that the two
families just alluded to (Naaman and Ard),
independent at the time of the immi-
gration into Egypt, had in the time
of the exodus fallen under the au-
thority of the fraternal family of
Bela; and that Becher the Benja-
mite had become
mily of the same name, but totally
unconnected with it, had sprung up in
the tribe of Ephraim: but those who would
be satisfied with such a light tissue of su-
perficial likelihood, would be opposed by
another difficulty which remains to be con-
sidered. A third list of Jacob's descendants
occurs in the first Book of Chronicles
(chapters ii.-viii.), and it contains devia-
tions not only from our list, but also from
that of Numbers. The most numerous and
decided differences are again found in the
tribe of Benjamin; they there almost
amount to a perfect confusion; a double
genealogy is given (vii. 6-13 and viii.
1—40), having but very few points of re-
semblance with the lists under discus-
sion; new names are added, old ones
are omitted, altered, or placed in an-
other relationship with the founder of
the tribe. It may, indeed, be urged that
all these modifications represent as many
internal changes of the Benjamites, quite
natural in the youngest, and therefore

extinct, while a fa

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