those of Naharaim and of Heth; and upon the probable supposition that geographical order is observed in it, this country must have been situated between these two districts.

"The same inscription implies that the T consisted of two confederated races, and that there were in the country two places or cities, both of which were known by the name of Rabbah.

"If we now refer to the maps of Canaan, as laid down from the Scripture narratives, we shall find the country denoted by all these indications inhabited by races agreeing very remarkably with all the specified particulars.

"The district to the eastward of the Dead Sea, or, in other words, between Naharaim (Mesopotamia) and the land of Heth, was inhabited by the Ammonites and the Moabites, the descendants of the incestuous daughters of Lot.

"Though not of the family of the Canaanites, these races were in constant communication with them, and warmly embraced their quarrel with the Israelites in after-times, against whom, notwithstanding their blood-relationship, and notwithstanding the Divine command to spare them for Lot's sake, (Deut. ii. 19), they entertained an antipathy at least equal to that of the Canaanites. See Num. xxv. 1,2; Judges iii. 12; 2 Sam. x. These circumstances abundantly account for the similarity between them in dress and customs.

"The identity of the T of the hieroglyphics with the Moabites and Ammonites is rendered further probable by the circumstance that the latter were gross idolaters; and having learned their false religion from the Canaanites, they were doubtless, like them, the worshippers of Asher and Ashtaroth.

"These two branches of the family of Lot seem to have been very generally in close confederation at all times (see the passages just referred to); and their being originally from the same stock would naturally lead to their being known in Egypt under one designation.

"The descendants of Lot also resembled this unknown nation in their practice of going to battle with large bodies of chariots and horsemen two and thirty thousand are mentioned on one occasion. (1 Chron. xix. 7.)

"It is likewise a remarkable coincidence that the capital cities both of Ammon and Moab had the same name, and that name was Rabbah.*

"There is another point of accordance between the TI, and the descendants of Lot. We have seen at Ipsambul, that the Zuzim sent an embassy to Sesostris during his campaign, complaining of the invasion of the TN. In the inspired book of Deuteronomy, which was written a little more than a century afterwards, we have an account of this same war and its termination. When thou, [i. e. Israel] comest nigh the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.' It also was accounted the land of the Rephaim, for the Rephaim dwelt there formerly, and the Ammonites called them Zamzu* "Rabbah or Rabbath Ammon, the royal city of the Ammonites, and Rabbath Moab or Kir Heres, the metropolis of the Moabites."

mim.* A people great and many and tall like giants: † but the LORD destroyed them before them [the Ammonites], and they dwelt in their stead.' (Deut. ii. 19—21.) Thus we find that the Zuzim, the former conquerors of Egypt, actually suffered the invasion of which they complained to Sesostris from a nation who were not Canaanites, and that they were by them at length expelled and exterminated. The defeat and expulsion of this powerful race from Egypt by Amosis 500 years before, would very probably cause them to decline as a nation, so as to become at last the prey of their stronger neighbours. The Zuzim who make so conspicuous a figure in the wars of Sethos and Sesostris are scarcely mentioned in those of Remesses IV., though he fought in the same country. The beginning of their conquest by the Ammonites may have taken place between these two epochs.

"The name is now the only point of identification between the and the Moabites and the Ammonites which remains unestablished. This single missing link to complete the chain of evidence is supplied by the prophetic denunciation of Balaam against Moab :—

There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.' (Num. xxiv. 17.) It is needless to dwell upon the undisputed fact, that, as Jacob and Israel in the one parallel are two names of the same people, this must also be the case with Moab and Sheth in the other. Sheth, therefore, was a name of Moab, and this was also the name by which they and the children of Ammon were known in Egypt, for and are identical. The and sh, and the and thort are the equivalents of each other, and the is either the intermediate vowel or the Phenician plural termination i. This fact furnishes a valuable illustration of the passage of Scripture before us, which has hitherto been but ill understood. Sheth was the name of the territory of Moab and Ammon. The meaning of the prophecy of Balaam is therefore perfectly obvious; and it received its accomplishment in the subjugation of both these nations by David.

"The or Shethites, then, by whose formidable armaments of horse and foot the castern frontier of Egypt was constantly threatened during the reigns of Sethos and Sesostris, were the children of Moab and Ammon. The proof of this point amounts to absolute certainty." -Osburn, pp. 132-137.

To the above curious instances of undesigned coincidence, we may add the fact that the Hittites, and some other Canaanitish

* "Or Zuzim, as the Canaanites called them, (Gen. xiv. 5,) and the Israelites, and Egyptians after them. The similarity of dress and appearance between the upper Arvadites and the Zuzim we have already noticed."

"They were, as we have seen, the OC or shepherds, who conquered Egypt under the sixteenth of the Pharaonic dynasties."

" is written in Coptic letters To or TA, both by Champollion and Rosellini. The latter of these eminent antiquaries spells it in Roman characters Sceto, supposing it to mean Scythia. The former writes it Sheta, and is evidently doubtful of its import.—(See Gram. Egypt. pp. 151, 501, &c.)”

nations, are represented on the monuments with their hair shaved from the head in an unsightly and peculiar manner; Mr. Osburn's commentary we subjoin.

"The prevalence of this custom among the Canaanites is distinctly stated in the Bible. They are repeatedly qualified by the prophet Jeremiah, with the epithet ? see ix., xxv. 23, &c., which the margin of the English version properly renders 'cut off into corners,' and supposes to mean having the corners of their hair polled.' This custom is also spoken of as prevalent among many of the nations of Palestine. GoD declares that He will punish Edom and Ammon and Moab, even all who have their hair shaven into corners (ix. 26.) A still greater number of them are mentioned in another passage: Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon, and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and all the kings of the region by the sea coast, Dedan and Tema and Buz, even all who have their hair shaven into corners' (xxv. 21-23.) These passages seem to hint at the prevalence of the custom in various fashions among several of the Canaanitish nations, which we find, from the pictures, to have been really the case. The Israelites were expressly prohibited from copying this unsightly and idolatrous practice, Ye shall not cut [or shave] your hair into corners neither shalt thou eradicate [pluck up]t the corners of thy beard.' (Lev. xix. 27.)"-Osburn, p. 126.

*

As one more instance of the consistency of truth, Mr. Osburn shows that the Canaanites, who occupy so large a space in the earlier monuments of Egypt, never appear after the period which Scripture assigns for their national extinction.

To Professor Hengstenberg's work we have already adverted, and have now only to add that it evinces great erudition and research, and is composed with a laudable object, the vindication of the genuineness of the Pentateuch against Bohler and other neological writers. In some instances he does his duty signally. We give one specimen.

"THE FESTIVAL OF THE GOLDEN CALF, ETC., EXOD. XXXii. AND

LEV. xvii. 7.

A succession of allusions to Egypt are found in the 32nd chapter of Exodus. That the representation of Jehovah under the image of the golden calf is only explainable on the supposition of Egyptian influence, and that it stands in connection with the worship of Apis, has been fully discussed in the Contributions. In the same work, it was also shown that striking analogy is found in the descriptions of the feasts of the gods among the Egyptians, for the manner of which the DP This word means to cut down' elsewhere; see Isa. x. 34. It perhaps means 'to extirpate.'

"destroy utterly;' see Lee's Lexicon."

"Wilkinson connects it with the worship of the Mnevis of Heliopolis. After speaking of the worship of the sacred animals in general, he says: The Hebrew legislator felt the necessity of preventing the Jews from falling into this, the most gross practice of which idolatry was guilty. The worship of the golden calf, a representation of the Mnevis of Heliopolis, was a proof how their minds had become

festival of the golden calf was celebrated by the Israelites, as exhibited in the following passages ;-ver. 6: And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.' Ver. 17: And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.' Ver. 18, where Moses says; The noise of song I hear.' And in ver. 19: And he saw the calf and the dancing.' The most ancient popular rites of the Egyptians were, according to Creuzer, of the nature of orgies, and the fundamental character of their religion was Bacchanalian. Sensual songs were sung, with the accompaniment of noisy instruments. Of the yearly journey to Bubastis, Herodotus says: Throughout the whole journey, some of the women strike the cymbal, whilst men play the flute, and the rest of the women and men sing and clap with their hands; and when they, in their journey, come near a town, they bring the boat near the shore, and conduct as follows: some of the women do as I have already described, some jeer at the women of the town, with loud voices, and some dance,' while others commit other unseemly acts. Especially is it said concerning the feast of Apis, But when Cambyses came to Memphis, Apis (whom the Greeks call Epaphos) was shown to the Egyptians, and as he appeared, the Egyptians forthwith put on their most costly garments and cxulted.'*

"Just as here, in a manner throughout inimitable by one of later times, the circumstances, tendencies and feelings of the people, who had grown up under Egyptian influences, are exhibited with incontrovertible truth. So are they, also, in the passage Lev. xvii. 7, already explained at large in a former work. It is there said, in reference to the rebellious Israelites: They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to he-goats Dy after which they have lusted.' The opposition which exists between a he-goat and a god, was removed in the Egyptian religion, and in it only. The he-goat, and also Pan, were, in the language of Egypt, named Mendes,' says Herodotus, and almost all the Greeks follow him. This identity of names between the god and the he-goat, is explained by the pantheistic element in the Egyptian conception of the world. The he-goat was not barely a symbol of Mendes, for whom the Greeks, looking away from the other great differences, because of the form of the he-goat and his wantonness, substituted Pan, but the physical presentation, the incarnation of this god, and was therefore considered holy and as worthy of divine honour. The service of the he-goat, as a deity, was very anciently performed in Egypt, and he was the participant of very high honour among them, so that we must necessarily expect the idolatrous inclination of the Israelites, awakened after a short slumber, to be also directed specially to this deity.

We turn back to Exodus xxxii. Aaron demands, according to ver. 2, of the children of Israel, the golden rings which are in the ears of their wives, their sons, and their daughters, in order to fashion from them the calf. The golden ornaments found in Egypt,' says Wilkin

imbued with the superstitions they had beheld in Egypt, which the mixed multitude had practised there.' Second Series, Vol. II. p. 96, 97. But it is of little consequence which is referred to. The allusion is sufficiently plain in either case."

*"See also upon the sacred dance among the Egyptians, Wilkinson, II. p. 340." "In den Beiträgen, Th. 2. S. 118 ff."

son, consist of rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings, and numerous trinkets belonging to the toilet; many of these are of the times of Osirtasen I. and Thothmes III., contemporaries of Joseph and Moses,' The same author shows that ear-rings were commonly worn in Egypt. Rings of gold were so common in Egypt, according to Rosellini, that they took to a certain extent the place of coin, and many times were used in trade.

According to ver. 20, Moses took the calf that they made and burnt it, and beat it,* (namely, the elements of the calf, externally gold and internally wood, which had escaped the fire) until it was fine as powder. In Deut. ix. 21, Moses says of the same transaction, And burned it with fire, and beat it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was as fine as dust.' Wilkinson † says, certain persons were employed in the towns of Egypt, to pound various substances, in large stone mortars, with heavy metal pestles. When the substance was well pounded, it was taken out and passed through a sieve, and the larger particles were again returned to the mortar, until the whole was sufficiently fine."Hengstenberg, pp. 202–204.

We have, however, already intimated that Professor Hengstenberg is not free from the errors of the German theological schools: and he labours very hard to show that the plagues of Egypt were only miraculous exaggerations of ordinary visitations. It may have been so; perhaps the analogy and economy of miraculous dispensations support the view: but they would be none the less miraculous on that account. Their number, their extent, and yet their limitation to time, persons, and places, their rapid consecution, their intensity, their arrival and departure at the prayers and prophecy of Moses, mark a departure from what are called the laws of nature as distinctly as the most entire contradiction to them. Why then this labour to show the miracles less miraculous, so to speak, than they Surely that mind must be very unphilosophical which, while it does not refuse to admit miracle in the abstract, draws distinctions between the credibility of less and greater. A calm at sea

"In Wilkinson, Vol. III. p. 220, 1, it is said: 'A strong evidence of the skill of the Egyptians in working metals, and of the early advancement they made in this art, is derived from their success in the management of different alloys; which, as M. Goguet observes, is further argued from the casting of the golden calf, and still more from Moses being able to burn the metal and reduce it to powder; a secret which he could only have learned in Egypt. It is said in Exodus that Moses took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it;' an operation which, according to the French savant, is known by all who work in metals to be very difficult.' 'Commentators' heads,' he adds, have been much perplexed to explain how Moses burnt and reduced the gold to powder. Many have offered vain and improbable conjectures, but an experienced chemist has removed every difficulty upon the subject, and has suggested this simple process. In the place of tartaric acid, which we employ, the Hebrew legislator used natron, which is common in the east. What follows, respecting his making the Israelites drink this powder, proves that he was perfectly acquainted with the whole effect of the operation. He wished to increase the punishment of their disobedience, and nothing could have been more suitable; for gold reduced, and made into a draught, in the manner I have mentioned, has a most disagreeable taste.'"'

+"Vol. III. p. 181, and Drawing."

VOL. III.