E'gypt. (land of the Copts). A country occupying the northeast angle of
Africa. Its limits appear always to have been very nearly the same. It is
bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Palestine, Arabia
and the Red Sea, on the south by Nubia, and on the west by the Great Desert. It
is divided into upper Egypt -- the valley of the Nile -- and lower Egypt, the
plain of the Delta, from the Greek letter; it is formed by the branching mouths
of the Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea. The portions made fertile by the Nile
comprise about 9582 square geographical miles, of which only about 5600 is
under cultivation. -- Encyclopedia Britannica. The Delta extends about 200
miles along the Mediterranean, and Egypt is 520 miles long from north to south
from the sea to the First Cataract.
Names. -- The common name of Egypt in the Bible is "Mizraim."
It is in the dual number, which indicates the two natural divisions of the
country into an upper and a lower region. The Arabic name of Egypt -- Mizr
-- signifies "red mud". Egypt is also called in the Bible
"the land of Ham," Psa_105:23;
Psa_105:27, compare Psa_78:51, -- a name most probably referring to
Ham the son of Noah -- and "Rahab," the proud or insolent: these
appear to be poetical appellations. The common ancient Egyptian name of the
country is written in hieroglyphics (Kem, which was perhaps pronounced Chem.
This name signifies, in the ancient language and in Coptic, "black",
on account of the blackness of its alluvial soil. We may reasonably conjecture
that Kem is the Egyptian equivalent of Ham. See Names.
General Appearance, Climate, Etc. -- The general appearance of the country cannot
have greatly changed since the days of Moses. The whole country is remarkable
for its extreme fertility, which especially strikes the beholder when the rich
green of the fields is contrasted with the utterly bare, yellow mountains or
the sand-strewn rocky desert on either side. The climate is equable and
healthy. Rain is not very unfrequent on the northern coast, but inland is very
rare. Cultivation nowhere depends upon it. The inundation of the Nile
fertilizes and sustains the country, and makes the river its chief blessing.
The Nile was, on this account, anciently worshipped. The rise begins in
Egypt about the summer solstice, and the inundation commences about two months
later. The greatest height is attained about or somewhat after the autumnal
equinox. The inundation lasts about three months. The atmosphere, except on the
seacoast, is remarkably dry and clear, which accounts for the so perfect
preservation of the monuments, with their pictures and inscriptions. The heat
is extreme during a large part of the year. The winters are mild.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Egypt
ē´jipt:
I. The Country
1. The Basis of the Land
2. The Nile Valley
3. Earliest Human Remains
4. Climate
5. Conditions of Life
6. The Nile
7. The Fauna
8. The Flora
9. The Prehistoric Races
II. The History
1. 1st and 2nd Ages: Prehistoric
2. 3d Age: 1st and 2nd Dynasties
3. 4th Age: 3rd through 6th
Dynasties
4. 5th Age: 7th through 14th
Dynasties
5. 6th Age: 15th through 24th
Dynasties
6. 7th Age: 25th Dynasty to Roman
Times
7. 8th Age: Arabic
8. Early Foreign Connections
III. The Old Testament Connections
1. Semitic Connections
2. Abramic Times
3. Circumcision
4. Joseph
5. Descent into Egypt
6. The Oppression
7. The Historic Position
8. The Plagues
9. Date of the Exodus
10. Route of the Exodus
11. Numbers of the Exodus
12. Israel in Canaan
13. Hadad
14. Pharaoh's Daughter
15. Shishak
16. Zerakh
17. The Ethiopians
18. Tahpanhes
19. Hophra
20. The Jews at Syene
21. The New Jerusalem of Oniah
22. The Egyptian Jew
23. Cities and Places
Alphabetically
IV. The Civilization
1. Language
2. Writing
3. Literature
4. Four Views of Future Life
5. Four Groups of Gods
6. Foreign Gods
7. Laws
8. Character
Literature
Egypt
(מצרים, micrayim; ἡ
Αἴγυπτος, hē
Aíguptos): Usually supposed to represent the dual of Misrayim,
referring to “the two lands,” as the Egyptians called their country. This
dualism, however, has been denied by some.
I. The Country
1. The Basis of the Land
Though Egypt is one of the
earliest countries in recorded history, and as regards its continuous
civilization, yet it is a late country in its geological history and in its
occupation by a settled population. The whole land up to Silsileh is a thick
mass of Eocene limestone, with later marls over that in the lower districts. It
has been elevated on the East, up to the mountains of igneous rocks many
thousand feet high toward the Red Sea. It has been depressed on the West, down
to the Fayum and the oases below sea-level. This strain resulted in a deep
fault from North to South for some hundreds of miles up from the Mediterranean.
This fault left its eastern side about 200 ft. above its western, and into it
the drainage of the plateau poured, widening it out so as to form the Nile
valley, as the permanent drain of Northeast Africa. The access of water to the
rift seems to have caused the basalt outflows, which are seen as black columnar
basalt South of the Fayum, and brown massive basalt at Khankah, North of Cairo.
2. The Nile Valley
The gouging out of the Nile
valley by rainfall must have continued when the land was 300 ft. higher than at
present, as is shown by the immense fails of strata into collapsed caverns
which were far below the present Nile level. Then, after the excavations of the
valley, it has been submerged to 500 ft. lower than at present, as is shown by
the rolled gravel beds and deposits on the tops of the water-worn cliffs, and
the filling up of the tributary valleys - as at Thebes - by deep deposits,
through which the subsequent stream beds have been scoured out. The land still
had the Nile source 30 ft. higher than it is now within the human period, as
seen by the worked flints in high gravel beds above the Nile plain. The
distribution of land and water was very different from that at present when the
land was only 100 ft. lower than now. Such a change would make the valley an
estuary up to South of the Fayum, would submerge much of the western desert,
and would unite the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean. Such differences would
entirely alter the conditions of animal life by sea and land. And as the human
period began when the water was considerably higher, the conditions of climate
and of life must have greatly changed in the earlier ages of man's occupation.
3. Earliest Human Remains
The earliest human remains
belonging to the present condition of the country are large paleolithic flints
found in the side valleys at the present level of the Nile. As these are
perfectly fresh, and not rolled or altered, they show that paleolithic man
lived in Egypt under the present conditions. The close of this paleolithic age
of hunters, and the beginning of a settled population of cultivators, cannot
have been before the drying up of the climate, which by depriving the Nile of
tributary streams enfeebled it so that its mud was deposited and formed a basis
for agriculture. From the known rate of deposit, and depth of mud soil, this
change took place about 10,000 years ago. As the recorded history of the
country extends 7,500 years, and we know of two prehistoric ages before that,
it is pretty well fixed that the disappearance of paleolithic man, and the
beginning of the continuous civilization must have been about 9,000 to 10,000
years ago. For the continuation of this subject see the section on “History”
below.
4. Climate
The climate of Egypt is
unique in the world. So far as solar heat determines it, the condition is
tropical; for, though just North of the tropic which lies at the boundary of
Egypt and Nubia, the cloudless condition fully compensates for higher latitude.
So far as temperature of the air is concerned, the climate is temperate, the
mean heat of the winter months being 52 degrees and of the summer about 80
degrees, much the same as Italy. This is due to the steady prevalence of north
winds, which maintain fit conditions for active, strenuous work. The
rainlessness and dry air give the same facility of living that is found in
deserts, where shelter is only needed for temperature and not for wet; while
the inundation provides abundant moisture for the richest crops.
5. Conditions of Life
The primitive condition -
only recently changed - of the crops being all raised during five cool months
from November to April, and the inundation covering the land during all the hot
weather, left the population free from labor during the enervating season, and
only required their energies when work was possible under favorable conditions.
At the same time it gave a great opportunity for monumental work, as any amount
of labor could be drawn upon without the smallest reduction in the produce of
the country. The great structures which covered the land gave training and
organization to the people, without being any drain upon the welfare of the
country. The inundation covering the plain also provided the easiest transport
for great masses from the quarries at the time when labor was abundant. Thus
the climatic conditions were all in favor of a great civilization, and aided
its production of monuments. The whole mass of the country being of limestone,
and much of it of the finest quality, provided material for construction at
every point. In the south, sandstone and granite were also at hand upon the
great waterway.
6. The Nile
The Nile is the great
factor which makes life possible in Northeast Africa, and without it Egypt
would only be a desolate corner of the Sahara. The union of two essentially
different streams takes place at Kharrum. The White or light Nile comes from
the great plains of the Sudan, while the Blue or dark Nile descends from the mountains
of Abyssinia. The Sudan Nile from Gondokoro is filtered by the lakes and the sudd
vegetation, so that it carries little mud; the Abyssinian Nile, by its rapid
course, brings down all the soil which is deposited in Egypt, and which forms
the basis for cultivation. The Sudan Nile rises only 6 ft. from April to
November; while the Abyssinian Nile rises 26 ft. from April to August. The
latter makes the rise of the inundation, while the Sudan Nile maintains the
level into the winter. In Egypt itself the unchecked Nile at Aswan rises 25 ft.
from the end of May to the beginning of September; while at Cairo, where
modified by the irrigation system, it rises 16 ft. from May to the end of
September. It was usually drained off the land by the beginning of November,
and cultivation was begun. The whole cultivable land of Egypt is but the
dried-up bed of the great river, which fills its ancient limits during a third
of the year. The time taken by a flush of water to come down the Nile is about
15 days from 400 miles above Khartum to Aswan, and about 6 days from Aswan to
Cairo, or 80 to 90 miles a day, which shows a flow of 3 to 3 1/2 miles an hour
when in flood.
7. The Fauna
The fauna has undergone
great changes during the human period. At the close of the prehistoric age
there are represented the giraffe, elephant, wild ox, lion, leopard, stag,
long-necked gazelle and great dogs, none of which are found in the historic
period. During historic times various kinds of antelopes have been
exterminated, the hippopotamus was driven out of the Delta during Roman times,
and the crocodile was cleared out of Upper Egypt and Nubia in the last century.
Cranes and other birds shown on early sculptures are now unknown in the
country. The animals still surviving are the wolf, jackal, hyena, dogs,
ichneumon, jerboa, rats, mice, lizards (up to 4 ft. long) and snakes, besides a
great variety of birds, admirably figured by Whymper, Birds of Egypt. Of
tamed animals, the ox, sheep, goat and donkey are ancient; the cat and horse
were brought in about 2000 bc, the camel was not commonly known till 200 ad,
and the buffalo was brought to Egypt and Italy in the Middle Ages.
8. The Flora
The cultivated plants of
Egypt were numerous. In ancient times we find the maize (durrah), wheat,
barley and lentil; the vine, currant, date palm, dum palm, fig, olive and
pomegranate; the onion, garlic, cucumber, melon and radish; the sont
acacia, sycamore and tamarisk; the flax, henna and clover; and for ornament,
the lotus, convolvulus and many others. The extension of commerce brought in by
the Greek period, the bean, pea, sesame, lupin, helbeh, colocasia and
sugar-cane; also the peach, walnut, castor-oil and pear. In the Roman and
Arabic ages came in the chick pea, oats, rice, cotton, orange and lemon. In
recent times have come the cactus, aloe, tomato, Indian corn, lebbek acacia and
beetroot. Many European flowering and ornamental plants were also used in Egypt
by the Greeks, and brought in later by the Arabs.
9. The Prehistoric Races
The original race in Egypt
seems to have been of the steatopygous type now only found in South Africa.
Figures of this race are known in the caves of France, in Malta, and later in
Somaliland. As this race was still known in Egypt at the beginning of the
neolithic civilization, and is there represented only by female figures in the
graves, it seems that it was being exterminated by the newcomers and only the
women were kept as slaves.
The neolithic race of Egypt
was apparently of the Libyan stock. There seems to have been a single type of
the Amorites in Syria, the prehistoric Egyptians and the Libyans; this race had
a high, well-filled head, long nose slightly aquiline, and short beard; the
profile was upright and not prognathous, the hair was wavy brown. It was a
better type than the present south Europeans, of a very capable and intelligent
appearance. From the objects found, and the religious legends, it seems that
this race was subdued by an eastern, and probably Arabian race, in the
prehistoric age.
II. The History
The founders of the dynastic history were very
different, having a profile with nose and forehead in one straight line, and
rather thick, but well-formed lips. Historically the indications point to their
coming from about Somali land by water, and crossing into Egypt by the Koptos
road from the Red Sea. The 2nd Dynasty gave place to some new blood, probably
of Sudany origin. In the 6th and 7th Dynasties foreigners poured in apparently
from the North, perhaps from Crete, judging by their foreign products. The 15th
and 16th Dynasties were Hyksos, or Semitic “princes of the desert” from the
East. The 17th and 18th Dynasties were Berber in origin. The 19th Dynasty was
largely Semitic from Syria. The 22nd Dynasty was headed by an eastern
adventurer Sheshenq, or Shusinak, “the man of Susa.” The 25th Dynasty was
Ethiopian. The 26th Dynasty was Libyan. The Greeks then poured into the Delta
and the Fayum, and Hellenized Egypt. The Roman made but little change in the
population; but during his rule the Arab began to enter the eastern side, and
by 641 ad the Arab conquest swept the land, and brought in a large part -
perhaps the majority - of the ancestors of the present inhabitants. After 3
centuries the Tunisians - the old Libyans - conquered Egypt again. The later
administrations by Syrians, Circassians, Turks and others probably made no
change in the general population. The economic changes of the past century have
brought in Greeks, Italians and other foreigners to the large towns; but all
these only amount to an eightieth of the population. The Coptics are the
descendants of the very mixed Egyptians of Roman age, kept separate from the
Arab invaders by their Christianity. They are mainly in Upper Egypt, where some
villages are entirely Coptic, and are distinguished by their superior
cleanliness, regularity, and the freedom of the women from unwholesome
seclusion. The Coptics, though only a fifteenth of the population, have always
had a large share of official posts, owing to their intelligence and ability
being above that of the Muslim.
1. 1st
and 2nd Ages: Prehistoric
In dealing with the history, we here follow the
dating which was believed and followed by the Egyptians themselves. All the
monumental remains agree with this, so far as they can check it; and the
various arbitrary reductions that have been made on some periods are solely due
to some critics preferring their internal sense to all the external facts. For
the details involved in the chronology, see Historical Studies, II
(British School of Archaeology in Egypt). The general outline of the periods is
given here, and the detailed view of the connection with Old Testament history
is treated in later sections.
1st Age
The prehistoric age begins probably about 8000 bc,
as soon as there was a sufficient amount of Nile deposit to attract a settled
population. The desert river valley of Egypt was probably one of the latest
haunts of steatopygous Paleolithic man of the Bushman type. So soon as there
was an opening for a pastoral or agricultural people, he was forced away by
settlers from Libya. These settlers were clad in goatskins, and made a small
amount of pottery by hand; they knew also of small quantities of copper, but
mainly used flint, of which they gradually developed the finest working known
in any age. They rapidly advanced in civilization. Their pottery of red
polished ware was decorated with white clay patterns, exactly like the pottery
still made in the mountains of Algeria. The forms of it were very varied and
exquisitely regular, although made without the wheel. Their hardstone vases are
finer than any of those of the historic ages. They adopted spinning, weaving
and woodwork.
2nd Age
Upon these people came in others probably from the
East, who brought in the use of the Arab face-veil, the belief in amulets, and
the Persian lapis lazuli. Most of the previous forms of pottery disappear, and
nearly all the productions are greatly altered. Copper became common, while
gold, silver and lead were also known. Heliopolis was probably a center of
rule.
2. 3rd
Age: 1st and 2nd Dynasties
About 5900 bc a new people came in with the
elements of the art of writing, and a strong political ability of organization.
Before 5800 bc they had established kings at Abydos in Upper Egypt, and for 3
centuries they gradually increased their power. On the carved slates which they
have left, the standards of the allied tribes are represented; the earliest in
style shows the standard of Koptos, the next has a standard as far North as
Hermopolis, and the latest bears the standard of Letopolis, and shows the
conquest of the Fayum, or perhaps one of the coast lakes. This last is of the
first king of the 1st Dynasty, Mena.
The conquest of all Egypt is marked by the
beginning of the series of numbered dynasties beginning with Mena, at about
5550 bc. The civilization rapidly advanced. The art was at its best under the
third king, Zer, and thence steadily declined. Writing was still ideographic
under Mena, but became more syllabic and phonetic toward the end of the
dynasty. The work in hardstone was at its height in the vases of the early part
of the 1st Dynasty, when an immense variety of beautiful stones appear. It
greatly fell off on reaching the 2nd Dynasty. The tombs were all of timber,
built in large pits in the ground.
3. 4th
Age: 3rd Through 6th Dynasties
The 2nd Dynasty fell about 5000 bc, and a new power
rapidly raised the art from an almost barbarous state to its highest triumphs
by about 4750 bc, when the pyramid building was started. Khufu, the builder of
the Great Pyramid in the 4th Dynasty, was one of the greatest rulers of Egypt.
He organized the administration on lines which lasted for ages. He reformed the
religious system, abolishing the endowments, and substituting models for the
sacrifice of animals. He trained the largest body of skilled labor that ever
appeared, for the building of his pyramid, the greatest and most accurate
structure that the world has ever seen. The statuary of this age is more
lifelike than that of any later age. The later reigns show steady decay in the
character of work, with less dignity and more superficiality in the article
4. 5th
Age: 7th Through 14th Dynasties
By about 4050 bc, the decline of Egypt allowed of
fresh people pressing in from the North, probably connected with Crete. There
are few traces of these invaders; a curious class of barbaric buttons used as
seals are their commonest remains. Probably the so-called “Hyksos sphinxes” and
statues are of these people, and belong to the time of their attaining power in
Egypt. By 3600 bc, the art developed into the great ages of the 11th to the
12th Dynasties which lasted about 2 centuries. The work is more scholastic and
less natural than before; but it is very beautiful and of splendid accuracy.
The exquisite jewelry of Dahshur is of this age. After some centuries of decay
this civilization passed away.
5. 6th
Age: 15th Through 24th Dynasties
The Semitic tribes had long been filtering into
Egypt, and Babylonian Semites even ruled the land until the great migration of
the Hyksos took place about 2700 bc. These tribes were ruled by kings entitled
“princes of the desert,” like the Semitic Absha, or Abishai, shown in the tomb
of Beni-hasan, as coming to settle in Egypt. By 1700 bc the Berbers who had
adopted the Egyptian civilization pressed down from the South, and ejected the
Hyksos rule. This opened the most flourishing period of Egyptian history, the
18th Dynasty, 1587-1328 bc. The profusion of painted tombs at Thebes, which
were copied and popularized by Gardner Wilkinson, has made the life of this
period very familiar to us. The immense temples of Karnak and of Luqsor, and
the finest of the Tombs of the Kings have impressed us with the royal
magnificence of this age. The names of Thothmes I and III, of the great queen
Hatshepsut, of the magnificent Amenhotep III, and of the monotheist reformer
Akchenaton are among those best known in the history. Their foreign connections
we shall notice later.
The 19th and 20th Dynasties were a period of
continual degradation from the 18th. Even in the best work of the 6th Age there
is hardly ever the real solidity and perfection which is seen in that of the
4th or 5th Ages. But under the Ramessides cheap effects and showy imitations
were the regular system. The great Rameses II was a great advertiser, but
inferior in power to half a dozen kings of the previous dynasty. In the 20th
Dynasty one of the royal daughters married the high priest of Amen at Thebes;
and on the unexpected death of the young Rameses V, the throne reverted to his
uncle Rameses VI, whose daughter then became the heiress, and her descendants,
the high priests of Amen, became the rightful rulers. This priestly rule at
Thebes; beginning in 1102 bc, was balanced by a purely secular rule of the
north at Tanis (Zoan). These lasted until the rise of Sheshenq I (Shishak) in
952 bc, the founder of the 22nd Dynasty. His successors gradually decayed till
the fall of the 23rd Dynasty in 721 bc. The Ethiopian 26th Dynasty then held
Egypt as a province of Ethiopia, down to 664 bc.
6. 7th
Age: 25th Dynasty to Roman Times
It is hard to say when the next age began - perhaps
with the Ethiopians; but it rose to importance with the 26th Dynasty under Psamtek
(Psammitichos I), 664-610 bc, and continued under the well-known names of
Necoh, Hophra and Amasis until overthrown by the Persians in 525 bc. From 405
to 342 the Egyptians were independent; then the Persians again crushed them,
and in 332 they fell into the hands of the Macedonians by the conquest of
Alexander.
The Macedonian Age of the Ptolemies was one of the
richest and most brilliant at its start, but soon faded under bad rulers till
it fell hopelessly to pieces and succumbed to the Roman subjection in 30 bc.
From that time Egypt was ground by taxation, and steadily impoverished. By 300
ad it was too poor to keep even a copper currency in circulation, and barter
became general. Public monuments entirely ceased to be erected, and Decius in
250 ad is the last ruler whose name was written in the old hieroglyphs, which
were thenceforward totally forgotten. After three more centuries of increasing
degradation and misery, the Arab invasion burst upon the land, and a few
thousand men rode through it and cleared out the remaining effete garrisons of
the empire in 641 ad.
7. 8th
Age: Arabic
The Arab invasion found the country exhausted and
helpless; repeated waves of tribes poured in, and for a generation or two there
was no chance of a settlement. Gradually the majority of the inhabitants were
pressed into Islam, and by about 800 ad a strong government was established
from Bagdad, and Egypt rapidly advanced. In place of being the most
impoverished country it became the richest land of the Mediterranean. The great
period of medieval Egypt was under the guidance of the Mesopotamian
civilization, 800-969 ad. The Tunisian dominion of the Fatimites, 969-1171, was
less successful. Occasionally strong rulers arose, such as Salah-ed-Dîn
(Saladin), but the age of the Mamalukes, 1250-1577, was one of steady decline.
Under the Turkish dominion, 1517, Egypt was split up into many half-independent
counties, whose rulers began by yielding tribute, but relapsed into ignoring
the Caliphate and living in continual internal feuds. In 1771 Aly Bey, a slave,
succeeded in conquering Syria. The French and British quarrel left Muhamed Aly
to rise supreme, and to guide Egypt for over 40 years. Again Egypt conquered
Syria, 1831-39, but was compelled by Europe to retreat. The opening of the Suez
Canal (1869) necessarily led to the subjection of Egypt to European direction.
8.
Early Foreign Connections
The foreign connections of Egypt have been brought
to light only during the last 20 years. In place of supposing that Egypt was
isolated until the Greek conquest, we now see that it was in the closest
commercial relation with the rest of the world throughout its history. We have
already noted the influences which entered by conquest. During the periods of
high civilization in Egypt, foreign connections came into notice by exploration
and by trade. The lazuli of Persia was imported in the prehistoric age, as well
as the emery of Smyrna. In the 1st Dynasty, Egypt conquered and held Sinai for
the sake of the turquoise mines. In the 3rd Dynasty, large fleets of ships were
built, some as much as 160 ft. long; and the presence of much pottery imported
from Crete and the north, even before this, points to a Mediterranean trade. In
the 5th Dynasty, King Unas had relations with Syria. From the 12th Dynasty
comes the detailed account of the life of an Egyptian in Palestine (Sanehat);
and Cretan pottery of this age is found traded into Egypt.
III. The Old Testament
Connections
1. Semitic Connections
The Hyksos invasion unified
the rule of Syria and Egypt, and Syrian pottery is often found in Egypt of this
age. The return of the wave, when Egypt drove out the Hyksos, and conquered
Syria out to the Euphrates, was the greatest expansion of Egypt. Tahutmes I set
up his statue on the Euphrates, and all Syria was in his hands. Tahutmes III
repeatedly raided Syria, bringing back plunder and captives year by year
throughout most of his reign. The number of Syrian artists and of Syrian women
brought into Egypt largely changed the style of art and the standard of beauty.
Amenhotep III held all Syria in peace, and recorded his triumphs at the
Euphrates on the walls of the temple of Soleb far up in Nubia. His monotheist
son, Amenhotep IV, took the name of Akhenaton, “the glory of the sun's disc,”
and established the worship of the radiant sun as the Aton, or Adon of Syria.
The cuneiform letters from Tell el-Amarna place all this age before us in
detail. There are some from the kings of the Amorites and Hittites, from
Naharain and even Babylonia, to the great suzerain Amenhotep III. There is also
the long series describing the gradual loss of Syria under Akhenaton, as
written by the governors and chiefs, of the various towns. The main letters are
summarized in the Students' History of Egypt, II, and full abstracts of
all the letters are in Syria and Egypt, arranged in historical order.
Pal was reconquered by Seti
I and his son Rameses II, but they only held about a third of the extent which
formerly belonged to Amenhotep III. Merenptah, son of Rameses, also raided
Southern Palestine. After that; it was left alone till the raid of Sheshenq in
933 bc. The only considerable assertion of Egyptian power was in Necoh's two
raids up to the Euphrates, in 609 and 605 bc. But Egypt generally held the
desert and a few minor points along the south border of Palestine. The
Ptolemies seldom possessed more than that, their aspirations in Syria not
lasting as permanent conquests. They were more successful in holding Cyprus.
2. Abramic Times
We now come to the specific
connections of Egypt with the Old Testament. The movement of the family of
Abram from Ur in the south of Mesopotamia up to Haran in the north (Gen_11:31) and thence down Syria into Egypt (Gen_12:5, Gen_12:10)
was like that of the earlier Semitic “princes of the desert,” when they entered
Egypt as the Hyksos kings about 2600 bc. Their earlier dominion was the 15th
Dynasty of Egypt, and that was followed by another movement, the 16th Dynasty,
about 2250 bc, which was the date of the migration of Terah from Ur. Thus the
Abramic family took part in the second Hyksos movement. The cause of these
tribal movements has been partly explained by Mr. Huntington's researches on
the recurrence of dry periods in Asia (Royal Geogr. Soc., May 26, 1910: The
Pulse of Asia). Such lack of rain forces the desert peoples on to the
cultivated lands, and then later famines are recorded. The dry age which pushed
the Arab tribes on to the Mediterranean in 640 ad was succeeded by famines in
Egypt during 6 centuries So as soon as Abram moved into Syria a famine pushed
him on to Egypt (Gen_12:10). To this
succeeded other famines in Canaan (Gen_26:1),
and later in both Canaan and Egypt (Gen_41:56;
Gen_43:1; Gen_47:13).
The migration of Abram was Thus conditioned by the general dry period, which
forced the second Hyksos movement of which it was a part. The culture of the
Hyksos was entirely nomadic, and agrees in all that we can trace with the
patriarchal culture pictured in Gen.
3. Circumcision
Circumcision was a very
ancient mutilation in Egypt, and is still kept up there by both Muslim and
Christian. It was first adopted by Abram for Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian
Hagar (Gen_16:3; Gen_17:23), before Isaac was promised. Hagar
married Ishmael to an Egyptian (Gen_21:21),
so that the Ishmaelites, or Hagarenes, of Gilead and Moab were three-quarters
Egyptian.
At Gerar, in the south of
Palestine, Egyptian was the prevailing race and language, as the general of
Abimelech was Phichol, the Egyptian name Pa-khal, “the Syrian,” showing that
the Gerarites were not Syrians.
4. Joseph
The history of Joseph
rising to importance as a capable slave is perfectly natural in Egypt at that
time, and equally so in later periods down to our own days. That this occurred
during the Hyksos period is shown by the title given to Joseph - Abrekh,
('abhrēkh) (Gen_41:43)
which is Abarakhu, the high Babylonian title. The names
Zaphnath-paaneah, Asenath, and Potipherah have been variously equated in
Egyptian, Naville seeing forms of the 18th Dynasty in them, but Spiegelberg,
with more probability, seeing types of names of the 22nd Dynasty or later. The
names are most likely an expansion of the original document; but there is not a
single feature or incident in the relations of Joseph to the Egyptians which is
at all improbable from the history and civilization that we know. See JOSEPH
(1).
5. Descent into Egypt
The descent into Egypt and
sojourn there are what might be expected of any Semitic tribe at this time. The
allocation in Goshen (Gen_47:27) was
the most suitable, as that was on the eastern border of the Delta, at the mouth
of the Wady Tumilat, and was a district isolated from the general Egyptian
population. The whole of Goshen is not more than 100 square miles, being bounded
by the deserts, and by the large Egyptian city of Budastis on the West. The
accounts of the embalming for 40 days and mourning for 70 days (Gen_50:3), and putting in a coffin (Gen_50:26) are exact. The 70 days' mourning
existed both in the 1st Dynasty and in the 20th.
6. The Oppression
The oppression in Egypt
began with a new king that knew not Joseph. This can hardly be other than the
rise of the Berber conquerors who took the Delta from the Hyksos at the
beginning of the 18th Dynasty, 1582 bc, and expelled the Hyksos into Syria. It
could not be later than this, as the period of oppression in Egypt is stated at
4 centuries (Gen_15:13; Act_7:6), and the Exodus cannot be later than
about 1220 bc, which leaves 360 years for the oppression. Also this length of
oppression bars any much earlier date for the Exodus. The 360 years of
oppression from 430 of the total sojourn in Egypt, leaves 70 years of freedom
there. As Joseph died at 110 (Gen_50:26),
this implies that he was over 40 when his family came into Egypt, which would
be quite consistent with the history.
7. The Historic Position
The store cities Pithom and
Raamses are the sites Tell el-Maskhuta and Tell Rotāb
in the Wady Tumilat, both built by Rameses II as frontier defenses. It is
evident then that the serving with rigor was under that king, probably in the
earlier part of his long reign of 67 years (1300-1234 bc), when he was actively
campaigning in Palestine. This is shown in the narrative, for Moses was not yet
born when the rigor began (Ex 1; Exo_2:2),
and he grew up, slew an Egyptian, and then lived long in Midian before the king
of Egypt died (Exo_2:23), perhaps 40 or
50 years after the rigorous servitude began, for he is represented as being 80
at the time of the Exodus (Deu_34:7).
These numbers are probably not precise, but as a whole they agree well enough
with Egyptian history. After the king died, Moses returned to Egypt, and began
moving to get his kin away to the eastern deserts, with which he had been well
acquainted in his exile from Egypt. A harsher servitude ensues, which might be
expected from the more vigorous reign of Merenptah, after the slackness of the
old age of Rameses. The campaign of Merenptah against Israel and other people
in Palestine would not make him any less severe in his treatment of Semites in
Egypt.
8. The Plagues
The plagues are in the
order of usual seasonal troubles in Egypt, from the red unwholesome Nile in
June, through the frogs, insects, hail and rain, locusts, and sandstorms in
March. The death of the firstborn was in April at the Passover.
9. Date of the Exodus
The date of the Exodus is
indicated as being about 1200 bc, by the 4 centuries of oppression, and by the
names of the land and the city of Rameses (Gen_47:4;
compare Exo_1:11). The historical limit
is that the Egyptians were incessantly raiding Palestine down to 1194 bc, and
then abandoned it till the invasion of Shishak. As there is no trace of these
Egyptian invasions during all the ups and downs of the age of the Judges, it
seems impossible to suppose the Israelites entered Canaan till after 1194 bc.
The setting back of the Exodus much earlier has arisen from taking three
simultaneous histories of the Judges as consecutive, as we shall notice farther
on. The facts stated above, and the length of all three lines of the priestly
genealogies, agree completely with the Egyptian history in putting the Exodus
at about 1220 bc, and the entry into Canaan about 1180 bc.
10. Route of the Exodus
The route of the Exodus was
first a concentration at Raamses or Tell Rotāb, in the Wady
Tumliat, followed by a march to Succoth, a general name for the region of
Bedawy booths; from there to Etham in the edge of the wilderness, about the
modern Nefisheh. Thence they turned and encamped before Pi-hahiroth, the
Egyptian Pa-qaheret, a Serapeum. Thus turning South to the West of the Red Sea
(which then extended up to Tell el-Maskhuta), they had a Migdol
tower behind them and Baal-zephon opposite to them. They were Thus “entangled
in the land.” Then the strong east wind bared the shallows, and made it
possible to cross the gulf and reach the opposite shore. They then went “Three
days in the wilderness,” the three days' route without water to Marah, the
bitter spring of Hawara, and immediately beyond reached Elim, which accords
entirely with the Wady Gharandel. Thence they encamped by the Red Sea. All of
this account exactly agrees with the traditional route down the West of the
Sinaitic peninsula; it will not agree with any other route, and there is no
reason to look for any different location of the march. See EXODUS, I.
11. Numbers of the Exodus
The numbers of the
Israelites have long been a difficulty. On the one hand are the census lists
(Nu 1; 2 and 26), with their summaries of 600,000 men besides children and a
mixed multitude (Exo_12:37, Exo_12:38; Exo_38:26;
Num_1:46; Num_11:21).
On the other hand there are the exact statements of there being 22,273
firstborn, that is, fathers of families (Num_3:43),
and that 40,000 armed men entered Canaan with Joshua (Jos_4:13), also the 35,000 who fought at Ai (Jos_8:3, Jos_8:12),
and the 32,000 who fought against Midian (Jdg_7:3).
Besides these, there are the general considerations that only 5,000 to 10,000
people could live in Goshen, that the Amalekites with whom the Israelites were
equally matched (Exo_17:11) could not
have exceeded about 5,000 in Sinai, that Moses judged all disputes, and that
two midwives attended all the Israelite births, which would be 140 a day on a
population of 600,000. Evidently, the statements of numbers are contradictory,
and the external evidence is all in accord with lesser numbers. Proposals to
reduce arbitrarily the larger numbers have been frequent; but there is one
likely line of misunderstanding that may have originated the increase. In the
census lists of the tribes, most of the hundreds in the numbers are 400 or 500,
others are near those, and there are none whatever on 000, 100, 800 or 900.
Evidently, the hundreds are independent of the thousands. Now in writing the
statements, such as “Reuben, 46,500,” the original list would be 46 'eleph,
5 hundred people, and 'eleph means either “thousands” or else “groups”
or “families.” Hence, a census of 46 tents, 500 people, would be ambiguous, and
a later compiler might well take it as 46,500. In this way the whole census of
598 tents, 5,550 people, would be misread as 603,550 people. The checks on this
are, that the number per tent should be reasonable in all cases, that the
hundreds should not fluctuate more than the tents between the first and last
census, and that the total should correspond to the known populations of Goshen
and of Sinai; these requirements all agree with this reading of the lists. The
ulterior details beyond the Egyptian period are dealt with in Egypt and
Israel, 45, 55. See EXODUS, IV.
12. Israel in Canaan
Two points need notice here
as incidentally bearing on the Egyptian connections: (1) The Israelites in
Palestine before the Exodus, indicated by Merenptah triumphing over them there
before 1230 bc, and the raids during the Egyptian residence (1Ch_7:21); (2) The triple history of the Judges,
west, north, and east, each totaling to 120 years, in accord with the length of
the four priestly genealogies (1Ch_6:4-8,
1Ch_6:22-28, 1Ch_6:33-35, 1Ch_6:39-43,
1Ch_6:44-47), and showing that the
dates are about 1220 bc the Exodus, 1180 bc the entry to Canaan, 1150 bc the
beginning of Judges, 1030 bc Saul (Egypt and Israel, 52-58).
13. Hadad
The connections with the
monarchy soon begin. David and Joab attacked Edom (2Sa_8:14),
and Hadad, the young king, was carried off by his servants to Egypt for safety.
The Pharaoh who received and supported him must have been Siamen, the king of
Zoan, which city was then an independent capital apart from the priest kings of
Thebes (1Ki_11:15-22). Hadad was
married to the Egyptian queen's sister when he grew up, probably in the reign
of Pasebkhanu II.
14. Pharaoh's Daughter
The Pharaoh whose daughter
was married to Solomon must have been the same Pasebkhanu; he reigned from
987-952 bc, and the marriage was about 970 in the middle of the reign. Another
daughter of Pasebkhanu was Karamat, who was the wife of Shishak. Thus Solomon
and Shishak married two sisters, and their aunt was queen of Edom. This throws
light on the politics of the kingdoms. Probably Solomon had some child by
Pharaoh's daughter, and the Egyptians would expect that to be the heir.
Shishak's invasion, on the death of Solomon, was perhaps based upon the right
of a nephew to the throne of Judah.
15. Shishak
The invasion of Shishak
(Egyptian, Sheshenq) took place probably at the end of his reign. His troops
were Lubim (Libyans), Sukkim (men of Succoth, the east border) and Kushim
(Ethiopians). The account of the war is on the side of the great fore-court at Karnak,
which shows long lists of places in Judah, agreeing with the subjugation
recorded in 1Ki_14:25, 1Ki_14:26, and 2Ch_12:2-4.
16. Zerakh
Zerakh, or Usarkon, was the
next king of Egypt, the son of Karamat, Solomon's sister-in-law. He invaded
Judah unsuccessfully in 903 bc (2Ch_14:9)
with an army of Libyans and Sudanis (2Ch_16:8).
A statue of the Nile, dedicated by him, and naming his descent from Karamat and
Pasebkhanu, is in the British Museum.
17. The Ethiopians
After a couple of centuries
the Ethiopian kings intervened. Shabaka was appointed viceroy of Egypt by his
father Piankhy, and is described by the Assyrians as Sibe, commander-in-chief
of Muzri, and by the Hebrews as Sua or So, king of Egypt (2Ki_17:4). Tirhakah next appears as a viceroy,
and Hezekiah was warned against trusting to him (2Ki_19:9).
These two kings touch on Jewish history during their vice-royalties, before
their full reigns began. Necoh next touches on Judah in his raid to Carchemish
in 609 bc, when he slew Josiah for opposing him (2Ki_23:29,
2Ki_23:30; 2Ch_35:20-24).
18. Tahpanhes
After the taking of
Jerusalem, for fear of vengeance for the insurrection of Ishmael (2Ki_25:25, 2Ki_25:26;
Jer 40; 41; 42), the remnant of the Jews fled to the frontier fortress of
Egypt, Tahpanhes, Tehaphnehes, Greek Daphnae, modern Defenneh, about 10
miles West of the present Suez Canal (Jer_43:7-13).
The brick pavement in front of the entrance to the fortress there, in which
Jeremiah hid the stones, has been uncovered and the fortress completely planned.
It was occupied by Greeks, who there brought Greek words and things into
contact with the traveling Jews for a couple of generations before the fall of
Jerusalem.
19. Hophra
The prophecy that Hophra
would be delivered to them that sought his life (Jer_44:30)
was fulfilled, as he was kept captive by his successor, Amasis, for 3 years,
and after a brief attempt at liberty, he was strangled.
20. The Jews at Syene
The account of the Jews
settled in Egypt (Jer 44) is singularly illustrated by the Aramaic Jewish
papyri found at Syene (Aswan). These show the use of Aramaic and of oaths by
Yahu, as stated of 5 cities in Egypt (Isa_19:18).
The colony at Syene was well-to-do, though not rich; they were householders who
possessed all their property by regular title-deeds, who executed marriage
settlements, and were fully used to litigation, having in deeds of sale a
clause that no other deed could be valid. The temple of Yahu filled the space
between two roads, and faced upon 3 houses, implying a building about 60 or 70
ft. wide. It was built of hewn stone, with stone columns, 7 gates, and a cedar
roof. It was destroyed in 410, after lasting from before Cambyses in 525 bc,
and a petition for rebuilding it was granted in 407.
21. The New Jerusalem of Oniah
The most flourishing period
of the Jews in Egypt was when Oniah IV, the son of the rightful high priest
Oniah, was driven from Jerusalem by the abolition of Jewish worship and
ordinances under Antiochus. In 170 bc he fled to Egypt, and there established a
new Jerusalem with a temple and sacrifices as being the only way to maintain
the Jewish worship. Oniah IV was a valiant man, general to queen Cleopatra I;
and he offered to form the Jewish community into a frontier guard on the East
of Egypt, hating the Syrians to the uttermost, if the Jews might form their own
community. They so dominated the eastern Delta that troops of Caesar could not
pass from Syria to Alexandria without their assent. The new Jerusalem was 20
miles North of Cairo, a site now known as Tell el-Yehudiyeh. The
great mound of the temple still remains there, with the Passover ovens beneath
it, and part of the massive stone fortifications on the front of it. This
remained a stronghold of free Judaism until after Titus took Jerusalem; and it
was only when the Zealots tried to make it a center of insurrection, that at
last it was closed and fell into decay. Josephus is the original authority for
this history (see Egypt and Israel, 97-110).
22. The Egyptian Jew
The Jew in Egypt followed a
very different development from the Babylonian Jew, and this Egyptian type
largely influenced Christianity. In the colony at Syene a woman named “Trust
Yahweh” had no objection to swearing by the Egyptian goddess Seti when making
an Egyptian contract; and in Jer_44:15-19,
the Jews boasted of their heathen worship in Egypt. Oniah had no scruple in
establishing a temple and sacrifices apart from Jerusalem, without any of the
particularism of the Maccabean zealots. Philo at Alexandria labored all his
life for the union of Jewish thought with Greek philosophy. The Hermetic books
show how, from 500 to 200 bc, religious thought was developing under eclectic
influence of Egyptian Jewish, Persian, Indian and Greek beliefs, and producing
the tenets about the second God, the Eternal Son, who was the Logos, and the
types of Conversion, as the Divine Ray, the New Birth, and the Baptism. Later
the Wisdom literature of Alexandria, 200-100 bc, provided the basis of thought
and simile on which the Pauline Epistles were built. The great wrench in the
history of the church came when it escaped from the Babylonian-Jewish formalism
of the Captivity, which ruled at Jerusalem, and grew into the wider range of
ideas of the Alexandrian Jews. These ideas had been preserved in Egypt from the
days of the monarchy, and had developed a great body of religious thought and
phraseology from their eclectic connections. The relations of Christianity with
Egypt are outside our scope, but some of them will be found in Egypt and
Israel, 124-41.
23. Cities and Places Alphabetically
The Egyptian cities, places
and peoples named in the Old Testament may briefly be noted. AVEN (Eze_30:17) or ON (Gen_41:45)
is the 'An of Egyptian, the Greek Heliopolis, now Matarieh,
7 miles North of Cairo. It was the seat of prehistoric government, the royal
emblems were kept there as the sacred relics of the temple, and its high priest
was “the great seer,” one of the greatest of the religious officials. The
schools of Heliopolis were celebrated, and it seems to have always been a
center of learning. The site is now marked by the great enclosure of the
temple, and one obelisk of Senusert (12th Dynasty). It was here that the
Egyptian kings had at their installation to come and bathe in the lake in which
the sun bathes daily, the 'Ainesh-Shems, or “Lake of the Sun” of
the Arabs, connected with the fresh spring here which Christian tradition
attributes to the visit of the Virgin and Child. The great sycamore tree here
is the successor of that under which the Virgin is said to have rested.
BAAL-ZEPHON was a shrine on
the eastern site of the head of the Red Sea, a few miles South of Ismailiyeh;
no trace is now known of it (Exo_14:2).
CUSHIM or Ethiopians were a
part of the Egyptian army of Shishak and of Usarkon (2Ch_12:3; 2Ch_16:8).
The army was in 4 brigades, that of Ptah of Memphis, central Egypt; that of
Amen of Thebes, Southern Egypt and Ethiopia; that of Set of the eastern
frontier (Sukkim); and that of Ra, Heliopolis and the Delta.
GOSHEN was a fertile
district at the west end of the Wady Tumilat, 40 to 50 miles Northeast of
Cairo. It was bounded by the deserts on the North and Southeast, and by the
Egyptian city of Bubastis on the West. Its area was not over 100 square miles;
it formerly supported 4,000 Bedouin and now about 12,000 cultivators.
LUBIM, the Libyans who
formed part of the Egyptian army as light-armed archers, from very early times.
MIGDOL is the name of any
tower, familiar also as Magdala. It was applied to some watchtower on the West
of the Red Sea, probably on the high land above the Serapeum.
No is Thebes, in Assyrian Nia,
from the Egyptian Nu, “the city.” This was the capital of the 12th Dynasty, and
of the 17th-21st Dynasties. Owing to the buildings being of sandstone, which is
not of much use for reworking, they have largely remained since the desolation
of the city under Ptolemy X. The principal divisions of the site are: (1)
Karnak, with the temple of the 12th Dynasty, built over by all the successive
kings of the 18th Dynasty, and enlarged by Seti I and Rameses II, and by
Shishak, Tirhakah, and the Ptolemies. The whole temple of Amon and its
subsidiary temples form the largest mass of ruins that is known. (2) Luqsor,
the temple to commemorate the divine birth of Amenhotep III (1440 bc), added to
by Rameses II. (3) The funerary temples, bordering the western shore, of the
kings of the 18th to 20th Dynasties. These have mostly been destroyed, by the
unscrupulous quarrying done by each king on the work of his predecessors; the
only temple in fair condition is that of Rameses III, which is left because no
later king required its material for building. (4) The great cemetery, ranging
from the splendid rock halls of the Tombs of the Kings, covered with paintings,
down to the humblest graves. For any detailed account see either Baedeker's or
Murray's Guides, or Weigall's Guide to Antiquities.
NOPH, the Egyptian
Men-nofer, Greek Memphis, now Mitraheny, 12 miles South of Cairo. This
was the capital from the foundation at the beginning of the dynasties. Thebes
and Alexandria shared its importance, but it was the seat of government down to
the Arab invasion. In Roman times it was as large as London North of the
Thames. The outlying parts are now all buried by the rise of the soil, but more
than a mile length of ruins yet remains, which are now being regularly worked
over by the British School. The heart of the city is the great metropolitan
temple of Ptah, nearly all of which is now under 10 feet of soil, and under
water most of the year. This is being excavated in sections, as it is all
private property. At the north end of the ruins is the palace mound, on which
has been cleared the palace of Apries (Hophra). Other temples have been
located, as well as the foreign quarter containing early Greek pottery and the
temple of Proteus named by Herodotus (see Memphis, I, II, III).
PATHROS is the usual name
for Upper Egypt in the prophets. It is the Egyptian Pa-ta-res, “the south
land.”
PI-BESETH is the Egyptian
Pa-Bast, Greek Bubastis, at the eastern side of the Delta, the city of the
cat-headed goddess Bast. The ruins are still large, and the temple site has
been excavated, producing sculptures from the 4th Dynasty onward.
PITHOM is the Egyptian
Pa-Tum, the city of the Sun-god Tum or Atmu, who was worshipped on the East of
the Delta. The site has remains of the fortress of Rameses II, built by the
Israelites, and is now known as Tell el-Maskhuta, 11 miles West
of Ismailia.
RAAMSES is the other city
built by the Israelites, now Tell Rotāb, 20 miles West of
Ismailia. A wailed camp existed here from early times, and the temple of
Rameses was built on the top of the older ruins. A large part of the temple
front is now at Philadelphia, excavated by the British School.
SIN is the Greek Pelusium,
Assyrian Siinu, Arabic Tineh, now some desolate mounds at the
extreme East coast of Egypt.
SUCCOTH was the district of
“booths,” the eastern part of the Wady Tumilat. It was written in Egyptian
Thuku and abbreviated to Thu in which form it appears as a Roman name. The
people of Succoth were Sukkim, named in the army of Shishak (2Ch_12:3).
SYENE, Hebrew Sewēnēh,
modern Aswan, the southern border town of Egypt at the Cataract. The
greater part of the old town was on the island of Elephantine. There the Jewish
papyri were found, and that was probably the Jewish settlement with the temple
of Yahu. The town on the eastern bank - the present Aswan - was of less
importance.
TAHPANHES, TEHAPHNEHES,
Greek Daphnae, Arabic Tell Defeneh. This was the first station on
the Syrian road which touched the Nile canals, about 10 miles West of Kantara
on the Suez Canal. It seems to have been founded by Psammetichus about 664 bc,
to hold his Greek mercenaries. The fort, built by him, abounded in Greek
pottery, and was finally desolated about 566 bc, as described by Herodotus. The
fort and camp have been excavated; and the pavement described by Jeremiah (Jer_43:1-13), as opposite to the entrance, has
been identified.
ZOAN, Greek Tanis,
Arabic San, is about 26 miles from the Suez Canal, and slightly more
from the coast. The ruins of the temple are surrounded by the wall of
Pasebkhanu, 80 ft. thick of brickwork, and a ring of town ruins rises high
around it. The temple was built in the 6th Dynasty, adorned with many statues
in the 12th and 13th Dynasties, and under Rameses II had many large granite
obelisks and statues, especially one colossus of the king in red granite about
90 ft. high. It is probable that the Pharaoh lived here at the time of the Exodus.
IV. The Civilization
1. Language
We now turn to some outline
of the civilization of the Egyptians. The language had primitive relations with
the Semitic and the Libyan. Perhaps one common stock has separated into three
languages - Semitic, Egyptian, and Libyan. But though some basal words and
grammar are in common, all the bulk of the words of daily life were entirely
different in the three, and no one could be said to be derived from the other.
Egyptian so far as we can see, is a separate language without any connection as
close as that between the Indo-European group. From its proximity to Syria,
Semitic loan words were often introduced, and became common in the 18th Dynasty
and fashionable in the 19th. The language continually altered, and decayed in
the later periods until Coptic is as different from it as Italian is from
Latin.
2. Writing
The writing was at first
ideographic, using a symbol for each word. Gradually, signs were used
phonetically; but the symbol, or some emblem of the idea of the word, continued
to be added to it, now called a determinative. From syllabic signs purely
alphabetic signs were produced by clipping and decay, so that by 1000 to 500 bc
the writing was almost alphabetic. After that it became modified by the
influence of the short Greek alphabet, until by 200 ad it was expressed in
Greek letters with a few extra signs. The actual signs used were elaborate
pictures of the objects in the early times, and even down to the later periods
very detailed signs were carved for monumental purposes. But as early as the
1st Dynasty a very much simplified current hand had been started, and during
the pyramid period this became hardly recognizable from the original forms.
Later on this current hand, or hieratic, is a study by itself and was
written much more fully than the hieroglyphs on monuments, as its forms were so
corrupt that an ample spelling was needed to identify the word. By about 800 bc
begins a much shortened set of signs, still more remote from their origins,
known as demotic, which continued as the popular writing till Roman
times. On public decrees the hieroglyphic and demotic are both given, showing
that a knowledge of one was useless for reading the other, and that they were
separate studies.
3. Literature
The literature begins
during the pyramid period, before 4000 bc, with biographies and collections of
maxims for conduct; these show well-regulated society, and would benefit any
modern community in which they were followed. In the 12th Dynasty tales appear,
occupied with magic and foreign travel and wonders. A long poem in praise of
the king shows very regular versification and system, of the type of Ps 136,
the refrain differing in each stanza and being probably repeated in chorus,
while the independent lines were sung by the leader. In the 18th Dynasty, tales
of character begin to develop and show much skill, long annals were recorded,
and in the 19th Dynasty there is an elaborate battle poem describing the valor
of Rameses II. At about 700 bc there is a considerable tale which describes the
quarrels of the rival chiefs, and the great fight regulated like a tournament
by which the differences were settled. Such are the principal literary works
apart from business documents.
4. Four Views of Future Life
The religion of Egypt is an
enormous subject, and that by which Egypt is perhaps most known. Here we can
only give an outline of the growth and subdivisions of it. There never was any
one religion in Egypt during historic times. There were at least four
religions, all incompatible, and all believed in at once in varying degrees.
The different religions can best be seen apart by their incongruity regarding
the future life.
(1) The dead wandered about
the cemetery seeking food, and were partly fed by the goddess in the sycamore tree.
They therefore needed to have plates of food and jars of water in the tomb, and
provided perpetually by their descendants in front of the doorway to the grave.
The deceased is represented as looking out over this doorway in one case. Here
came in the great principle of substitution. For the food, substitute its image
which cannot decay, and the carved table of offerings results. For the
farmstead of animals, substitute its carved image on the walls and the animal
sculptures result. For the life of the family, substitute their carved figures
doing all that was wanted, sacrificing and serving, and the family sculptures
result. For the house, substitute a model upon the grave, and the pottery
soul-houses appear with their furniture and provisions. For the servants, put
their figures doing household work, and their service is eternal. For the
master himself, put the most lifelike image that can be made, and his soul will
occupy that as a restful home fitted for it. This principle is still believed
in. Funeral offerings of food are still put even in Muslim graves, and a woman
will visit a grave, and, removing a tile, will talk through a hole to her dead
husband.
(2) The dead went to the
kingdom of Osiris, to which only the good were admitted, while the evil were
rejected, and consumed either by monsters or by fire. This heavenly kingdom was
a complete duplicate of the earthly life. They planted and reaped, sported and
played. And as the Egyptian felicity consisted in making others work for them,
so each man was provided with a retinue of serfs to cultivate the land for him.
These ushabti figures in later times usually number 400, and often 1 in
10 of them is clad as an overseer. A special chapter of the Book of the Dead is
to be recited to animate them, and this, more or less abbreviated, is often
inscribed upon the figures.
(3) The dead joined the
company of the immortal gods, who float on the heavenly ocean in the boat of
the sun. With them they have to face the terrors of the hours of the night when
the sun goes through the underworld. Long charms and directions are needed for
safety in this passage, and these form a large part of the funerary tests,
especially on the Tombs of the Kings in the 18th-21st Dynasties. To reach the
boat of the sun a boat must be provided in the tomb, with its sailors and sails
and oars. Such are frequent from the 6th-13th Dynasties.
(4) The dead were carried
off by the Hathor cow, or a bull, to wait for a bodily resurrection. In order
to preserve the body for some life after the present age, each part must be
protected by an appropriate amulet; hence, dozens of different amulets were
placed on the body, especially from about 600-400 bc.
Now it will be seen that
each of these beliefs contradicts the other three, and they represent, therefore,
different religious origins.
5. Four Groups of Gods
The mythology is similarly
diverse, and was unified by uniting analogous gods. Hence, when we see the
compounds such as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, or Amen-Ra or Osiris-Khentamenti, it is
clear that each god of the compound belongs to a different religion, like
Pallas-Athene or Zeus-Labrandeus, in Greek compounds. So far as we can at
present see, the gods linked with each of the beliefs about the soul are as
follows:
(1) The Soul in the Tombs
and Cemetery
With this belief belong the animal gods, which form
the earliest stratum of the religion; also Sokar the god of “Silence,” and Mert
Sokar, the “Lover of Silence,” as the gods of the dead. With this was allied a
belief in the soul sometimes going to the west, and hence, Khent-amenti, a
jackal-headed god, “he who is in the west,” became the god of the dead.
(2) The Soul in the
Heavenly Kingdom
Osiris is the lord of this kingdom, Isis his
sister-wife, Horus their son, Nebhat (Nephthys) the sister of Isis, and Set her
husband. Set also was regarded as coequal with Horus. This whole mythology
results probably from the fusion of tribes who were originally monotheistic,
and who each worshipped one of these deities. It is certain that the later
parts of this mythology are tribal history, regarded as the victories and
defeats of the gods whom the tribes worshipped.
(3) The Soul in the
Sun-Boat
Ra was the Sun-god, and in other forms worshipped
as Khepera and Atmu. The other cosmic gods of the same group are Nut, the heaven,
and her husband Geb, the earth; Shu, space, and his sister Tefnut. Anher the
Sky-god belongs to Upper Egypt.
(4) The Mummy with Amulets,
Preserved for a Future Life
Probably to this group belong the gods of
principles, Hathor the female principle; Min the male principle; Ptah the
architect and creator of the universe; his spouse Maat, abstract truth and
justice.
6.
Foreign Gods
Foreign gods frequently appear also in Egypt,
mostly from Syria. Two importations were of great effect. Aton the radiant energy
of the sun, the Adon or “lord,” Adonai, Adonis, was introduced as a sole deity
by Akhenaton 1380 bc, and all other gods were proscribed. This was a strictly
rational and scientific religion, attributing all life and power to the action
of the sun's rays; but it only lasted 20 years in Egypt, and then vanished. The
other important worship was that of Zeus Sarapis. The Zeus statue is said to
have been imported from Sinope by Ptolemy I, but the Sarapis was the god of
Memphis, Osarhapi, the Osiris form of the Hapi bull. The Egyptian worshipped
his old gods; the Greek was satisfied with Zeus; and both nations united in
adoring Zeus Sarapis. The temples and ritual are too wide a subject to touch in
our present space; but the essential principle was that of providing a banquet
for the god, and feasting in his temple, not that of an expiatory sacrifice or
burnt offering, which is Semitic.
7.
Laws
The laws are but little known until the late Greek
accounts. Marriage was usual with a sister, but this may have been with a
half-sister, as among the Greeks and early Hebrews. Polygamy was unusual, but
was legal, as many as six wives being represented in one instance. Kings of
course had unlimited harēms. Divorce was unusual, but was probably
easy. In Coptic times a marriage contract provides for divorce by either party,
upon paying six times the marriage gift. Property was strictly guarded.
8.
Character
The national character was easygoing, kindly, never
delighting in torture like the Assyrians and Romans, but liable to be too slack
and careless. Firmness, decision and fortitude were held up as the leading
virtues. The structure of society, the arts and the industries are outside of
the scope of this article.
(For differing views on chronology and sites, see
articles EXODUS; WANDERINGS; PITHOM; RAAMSES, etc., and on individual kings,
etc., articles under their names, and EGYPTIAN KINGS.)
Literature
Works in English, that are the most accessible, are
stated in preference to foreign works, the references to which will be seen in
the books stated below.
The
Country
Baedeker's Egypt; on the flora, Petrie, Hawara,
Biahmu, and Arsioe.
The
History
Prehistoric: Petrie, Diospolis Parva, etc.;
de Morgan, Reeherches; Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, The
Struggle of the Nations, The Passing of the Empires; Petrie, Student's
History of Egypt; Breasted, A History of Egypt, etc. On the 1st-2nd
Dynasties, Petrie, Royal Tombs. On the 3rd-6th Dynasties, Petrie, The
Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh; Murray, Saqqara Mastabas I. On the
7th-14th Dynasties, Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh; de Morgan, Dahchour,
I, II. On the 15th-24th Dynasties, Weigall, Guide to Antiquities;
Baedeker on Thebes; Petrie, Six Temples at Thebes. On the 25th Dynasty
to Roman times, Petrie, Temple of Apries; Mahaffy, The Empires of the
Ptolemies; Milne, History of Egypt under Roman Rule. On the early
foreign connections, Petrie, Methods and Aims in Archaeology.
On the Semitic Connections
Petrie, Syria and Egypt from the Tell el-Amarna
Tablets.
On the Old Testament
Connections
Petrie, Egypt and Israel.
On the Language
Murray, Elementary Grammar.
On the Writing and
Literature
Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt; Petrie, Egyptian
Tales, I, II.
On the Religion
Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians.
On the Customs
Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Egyptians.
On the Arts
Petrie, The Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Egypt
The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we
have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture.
The Egyptians belonged to the white race, and their original home is
still a matter of dispute. Many scholars believe that it was in Southern
Arabia, and recent excavations have shown that the valley of the Nile was
originally inhabited by a low-class population, perhaps belonging to the
Nigritian stock, before the Egyptians of history entered it. The ancient Egyptian
language, of which the latest form is Coptic, is distantly connected with the
Semitic family of speech.
Egypt consists geographically of two halves, the northern being the
Delta, and the southern Upper Egypt, between Cairo and the First Cataract. In
the Old Testament, Northern or Lower Egypt is called Mazor, “the fortified
land” (Isa_19:6; Isa_37:25, where the A.V. mistranslates
“defense” and “besieged places”); while Southern or Upper Egypt is Pathros, the
Egyptian Pa-to-Res, or “the land of the south” (Isa_11:11).
But the whole country is generally mentioned under the dual name of Mizraim,
“the two Mazors.”
The civilization of Egypt goes back to a very remote antiquity. The two
kingdoms of the north and south were united by Menes, the founder of the first
historical dynasty of kings. The first six dynasties constitute what is known
as the Old Empire, which had its capital at Memphis, south of Cairo, called in
the Old Testament Moph (Hos_9:6) and
Noph. The native name was Mennofer, “the good place.”
The Pyramids were tombs of the monarchs of the Old Empire, those of
Gizeh being erected in the time of the Fourth Dynasty. After the fall of the
Old Empire came a period of decline and obscurity. This was followed by the
Middle Empire, the most powerful dynasty of which was the Twelfth. The Fayyum
was rescued for agriculture by the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty; and two
obelisks were erected in front of the temple of the sun-god at On or Heliopolis
(near Cairo), one of which is still standing. The capital of the Middle Empire
was Thebes, in Upper Egypt.
The Middle Empire was overthrown by the invasion of the Hyksos, or
shepherd princes from Asia, who ruled over Egypt, more especially in the north,
for several centuries, and of whom there were three dynasties of kings. They
had their capital at Zoan or Tanis (now San), in the north-eastern part of the
Delta. It was in the time of the Hyksos that Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph entered
Egypt. The Hyksos were finally expelled about 1600 B.C., by the hereditary
princes of Thebes, who founded the Eighteenth Dynasty, and carried the war into
Asia. Canaan and Syria were subdued, as well as Cyprus, and the boundaries of
the Egyptian Empire were fixed at the Euphrates. The Soudan, which had been
conquered by the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, was again annexed to Egypt, and
the eldest son of the Pharaoh took the title of “Prince of Cush.”
One of the later kings of the dynasty, Amenophis IV., or Khu-n-Aten,
endeavoured to supplant the ancient state religion of Egypt by a new faith derived
from Asia, which was a sort of pantheistic monotheism, the one supreme god
being adored under the image of the solar disk. The attempt led to religious
and civil war, and the Pharaoh retreated from Thebes to Central Egypt, where he
built a new capital, on the site of the present Tell-el-Amarna. The cuneiform
tablets that have been found there represent his foreign correspondence (about
1400 B.C.). He surrounded himself with officials and courtiers of Asiatic, and
more especially Canaanitish, extraction; but the native party succeeded
eventually in overthrowing the government, the capital of Khu-n-Aten was
destroyed, and the foreigners were driven out of the country, those that
remained being reduced to serfdom.
The national triumph was marked by the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty,
in the founder of which, Rameses I., we must see the “new king, who knew not
Joseph.” His grandson, Rameses II., reigned sixty-seven years (1348-1281 B.C.),
and was an indefatigable builder. As Pithom, excavated by Dr. Naville in 1883,
was one of the cities he built, he must have been the Pharaoh of the
Oppression. The Pharaoh of the Exodus may have been one of his immediate
successors, whose reigns were short. Under them Egypt lost its empire in Asia,
and was itself attacked by barbarians from Libya and the north.
The Nineteenth Dynasty soon afterwards by civil war; and for a short
time a Canaanite, Arisu, ruled over it.
Then came the Twentieth Dynasty, the second Pharaoh of which, Rameses
III., restored the power of his country. In one of his campaigns he overran the
southern part of Palestine, where the Israelites had not yet settled. They must
at the time have been still in the wilderness. But it was during the reign of
Rameses III. that Egypt finally lost Gaza and the adjoining cities, which were
seized by the Pulista, or Philistines.
After Rameses III., Egypt fell into decay. Solomon married the daughter
of one of the last kings of the Twenty-first Dynasty, which was overthrown by
Shishak I., the general of the Libyan mercenaries, who founded the
Twenty-second Dynasty (1Ki_11:40; 1Ki_14:25, 1Ki_14:26).
A list of the places he captured in Palestine is engraved on the outside of the
south wall of the temple of Karnak.
In the time of Hezekiah, Egypt was conquered by Ethiopians from the
Soudan, who constituted the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. The third of them was
Tirhakah (2Ki_19:9). In 674 B.C. it was
conquered by the Assyrians, who divided it into twenty satrapies, and Tirhakah
was driven back to his ancestral dominions. Fourteen years later it
successfully revolted under Psammetichus I. of Sais, the founder of the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty. Among his successors were Necho (2Ki_23:29) and Hophra, or Apries (Jer_37:5, Jer_37:7,
Jer_37:11). The dynasty came to an end
in 525 B.C., when the country was subjugated by Cambyses. Soon afterwards it
was organized into a Persian satrapy.
The title of Pharaoh, given to the Egyptian kings, is the Egyptian
Per-aa, or “Great House,” which may be compared to that of “Sublime Porte.” It
is found in very early Egyptian texts.
The Egyptian religion was a strange mixture of pantheism and animal
worship, the gods being adored in the form of animals. While the educated
classes resolved their manifold deities into manifestations of one omnipresent
and omnipotent divine power, the lower classes regarded the animals as
incarnations of the gods.
Under the Old Empire, Ptah, the Creator, the god of Memphis, was at the
head of the Pantheon; afterwards Amon, the god of Thebes, took his place. Amon,
like most of the other gods, was identified with Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis.
The Egyptians believed in a resurrection and future life, as well as in
a state of rewards and punishments dependent on our conduct in this world. The
judge of the dead was Osiris, who had been slain by Set, the representative of
evil, and afterwards restored to life. His death was avenged by his son Horus,
whom the Egyptians invoked as their “Redeemer.” Osiris and Horus, along with
Isis, formed a trinity, who were regarded as representing the sun-god under
different forms.
Even in the time of Abraham, Egypt was a flourishing and settled
monarchy. Its oldest capital, within the historic period, was Memphis, the
ruins of which may still be seen near the Pyramids and the Sphinx. When the Old
Empire of Menes came to an end, the seat of empire was shifted to Thebes, some
300 miles farther up the Nile. A short time after that, the Delta was conquered
by the Hyksos, or shepherd kings, who fixed their capital at Zoan, the Greek Tanis,
now San, on the Tanic arm of the Nile. All this occurred before the time
of the new king “which knew not Joseph” (Exo_1:8).
In later times Egypt was conquered by the Persians (525 B.C.), and by the
Greeks under Alexander the Great (332 B.C.), after whom the Ptolemies ruled the
country for three centuries. Subsequently it was for a time a province of the
Roman Empire; and at last, in A.D. 1517, it fell into the hands of the Turks,
of whose empire it still forms nominally a part. Abraham and Sarah went to
Egypt in the time of the shepherd kings. The exile of Joseph and the migration
of Jacob to “the land of Goshen” occurred about 200 years later. On the death
of Solomon, Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Palestine (1Ki_14:25). He left a list of the cities he
conquered.
A number of remarkable clay tablets, discovered at Tell-el-Amarna in
Upper Egypt, are the most important historical records ever found in connection
with the Bible. They most fully confirm the historical statements of the Book
of Joshua, and prove the antiquity of civilization in Syria and Palestine. As
the clay in different parts of Palestine differs, it has been found possible by
the clay alone to decide where the tablets come from when the name of the
writer is lost. The inscriptions are cuneiform, and in the Aramaic language,
resembling Assyrian. The writers are Phoenicians, Amorites, and Philistines,
but in no instance Hittites, though Hittites are mentioned. The tablets consist
of official dispatches and letters, dating from 1480 B.C., addressed to the two
Pharaohs, Amenophis III. and IV., the last of this dynasty, from the kings and
governors of Phoenicia and Palestine. There occur the names of three kings killed
by Joshua, Adoni-zedec, king of Jerusalem, Japhia, king of Lachish (Jos_10:3), and Jabin, king of Hazor (Jos_11:1); also the Hebrews (Abiri) are said to
have come from the desert.
The principal prophecies of Scripture regarding Egypt are these, Isa.
19; Jer_43:8-13; Jer_44:30; 46; Ezek. 29-32; and it might be
easily shown that they have all been remarkably fulfilled. For example, the
singular disappearance of Noph (i.e., Memphis) is a fulfillment of Jer_46:19, Eze_30:13.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Egypt
Peopled by Mizraim's
posterity
Gen_10:6; Gen_10:13; Gen_10:14;
Boundaries of
Eze_29:10;
Dry climate of
Deu_11:10; Deu_11:11;
Watered by the Nile
Gen_41:1-3; Exo_1:22;
Inundations of, alluded to
Amo_8:8;
Subject to plague, &c
Deu_7:15; Deu_28:27; Deu_28:60;
Sometimes visited by famine
Gen_41:30;
CALLED
The
land of Ham
Psa_105:23; Psa_106:22;
The
South
Jer_13:19; Dan_11:14;
Dan_11:25;
Sihor
Isa_23:3;
Rahab
Psa_87:4; Psa_89:10;
House
of Bondmen
Exo_13:3; Exo_13:14; Deu_7:8;
CELEBRATED FOR
Fertility
Gen_13:10; Gen_45:18;
Wealth
Heb_11:26;
Literature
1Ki_4:30; Act_7:22;
Fine
horses
1Ki_10:28; 1Ki_10:29;
Fine
linen, &c
Pro_7:16; Isa_19:9;
Commerce
Gen_41:57; Eze_27:7;
Religion of, idolatrous
Exo_12:12; Num_33:4; Isa_19:1;
Eze_29:7;
Idolatry of, followed by
Israel
Exo_32:4; Eze_20:8; Eze_20:19;
Magic practised in
Exo_7:11; Exo_7:12; Exo_7:22;
Exo_8:7;
Ruled by kings who assumed
the name of Pharaoh
Gen_12:14; Gen_12:15; Gen_40:1;
Gen_40:2; Exo_1:8;
Exo_1:22;
Under a governor
Gen_41:41-44;
Had princes and counsellors
Gen_12:15; Isa_19:11;
AS A POWER WAS
Proud
and arrogant
Eze_29:3; Eze_30:6;
Pompous
Eze_32:12;
Mighty
Isa_30:2; Isa_30:3;
Ambitious
of conquests
Jer_46:8;
Treacherous
Isa_36:6; Isa_29:6; Isa_29:7;
INHABITANTS OF
Superstitious
Isa_19:3;
Hospitable
Gen_47:5; Gen_47:6; 1Ki_11:18;
Often
intermarried with strangers
Gen_21:21; 1Ki_3:1; 1Ki_11:19; 1Ch_2:34;
1Ch_2:35;
Abhorred
shepherds
Gen_46:34;
Abhorred
the sacrifice of oxen, &c
Exo_8:26;
Not
to be abhorred by Israel
Deu_23:7;
Might
be received into the congregation in the third generation
Deu_23:8;
Mode of entertaining in
Gen_43:32-34;
Diet used in
Num_11:5;
Mode of embalming in
Gen_50:3;
Often a refuge to strangers
Gen_12:10; Gen_47:4; 1Ki_11:17;
1Ki_11:40; 2Ki_25:26;
Mat_2:12; Mat_2:13;
THE ARMIES OF
Described
Exo_14:7-9;
Destroyed
in the Red Sea
Exo_14:23-28;
Captured
and burned Gezer
1Ki_9:16;
Besieged
and plundered Jerusalem in Rehoboam's time
1Ki_14:25; 1Ki_14:26;
Invaded
Assyria and killed Josiah who assisted it
2Ki_23:29;
Deposed
Jehoahaz and made Judea tributary
2Ki_23:31-35;
Assistance
of, sought by Judah against the Chaldees
Eze_17:15; Jer_37:5;
Jer_37:7;
HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN
Their
sojourn in it, foretold
Gen_15:13;
Joseph
sold into
Gen_37:28; Gen_39:1;
Potiphar
blessed for Joseph's sake
Gen_39:2-6;
Joseph
unjustly cast into prison
Gen_39:7-20;
Joseph
interprets the chief baker's and the chief butler's dreams
Gen_40:5-19;
Joseph
interprets Pharaoh's dreams
Gen.
41:14-32;
Joseph
counsels Pharaoh
Gen_41:33-36;
Joseph
made governor
Gen_41:41-44;
Joseph's
successful provision against the years of famine
Gen_41:46-56;
Joseph's
ten brethren arrive
Gen_42:1-6;
Joseph
recognizes his brethren
Gen_42:7; Gen_42:8;
Benjamin
brought
Gen_43:15;
Joseph
makes himself known to his brethren
Gen_45:1-8;
Joseph
sends for his father
Gen_45:9-11;
Pharaoh
invites Jacob into
Gen_45:16-20;
Jacob's
journey
Gen_46:5-7;
Jacob,
&c presented to Pharaoh
Gen_47:1-10;
Israel
placed in the land of Goshen
Gen_46:34; Gen_47:11;
Gen_47:27;
Joseph
enriches the king
Gen_47:13-26;
Jacob's
death and burial
Gen_49:33; Gen_50:1-13;
Israel
increases and are oppressed
Exo_1:1-14;
Male
children destroyed
Exo_1:15-22;
Moses
born and hid for three months
Exo_2:2;
Moses
exposed on the Nile
Exo_2:3; Exo_2:4;
Moses
adopted and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter
Exo_2:5-10;
Moses
slays an Egyptian
Exo_2:11; Exo_2:12;
Moses
flies to Midian
Exo_2:15;
Moses
sent to Pharaoh
Exo_3:2-10;
Pharaoh
increases their affliction
Exo.
5:1-23;
Moses
proves his divine mission by miracles
Exo_4:29-31; Exo_7:10;
Egypt
is plagued for Pharaoh's obstinacy
Exo.
7:14-10:29;
The
passover instituted
Exo.
12:1-28;
Destruction
of the first-born
Exo_12:29; Exo_12:30;
Israel
spoils the Egyptians
Exo_12:35; Exo_12:36;
Israel
driven out of
Exo_12:31-33;
Date
of the Exodus
Exo_12:41; Heb_11:27;
Pharaoh
pursues Israel and is miraculously destroyed
Exo.
14:5-25;
PROPHECIES RESPECTING
Dismay
of its inhabitants
Isa_19:1; Isa_19:16; Isa_19:17;
Infatuation
of its princes
Isa_19:3; Isa_19:11-14;
Failure
of internal resources
Isa_19:5-10;
Civil
war and domestic strife
Isa_19:2;
Armies
destroyed by Babylon
Jer_46:2-12;
Invasion
by Babylon
Jer_46:13; Jer_46:24;
Eze_32:11;
Destruction
of its power
Eze_30:24; Eze_30:25;
Destruction
of its cities
Eze_30:14-18;
Destruction
of its idols
Jer_43:12; Jer_43:13;
Jer_46:25; Eze_30:13;
Spoil
of, a reward to Babylon for services against Tyre
Eze_29:18-20;
Captivity
of its people
Isa_20:4; Jer_46:19; Jer_46:24; Jer_46:26;
Eze_30:4;
Utter
desolation of, for forty years
Eze_29:8-12; Eze_30:12;
Eze_32:15;
Allies
to share its misfortunes
Eze_30:4; Eze_30:6;
The
Jews who practised its idolatry to share its punishments
Jer.
44:7-28;
Terror
occasioned by its fall
Eze_32:9; Eze_32:10;
Ever
to be a base kingdom
Eze_29:15;
Christ
to be called out of
Hos_11:1; Mat_2:15;
Conversion
of
Isa_19:18-20;
To
be numbered and blessed along with Israel
Isa_19:23-25;
Prophetic
illustration of its destruction
Jer_43:9; Jer_43:10; Eze_30:21; Eze_30:22;
Eze_32:4-6;
Source: R.A. Torrey’s New Topical Textbook