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the beard, and regarded the loss of it as a deep disgrace. That this was the feeling of the Hebrews we shall frequently have occasion to observe: but here Joseph shaves himself in conformity with an Egyptian usage, of which this passage conveys the earliest intimation, but which is confirmed not only by the subsequent accounts of Greek and Roman writers, but by the ancient sculptures and paintings of Egypt, in which the male figure is usually beardless. It is true that in sculptures some heads have a curious rectangular beard, or rather beard-case attached to the chin; but this is proved to be an artificial appendage, by the same head being represented sometimes with and at other times without it; and still more by the appearance of a band which passes along the jaws and attaches it to the cap on the head, or to the hair. It is concluded that this appendage was never actually worn, but was used in sculpture to indicate the male character. (See British Museum-Egyptian Antiquities,' vol. ii., in Library of Entertaining Knowledge.')

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42. "Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand."-This was, no doubt, a principal circumstance in Joseph's investiture in the high office of chief minister to the king of Egypt. Investiture by a ring is not unknown in the history of Europe during the middle ages. But the present ring was undoubtedly a signet, or seal-ring, which gave validity to the documents to which it was affixed, and by the delivery of which, therefore, Pharaoh delegated to Joseph the chief authority in the state. The king of Persia in the same way gave his seal-ring to his successive ministers Haman and Mordecai; and in Esther viii. 8, the use of such a ring is expressly declared :— "The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse." The possession of such a ring therefore gave absolute power in all things to the person to whom it was entrusted. This may in some degree be understood by the use of a seal among ourselves to convey validity to a legal instrument or public document; and still more perhaps by the use of the Great Seal, the person who holds which is, at least nominally, the second person in the state. But our usages do not perfectly illustrate the use of the seal as it exists in the East; because we require the signature in addition to the seal; whereas in the East, the seal alone has the effect which we give to both the seal and the signature. People in the East do not sign their names. They have seals in which their names and titles are engraven, and with which they make an impression with thick ink on all occasions for which we use the signature. To give a man your seal, is therefore to give him the use of that authority and power which your own signature possesses. This explains the extraordinary anxiety about seals which is exhibited in the laws and usages of the East. It explains Judah's anxiety about the signet which he had pledged to Tamar, (ch. xxxviii.) and it explains the force of the present act of Pharaoh. In Egypt, the crime of counterfeiting a seal was punished with the loss of both hands. In Persia, at the present day, letters are seldom written, and never signed by the person who sends them; and it will thus appear that the authenticity of all orders and communications, and even of a merchant's bills, depends wholly on the seal. This makes the occupation of a seal-cutter one of as much trust and danger as it seems to have been in Egypt. Such a person is obliged to keep a register of every seal he makes, and if one be lost, or stolen from the party for whom it was cut, his life would answer for making another exactly like it. The loss of a seal is considered a very serious calamity; and the alarm which an Oriental exhibits when his seal is missing can only be understood by a reference to these circumstances. As the seal-cutter is always obliged to affix the real date at which the seal was cut, the only resource of a person who has lost his seal is to have another made with a new date, and to write to his correspondents, to inform them that all accounts, contracts, and communications to which his former seal is affixed, are null from the day on which it was lost.

That the ring, in this case, was a signet appears from other passages, which describe it as used for the purpose of sealing. It would seem that most of the ancient seals were rings; but they were not always finger-rings, being often worn as bracelets on the arm. Indeed, it is observable, that nowhere in the Bible is a signet expressly said to be worn on the finger, but on the hand, as in the present text; and although this may denote the finger, we may understand it literally, as of a ring worn on the wrist. Finger seal-rings are now, however, more usual than bracelets; and very often seals are not used as rings at all, but are carried in a small bag in the bosom of a person's dress, or suspended from his neck by a silken cord. They are and were, whether rings or otherwise, made of gold or silver, or even inferior metals, such as brass. But an inscribed stone is frequently set in the metal; and that this custom was very ancient appears from Exod. xxviii. 11, and other places, where we read of "engraving in stone like the engraving of a signet.” The intelligent editor of Calmet (Mr. C. Taylor) is mistaken in his explanation that such seals, used as stamps-manual to impress a name with ink upon paper, must have the characters raised, as in our printing and wood-engraving, and not indented as in our seals. The fact is, that they are cut in the same fashion as our seals; and the thick ink being lightly daubed with the finger over the surface, the seal is pressed upon the paper, where it leaves a black impression, in which the characters are left white or blank.

"Arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck."-This also was probably part of the investiture of Joseph in his high office. A dress of honour still in the East accompanies promotion in the royal service; and otherwise forms the ordinary medium through which princes and great persons manifest their favour and esteem. In Persia, where perhaps the fullest effect is in our own time given to this usage, the king has always a large wardrobe from which he bestows dresses to his own subjects or foreign ambassadors whom he desires to honour. These dresses are called "Kelaats ;" and the reception of them forms a distinction, which is desired with an earnestness, and received with an exultation only comparable to that which accompanies titular distinctions or insignia of knighthood in Europe. They form the principal criterion through which the public judge of the degree of influence which the persons who receive them enjoy at court, and therefore the parties about to be thus honoured exhibit the utmost anxiety that the kelaat may, in all its circumstances, be in the highest degree indicative of the royal favour. It varies in the number and quality of the articles which compose it, according to the rank of the person to whom it is given, or the degree of honour intended to be afforded; and all these matters are examined and discussed by the public with a great degree of earnestness. Besides the robes occasionally bestowed by the king and princes, the former regularly sends a kelaat, once a year, to the governors of provinces, who are generally royal princes. At the distance of every few miles from every provincial capital, there is usually a town or village called "Kelaat," which name it derives from its being the appointed place to which the governor proceeds in great state from his city, attended by great part of its population, to be invested with the dress of honour thus sent him from the king. The occasion is attended with great rejoicings; and is of so much importance, that it is postponed until the arrival of what the astrologers decide to be a propitious day, and even the favourable moment for investiture is determined by the same authorities. A common Persian kalaat consists of a vesture of fine stuff, perhaps brocade; a sash or girdle for the waist, and a shawl for the head; and when it is intended to be more distinguishing, a sword or dagger is added. Robes of rich furs are given to persons of distinction. A kelaat of the very richest description consists, besides the dress, of the same articles which Xenophon describes as being given by the ancient princes of Persia, namely:-a horse with a golden bridle, a chain of gold, (as in this kelaat which Pharaoh gave to Joseph,) and a golden sword—that is, a sword, with a scabbard orna

mented with gold. The chain of gold now given is, however, part of the furniture of the horse, and hangs over his nose. Joseph's chain of gold was, however, a personal ornament: it had thus early become a mark of official distinction, and remains such to this day among different nations. It is also observable that Xenophon mentions bracelets among the articles in the ancient Persian kelaat. Bracelets are not now worn by Persians, and are therefore not given; but we have already intimated that the "ring," mentioned in the preceding text, may be understood as well to signify a bracelet as a finger ring.

The expression "fine linen" in the text would suggest some observations on the linen manufactures of Egypt; but this, and some other subjects connected with that remarkable country, are reserved for the notes on Isaiah xix., the 9th verse of which mentions the Egyptians who "work in fine flax.”

45. "Pharaoh... gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On."-Many writers have been anxious on various theories to explain away the apparent impropriety of this marriage of Joseph with the daughter of an idolatrous priest. By far the most probable hypothesis of any that has come under our notice is that of Mr. Sharon Turner, in his Sacred History of the World.' We give it in his own words: "In ancient days, we learn from Juba, the African prince and historian, that the Arabs peopled part of Egypt from Meroe to Syene, and built the City of the Sun. Pliny has preserved this remarkable but little noticed fact: Juba says that the City of the Sun, which was not far from Memphis in Egypt, has had the Arabs for its founders; and that the inhabitants of the Nile, from Syene up to Meroe, are not Ethiopian people, but Arabs.' (Pliny, l. vi., c. 34.) He says of this Juba, as noting his good authority, In this part it pleases us to follow the Roman arms and King Juba, in his volumes written to Caius Cæsar, of the same Arabian expedition.' This important passage of Juba bears, I think, upon the history of Joseph, and explains why he married the daughter of a priest at Heliopolis or On. Being an Arabian colony, it would not have then in it the base superstitions of Egypt, but would have, at that period, retained enough of the Abrahamic or patriarchal religion to make a female there more near to his own faith and feelings than any other part of Egypt." Several objections to this occur; such as, that the Arabs may have colonized on the Nile very early, and yet not have done it before Joseph's time; that, if they had done so as early as this, they were more likely to have been rather Arabs of the Kahtan or Cushite tribes than descendants of Ishmael, who could not at this time have been numerous enough to establish large colonies. However, if these objections have no force, we are willing to admit this theory, provided that we are allowed at all events to conclude, that whatever were the religious opinions of the priest of On, he was a member of that great priestly caste whose authority and paramount influence were such as to render the Egyptian government rather ecclesiastical than monarchical. We know that when a king was elected who was not previously of the sacerdotal caste, he was adopted into that caste and instructed in its mysteries and science; and this fact alone seems to us sufficient to warrant the conclusion, that the desire of the priesthood to concentrate all power in their own body induced them to wish that Joseph should connect himself with them; or that it was done from the desire felt by the king, that a person in whom he had so much confidence should be put in a condition to claim the support and countenance of that powerful body in his undertakings.

57. “All countries came into Egypt, to...buy corn."-Egypt seems to have been then, what it has continued to the present day, the granary of the neighbouring nations, who in all their exigencies and deficiencies look to Egypt as the source whence a supply of corn may be derived. That country is singularly circumstanced, its fertility not depending on local rains, but on the annual inundation of its river, which renders the soil richly productive even in seasons when the harvests fail in the neighbouring countries from continued drought. We have here the earliest notice of the extensive corn trade which Egypt has always enjoyed. This trade, which has at different periods enabled other nations to partake in the benefit of the extraordinary fertility of the country, seems for a long time to have been exclusively conducted by caravans, as in the instance before us. It is true that scarcely any notice exists of this trade until the Greeks and Romans became interested in it, and began to resort to Egypt for corn. But according to the important remark of Heeren, "It is the nature of land-trade to be less conspicuous than that by sea, and indeed the less so the more regular it is in its course. May not our knowledge of the African caravan trade be considered, to a certain extent, as a discovery of modern times? And yet it stands incontrovertible, that it has continued, with but few alterations, for many centuries." To illustrate the importance of this trade to ancient Egypt, the same able inquirer adduces an example quoted by Aristotle, in which the payment of the public taxes was rendered impossible by an attempt to interdict the exportation of corn.

CHAPTER XLII.

1 Jacob sendeth his ten sons to buy corn in Egypt.
16 They are imprisoned by Joseph for spies. 18
They are set at liberty, on condition to bring Ben-
jamin. 21 They have remorse for Joseph.
24
Simeon is kept for a pledge. 25 They return with
corn, and their money. 29 Their relation to Ja-
cob. 36 Jacob refuseth to send Benjamin.
Now when 'Jacob saw that there was corn in
Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye
look one upon another?

2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that
there is corn in Egypt: get you down thi-
ther, and buy for us from thence; that we
may
may live, and not die.

3 ¶ And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.

4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.

5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake 'roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

1 Acts 7. 12. 2 Heb. hard things with them.

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.

11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.

12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: 15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.

17 And he put them all together into ward three days.

18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:

19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your

houses:

20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, "Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. 23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.

24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.

26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.

27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth.

28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?

29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,

30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.

31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:

32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of housholds, and be gone: your

34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.

of

35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against

me.

37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

38 And he said, My son shall not go down. with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down 25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

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• Heb. gathered. Chap. 43. 5. 7 Chap. 37. 21.
Heb. went forth, 10 Heb, with us hard things.

Heb. an interpreter was between them.

Verse 9. "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."-It will be seen in the note to chap. xlvi. 34, that Joseph had sufficient apparent cause to justify this affected suspicion. But we may here remark, that such an imputation as this remains to this day that to which a stranger is continually exposed in the East. The Orientals generally have no idea that people will make a journey unless from urgent necessity, or on gainful speculations; and if, therefore, a person does not travel in a mercantile character, or on some public business, he is invariably considered as a spy-more especially if he turns aside or stops to examine any remarkable object, or is discovered in the act of writing, or making observations of any kind. Curiosity, or the desire of collecting information, are motives perfectly incomprehensible to them, and are always treated as shallow and childish pretences. They ask triumphantly whether you have no trees, birds, animals, rivers, or ruins at home to engage your attention, that you should come so far to look for them.

15. "

By the life of Pharaoh."-Swearing by the life of a superior or respected person, or by that of the person addressed, is a common conversational oath in different parts of Asia. In Persia, although the force of the expression is precisely the same, its form is varied to swearing by the head, particularly by the head of the king. "By the king's head, by his death, or by his soul!" are expressions which are continually heard in that country, and are used even by the king, who generally speaks of himself in the third person. The Persians also swear by their own heads, and by those of the persons to whom they speak. Pharaoh's swearing by himself, in chap. xli. 44, "I am Pharaoh," seems to receive some illustration from the practice of the Persian king.

CHAPTER XLIII.

1 Jacob is hardly persuaded to send Benjamin. 15 Joseph entertaineth his brethren. 31 He maketh them a feast.

AND the famine was sore in the land.

2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man 'did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the 'tenor of these words: 'could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

9 I will be surety for him; of my hand. shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.

11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best

I Heb. protesting protested. 2 Chap. 42. 20. 3 Heb. asking asked us. 7 Or, twice by this. 8 Or, and I, as I have been, &c.

fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:

13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:

14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. "If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

15 And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and 'slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.

10

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.

18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may "seck occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,

20 And said, O sir, we 13came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

21 And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man's money was in

Heb. mouth.

9 Heb. kill a killing. 10 Heb. cat. 13 Heb, coming down we came down.

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the mouth of his sack, our money in full they bowed down their heads, and made weight and we have brought it again in our hand.

22 And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.

23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

15

24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

25 And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 ¶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

27 And he asked them of their 16welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?

28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And 14 Heb. your money came to me. 15 Chap. 18. 4, and 24. 32

obeisance.

29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.

30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

31 And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.

34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of their's. And they drank, and were merry with him.

16 Heb. peace.

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ALMOND TREE (Amygdalus communis).

Verse 11. For "balm," "spices," and "myrrh," see notes on chap. xxxvii. 25.

"Nuts," Botnim.-The nuts here spoken of were the Pistachio nuts, produced by one of the terebinthaceous trees once peculiar to Syria, Pistacia vera, whence it was brought into Europe by Lucius Vitellius, governor of Syria, and since that spread over the shores of the Mediterranean. The nuts are about the size of a hazel-nut, covered exte

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