A. M. 2276. A. C. 1728; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3539. A. C. 1872. GEN. CH. xxxvii. TO THE END.

application, that before the seven years of plenty were some one of them should be dispatched to bring him, expired, he had amassed together an immense quantity whilst the rest were kept in custody; otherwise he should of corn, enough to supply both Egypt and the neigh-look upon them (and there he spake with a seeming bouring countries; so that when the years of famine came earnestness) as no other than spies and enemies; and so on, and the people applied themselves to Pharaoh, he ordered them all to prison, until they should come to a remitted them to Joseph, who, when he saw it fit, opened resolution. his stores, and sold provision to all that came.

In the second year of the famine, Jacob, who was not exempt from the common calamity, hearing that there was corn to be bought in Egypt, sent ten of his sons thither to buy some, who, upon their arrival, were directed to apply to Joseph for an order, and as soon as they saw him, prostrated themselves before him, and begged that they might be supplied with corn.

After three days' confinement, however, he sent for them again, and then, with a milder air, told them that as himself feared God, and was willing to act justly by them, he was loath that their family should want provision, or that they themselves should suffer, if innocent; he therefore propounded this expedient to them :-"That one of them should be confined, as an hostage for the rest, while they returned with corn for the family; and that Joseph, at first sight, knew his brethren, but being when they came again, and brought their youngest minded to terrify them a little, would not, as yet, dis-brother with them, the confined should be released, and cover himself to them; and therefore, choosing to speak all of them reputed honest men."

a

by an interpreter, with a severe look and angry tone, For persons in their circumstances there was no exposhe asked them whence they came, and upon their answer-tulating with one who had them at his mercy; and thereing from the land of Canaan, he charged them with fore they consented to do whatever he required. But in being spies who were come to discover the weakness of the interpreter's absence, they supposing that no one the country. To which they replying, that they came else understood their language, began to bewail their with no other intent, than purely to buy corn for their unrelenting cruelty to poor Joseph, and to condemn numerous family, being all the sons of one man, who themselves severely for it; while Reuben, who was not once indeed had twelve, but that the youngest was left at | so culpable in the matter, put them in mind, that all this home, and the next to him dead: he immediately catched mischief might have been prevented, had they listened to at their words, and put their honesty upon this probation : his counsel, and not acted so inhumanly to their innocent -That since, as they said, they had a younger brother, brother, for whose sake, it was no more than what they might expect, that vengeance at one time or other would certainly overtake them.

a These words, Ye are spies,' are not to be looked upon as a lie, because they are not spoken by way of affirmation, but of probation only, in the manner that judges speak, when they examine suspected persons, or inquire into a crime, of which men are accused; and have therefore the force of an interrogation, Are ye not spies?' or I must take you to be such, until you prove the contrary. This, though it was but a pretensive charge of Joseph, had yet the better colour, because Egypt was defenceless and liable to incursions only on that side from whence his brethren came; for what with the interposition of large deserts, and shallow seas, it was pretty well secured on all other quarters. (Le Clerc's and Patrick's Commentaries in locum.)—To conceive the full force and heinousness of this charge, says Dr Hales, it is necessary to state briefly the situation of Egypt at the time. In the reign of Timaus, or Thamuz, about B. C. 2159, Egypt had been invaded and subdued by a tribe of Cushite shepherds, from Arabia, who cruelly enslaved the whole country, under a dynasty of six kings, until, at length, the native princes, weary of their tyranny, rebelled, and after a long war of thirty years, shook off the yoke, and expelled the shepherds to Palestine, where they became the Philistines, (from Pallesthan," the shepherd land," in the Sanscrit, or primitive Syriac,) about B. C. 1899, or twenty-seven years before Joseph's administration. But the memory of their tyranny was still fresh in the minds of the Egyptians, so that any shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians,' Gen. xlvi. 34; and they could not endure to eat bread with the Hebrews,' because they were shepherds, and came from the neighbourhood of Palestine. And they were greatly apprehensive, that the Philistines, who were a warlike people, might attempt to regain a footing in Egypt, weakened as it had been by so long a war; and when the land of Goshen, which had been their principal settlement, the best pasture land in Egypt, was now in a great measure waste. (Hales' Analysis, vol. 2. p. 141, second edition.) This circumstance most probably, at a subsequent period, gave rise to the dread of the Hebrews becoming more powerful than them, and again enslaving them.-ED.

6 By this they suggested the impossibility of their being spies, since no man, in his wits, would send so many, and all his own sons, upon so dangerous and capital an enterprise; nor was it probable that one man could have a design upon Egypt, but all the great men in Canaan must have joined in it, and then they would have sent men of different families, and not all of one only. -Patrick's Commentary.

Their discourse, in short, was so very dolorous and affecting, that Joseph could no longer contain himself, and was therefore forced to withdraw a little to give his tears vent, and then coming in again, commanded e Simeon to be bound and sent to prison: but setting the rest at liberty, he ordered the officer who distributed the corn to supply them with what they wanted, and at the same time, as a fresh matter for their surprise, d to put each man's money into the mouth of his sack. His orders were accordingly obeyed; and therefore, when they came to bait, and to give their beasts provender, e they were

c It may be supposed, perhaps, that because Reuben was the eldest, he, upon this occasion, had been the properest hostage; but Reuben, we may observe, had showed himself averse to those lengths of wickedness and inhumanity, in which most of the other brothers were agreed, against Joseph. Reuben, in short, resolved to save him; and as Judah was inclined to favour him, had Simeon joined with them, their authority might have prevailed for his deliverance; but Simeon was the person who was most exasperated against him. He was the eldest of those who had proposed to murder him, and was therefore a fit proxy for the rest; the man, as the Hebrews say, who put Joseph in the pit, and was now very justly to be served in his kind: though they who tell us this, have a tradition, that as soon as his brothers were gone, Joseph had him unbound, and ordered him what provisions and conveniences he pleased, during his confinement.-Patrick's Commentary, and Bibliotheca Biblica in

locum.

d This Joseph might do, without defrauding Pharaoh: for he might either supply them out of that stock of provisions which belonged properly to himself; or if the provisions were the king's, he might pay for them out of his own purse. Nor is there any occasion to conceive, that a person so entirely in favour and confidence with his prince as Joseph was, had his hands tied up from disposing, at his own discretion and pleasure, of so small a boon as this to his friends, for their relief and comfort.Musculus.

e If it should be made a question, why Joseph's brethren made

A. M. 2276. A. C. 1728; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3539. A. C. 1872. GEN. CH. xxxvii. TO THE END. not a little frightened to find their money returned; nor their going again, and presses him to consent, with failed they to make all the dismal reflections hereupon this solemn promise, that at the hazard of his own life, that their fears could suggest, concluding that the he would take care and return him safe: 'Of my haughty viceroy had done this, that he might have a hand shalt thou require him,' says he; if I bring him pretence to make them his slaves at their next coming not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear down. the blame for ever."

As soon as they were got home, they acquainted their father with all these adventures; they told him the treatment they had received from the king's prime minister, and how he suspected them of being spies, of which they had no way to clear themselves, but by leaving Simeon bound in prison, as a pledge, till they should bring Benjamin, to show that what they told him of their family was true. These were sad tidings, indeed, and what made their poor afflicted father break out into this melancholy complaint:" That one way or other, him they had deprived of his children; that Joseph was dead, Simeon was left in Egypt, and now they were going to take Benjamin from him likewise, which were things too heavy for him to bear."

In vain it was for Reuben, in order to prevail with his father to comply, to offer, as he did, that if he did not return him safe, he might take his two sons, and kill them if he pleased the death of a grandson was no compensation for the loss of a child; and therefore, instead of assuaging, this did but augment his grief, and make him absolutely resolve not to trust Benjamin with them: for "his brother is dead," says he, " and he is left alone; if any mischief should befall him by the way, then will ye bring my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave."

In such debates as these they spent the time, till the famine every day increasing, and their stock of provision being well nigh gone, necessity put them in the thoughts of going down again into Egypt. This their father likewise reminded them of, but without taking any notice of their obligation to the viceroy to bring their younger brother with them; which, when Judah suggested to him, and set before him withal the utter impossibility of their going into Egypt, without his complying with that condition, he began to complain again, that he thought himself hardly used in their telling the viceroy any thing of the state of his family, or that they had another brother; which Judah endeavoured to excuse, by assuring his father, that what was said upon that head, proceeded from the simplicity of their hearts, and in answer to the interrogatories which the viceroy put to them, without ever dreaming that he intended to make such a cruel handle of it; and then perceiving his father to waver a little in his resolution, « he reiterates the necessity of

use of their own stocks, and especially in a time of so great scarcity, in a public inn? the answer is obvious,-That the inns, or resting-places in those parts of the world, neither were, nor are as yet, such as we meet with in England, and some other parts of Europe. They afforded no accommodation of any kind, but barely house-room. The passengers who travelled in those countries, carried most, if not all of their provisions with them; nor did they make any other use of these public houses, but only to repose themselves in at the end of their stages. (Musculus.) The khan or caravansara is seldom more than four bare walls, open at top, and perfectly exposed; if there are cells, nothing is found but bare walls, dust, and sometimes scorpions, the only refreshment being the water generally found in the vicinity; nor are even these empty mansions always to be met with.

a In the text, the words wherein Judah delivers himself to his father, are these,-If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food; but if thou wilt not send him,

But it was not so much his son's importunity, as the necessity of affairs, which induced Jacob to comply; and therefore, perceiving that there was now no remedy, he delivered up Benjamin; but before they departed, instructed them what to do, namely, to take a double quantity of money with them, for fear that there was some mistake made in the other that was returned, and some such presents as the country afforded, and what they imagined would be most acceptable to the viceroy : and so having entreated Heaven for their success, he sent them away, with an aching heart, but a resolved acquiescence in God's good providence, let the event be what it would.

As soon as they arrived at Egypt, they went directly to the king's granaries, and presented themselves before Joseph, who seeing their brother Benjamin with them, gave orders to his steward to conduct them to his house, where he designed they should dine that day. Here again they began to fear, lest this might be a contrivance against them upon account of the money which was returned in their sacks; and therefore, before they entered the house, they acquainted the steward with the whole affair, and to demonstrate their honesty, told him,

Gen. xliii. 9.

we will not go down,' Gen. xliii. 4, 5; which, at first view, seem to have an air of undutifulness in them, but upon a nearer inspec tion, will admit of this apology, namely, that this was not the first proposal made to Jacob by his sons, to have Benjamin go with them into Egypt. Reuben had once before offered his two sons for pledges, and received a repulse. Upon Jacob's renewing his orders therefore for them to go, Judah only had courage to engage in this fresh remonstrance. He reminds his father, first of the solemnity and earnestness with which Joseph had pretended, that without Benjamin, they should not see his face: then he offers to go very willingly in obedience to his father's command, but desires to insist upon the condition of Benjamin's going For the words, compared with those of Gen. xliv. 26, do plainly with them, as finally, indispensably, and absolutely necessary. denote as much, We will not go down,' that is, it is impossible, impracticable, unallowable for us to go. For the future tense, according to the Hebrew idiom, will bear this signification, and consequently will acquit Judah from all suspicion of rebellion or undutifulness towards his father.-Bibliotheca Billica, on Gen.

Annotation 45.

b The present which Jacob ordered his sons to carry down to Joseph is thus particularized in our translation; a little balm, a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds,' Gen. xliii. 11. But there is reason to suspect, that some of these are not the real things which the original words intend. Balm, indeed, which we may suppose was that of Gilead, was of great price all the world over, and a small quantity of it was a present worth acceptance; but unless the honey in Canaan was better than ordinary, there doubtless was no want of it in Egypt: and therefore, it is much more likely that this part of the present consisted of dates, since the Hebrew expresses both by the same name; and in Judea, especially about Jericho, as both Josephus and Pliny tell us, there was a great plenty of them. The word nekoth, which is rendered spices, should rather signify storas, which is an aromatic gum put into all precious spicy ointments. And the word loth, which is translated myrrh, would come nearer the original if it were called laudanum. Botnim, which we read nuts, are what we call pistachios, which were highly esteemed by the ancients as a delicious food; and with these almonds might not improperly be joined together.- Universal History, and Patrick's Commentary.

A. M. 2276. A. C. 1728; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3589. A. C. 1872. GEN. CH. xxxvii.TO THE END.

that besides the money which they found returned, they had brought more along with them, to buy a fresh quantity of provisions.

The steward, on the other hand, being let into the secret, and perceiving the concern they were in, bade them dismiss all uneasy apprehensions; told them, that what they found in their sacks they ought to look upon as a treasure sent them from heaven; owned that he himself had fairly received their money; and gave them assurance that they should never hear any more of it; and, that they might believe his words to be true, he went and brought Simeon unbound to them; acquainted them that they were to dine with his lord that day; aud showed them, in the mean while, all the tokens of civility that were fitting for welcome guests.

Joseph was to return by noon, and therefore his brothers took care to have their present in readiness; and when he was come, introduced it in the handsomest and most submissive manner they could. He received them all with a friendly countenance; inquired much concerning the health and welfare of their aged father; and then turning to Benjamin, asked them, if he was the younger brother they had mentioned to him; and without staying for their answer, saluted him in these words, 'God be gracious to thee, my son.' But finding his affections begin to work, and fearing lest he should discover himself too soon, he retired into his chamber, and there vented his passion in a flood of tears; which when he had done, he washed his face, and returned to the company, and ordered the dinner to be served up.

Three tables were spread in a large dining-room; one for himself alone, by reason of his dignity; another for his Egyptian guests, a who hate to eat with people of a different nation; and a third for his brethren, who were amazed to find themselves placed in exact order, according to their seniority, and did not a little wonder what this unexpected civility might end in.

Joseph, however, during the whole entertainment, behaved very courteously. From his own table he

• The reason which some assign for the Egyptians refusing to eat with the Hebrews, was their sacrificing some creatures which the Egyptians worshipped; but though, in after ages, they certainly did worship several kinds of animals, yet there appears nothing from the story that they did so in Joseph's days; for their worship of the famous ox, called Apis, was a much later invention, as many learned men have demonstrated. It is much more likely, therefore, that this great abhorrence should be resolved into their different manner both of dressing and eating their victuals. No people, as Herodotus tells, (even where he treats of their manner of feasting, Euterpe, c. 41.) were more tenacious of their old customs than the Egyptians. They would not use those of any other nation whatever; and therefore the Hebrews were not the only people they had an aversion to. For, as the same historian informs us, an Egyptian man, or woman, would not kiss the mouth of a Greek; would not make use of a spit or a pot belonging to them; nor eat any meat that was cut with one of their knives.-Patrick's and Le Clerc's Commentary.

The manner of eating among the ancients was not for all the company to eat out of one and the same dish, but for every one to have one or more dishes to himself. The whole of these dishes were set before the master of the feast, and he distributed to every one his portion. As Joseph, however, is here said to have had a table to himself, we may suppose that he had a great variety of little dishes, or plates, set before him; and as it was a custom for great men to honour those who were in their favour, by sending such dishes to them as were first served up to themselves, Joseph showed that token of respect to his brethren; but to express a particular value for Benjamin, he sent him five dishes to their one, which disproportion could not but be marvel

sent dishes to every one of his brothers, but to Benjamin he sent five dishes for each of their one; which was another mystery they could not unriddle; however, for the present, they were very cheerful and merry.

After they had ate and drank very plentifully, they began to think of taking their leave, and of going about the affair for which they came: but Joseph had one fright more in reserve for them; and therefore he ordered his steward, when he filled their sacks with corn, to return their money, as he had done before, but into Benjamin's sack, not only to put his money, but the silver cup likewise, wherein he himself used to drink, and after they were gone a little way out of town, to go and overtake them, and charge them with felony.

с

The steward did as he was commanded: and, when he came up with Joseph's brethren, upbraided them with ingratitude, in so badly requiting his lord's civility, as to steal away his cup. Conscious of their own innocence, and disdainful of so vile a charge, they put the matter upon this short issue:-That whoever, upon search, should be found to have the cup, should be given up to suffer death, and themselves become all his lord's bond slaves. So said, so done: the beasts were unloaded the sacks were searched-and to their great astonishment and surprise, the cup was found in Benjamin's. To no purpose it was for the poor youth to say any thing in his own defence: upon such a demonstration none would believe him: and yet, being all concerned in the disgrace, they loaded their asses again, and in a mournful manner returned to the city.

Joseph was at home expecting their return, and when they came before him, reprimanded them very sharply, while they lay prostrate at his feet, and d acknowledged

lous and astonishing to them, if what Herodotus tells us be true, b. vi. c. 27., namely, "that the distinction in this case, even to Egyptian kings themselves, in all public feasts and banquets, was no more than a double mess."- -Patrick's Commentary, and Bibliotheca Biblica.

e Gen. xliv. 5. Whereby indeed he divineth.' Grotius thinks that Joseph meant by this speech, that he used this cup in his drink-offerings, when he sacrificed to prepare himself to receive divine presages; but I think we had better say, there was a kind of divination by cups, though we know not what it was, as we are certain there was by many other things among the Greeks, who borrowed much of their religion from the Egyptians. Such vessels as were used in divine service were not used in their own, being held sacred, and therefore separated from common use, and kept so safe, no doubt, that it was not easy to steal them. He speaks, therefore, of some divination that was used at their meals, which doth not signify that Joseph practised it. But the words are still capable of a more simple interpretation, for machash sometimes signifies no more than to make an experiment, as in the words of Laban, Gen. xxx. 27, and so the meaning may be, “ Might you not have considered that thy master made a trial, by laying this in your way, whether you were honest men or filchers."-Patrick's Commentary on Genesis.

d Judah, in behalf of himself and his brethren, might very well have pleaded in defence, that they received their sacks from the officer tied up as they were, without ever once opening them; and that the same hand which now, for these two times, had returned their money, was the most likely to have conveyed the cup into them but since there was a manifest juggle in the thing, he was fearful of irritating the governor if he should go about to detect it; and therefore he thought that the best way for him and his brethren to escape was to acknowledge the crime, though they were innocent of it, and, as if they had no perception of the trick that was put upon them, to implore his pity and compassion, by arguments taken from other topics.--Le Clerc's Commentary.

A. M. 2276. A. C. 1728; OR. ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3539. A. C. 1872. GEN. CH. xxxvii TO THE END.

their guilt; but, in the conclusion of his speech, he assured them, that the person only who was detected in the theft should remain a slave; the rest might return home when they pleased to their father.

Judah, who had taken Benjamin under his care, being by this time recovered from his surprise, drew near, and addressed Joseph in the most submissive and pathetic terms. He acquainted him with the whole case between them and their father, in relation to their bringing Benjamin into Egypt, to take away the suspicion of their being spies. He described very passionately their father's melancholy condition for the loss of his son Joseph; the extreme fondness he had for his son Benjamin; the difficulty they were under to prevail with him to trust him with them, so that he himself was forced to become security for his safe return; and that, if he should go home without him, his father's life was so wrapt up in the child, that he would certainly die with grief. Rather therefore than see this grief of his aged father, and his grey hairs with sorrow descending to the grave, he offered himself an equivalent for his brother: Now, therefore, I beseech thee, my lord, let me, thy servant, abide here a slave, instead of the lad, and let him go up with his brethren; for how shall I see my father without him?' This moving speech, and generous offer, were what Joseph's soul could not withstand; and therefore, being able to contain himself no longer, he ordered all the company to leave the room, that he might have a more affectionate freedom in discovering himself to his brethren.

But no sooner had he told them that he was Joseph their brother, which was all that his full heart would let him utter, than, reflecting upon what they had once done to him, they were all struck with such a surprise and confusion, that for a long time they could make him

no answer.

As soon, however, as he had recovered himself, he desired them to draw near unto him: he embraced them all round with an unfeigned tenderness; and to dispel all farther apprehensions, told them, that their selling him into Egypt was directed by an unforeseen providence; that therefore, they had no reason to be angry with themselves for doing it, since they were no more than the instruments in God's hand to bring about what his eternal purpose had determined; that he had no reason to resent it, since by that means he had been advanced to the honour and dignity of being governor of all Egypt; nor his father or any of his family to murmur at it, since God had appointed this method for the preservation of their lives. For five years more, he told them, there were to be of the famine; and, therefore, he bid them hasten into Canaan, and tell his father of all his glory and greatness, and desire him to come down, that he might take care of him, and feed him in this time of dearth, and provide him with a country, even the land of Goshen, not far distant from him, and very commodious for such as led a pastoral life. All this, he owned, would be strange and surprising for them to tell; but their father would hardly doubt the testimony of so many eye-witnesses; above all, he would not fail to believe what his favourite Benjamin told him and with that, he threw himself upon Benjamin's neck, kissed

Gen. xliv. 33, 34.

him, and wept over him for joy; and having treated all the rest in the same kind manner, and as a person that was perfectly reconciled to them, they began to take courage, and conversed more familiarly with him.

A rumour, in the mean time, was spread through the court, that Joseph's brethren were come to buy corn; which, when Pharaoh heard, he sent for him, and told him, that since his father's family was so numerous, and the famine as yet not half over, his best way would be to send for them, and place them in what part of the country he thought fit; for that they should never want provisions or any other favour that he could show them. He put him in mind likewise to send them a fresh supply of corn, and whatever else he thought would be necessary in their journey, with chariots and wagons to bring down their wives and children, and the best of their moveables.

Joseph gladly obeyed the king's command: and, besides the chariots and provisions, sent to his father ten asses, laden with the choicest commodities of Egypt; to his brethren he gave each of them changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave five, with three hundred pieces of silver; and so dismissed them with this kind charge, that they should not fall out by the way.' With hearts full of joy they proceeded in their journey to Canaan, and were gladly received by their good old father, especially upon the return of his two sons, Simeon and Benjamin, whom he scarce expected to have seen any more. But when they informed him that his son Joseph was likewise alive, and in what pomp and splendour he lived; that he was the very man, the king's prime minister and governor of Egypt, who had put them into so many deadly frights, being not able to bear so much good news at once, he fainted away in their arms: but when he came to himself again, and they showed him the presents which Joseph had sent, and the chariots and carriages which were come to take him and his goods away, his spirits revived, his doubts and his fears vanished, and in an ecstasy of joy, he cried out, It is enough! Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.'

26

To see so dear a son, for whom he had mourned so long, in all his Egyptian state and glory, was enough to make him hasten his journey; but as his gratitude to God for all his late mercies vouchsafed unto him, and his farther want of the divine protection to accompany him into Egypt, required some fresh act of religion from him, he chose to go to Beersheba, and there offer some sacrifices, both because it was the place where Abraham and Isaac had lived so long, and because it was in the way to Egypt, as being the utmost boundary of Canaan towards the south.

Here it was that God appeared to him again in a vision; bid him a not fear to go down into Egypt, since

Gen. xlv. 28.

a It is not unlikely, that the good old man had promised himself the comfort of spending the remainder of his days in the land which God had been pleased to promise him; and therefore, after so much labour of life, and change of place, when he thought himself at the end of his pilgrimage, and perhaps depended upon the patriarchal line being put in possession before his death, to be obliged to leave his land, and to go into a foreign one, was not a little discouraging, especially if he retained in his mind the melancholy prediction to his grandfather, Gen. xv. 13,

A. M. 2276. A. C. 1728; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3548. A. C. 1863. GEN. CH. xxxvii. TO THE END. he would be with him, and protect him, and in due time and with infinite satisfaction, congratulated his arrival bring his posterity out of it again to enter into the pos- at a place where he had it in his power to make his life session of the promised land; and that, as to his own happy and comfortable. What the expressions of filial particular, he should live near his beloved Joseph, die duty, and paternal affection were upon this occasion, in his arms, and have his eyes closed by his hand. words cannot describe: tears of joy flowed from both So that, encouraged by this divine promise, Jacob left sides; and while the son was contemplating the goodBeersheba, and cheerfully pursued his journey into ness of God, in bringing him to the sight of his aged Egypt, where, when he arrived, d he and his family father, the father, on the other hand, thought all his made up in all just the complement of seventy persons. happiness upon earth completed in this interview; and As soon as he came within the borders of Egypt, not therefore, 1 Now let me die,' says he to his son,' since far from the land of Goshen, he sent Judah before to I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.' acquaint his son Joseph with his arrival; who instantly took his chariot, with a retinue suitable to his high station,

C

a Gen. xlvi. 4.—This appears to have been a very ancient and general custom, as there are evidences of its existence among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Homer describes Ulysses thus expressing himself on the death of Socus :

Ah, wretch! no father shall thy corpse compose,
Thy dying eyes no tender mother close.

Il. xi.-Pope.

There seems to be something of a reason in nature why such a particular regard should be had at death to the eyes, and that is, because they are in life so eminently serviceable both to body and mind. We close the eyes of the dead, because no part of the body looks so ghastly after death, whereas nothing was so sprightly and beautiful before: and the reason why the nearest in blood or friendship should have this office is too obvious to need any explication.—“I entreat that the gods may ordain that when I am doomed to pay the debt of nature, he may be there to close my eyes and thine."-Penel. ad Ulyss. de Telemach.

The whole account of Jacob's sons and grandsons, who went along with him into Egypt, stands thus -By Leah 32; by Zilpah 16; by Rachel 11; by Bilhah 7: in all 66, exclusive of Jacob himself, and of Joseph, and his two sons, which make up the 70 and it was necessary indeed that these genealogies should be exactly registered, not only to distinguish each tribe, and thereby discover the Messias when he came, but, as it is in the case before us, to make it apparent, that the increase of Israel, even under oppression, should bear a fair proportion to the promise made to Abraham, namely, That his seed should be even as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the sea-shore for multitude.'-Universal History, and Bibliotheca Biblica.

© There are three different accounts in Scripture of the number of Jacob's family, when they came down into Egypt. In Gen. xlvi. 26, it is said, that all the souls which came with Jacob into Egypt, were threescore and six' in the very next verse, and in Deut. x. 22, it is said, that they were threescore and ten;' and yet St Stephen, in Acts vii. 14, tells us expressly that they were seventy-five. Now, in order to reconcile these seeming contradictions, we must observe, that in each place there is a different manner of computation. In the first catalogue, Moses speaks of those persons only who came out of Jacob's loins, that is, his children and grandchildren that went into Egypt with him; and these exclusive of Jacob himself, and Joseph and his two sons, who were in Egypt before, were exactly sixty-six : whereas, including Jacob himself, together with Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who, though they were in Egypt before, yet living there as strangers only, and having their original from the land of Canaan, may be reckoned as if they had come into Egypt with Jacob, the number is exactly seventy. The difference between Moses and St Stephen is a little more difficult to reconcile; and yet, if we suppose that St Stephen follows the first number of Moses, namely, sixty-six, out of which he excludes Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons, and to which he adds only nine of his sons' wives, for Judah's wife was already dead, and Benjamin is supposed to be still unmarried, and Joseph's wife out of the case, these nine wives, I say, which though out of Jacob's blood, yet belonged to his family, and to Joseph's kindred, which is the very expression St Stephen makes use of, added to the number of sixty-six other persons, will amount exactly to seventy-five. Patrick's Commentary, Universal and Howell's Histories.

As soon as these tender greetings, and the solemn rejoicings which followed upon them, were over, Joseph proposed to his father and brethren, to go and acquaint | Pharaoh with their arrival : and as he supposed that the king would have a curiosity to see some of them, he gave them in charge, that in case he should ask them what occupation they were of, their answer should be, that they were shepherds, as their ancestors, for many generations, had been before them; by which means he might secure for them the land of Goshen, which would be a separate habitation, and a happy retreat from the insults of the Egyptians, who were known to have an utter detestation to shepherds.

1 Gen. xlvi. 30.

d By the general consent of ancient geographers, the land of Goshen is situate in the eastern part of Egypt, between the Red Sea and the river Nile, upon the borders of Canaan. It was a fruitful spot of ground, very fit for pasturage; and therefore Josephus tells us that Pharaoh's own cattle were kept there, and accordingly we find him ordering Joseph to make one of his brothers the inspector-general over them. The country was separate from Egypt: and for this reason the Israelites inhabiting it, might keep themselves in a body, without endangering their religion or manners, by intermixing with the Egyptians, and without incurring their envy or odium, as they would have done, had they lived among them, and shared any power or profit in the government. They came down into Egypt upon a particular exigency, and were to return again to take possession of the promised land; and therefore a country, that lay in a manner contiguous to it, was the most convenient for their abode, that they might be in readiness to remove whenever God should order them to leave it, which they would not have found so easy a thing to do, had they been settled in the heart of Egypt. - Poole's Annotations.

e The country of Egypt, as Diodorus tells us, b. 1., was divided into three parts, whereof the priests had one, the king a second, and the soldiery a third; but under these there were three other ranks of men, shepherds, husbandmen, and artificers. The husbandmen served the king, and the other two orders, in tilling the ground for very small wages, and so did the shepherds, in their capacities; for the Egyptians, we must remember, had sheep and oxen, as well as horses and asses, which they sold unto Joseph, in the time of the famine. It cannot be thoughit, therefore, that they abominated all shepherds in general, but only such shepherds as were foreigners, and for what reason it was that they did this, is not so easy a matter to resolve. Some are of opinion, that shepherds were held in detestation, because they were a people in' those days addicted to robbery, which made them very odious to the Egyptians; but others imagine, that theft among the Egyptians was not reputed so abominable a crime; and therefore they think, that the most probable reason for this aversion to shepherds, and to the Hebrews, as such, was the great oppression and tyranny' under which they had lately groaned, when the Phenician shepherds penetrated Egypt, wasted their cities, burnt their temples, murdered the inhabitants, and seated themselves for a considerable while in the possession of it. (See note, page 215.) But upon whatever account it was, that the Egyptians had this aversion to shepherds, it certainly was an instance of Joseph's great modesty and love of truth, that he was not ashamed of an employment, so mean in itself, and so vile in the eyes of the Egyptians. Had he been minded to make the most of the matter, he might have