was taken home to the house of the princess by whom he was saved, thus finding an asylum in the very palace of his intended destroyer. Here he was instructed in all that wisdom of the Egyptians which was the admiration and proverb of all surrounding nations, Exod. ii. 1—10.

It does not appear that the murderous edict against the Hebrew infants was long in force. We are, however, unacquainted with the considerations which led to its repeal. It is possible, that the people of Lower Egypt, generally, were not prepared to go to this extent with the court in such a barbarous measure against the Hebrews, and that their murmurs were heard and respected. Or it may be, as has been supposed, that this daughter of Pharaoh had interest enough with her father to induce him to revoke this fulminating decree. Another alternative may be, that, as this measure seems to have been adopted at the latter part of this king's reign, the accession of a new king was attended with a change of policy towards the Hebrews, which involved the preservation of their infants, and which may to this extent have been influenced by the monarch's sister. It may be mentioned, indeed, that some conclude, from the fragments of Manetho, and the hieroglyphics on the sculptures, that Ammoph 1., who bears the character of "a great encourager of the arts of peace," began his reign about this period, and that he was succeeded by Ameuse, his sister, the patroness of Moses, and Thothmes 1, her husband, whose accession to the throne took place about the time that Moses comes again under our notice in the Egyptian history, as recorded in Scripture, and as noticed in the succeeding paragraph.

But if new monarchs had arisen, if the order to destroy the Hebrew children was withdrawn, and the policy of the Egyp tian state was changed towards that people, their “hard bondage" was by no means relieved; they were still doomed to toil under the inspection of "taskmasters." But the day of their redemption drew nigh. When Moses was grown to manhood, and was full forty years of age, it would appear that he was moved by a Divine impulse to undertake the deliverance of his countrymen. See Acts vii. 23–25.

He left the court of Pharaoh, and took part with the despised and afflicted bondsmen. He "refused to be called the

The well-known design of Jews at work, brick-making, is found in the tomb of Kekshari, who was his superintendent of public works. Hence, that he was one of the oppressors of the Hebrews, appears to be an authenticated fact.

son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer afflic tion with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. xi. 24, 25. But in the height of his zeal to redress their grievances, going forth one day, he saw a Hebrew atrociously maltreated by an Egyptian officer, and kindling at the sight, he delivered him by slaying his oppressor. This deed became known to the monarch, who sought to slay him, but he fled for his life to the land of Midian, in Arabia Petrea, where he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, or Reuel, prince and priest of Midian, and he, as a shepherd, kept his flocks in the vicinity of Mount Horeb, or Sinai, for forty years, Exod. ii. 11–25.

At the end of that time, it is recorded in Scripture that "the king of Egypt died." Exod. ii. 23. It is, however, the opinion of some that Thothmes 1. died after a reign of twenty-seven years, and that he was succeeded by a queen whom Mr. Wilkinson calls, Amun-neit-gori, who has hitherto given rise to more doubts and questions than any other sovereigns of this period. This author says of Amun-neit-gori: Whether she was only regent during the reign of Thothmes I and III., or succeeded to the throne in the right of Thothmes L, in whose honour she erected several monuments, is still uncertain, and some have doubted her being a queen. The name has been generally erased, and those of the second and third Thothmes are placed over it; but sufficient remains to prove that the small temple of Medeenet Haboo, the elegant edifice under the Qoorneh rocks, and the great obelisks of Karnak, with many other handsome monuments, were erected by her orders, and the attention paid to the military caste is testified by the subjects of the sculptures.

In what character this princess operated, in the reigns of Thothmes I and III., cannot now be known, and therefore we proceed to notice the latter monarch. It is said, that the reign of Thothmes I lasted ten years, and that consequently the fortieth year from the flight of Moses fell in the reign of his successor, Thothmes III. If this be correct, he is to be regarded, therefore, as the Pharaoh who so madly opposed Israel's deliverance.

At this period, the oppression of the Israelites was come to the full, and they cried to God for succour. Their cry was heard. Moses was leading his flocks round the eastern arm of the Red Sea into the peninsula of Sinai, and when near the mountain of Horeb, "the God of glory" appeared to him in a flame of fire, from the midst of a bush, and announced

himself as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and commissioned him first to make known to the Israelites the Divine will for their deliverance; and next to go with the elders of Israel to Pharaoh, requiring him, in the name of "the Lord God of the Hebrews," to suffer the people to go three days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord their God, Exod. iii.

Charged with this high and arduous mission, Moses departed from the shores of the Red Sea, to return to the banks of the Nile. As he advanced towards Egypt, Aaron received the Divine command to go forth and meet his brother in the wilderness, and to assist him in his mission: and afterwards they proceeded together to the land of Goshen, Exod. iv.

On appearing before the king, Aaron announced that JEHOVAH, the God of the Hebrews, had appeared to them, and had sent them to require the king to allow the Israelites to hold a feast to him in the wilderness. The monarch was doubtless astonished at such a demand. He replied, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." But they still persisted in their demand, explaining more particularly, that they wished the people to go three days' journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God, and intimating that the Israelites might expect to be visited by "the pestilence or the sword" unless they were obedient. The king did not deign to reply to this, but dismissed them with a reprimand for putting such wild notions into the heads of the people, and calling away their attention from their occupations, Exod. v.

1-4.

The same day, the king, affecting to attribute this application to a leisure life, determined to bring down their spirits by adding to their burdens: "Let there more work be laid upon the men," said he, "that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words." It was now, indeed, ordered that they should no longer be furnished with the straw wherewith they compacted the bricks, but that they should collect it for themselves, while the same number of bricks should be exacted which they had formerly been required to supply. Under these circumstances the work could not be done, and they were beaten for deficiencies which they could not prevent, ver. 5-23.

The prophet and his minister came again unto Pharaoh, and at this second interview, in obedience to the Divine com

mand, again required him to let the children of Israel go out of his land. Pharaoh, as foretold, demanded of them a miracle in proof of their commission. Aaron accepted the challenge; he cast down his rod, and it became a serpent before Pharaoh, Exod. vii. 1-10.

This gave occasion to, perhaps, the most extraordinary contest on record. The king called upon his wise men and magicians, to know if they could do as much by the power of their gods, and "they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods," ver. 11, 12. This feat, however, is particularly easy of explanation. The ancient Egyptians were, as the modern Egyptians now are, very famous in the art of charming serpents. They can perform operations upon them, which will strike the ignorant with amazement. At their command, they will sleep, and become torpid, and lie as if dead they will come at the call of the charmer, and lie in the folds of their garments, or twine around their necks without hurting them. The Egyptians also have always been, and are now, skilful jugglers, and able with great address to substitute one object for another. Hence, these men might have brought live serpents and adroitly substituted them for their staves; and although Aaron's serpent swallowed up the other serpents, thereby showing the superiority of the true miracle over the false, it might, as Dr. Hales observes, only lead the king to conclude, that Moses and Aaron were more expert jugglers than Jannes and Jambres who opposed them, 2 Tim. iii. 8, who, as St. Paul informs us, from Jewish traditions, were the chief of their opponents.

This miracle was therefore abortive with regard to its effect upon the king. It seems, indeed, not to have been understood by the Hebrews themselves; on which the same writer remarks: "The incredulity of Pharaoh on this occasion only resembled the incredulity of the Israelites themselves, when the same miracle was wrought before them; and it was not considered as decisive, even by THE LORD, when he supposed they might not be convinced till the third miraculous sign, as was actually the case; Exod. vi. 8, 9, compared with iv. 30, 31. In both cases, therefore, the reality of the transformation might have been doubted-by Pharaoh, as well as by the Israelites, on the supposition that it might have been the effect of legerdemain."

But the monarch was soon undeceived; for

THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT

followed in its train. The design of these visitations, growing more awful and tremendous in their progress, was to make Pharaoh know and confess that the God of the Hebrews was THE SUPREME LORD; and to exhibit his power and his justice in the strongest light to all nations of the earth, Exod. ix. 16; 1 Sam. iv. 8, etc.: to execute judgment upon the Egyptians, and upon all their gods, inanimate and bestial, for their cruelty to the Israelites, and for their grovelling polytheism and idolatry, Exod. vii. 14—17; xii. 12.

As it may be of some importance to understand the time of the year in which these plagues occurred, we introduce the following satisfactory statement, from the pen of Dr. Hales:

"Neither the season of the year, nor the time at which the plagues commenced, is any where specified; but both may be collected from the history. The exode of the Hebrews, after the tenth plague, was about the vernal equinox, or beginning of April, on the fifteenth day of the first month, Abib, Exod. xii. 6; but by the seventh plague, that of hail, the barley was smitten, but not the wheat and rye, those plants being of later growth. Now Egmont, Hayman, and Hasselquist, all concur in stating that the barley harvest in Egypt is reaped in March and April; and Le Brun states that he found the whole to be over at Cairo upon the nineteenth of April. This coincides with the sacred historian's account, that the barley was in the ear,' though not yet fit for reaping; but 'the wheat and the rye were not grown up,' Exod. ix. 31, 32. This judgment, therefore, must have occurred about a month before the exode, or in the beginning of March, before the barley harvest, so as to leave space for the three succeeding plagues. If we count backwards two months, upon the same principles, for the first six plagues, it will bring the first about the beginning of January, when the winter season commences, at which time the river Nile was lowest, and its waters clearest."

THE FIRST PLAGUE.

The river Nile was the principal divinity of the Egyptians, and, as such, it was honoured with feasts and sacrifices, and rites of ceremonial worship. One morning, as the king went forth towards its banks, probably to render it an act of worship, he was there met by Moses and Aaron, who repeated their