exchange its corn, its manufactures of fine linen, its robes, and its carpets. In after-times, the merchants of the west, of Greece and Rome, resorted to Egypt for its own products, and for the goods brought thither by the oriental merchants. But none of this was done by Egyptians themselves. We never, either in ancient or modern times, read of Egyptian caravans. This doubtless arose in a great degree from the aversion which (in common with all people who observe a certain diet and mode of life prescribed by religion) they entertained to any intercourse with strangers, and which reminds us continually of the restrictive policy of the Japanese in some respects, and of the religious prejudices of Hindoos and strict Mohammedans. Thus, it was a maxim among the Egyptians not to leave their own country, and we have ample evidence that they rarely did so, except in attendance upon the wars and expeditions of their sovereigns, even when their restrictive policy and peculiar customs became relaxed under the Greek and Roman rulers of the country. "They waited," says Goguet, after Strabo, till other nations brought them the things they stood in need of, and they did this with the more tranquillity, as the great fertility of their country in those times left them few things to desire. It is not at all surprising that a people of such principles did not apply themselves to navigation until very late." Besides, the Egyptians had a religious aversion to the sea, and considered all those as impious and degraded who embarked upon it. The sea was, in their view, an emblem of the evil being (Typhon), the implacable enemy of Osiris; and the aversion of the priests in particular was so strong, that they carefully kept mariners at a distance, even when the rest of the nation began to pay some attention to sea-affairs. But besides their religious hatred to the sea, and political aversion to strangers, other causes concurred in preventing the cultivation of maritime commerce by the Egyptians. The country produces no wood suitable for the construction of vessels. Therefore, when the later Egyptians and the Greek sovereigns began to attend to navigation, they could not fit out a fleet till they had obtained a command over the forests of Phoenicia, which gave occasion to bloody wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucida for the possession of those countries. The unhealthiness of the Egyptian coast, and the paucity of good harbours, may also be numbered among the circumstances which operated, with others, in preventing attention to maritime affairs. Moreover, all the nations who in those times traded in the Mediterranean were also pirates, who made it a particular branch of their business to kidnap men from the coasts; and it was therefore natural that a people who had no vessels with which to oppose them or retaliate upon them, should allow them no pretence to land upon their shores.

The indifference of the Egyptians to foreign commerce is demonstrated by the fact that they abandoned the navigation of the Red Sea to whatever people cared to exercise it. They allowed the Phoenicians, the Edomites, the Jews, the Syrians, successively, to have fleets there and maritime stations on its shores. It was not until towards the termination of the national independence that the sovereigns of Egypt began to turn their attention to such matters. The parts of Lower Egypt were ultimately opened to the Phoenicians and Greeks, by Psammeticus, about 658 years B.C. His son, Necho, for the purpose of facilitating commerce, attempted to unite the Mediterranean and Red Sea, by means of a canal from the Nile; but desisted after having lost 100,000 workmen. This work was completed by the Persians, but turned out to be of little practical benefit, either from the failure of the eastern channel of the Nile, or from being choked by the sands drifted from the desert. Failing in this project, Necho contrived to pay great attention to navigation. He caused ships to be built both on the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and interested himself in maritime discovery, with a view to the extension of the commercial relations of Egypt. He sent on a voyage of discovery those Phoenician mariners who effected the famous circumnavigation of Africa, sailing from the Red Sea, and, after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, returning by the Mediterranean. The maritime power of Egypt increased thenceforward, the clearest proof of which may be found in the fact, that in the reign of Necho's grandson, Apries, the Egyptian fleet ventured to give battle, and actually defeated so experience l a naval power as that of the Phoenicians. The race of sailors which arose were, however, considered as the lowest and most impure of the castes into which the Egyptian people were divided. In the next reign, that of Amasis, the sacred Nile was at last opened to the foreign merchants. Naucratis, a city of Lower Egypt, on the Canopean arm of the Nile, near the site afterwards occupied by Alexandria, was assigned to such Greek traders as chose to settle in Egypt. The commercial states of Greece were also permitted to found temples or sanctuaries, in certain places, for the accommodation of their travelling merchants, and which might also serve as staples and marts for the merchandise which they should send into Egypt. This concession was found to have a most favourable operation upon the prosperity of Egypt, and in its ultimate consequences combined with other causes in working a great change in the character and habits of the population, which thenceforward became progressively modified by an infusion of Greek manners and ideas. Such concessions were not in the first instance made without limitations. The Greeks were obliged to enter the Canopean branch of the Nile, and were required to land at Naucratis. If by any accident a ship entered at any other mouth of the river it was detained, and the captain was obliged to swear that he had been compelled to enter against his will. He was then compelled to sail back for Naucratis; and if this was prevented by the winds, he was required to discharge his cargo, and to send it round the Delta (more inland) in the small vessels in which the Egyptians navigated the Nile. This restriction must have ceased soon after, when the country was subdued by the Persians, and all the mouths of the Nile were equally thrown open. Its subjection to the Persians does not seem to have materially interfered with the growing maritime commerce of Egypt. But Herodotus, who was there in this period, remarks on the characteristic singularity which the Egyptians had carried into their marine and trade. Their ships were built and armed after a fashion quite different from that observed by other nations, and their rigging and cordage was arranged in a manner that appeared very singular and fantastic to the Greeks.

After all, the Egyptians were not themselves a people addicted to maritime commerce. The Greek rulers of Egypt indeed changed the entire system of Egyptian trade, and the new capital, Alexandria, became the first mart of the world, while the ancient inland capitals, which had arisen under the former system, sunk into insignificance. But it was the Greeks of Egypt, not the Egyptians, who did this. "They became," says Dr. Vincent, "the carriers of the Mediterranean, as well as the agents, factors, and importers of Oriental produce: and so wise was the new policy, and so deep had it taken root, that the Romans, upon the subjection of Egypt, found it more expedient to leave Alexandria in possession of its privileges, than to alter the course of trade, or occupy it themselves." (The facts combined in this sketch of Egyptian trade, &c., have been drawn from the works of Vincent, Heeren, Reynier, Goguet, Rennel, and Hales.)

"Spicery," Necoth, Heb.-As the Septuagint renders this word by Jupaparay, and the Syriac by one which is only enron,"resin," in Syriac characters, we are induced to think that some resinous production is here meant, which was either obtained from a species of pine, or of the terebinth tree. That which is called frankincense, and used for fuming or incense in the Catholic chapels, is obtained from a species of fir. The necoth, therefore, may have been of the same nature, and employed for the purpose of a grateful fumigation, as the frankincense of our shops. In the note on chap. xviii. 1, we observed that the Terebinthus, or Pistacia Terebinthus. yields the best Venice turpentine, which is resin in a

liquid state; but Belon, in his work on Rarities,' mentions a resine dure as the production also of this tree, which seems likely to have been the identical necoth before us. (See however the note on Exod. xxx. 23.) The Holy Land was remarkable for the excellence of its terebinth trees. There is a great diversity among resins in respect of the quality, as depending upon the nature, health, and situation of the trees which respectively afford them.

"Balm," Tseri, Heb., is the famous resin obtained from the Balsamodendron Gileadense, or balm of Gilead tree, which was a native of and almost peculiar to the land of Judæa. It is related to the terebinth and other trees, which are noted for the fragrant "gums" which they yield. A small piece of this resin is said by Theophrastus to be so odoriferous that it filled a large space with its perfume. The author just quoted informs us it was reported in his time that only two enclosures of small extent were known to produce this tree, which were in some part of Syria-rò di Baλoaμor virstas Hiv iv Typ auλavi T Tigi Zugiay. Bruce describes it, however, as growing in Azab, and all along the coast of Babelmandel. The balsam of Gilead is about fourteen feet high, with diverging branches that bear leaves at their extremities. These leaves are pennate or winged, like those of the terebinth, and evergreen in their duration. The fruit is a berry, or rather a drupe, of an egg-shape, marked with four seams, and with two cells. The kataf of the Arabians is afforded by a species of this genus, as is also the kafal. They are both of them odoriferous resins, very famous in the East.

"Myrrh," Lot, Heb. -It has been recently ascertained that the myrrh is obtained from a species of Balsamodendron which is very much allied to the Balsamodendron kataf, and its resin is now called Balsamodendron myrrha. It is a native of Arabia, where it forms stunted groves, which are intermingled with species of acacia, moringa, &c. The leaves are in threes, oval, blunt, and slightly toothed near the point. If this account be correct, and there seems to be no reason to question it, the kindred origin of the myrrh, balm, and "spicery," forms a subject of curiosity and interest, while the fact will greatly assist us in remembering the particulars of each. All three belong to the natural order Terebinthacea of Jussieu and Decandolle, and two of them appertain to one genus, Balsamodendron.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

1 Judah begetteth Er, Onan, and Shelah. 6 Er marrieth Tamar. 8 The trespass of Onan. 11 Tamar stayeth for Shelah. 13 She deceiveth Judah. 27 She beareth twins, Pharez and Zarah. AND it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was 'Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.

3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.

4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.

5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.

6 And Judah took a wife for Er his face. firstborn, whose name was Tamar.

7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.

8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.

9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

10 And the thing which he did 'displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.

11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he

16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?

18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.

19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

4 Heb. was evil in the eyes of the LORD. Heb. the door of eyes, or, of Enajim. 7 Heb, a kid of the goats.

Heb. the days were multiplied.

20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.

21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.

22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I

place said, that there was no harlot in this place.

23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we 'be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

24 ¶ And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man,

27 ¶ And it came to pass, in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.

28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, 10 How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called "Pharez12.

30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

10 Or, wherefore hast thou made this breach against thee? 11 That is, a breach. 18 1 Chron. 2. 4. Matth. 1. 3.

24. "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.”—There are two points that attract our attention in this text: one is the power which Judah possessed to pronounce such a sentence on a member of his family; and the other, the punishment proposed to be inflicted. In the former we have an instance of the power which a father, in those primitiev times, possessed in his own family. He was not only its chief, but its legislator and judge, with the power of life and death in his hands. The same usage may be traced in other countries and times. Homer and Plato equally bear witness to its existence in early Greece. Cæsar states, that among the Gauls the fathers were sovereigns in their own houses; having the power of life and death over their women, their children, and their slaves. In China, at the present day, fathers govern their families with despotic power; and in other countries of Asia, the paternal authority exists under various modifications and forms, which enable us to discover the extent to which it was formerly carried even in those parts in which its ancient absoluteness has in the course of time been mitigated. The careful observance of the institutions and practices of the East, including those of the Bible, will not fail to discover a great number, which, although they may not, in the first instance, appear to have much connexion with the subject, must have originated in times when the parent possessed the most unbounded power over his children. Goguet (Origine des Lois') well observes, that the monarchical form of government was formed on the model of the patriarchal authority which a father possessed over his own household; but with this difference, that the power of the first sovereigns was less despotic than that of a parent. The existence of such a form of power in the head of a family naturally suggested a símilar form of authority for the rule of a nation. Accordingly, we find that the original form of government was everywhere monarchical. This account of its origin is so undoubted as to need no support; but may we not consider it indicated in the combination of paternity and royalty in the titular denomination of the kings of Gerar? The name "Abimelech" (D) is easily resolved into its elements; Ab, with the affix i, means my father," and melech, "king;" so that the whole signifies "my father-king," or "my father the king;" and was probably the title by which the kings of Gerar were commonly accosted. The original form of this government may still perhaps be found in the East-in Persia, for instance-where the sovereign possesses the most unquestioned power of life and death over all those who, in a very large sense, may be considered to compose his household-that is, not only over his women, children, and slaves, but also over those who are in the service of government, from the first minister of state to the humblest beater of carpets. But beyond this limit his power over the lives of his subjects is more restricted: for persons not within it, can only legally be punished after a trial before the proper tribunals. It is true that this limit is not always distinctly observed by the kings; but this is the theory of their government, and those sovereigns who wish for the good opinion of their people are rather careful to observe it.

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On the second point which the text brings under our notice, it is to be observed that the crime of Tamar was adultery, she being considered the wife of Shelah although the marriage had not yet taken full effect. The punishments for this crime will be illustrated in the note to Levit. xx. 10. The present text affords the earliest notice of the practice of burning certain criminals alive. This cruel punishment has prevailed more or less in all nations. The law of Moses assigns this form of punishment in two instances (Lev. xx. 14, and xxi. 9). Many ages after, we find this punishment inflicted by the Babylonians (Jer. xxix. 22, and Dan. iii. 6). In the instance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego it was inflicted for alleged disrespect to the idols of the country: and, altogether, it is a punishment that seems to have been more peculiarly applied to offences of a religious character. In Europe, religious opinions considered erroneous were thus punished by all parties; as was also witchcraft. It was also in the list of Roman punishments. The ancient Gauls and Britons burnt criminals and others alive, in honour of the gods, in large numbers at a time. It seems now disused almost everywhere as an ordinary punishment.

2 Heb. extended kindness unto him.

Verse 20. "Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound."Reynier Economie Publique et Rurale des Egyptiens') very much doubts whether slavery existed in Egypt previously to the period when its ancient institutions came to be in a great degree changed. His doubts result from the difficulty of reconciling the existence of slaves with the organization of the Egyptians under their theocracy. The king and the sacerdotal caste were the only persons whose circumstances placed them in a condition to possess slaves; and it is known that they considered themselves polluted by the proximity of foreigners: whence he argues, that the idea of slaves bought from abroad, to be employed in domestic services, is excluded: and they did not need them for the cultivation of the ground, as that service was performed gratuitously by the labourers who held the lands in subordinate possession. The instance of Joseph's slavery he meets by observing, that the domination of the shepherdkings must have had some operation in modifying the peculiar usages of the Egyptians. But then, again, among the Egyptian laws cited by Diodorus, one inflicts the punishment of death on a person who kills his slave; and another

declares a severe punishment against one who violates a free woman, which indicates that there were some who were not free. On this Reynier remarks, that these laws appear to have been promulgated by the successors of Psammeticus, when new customs began to be introduced, and the communications of the Egyptians with foreigners became more open. These remarks are interesting for the illustrations of Egyptian usages which they convey; but we cannot admit their validity. This, of Joseph, is not the first or only instance of slavery in Egypt which the Bible mentions. Indeed, the very first notice of slaves occurs in connexion with that country. It was the king of Egypt who gave male and female slaves to Abraham; and what condition other than slavery was that into which the descendants of Israel ultimately fell in that country? Moreover, the very text before us indicates the remote antiquity of that most just law which protected the life of the slave from the anger of his master. Joseph's master appears to have been one of the principal lords of Pharaoh's court, and he believed that his slave had dealt most perfidiously and ungratefully with him, acting in a way which of all others was most calculated to provoke indignation and summary punishment. Yet we read of no violence that he committed upon his slave. He sent him to the royal prison, apparently with the intention that, after proper trial and conviction, he should receive the chastisement which the law adjudged to his offence. This is one of the instances in which we seem to perceive the advance which, in many respects, the Egyptians had made before other nations in civilization. It is evident also, from the case of the butler and baker, that culprits were committed to prison until their offences could be investigated, and not summarily punished in moments of heat and anger. The laws of Egypt indeed precluded even the king from the power of inflicting an unjust or hasty punishment. We read of nothing like this elsewhere in Genesis. When Judah believed that his daughter-in-law had "played the harlot," he did not deliberate a moment or propose investigation, but said at once, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt."

CHAPTER XL.

1 The butler and baker of Pharaoh in prison. 4 Joseph hath charge of them. 5 He interpreteth their dreams. 20 They come to pass according to his interpretation, 23 The ingratitude of the butler.

AND it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.

3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.

of

5¶ And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.

7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore 'look ye so so sadly to day?

8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;

3

14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:

5

17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days.

19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

4 Or, full of holes.

1 Heb. are your faces evil. 2 Or, reckon. 3 Heb. remember me with thee.
a baker, or, cook. Or, reckon thee, and take thy office from thee.

5 Heb. meat of Pharaoh, the work of