The History of the Ancient Civilizations. Duncker Max
festivals; but the customs of the Jews are absurd and melancholy.[649]"
FOOTNOTES:
[630] Exod. xv. 1–11; cf. Joshua xxiv. 7.
[631] Nöldeke, "Untersuchungen," s. 40.
[632] Exod. i. 1–7, 13, 14; ii. 23, 24; vi. 2–7, 9–27; vii. 8–13, 19–22; viii. 1–4, 12–15; ix. 8–11; xii. 1–23, 37, 40–51; xiii. 20; xiv. 8, 9, 15–17, 21–23, 29.
[633] Exod. xiii. 2; xxii. 29, 30; xxxiv. 19, 20. "The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt give to me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and thy sheep. All that openeth the matrix is mine, all thy cattle that is male. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem." Cf. Exod. xxx. 11–16.
[634] Ewald, "Alterthümer des Volkes Israel," s. 358 ff.
[635] De Wette-Schrader. "Einleitung," s. 282, 284, 290.
[636] Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 46, 47.
[637] Ebers. "Durch Gosen." s. 101 ff.
[638] Nöldeke. "Untersuchungen," s. 47. According to De Wette-Schrader, from the second text ("Einleitung," 283), verses 11–17 may be an addition; verses 19–21 obviously come from the revision.
[639] Exod. ii. 19.
[640] Büdinger ("Akad. d. Wissenschaft zu Wien," Sitzung vom, 15 October, 1873) regards Moses and Aaron as of Egyptian origin, as Egyptian priests, and finds the tribe of Levi in the leprous Egyptians who went out with the Hebrews. Lauth ("Moses der Hebraeer," and "Zeitsch. d. d. M. G." 1871, s. 135 ff) inclines to recognise Moses in the mohar, sotem (scribe) and messu of the papyrus Anastasi I., who would thus have been one of the Egyptian scholars, and employed by Ramses II. in matters of state and war. This view is opposed by Pleyte ("Zeitschr. f. aeg. Sprache," 1869, s. 30, 100 ff.); he reads the name Ptah-messu. Lauth, at the same time, refuses to derive the name Osarsiph from Osiris; he considers it to be Semitic, and explains it as a-sar-suph, i.e. "rush-basket."
[641] Lepsius, "Königsbuch der Ægypten," s. 117–150. Maspero objects that Egypt in the time of Menephta was still too powerful for the Israelites to carry out their exodus. Such a plan was possible for the first time in the last years of Sethos II. (above, p. 150), or shortly after his death ("Hist. Ancienne," p. 259). These considerations are of too general a nature to allow any definite conclusions to be founded upon them; and if Josephus or his copyist changed the Menephtes of Manetho into the much better known Amenophis, or mistook one for the other, a similar interchange cannot so easily be assumed for the names Sethos and Menephtes.
[642] Gen. xxxvi. 31–39; Nöldeke, "Untersuchungen," s. 87.
[643] Diod. 40, frag. 3.
[644] Diod. 34, frag. 1.
[645] Strabo, p. 760, 761.
[646] Fragm. 30, ed. Müller.
[647] Justin. "Hist." 36, 2.
[648] Joseph. "c. Apion." 1, 34.
[649] "Hist." 5, 2–5.
CHAPTER X.
THE HEBREWS IN THE DESERT.
The fortunes and achievements of the Israelites after leaving Egypt and escaping the pursuit of the Egyptians, are narrated in the second, third, and fourth books of the Pentateuch in the following manner. From the reed-sea the Israelites marched into the wilderness of Shur, and for three days found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there, because it was bitter. Then Jehovah showed Moses a piece of wood, and he threw it into the water, so that the water became sweet. From Marah they came to Elim, where were twelve wells and seventy palm-trees, and they encamped there by the water. From Elim they came into the wilderness of Sin, and the people murmured against Moses, because there was no food to be found; but at evening Jehovah caused swarms of quails to rise which covered the camp, and in the morning manna had fallen, which lay like hoar frost upon the ground, and the people were allowed to gather manna for six days, but on the seventh they were not allowed to gather it. And Israel set forth from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Rephidim. There there was no water to drink, and the people were angry with Moses; but Jehovah said to Moses: Take thy staff with which thou didst smite the Nile; thou shalt smite the rock, and the water shall flow forth. And Moses did so before all Israel, and they called the name of the place Massah and Meribah. And Amalek came and strove with Israel in Rephidim, and was smitten down with the edge of the sword. And Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, came and advised Moses to choose valiant men for his helpers, as overseers over the people and judges for the matters of smaller moment. And Moses did so.
In the third month after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites set forth from Rephidim, and came into the desert of Sinai, and encamped over against the mountain. The people were commanded to purify themselves and wash their garments, and Moses forbad any one to approach the mountain. On the third day, when it was morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud stood upon the mountain, and there was a mighty sound of trumpets. And all the people heard the thunder and saw the flames and the smoking mountain, and the mountain quaked, and all trembled. But Moses led them to meet Jehovah at the foot of the mountain. And Jehovah came down to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. For forty days and forty nights Moses was on the mountain, and Jehovah revealed to him his laws, and the finger of God wrote them on two stone tables. And Jehovah spoke to Moses out of the darkness, and told him all the ordinances which he should lay upon the people. But the cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of Jehovah was a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people said to Aaron: We know not what has happened to the man who led us out of Egypt; make us a god to go before us. And Aaron said to them: Take off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, your daughters, and your sons. They brought him the rings, and he made of them a golden calf, and built an altar before the calf. Then they said: That is the god, who led us out of Egypt; and Aaron caused a festival to be proclaimed to Jehovah, and they brought a thank-offering to the calf, and the people ate and drank and stood up to dance.