"while the terminus ad quem is beginning to take a fixed place in history." The date of their expulsion is mostly relieved of doubt. The war which resulted in their expulsion was begun by Seneken-Ra, about the commencement of the 18th dynasty of Thebes [Upper Egypt], and was prosecuted by Ahmes I, otherwise called Nebpeh-Ra, in whose fifth year they were finally expelled. The reign of Ahmes I is proximately assigned to the 17th century B. C., i. e. from B. C. 1600 to B. C. 1700. A curious inscription has recently been discovered by Mons. Dumischen, referring to a brilliant triumph over the Lybians, achieved by a certain king Menephtah-this war being dated nearly 400 years after the expulsion of the Hyksos. The scribe appended the remark-"One could not have seen the like in the time of the kings of Lower Egypt when the country of Egypt was held by the "Scourge," and the kings of Upper Egypt could not drive them out."-This authority seems to prove that the Hyksos held only Lower Egypt; that Upper Egypt was under another dynasty, for a time unable to expel the Shepherd race, but ultimately successful, and subsequently attaining much greater military power; also that the Hyksos people were accounted a savage and barbarous race.

In conclusion I am constrained to say that the study of Egyptian antiquities, though richly remunerative and satisfactory in regard to almost every thing else, is still very dubious and perplexing in the point of definite chronology. The views of the ablest scholars are widely conflicting; the original authorities still wait for some master mind to put them into system, or what is perhaps nearer the truth, for the discovery of competent data from which a system can be constructed which shall harmonize all the authorities in the case. We want to know the Pharaoh to whom the Lord sent Moses, whose reign synchronizes with the Exodus. We find a series of powerful monarchs in the eighteenth dynasty and also in the nineteenth; but which of them answers to this particular Pharaoh, it seems yet impossible to determine with satisfactory certainty. Rameses II, all agree, was a powerful king; built immense public works; reigned at least sixty, perhaps sixty-six years;-but some authorities place him in the eighteenth and some in the nineteenth dynasty, and the extreme

difference in the assigned dates for his reign is three hundred years.

The difficulties that invest Egyptian dates and dynasties seem at present to be aggravated rather than relieved by the progress of modern discoveries. Thus we find in the Bib. Sacra, Oct. 1867, (pp. 773 and 774) four parallel lists of the first three Egyptian dynasties, viz: (1.) That of Manetho; (2.) The Turin Papyrus; (3.) The Tablet of Sethos; (4.) The Tablet of Sakharah or Memphis. Compared with Manetho, the last three are of quite recent discovery. They are somewhat defective; yet it is not specially difficult to discover a striking similarity and in many cases an obvious identity in the names given. But the names in Manetho's list almost utterly lack even similarity; much more do they refuse to come into identity. The authority of the last three must, it seems to me, be decidedly greater than that of Manetho.The same difficulty appears when we compare Manetho's names in the later dynasties (e. g. 18th-20th) with names constantly coming to light in recently discovered Egyptian monuments. I know not how this fact affects other minds. It can not but lessen my confidence in the lists of Manetho. It certainly goes far to lessen their practical value.It is somewhat disheartening that these chronological difficulties clear up so slowly. It still remains to be hoped that light will yet break in and that conclusions will be reached in which all important authorities will be shown to concur.*

It would be a very great acquisition historically if we might know what Egypt was doing while the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness forty years. Various circumstances conspire to favor the opinion that during this period her king made a vast military crusade upon Palestine and the regions farther north, occupying several years and greatly crippling the powerful tribes [kingdoms so called] then in possession of the land of Canaan. Both Josephus and Herodotus give accounts of a great military expedition of this sort-leaving, however, the main chronological prob

* See Burgess on "The Antiquity of Man," pp. 68-84, on the unreliability of Manetho's lists and on the relative value of other authorities in Egyptian chronologies.

lem When? to be determined.- As to the great power of the kings of Canaan, the Lord said to Moses, "I will send a hornet before you to drive them out," i. e. to break down their power and facilitate the subjection of the country before the arms of Joshua. The original word translated "hornet" does not suggest the insect now commonly known by that name; but is equivalent to scourge, yet not precisely defining of what sort. It is supposable that Egypt and her next king after the Exodus, were more maddened than subdued by the escape of Israel and by the humbling disaster at the Red Sea; that this great expedition was inspired by the expectation of finding the Hebrew people in Canaan and of punishing them there; that God's providence shielded them with perfect protection in the great Arabian desert where no Egyptian host could follow them or even subsist; and then with that marvelous wisdom which so often turns the wrath of man to his own praise, used their prowess in arms to break down the military strength of Canaan and prepare that land for easy conquest before the arms of Joshua. It seems obvious that in point of military strength a great change had come over the tribes of Canaan between the visit of the spies and the conquest by Israel. Did the Lord use the chariots and horsemen of Egypt to produce this result? To have done so would be quite in keeping with that great law of his operations in this sinning world under which he so often turns the wrath of wicked men to account most signally and even gloriously to promote the ends of his own kingdom.

The Manna.

The divine plan of leading Israel to Canaan by the way of the great desert involved the question of subsistence-bread and water for such a host through so long a journey. It was perfectly obvious that the ordinary resources of this desert were entirely inadequate, so that the alternative was simply, miracle, or starvation. In the choice of miracle God had in view not only physical subsistence but moral culture-the perpetual impression upon the millions of Israel that their covenant-keeping God was feeding them every day with bread immediately from his own hand.

This bread took the name "manna" from the question asked by the people when they found it upon the ground in the morning-What is this? Their Hebrew words were-Man-hu; what this? All the ancient versions and most ancient authorities concur in deriving the name "manna" from this original question as put in Ex. 16: 15. [Our English version has the only correct rendering in the margin.]

The manna fell by night as the dew falls, and it would seem, fell with and in the dew so that when the dew evaporated under the morning sun, there remained this very fine deposit-"a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost upon the ground." "It was like

coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Ex. 16: 13-15, 31). A subsequent description (Num. 11: 7-9) adds-"The manna was as coriander seed and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it."The gathering, the preparation of it for cooking, and the cooking itself, cost labor, yet obviously none too much for the health and morals of the million. The physiological facts to be noticed are that it was sufficiently palatable for all practical purposes and had the necessary elements for the real bread-the staff of life for a whole nation during forty years of wilderness life, with its alternations of marchings and encampments; of labor and of rest.

The points which evinced the miraculous hand of God were that it came from no known or possible source of supply in the kingdom of nature; that it fell in the full amount needed for the thousands of Israel; fell on each of six mornings but not at all on the seventh, the Sabbath; that the average amount on five of these mornings was a supply for one day, while on the morning next preceding the Sabbath, a double quantity fell, being a supply for two days; that the gathering for the first five days of the week could be kept only one day, but the double supply of the sixth day remained sweet and pure for two days; and moreover, a quantity laid up by God's command in the sacred ark

remained unchanged for many generations. Thus wonderfully did the Almighty impress his hand upon every feature of this bread from heaven!*

The allusions to manna in the Scriptures take note of the fact that "God suffered them to hunger" before he sent them this supply (Deut. 8: 3, 16). The record (Ex. 16: 1) states that it was already the fifteenth day of the second month since they came out of Egypt when the whole congregation murmured for bread and seemed to themselves about to perish of hunger in the wilderness. One month and a half must have quite exhausted the hasty and scanty supplies which they brought from Egypt. The marvel is how they could have subsisted upon this so long, even though coupled with all the supplies possible in that desert. That "God suffered them to hunger" is however only in harmony with his usual method of dealing with his people-subjecting them to a certain pressure of want for purposes of moral trial-the object being to test their faith in himself; to draw out their soul in prayer for help and in trust under darkness and in straits; and to make the blessing when given doubly precious. What Christian has ever lived long under any circumstances of this earthly life without some discipline. under this great law of the Christian life-"He suffered thee to hunger" and then "fed thee with angels' food"?

Moses (Deut. 8: 16) makes a special point of the fact that this bread was such as neither they nor their fathers had ever known before. The Psalmist (Ps. 78: 24, 25) takes the lofty poetic view of this great gift of God: "He commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven and rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full." -Josh. 5: 12 shows that the manna ceased as abruptly as it began, precisely when it was needed no longer. The people having arrived in Canaan and supplies being within reach from the old corn of the land, the manna ceased and fell no more.

An article of commerce known under the name of

*The passages which treat of it are Ex. 16: 14-36 and Num. 11: 7-9 and Deut. 8: 3, 16 and Josh. 5: 12, Ps. 78: 24, 25 and Wisdom 16: 20, 21.