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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:"

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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.

5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of 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 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;

10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:

11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:

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13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

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:

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1 Heb. are your faces evil. 2 Or, reckon. 8 Heb. remember me with thee. 4 Or, full of holes.
a baker, or, cook, • Or, reckon thee, and take thy office from thee.

5 Heb. meat of Pharaoh, the work of

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JOSEPH INTERPRETING THE DREAMS OF THE BUTLER AND BAKER.-SPAGNOLETTI.

Verse 9. "Behold, a vine was before me."-Herodotus says that the culture of the vine was unknown in Egypt. But he was certainly mistaken; for every kind of evidence concurs to confirm the statement of Scripture. Indeed, other ancient writers even say that the Egyptians claim for their Osiris the honour of being the first who cultivated the vine, and extracted wine from its fruit; and Athenæus, Strabo, Pliny, and Clement of Alexandria, specify districts in which it was grown. Modern travellers still find the vine cultivated in some places; and vine-branches, laden with ripe grapes, are among the ornaments of ancient Egyptian architecture. Egyptian paintings also have been found representing the vintage, with men occupied in pressing the ripe fruit. It is, nevertheless, true that the soil of Egypt is not generally favourable to the culture of the vine, and it does not appear that it throve well except in some more elevated spots. The quantity of wine afforded by the vines of Egypt was so small that wine was never, as in Greece, a common drink. Beer was the ordinary Egyptian beverage; not, indeed, what we call by that name, as the use of hops was not known in ancient times; but still, a fermented drink, prepared from barley. The Egyptians assigned the honour of this invention also to their Osiris, who, as they state, favoured those whose land would not produce the vine, by teaching them how to obtain from barley a liquor not very different from wine in odour and strength. It is certain that the use of beer is only less ancient than that of wine. The earlier origin of the latter is accounted for by the greater simplicity of its preparation, which is such that the discovery may (as the Persians taught) have been accidental; whilst it is difficult to imagine the circumstances which could have suggested to people of primitive times the idea of a drink prepared from barley. (See Reynier; Goguet; and Heeren, Politique et Commerce des Peuples de l'Antiquité,' &c.)

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11. "I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup."-Wine could not be the result of this process; although, by a poetical licence, the expressed juice of the grape is often called "wine." The juice was no doubt mixed with water, forming a sherbet. The Orientals are still very fond of such drinks, formed by mixing the juices of fruits with water. Such beverages stand to them in the place of fermented or distilled drinks to Europeans. This drink could not be intoxicating; but the use of proper wine-that is, a fermented and intoxicating drink-was known long before, as we have seen in the respective histories of Noah and Lot. It has been asserted that wine was forbidden to the Egyptians by their religion; but this must be understood with some important limitations; for we learn from Herodotus, that the people were allowed to drink wine at certain festivals, and that the privileged class, the priesthood, were only interdicted from the use of it on the days of their service in the temples, and even on those days they were

only required to abstain until their ministrations for the day had terminated. There was, however, such a diversity of usages in the different nomes or provinces of ancient Egypt, that wine may have been wholly prohibited in some and partially allowed in others. As to the king, it is perhaps too much to infer that, because on this occasion he drank the expressed juice of the grape, he never drank wine; but it is remarkable, in connexion with this statement, that, according to Diodorus Siculus, the king, all whose movements were regulated by the priests, was restricted to a certain quantity of wine. That wine was not entirely disallowed in Egypt seems to be further evinced by the representation of vintage-scenes, mentioned in the previous note, which still exist in the subterraneous temples and sepulchral caverns of that country. These scenes show that the Egyptians trod the grapes with their feet, and deposited the expressed juice in jars buried nearly to their mouths in the ground. In the time of Pliny, the Roman tables were furnished with their choicest wines from Sebenytus. (See Reynier, p. 355-359; and Goguet, tome i. p. 123, et seq. and 368.)

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2 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.

3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

4 And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, 'rank and good.

6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults. this day:

10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker:

11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.

1 Heb. fat. 2 Chap. 40. 12, &c.

13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

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14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.

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16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:

18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:

19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:

20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:

21 And when they had 'eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: 23 And, behold, seven ears, 7 withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them :

24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

25 ¶ And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

3 Psal. 105. 20. 4 Heb. made him run.
Heb. come to the inward parts of them.

5 Or, when thou hearest a dream, thou canst interpret it. 7 Or, small.

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him, 15 Bow 15 the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

27 And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.

28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:

30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;

31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.

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32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

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34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him point officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.

35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.

36 And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land "perish not through the famine.

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?

39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:

40 12 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people 13 be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before

8 Heb, heavy.

44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah "priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.

48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city laid he up in the same.

49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering, for it was without number.

50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah 1 priest of On bare unto him.

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51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn 20 Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

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52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.

54 22And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.

56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened 23 all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.

57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

11 Heb. be not cut off. 16 Heb. Abrech.

12 Psal. 105. 21. 1 Mac. 2. 53. Acts 7. 10. 17 Or, prince. 18 Chap. 46. 20, and 48. 5.

Or, prepared of God. 10 Or, overseers. 14 Or, silk. 15 Or, Tender father. 20 That is, forgetting. 21 That is, fruitful. 22 Psal. 105, 16.

13 Heb. be armed, or, kiss. 19 Or, prince.

23 Heb. all wherein was.

Verse 2. "There came up out of the river seven well favoured kine."-It should be observed, as indicated by Rosenmüller, after Clement of Alexandria, that the ox, in the symbolical writings of the Egyptians, signifies agriculture and subsistence; and the river Nile being by its inundations the exclusive source of fertility in Egypt, the emergence of the oxen from its waters renders the application of the dream obvious when the clue is once obtained; and its identity with the other dream also becomes apparent. At the same time, the action of the oxen in coming up out of the water is quite natural, and such as Pharaoh might have witnessed every day. Animals of the buffalo kind in hot countries seem almost amphibious; they delight to stand for hours in the water, with their bodies immersed except the head; and they will swim the most broad and rapid rivers without reluctance or difficulty. This may be often witnessed in the Nile; and the writer has also seen it in the Tigris and other rivers of Asia. Dr. A. Clarke, who was not aware how kine could be represented as coming up out of the river, concludes that the hippopotamus, or river-horse, is intended.

"In a meadow."-The Nachu is elsewhere (Job viii. 11) translated "flag;" by the Septuagint, Bouroμov: but in this place, as not knowing a proper Greek word for it, they content themselves by saying Tax, which is the original in different characters. We know at present of no river-herb which has so fair a title to be considered as the achu as the Manadaλa of Theophrastus and the Cyperus esculentus of the moderns. The genus Cyperus is distinguished by its elegant spikelets, which bear a row of scales on each side, wherein the seeds are concealed. The Cyperus esculentus is remarkable for the edible nature of its roots, which are in tubercles of about the size of a walnut; they contain much oil and starch, and were eaten in the days of Theophrastus, as raynuara, or sweetmeats. He tells us that every part of the plant is eaten by sheep and oxen. He speaks also of a different kind which grows in the lakes and marshes, and is given to cattle when green, and laid up in a state of dryness as winter fodder. It was given them while they were at work and when they required the best food. It seems, therefore, that the vision represented one of the best kinds of pasturage, if not the very best, for the cattle of Egypt.

5. "Seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk."-M. de Lamarck is of opinion that several kinds of wheat, which are generally looked upon by botanists as distinct species, are all of them only varieties of the Triticum hibernumLammas or winter wheat. And when we consider the varieties that arise from cultivation, and that the originals cannot be found in a state of nature, this opinion seems to be founded upon reason and analogy. Nothing certain about the original country of the wheat is known: Sicily, Siberia, and Persia, have been in their turn pointed out as claimants, but without any unequivocal evidence. If we were to suggest Egypt as the birth-place of the wheat, we should not perhaps be far from the truth; since the first time we hear of it, in the most ancient of all histories, is in Egypt, from whence the cultivated wheat might have extended to the islands of the Mediterranean, and subsequently to Greece, and her colonies to the westward.

The terms "rank" and "good" express the plumpness and beauty of the ears. The corresponding word for the former in the original is "fat" (N), and is afterwards explained, in verse 22, by "full." In our own language, "rank" is applied to a plant when it exhibits an excessive freeness in its growth.

6. "Blasted with the east wind:" the blighting effect which a "shrewd and eager" wind has upon vegetation is often exemplified among us in early spring. Nothing but observation can make us sensible of the wide difference between a sheltered and an unsheltered spot, in reference to the health of some plants, during spring and autumn. In Kamtchatka, the writer of this note has often seen a plant in full blossom a few inches from the snow. Just under the brow of some eminence, in a little recess, it seemed to enjoy all the advantages of a more genial season, simply because it was sheltered from the wind, and the air about it was tranquil.

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EARS OF CORN.

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Compare this passage with verse 47, where it is said that "the earth brought forth by handfuls:" by which we are probably to understand that each stalk, in the plentiful years, produced as much corn as, popularly speaking, the hand could grasp. This, or even more than this productiveness is not at this day unusual in Egypt. Mr. Jowett, in his Christian Researches,' states that, when in Egypt, he plucked up at random a few stalks out of the thick cornfields. "We counted the number of stalks which sprouted from single grains of seed, carefully pulling to pieces each root, in order to see that it was one plant. The first had seven stalks; the next three; then eighteen; then fourteen. Each stalk would bear an ear." Even greater numbers than these are mentioned by Dr. Shaw, and still more by Pliny. It also often happens that one of the stalks will bear two ears, while each of these ears will shoot out into a number of lesser ears; affording a most plentiful increase.

a Triticum sativum.

b Holcus sorghum,

14. "He shaved himself."-This is what we should probably do on a similar occasion; but, carefully considered, this is one of many passages in which the truth of the Scripture narrative is attested by an incidental and slight allusion to remarkable customs, which no mere inventor would think of noticing, or notice without explaining. Shaving was a remarkable custom of the Egyptians, in which they were distinguished from other oriental nations, who carefully cherished

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