The Entrance of the Forefathers of the Hebrews Into Canaan. The biblical traditions regarding the beginnings of Hebrew history differ widely in regard to details, but regarding the great movements they are in perfect agreement. They all unite in declaring that the forefathers of the race were nomads and entered Palestine from the east. The fourteenth chapter of Genesis contains later echoes of a tradition which connects Abraham, the forefather of the race, with the far-away glorious age of Hammurabi (Amraphel) who lived about 1900 B.C. Interpreted into historic terms, this narrative implies that the Hebrews traced back their ancestry to the great movement of nomads toward Palestine which took place about the beginning of the second millennium B.C. It was about this time that the earlier non-Semitic population in Palestine was supplanted by the Semitic races, known to later generations as the Canaanites. In tracing their ancestry to these early immigrants, the Hebrews were entirely justified, for the mixed race, which ultimately occupied central Palestine and was known as the Israelites, in time completely absorbed the old Amorite and Canaanite population. The Jacob traditions point to a later movement of nomadic peoples toward Palestine. In the light of the contemporary history of Canaan it is exceedingly probable that this is to be identified with the incoming wave of the Habiri, among whom were undoubtedly to be found many of the early ancestors of the Hebrews. These successive waves of nomadic invasion were the inevitable result of the physical conditions already considered and were a part of that prolonged mixing of races which has gone on in Palestine through thousands of years and which contributed much to the virility and enduring power of the Israelites.

References to the Israelites During the Egyptian Period. The references to the Habiri in the Tell el-Amarna letters and in the inscriptions found in the mounds in Palestine imply that the majority of the Habiri either conquered the older Canaanite population or else coalesced with them and thus found permanent homes in the land. This infusion of new blood was, in fact, an inevitable consequence of Egypt's cruel, destructive policy in the treatment of Palestine. Seti I and Ramses II, of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty, in the record of their campaigns in Palestine, refer to a state called Asaru or Aseru in western Galilee. This was the region occupied by the Hebrew tribe of Asshur and would seem to indicate that by 1300 B.C., half a century after the invasion of the Habiri, this tribe was already firmly established in the land of Canaan. Merneptah, the son of Ramses II, refers to Israel in a connection which leaves no reasonable doubt that a people bearing this name were to be found in his day in Palestine. This is the earliest and only reference to Israel thus far found on the monuments prior to the ninth century B.C. That many if not a majority of the ancestors of the later Hebrews were already established in Palestine by the beginning of the thirteenth century B.C. must now be regarded as a practically established fact.

The Habiri in Eastern and Central Palestine. The bounds of Palestine were narrow and the ancient population numerous. Some of the Habiri appear to have found homes in the east-Jordan land, where they gradually acquired the habits of agriculturists and reappear in later history as the Moabites and Ammonites. Naturally, some of these invaders retained their flocks and herds and nomadic mode of life. This was possible because of the peculiar character of Palestine. In the uplands of the central plateau, and especially in the south, the traveller still frequently comes upon the flocks and black tents of the Bedouin. According to the earliest biblical narratives it was here that certain of the Hebrew tribes remained for a generation or more, with their flocks and tents, tolerated by the city dwellers who cultivated the plains even as are the Bedouin by the inhabitants of Palestine to-day.

The Trend Toward Egypt. The Hebrew narratives imply that some of these tribes lived in the South Country of Judah, beside the great highways which led to Egypt. The early Egyptian records contain frequent references to the movements of Semitic nomads from southwestern Asia toward the Valley of the Nile. In the tomb at Beni-Hassan there is a picture of thirty-seven Semitic warriors being received by a local Egyptian ruler. To-day, at certain seasons of the year, the visitor at Cairo may find encamped on the eastern side of the city hundreds of Bedouin, who after months of wandering in the Arabian desert find the banks of the Nile a desired haven of rest. All the highways from southern, eastern, and northeastern Arabia, as well as from Palestine, converge at the Wady Tumilat, the natural gateway of Egypt. When the pressure of population increased in Palestine and Egyptian rule was re-established, as it was by 1280 B.C., the nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews sought homes elsewhere. For them a change of abode to the attractive pasture land along the eastern delta of the Nile was easy. The biblical narratives state that they also went at the invitation of their powerful kinsman, Joseph.

The Land of Goshen. According to the oldest Hebrew records, the part of Egypt in which the Hebrews settled was the land of Goshen. The word has not yet been found on the Egyptian monuments, but there is little doubt regarding its general situation. In its broadest bounds, it apparently included the Wady Tumilat, and extended from the Crocodile Lake, the modern Lake Timsah, to the Pelusiac or the Tanitic branch of the Nile. It was a narrow strip of land thirty or forty miles long. On the west, where the Wady Tumilat opened into the Nile Delta, it broadened into an irregular triangle. Its angles were at the modern cities of Zigazig, in the northwest, Belbeis in the south, and Abu HammÂd at the beginning of the valley on the east. By many scholars this triangle is regarded as the original land of Goshen. Until the days of Ramses II the entire region, including the Wady Tumilat, was given up to the shepherds. Here, therefore, the Israelites could keep their flocks and maintain their tribal unity and practical independence.

The Wady Tumilat. The Wady Tumilat is a low-lying, shallow valley bounded on either side by the hot, rocky desert. In ancient times it was dry except when its narrow bed was occasionally flooded by the inundations of the Nile. On the west it opened into the Nile Delta. At an early period the Egyptians had established at the eastern part of the Wady Tumilat a fortress (known as the "Wall of the Prince"), for it was the most vulnerable spot on all the Egyptian frontier. Amidst these more favoring conditions on the borders of the Nile Delta it was inevitable that nomads, possessed of virile physiques, but hitherto restricted by lack of food and water, would rapidly multiply. The modern East presents many analogies. The alarm which, according to the biblical narrative, this increase aroused in the minds of the Egyptians is in perfect keeping with the fear with which the dwellers of the Nile always regarded the Bedouin.

Ramses II's Policy. The great change in the fortunes of the Hebrews was in all probability the result of the policy of Ramses II. To carry out his ambitious building enterprises it was necessary for him to enlist the services of vast bodies of workmen. Into this service he naturally pressed the foreigners resident in or on the borders of Egypt. In order to connect Egypt more closely with its Palestinian provinces, and above all to develop its resources to the full, this famous organizer conceived and carried through the plan of converting the eastern Nile Delta and the Wady Tumilat into tillable land. To this end he probably repaired and enlarged the canal that had been constructed as early as the days of the Twelfth Dynasty. It was about fifteen yards in width and sixteen to seventeen and a half feet in depth, and ran eastward from the Nile Delta through the Wady Tumilat into the Crocodile Lake. According to Pliny, it was sixty-three miles in length. It is paralleled to-day throughout most of its course by the fresh-water canal, which irrigates this region and supplies the towns on the Suez Canal with drinking water. The ancient canal was constructed primarily for navigation, but it was also essential in reclaiming the land on either side.

Building the Store-Cities of Ramses and Pithom. To effect the transformation of this region, Ramses II built two important cities. One of them bore his name and became the designation of the surrounding territory, which was known as the country of Ramses. It probably stood at the western end of the Wady Tumilat. The other, the Pithom⁽⁶⁵⁾ of the biblical records, has been proved in the light of modern excavation to have been the ancient P-atum, that is, the House of the God Atum. This city was situated near the eastern end of the Wady Tumilat, at the present Tell el-Maskhutah, ten or twelve miles west of Lake Timsah. This was probably also the site of the older fortress known as the "Wall of the Prince." Several inscriptions have been found here containing the name P-atum. In later Egyptian geographical lists this was also the name of a local province. Here Naville discovered what appear to have been great store chambers with walls two or three yards in thickness, made of crude, sun-dried bricks. These chambers were not connected and the grain was put into them through openings in the top. Here, apparently, Ramses II gathered the vast supplies of grain necessary for his Palestinian campaigns, for these cities were built during the earlier, warlike period of his reign.

Condition of the Hebrew Serfs. In the light of the well-established facts of Egyptian history and of the geographical background, it is easy to appreciate the condition of the nomadic Israelites. Their pasture lands were transformed into cultivated fields and occupied by Egyptian colonists. The sons of the desert, ever restive under the restraints of civil authority, were put at forced labor and compelled to build the border fortresses which made their bondage the more hopeless. Palestine was in the control of their royal Egyptian task-master. The wilderness that stretched almost from their doors far out into the wild, rocky desert, offered the one possible place of escape; but under the iron rule of Ramses II and his successor, Merneptah, the escape of large bodies of fugitives was practically impossible.

Training of Moses. The one Hebrew, however, who dared raise his hand against the oppression of the Pharaoh, succeeded in escaping beyond the border fortresses and found a home among the nomadic kinsmen of his race in the rugged mountains that lie between southern Judah and the Sinaitic peninsula. Here, amidst the dangers and solitudes of the desert, Moses, the great prophet, leader, and founder of the Hebrew nation, received his training. Here he learned to trust the Power that guides the destinies of men and nations, and to despise the boasted strength of Egypt. In guiding the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, through the trackless wilderness filled with wild beasts and hostile Bedouin, he had also become skilled in leading men.

The Historical Facts Underlying the Plague Stories. Moses' work in leading the Hebrews from Egypt is a familiar chapter in biblical history. In the break-down of the Egyptian government and in the period of anarchy which followed the fall of the Nineteenth Dynasty, a supremely favorable opportunity was offered for the escape of the serfs. An Egyptian writer states that at this time "the Egyptians had no chief ruler for many years. The land of Egypt was in the hands of the nobles and rulers of towns; each slew his neighbor, great and small." A certain Syrian also proclaimed himself king and made the entire land tributary to him, plundering the people. To these evils were added the horrors of foreign invasion. Even under a good government the sanitary conditions in Egypt are far from satisfactory. In the time of anarchy and bloodshed the hot valley of the Nile is ravaged by disease and plagues. The seven plagues described in the oldest biblical narrative were not miracles, but the natural catastrophes which, from time to time, have afflicted the land of Egypt. Most of them are characteristic of the Nile Valley and can only be fully understood in the light of its physical and climatic peculiarities. Certain of these plagues also stand in a close casual relation to each other, as well as to the historical events recorded by the contemporary Egyptian historians. Foreign invasion and civil war, with the attendant slaughter, would inevitably lead to the contamination of the waters of the Nile. Upon this one river depended the health and life of the inhabitants of Egypt. Unsanitary conditions and the defilement of the waters would breed frogs and flies. The flies would in turn spread abroad the germs of the disease which attacked the flocks. Hail and swarms of locusts are exceedingly rare in Egypt, but they are not unknown, as careful observers have attested, and their rarity would make their appearance all the more impressive. The identification of these remarkable plagues with the anger of the god or gods was accepted by the Egyptian as well as by the biblical writers.

Method of Travel in the Desert. The peculiar topography of the territory of eastern Egypt, which was the scene of the exodus, throws much light upon the historic event which lies back of the different biblical narratives. As in the account of the plagues, the later versions, which unfortunately are the most familiar, have magnified the miraculous element. The older version, however, is clearly the one which should be followed. Apparently the scattered Hebrew tribes were rallied and later guided in their marches by the means still employed by the caravans through the same wastes of sand and rock. A brazier of coals is carried before the leader of the caravan to show where he is and the direction of the march, so that those who straggle sometimes many miles behind will not be lost in the wilderness. By day there rises from these coals a column of smoke which, in the clear atmosphere of the desert, may be seen many miles away. By night the glowing coals are lifted aloft so that all may be guided by their light. In this manner the Hebrews were reminded of Jehovah's presence and guided by his prophet, Moses.

Moses' Equipment as a Leader. The distance from the eastern side of the land of Goshen to the wilderness was only a few miles. What the Hebrew serfs most needed was a courageous, energetic, and trained leader, able to command their confidence and inspire them to quick and decided action. These qualities Moses had acquired largely as a result of his desert experience. Above all, he was able to appeal to their faith in the God of their fathers, and thus, like the great prophet of Islam, to rule his followers through their religious as well as through their selfish impulses.

The Scene of the Exodus. Of the two ways which led eastward from Egypt, the Israelites chose the southern, that ran directly into the desert. The northern route, the Way of the Philistines, was already guarded by strong, warlike peoples. Unfortunately, the oldest biblical account of the exodus contains no geographical data, and none of the three or four places mentioned in the late priestly narrative have been identified. The interpretation which places the scene of the exodus near the present port of Suez, at the northern end of the western arm of the Red Sea, is based wholly on the biblical reference to the Sea of Reeds, which is commonly translated Red Sea. That this term is frequently used in the Old Testament as the designation of the Red Sea is unquestioned; but there is no place in the vicinity of the present Port of Suez which satisfies the conditions implied by the biblical narrative. Furthermore, it is difficult to see what would have led the Hebrews to make this long and difficult dÉtour to the south rather than escape to the desert directly east of the Wady Tumilat. The biblical narrative implies that the latter was the course followed. The significant term, Sea of Reeds, points not to the Red Sea, in whose saline waters reeds would not thrive, but to the marshy shores of the Crocodile Lake, the modern Lake Timsah, which lay directly east of the Wady Tumilat. Into it poured the fresh waters from the Nile, which were conducted thither by the canal that ran along the wady. Even though the modern Suez Canal, which runs through it, has transformed conditions, Lake Timsah is still surrounded by a thicket of vegetation. Inasmuch as the Hebrews frequently used the word sea (for example, the Sea of Galilee) as the designation of an inland lake, the name Sea of Reeds was exceedingly appropriate.

Probability That the Passage Was at Lake Timsah. According to the earliest biblical narrative deliverance came to the Hebrews as they were pursued by the Egyptians because "Jehovah caused the sea to go back, by a strong east wind all the night, and made the bed of the sea dry." The shallow southeastern end of Lake Timsah satisfies most fully the physical conditions implied by this ancient narrative. At its southern end it opens out into a broad bay, but between this point and the main body of the lake was a shallow, marshy strait, not more than a quarter of a mile across. A strong wind driving it from the level desert would force back the waters into other parts of the lake, leaving this passage comparatively dry. A close and significant parallel is recorded by Major-General Tulloch, who states that the shallow waters of Lake Menzaleh, which lies only a short distance to the north and is subject to the same conditions, were driven back by the wind for seven miles, leaving the bottom of the lake dry (Journal of the Victorian Institute, vol. XXVIII, p. 267, and vol. XXVI, p. 12). The biblical narrative also states that "Jehovah bound the chariot wheels of the Egyptians so that they proceeded with difficulty." This is precisely what would follow, not on a hard, sandy shore, but in the marshy, muddy depths of a body of fresh water like Lake Timsah. While the exact scene of that incident, which, more than any other in their history, impressed upon the consciousness of the Israelites Jehovah's power and willingness to deliver them, will never be exactly identified, the southeastern end of Lake Timsah is the most probable site.