of colossal size. (One was over ninety feet high.) The many successful campaigns he carried on furnished slaves for the unskilled labor of building. We are told in Exodus that "the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field."

In the year 1881 the world was amazed to learn that the mummified bodies of a number of Egyptian Pharaohs had been found1, and among them that of Ramses II. These bodies had been hidden away near Thebes in a secret chamber, cut in the solid rock, thirty-seven feet below the surface of the ground. Here they had lain for three thousand years, their hiding-place unknown. There are few events in history that equal the dramatic interest of this discovery. The news was flashed all over the world. A great gathering was held when some of the mummies were unwrapped. The Khedive was there, with high officials from many leading countries. When the mummy of Ramses II came to be unwound there was such a scene as the world will not witness again. After verification of the winding-sheet by the Khedive, the wrappings were removed, one by one. When only a single wrapping concealed the features of the haughty monarch who compelled the Israelites to make bricks without straw the excitement grew intense! He was over six feet tall, and his features indicated both strength and cunning. Little did Ramses think that his chief claim to the interest of the world three thousand years after his death would be his connection with the humble slave people whom he abused!

1 These mummies are now in the museum at Cairo.

BIBLICAL Sources:

The last fourteen chapters of Genesis (37-50), with the exception of 38 and 49. These may be read rapidly and if necessary

chapters 39, 40, 41, 46 and 48 may be omitted.

QUESTIONS

1. Name the important periods of Egyptian history and give approximate dates.

2. During which of these periods did the Hebrews come in contact with the Egyptians and in what way?

3. Give the story of their life in Egypt.

4. Why was Egypt a "granary for the nations"?

5. Under what Pharaoh is it believed the Hebrews were oppressed?

6. Give a brief account of Ramses II. In what century did he reign?

7. Though there is no proof outside of the Bible that the Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt, would any race have invented so humiliating a story about itself?

8. Tell the story of the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics.

NOTE. The detailed study of the story of Joseph is omitted here because this book attempts to deal with the history of the Hebrews only from the time of their escape from Egypt. The story of Joseph is one of the finest in the Old Testament, and should be familiar to every student.

LESSON IV

THE FIRST STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

WE cannot help asking why it was that a race starting with no higher religious ideals than were possessed by the nations about them should eventually have given the world its highest conception of God and religion. The starting point must be sought in their remarkable escape from slavery in Egypt, which they attributed to the miraculous intervention of Jehovah. Their leaders constantly reminded them of this, the most important event of their life as a nation, and thus a profound sense of obligation was developed within them, and a desire to serve and obey Jehovah. Their deliverance was effected through the agency of Moses, the greatest of all their leaders.

The birth and childhood of Moses. According to Hebrew tradition, Moses was born while the edict of the king of Egypt was in force by which all male Hebrew infants were to be put to death. The narrative states that the child Moses was placed on the Nile in a basket in the hope of saving his life and was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who brought him up as her own son. The Hebrew tradition regarding his education is reflected in Acts 7. 22, "Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."

The loyalty of Moses to his own race.-There must have been every temptation for Moses to ally himself with the Egyptians instead of with his obscure and downtrodden countrymen. The way to preferment and worldly success would naturally be through the