DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0123
CAIRO TO ASSOUAN.
and crimes upon offenders, the types of those vices and crimes themselves, thus suggest-
ing the truth that those sins brought with them their own punishment. How far did the
Egyptians understand these deeper and more spiritual teachings ? This doctrine of a
future state of rewards and punishments was fully developed at the time when Moses
FRESCOES IN TOMBS OF THE KINGS AT THEBES.
was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." It must have been known to him.
How comes it, then, that truths which hold so prominent a place in the later Scriptures,
should be almost, or altogether, passed over in his writings? This is one of those un-
explained silences of Scripture for the explanation of which we must wait in faith and
patience. We cannot but note yet further the
insufficiency of the knowledge thus possessed
to bring peace and pardon to the guilty. The
ritual of the dead tells us that the innocent
man shall be "justified" in the judgment hall
of Osiris. "Where, then, shall the sinner
and the ungodly appear ? " It was reserved
for Him who "brought life and immortality
to light," and who "gave Himself a ransom
for us," to reveal the way of the sinner's ac-
ceptance with God through faith in Him that
justifieth the ungodly.
Before leaving the tombs at Thebes, it is
necessary to refer to one which is supposed
to contain a record of the captivity of the Is-
raelites in Egypt. A gang of slaves are en-
gaged in brickmaking, under the eye of a
HARPER IN TOMB AT THEBES. , , i , i . rr ■ u 1
taskmaster, who is seated, stan in hand, super-
intending their labors. That they belong to a Semitic race is evident. But that the
Jews were ever settled so high up the Nile Valley is very doubtful. Pithom and Raamses,
the treasure cities which they are said to have built, were on the north-eastern
frontier in the land of Goshen,1 and their name does not occur amongst those of the nat-
ions recorded in this tomb. The painting is, however, interesting as illustrating the
1 Exodus i. n.
119
and crimes upon offenders, the types of those vices and crimes themselves, thus suggest-
ing the truth that those sins brought with them their own punishment. How far did the
Egyptians understand these deeper and more spiritual teachings ? This doctrine of a
future state of rewards and punishments was fully developed at the time when Moses
FRESCOES IN TOMBS OF THE KINGS AT THEBES.
was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." It must have been known to him.
How comes it, then, that truths which hold so prominent a place in the later Scriptures,
should be almost, or altogether, passed over in his writings? This is one of those un-
explained silences of Scripture for the explanation of which we must wait in faith and
patience. We cannot but note yet further the
insufficiency of the knowledge thus possessed
to bring peace and pardon to the guilty. The
ritual of the dead tells us that the innocent
man shall be "justified" in the judgment hall
of Osiris. "Where, then, shall the sinner
and the ungodly appear ? " It was reserved
for Him who "brought life and immortality
to light," and who "gave Himself a ransom
for us," to reveal the way of the sinner's ac-
ceptance with God through faith in Him that
justifieth the ungodly.
Before leaving the tombs at Thebes, it is
necessary to refer to one which is supposed
to contain a record of the captivity of the Is-
raelites in Egypt. A gang of slaves are en-
gaged in brickmaking, under the eye of a
HARPER IN TOMB AT THEBES. , , i , i . rr ■ u 1
taskmaster, who is seated, stan in hand, super-
intending their labors. That they belong to a Semitic race is evident. But that the
Jews were ever settled so high up the Nile Valley is very doubtful. Pithom and Raamses,
the treasure cities which they are said to have built, were on the north-eastern
frontier in the land of Goshen,1 and their name does not occur amongst those of the nat-
ions recorded in this tomb. The painting is, however, interesting as illustrating the
1 Exodus i. n.
119