DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12609#0053
THE EXODUS.
37
Exodus much more nearly than that expulsion does.
A certain king Amenophis, he says, was ordered by
the gods to cleanse Egypt of a multitude of lepers and
other unclean persons, then abounding in the country.
Many of these were drowned, and a vast number sent
to work in the quarries. They continued in great
distress till the king was petitioned to set apart for
them the city Avaris, which had been left vacant by
the expelled Shepherds.* Having established them-
selves here, they elected a chief, and bound them-
selves by oath to obey him. The name of their
leader was Osarsiph, but this was afterwards changed
to Moyses. He began by enacting several laws di-
rectly hostile to the customs of Egypt, — that they
should not worship Egyptian gods, nor abstain from
the sacred animals. After a time, the Shepherds,
urged by an embassy, came to their aid with a vast
army. Amenophis at the head of 300,000 men
marched against the enemy. He did not, however,
attack them, thinking this would be to war upon the
gods, but retreated into Ethiopia, where he was hos-
pitably received by the reigning prince. Here he
remained thirteen years, according to a prophecy,
* The land of Goshen, " the best of the land," was perhaps the
region where the shepherd tribe had their possessions, and whence
they had probably been recently driven when Jacob's family ar-
rived in Egypt. This would account for its being then unappro-
priated. It seems likely that such was the real transaction upon
which this part of the story, the king's granting the city Avaris,
was founded.
D 3
37
Exodus much more nearly than that expulsion does.
A certain king Amenophis, he says, was ordered by
the gods to cleanse Egypt of a multitude of lepers and
other unclean persons, then abounding in the country.
Many of these were drowned, and a vast number sent
to work in the quarries. They continued in great
distress till the king was petitioned to set apart for
them the city Avaris, which had been left vacant by
the expelled Shepherds.* Having established them-
selves here, they elected a chief, and bound them-
selves by oath to obey him. The name of their
leader was Osarsiph, but this was afterwards changed
to Moyses. He began by enacting several laws di-
rectly hostile to the customs of Egypt, — that they
should not worship Egyptian gods, nor abstain from
the sacred animals. After a time, the Shepherds,
urged by an embassy, came to their aid with a vast
army. Amenophis at the head of 300,000 men
marched against the enemy. He did not, however,
attack them, thinking this would be to war upon the
gods, but retreated into Ethiopia, where he was hos-
pitably received by the reigning prince. Here he
remained thirteen years, according to a prophecy,
* The land of Goshen, " the best of the land," was perhaps the
region where the shepherd tribe had their possessions, and whence
they had probably been recently driven when Jacob's family ar-
rived in Egypt. This would account for its being then unappro-
priated. It seems likely that such was the real transaction upon
which this part of the story, the king's granting the city Avaris,
was founded.
D 3