The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

LETTER VIII.

Palace of Amense.

My honored and beloved Mother:

My last letter closed with the narration of a history of the Hebrews, from the lips of Prince Remeses, to which I listened as we walked to and fro on the terrace of the temple. I will in this letter continue, or rather conclude, the subject, feeling that it will have interested you quite as deeply as it has engaged my attention.

The governor of the queen's granaries having arrived, mounted upon a handsomely caparisoned horse, and attended by runners, the prince at once gave him the orders for which he came, and then, dismissing him with a wave of his hand, turned to me, as I was watching the majestic flight of several eagles of prey, which, circling above my head at a great height, with seemingly immovable wings, through cutting the air so swiftly, gradually diminished the circles of their flight, and descended upon some object not far distant, on the road leading to another treasure-city, called Pithom, many leagues up the Nile, which the Hebrews had built for Amunophis I., threescore years and more ago.

"I will now resume my history of the Hebrews, my dear Sesostris," said the prince, "and will be brief, as we must return to On. The Prince Joseph, as I have said, obtained for his father and brethren all this fair plain, the heart and beauty of Egypt. Here they dwelt when the old man died, after seventeen years' residence in Egypt; and the Hebrew prime minister of the king made for his father a funeral such as few kings receive. It is said to have been more magnificent than that of Osirtasen I., of which our poets have sung. By Pharaoh's command, as his favorite wished to bury his father in Palestine, a vast army went up with the body,—chariots, horsemen, and footmen,—so that to this day the splendor and pomp of the funeral is a tradition throughout the lands they traversed. Joseph then returned to Egypt, and ruled sixty-one years, until both he and Apophis the king were waxed in years. At length he died, and was embalmed, and his body placed in the second pyramid, which you behold a little to the right of Memphis. There his body does not now rest, for, after the expulsion of the Phœnician dynasty, the Hebrews secretly removed it, and its place of concealment is known only to themselves. There is a saying among them that the bones of this prince shall rise again, and that he shall go with them forth from Egypt to a new and fair country beyond Arabia."

"Then they have a hope of being one day delivered from their present condition?" I asked.

"It is a part of their faith, and inborn, if I may so speak. It is this hope, I think, which makes them bear up so patiently under their servitude."

"And how, noble Remeses, were they reduced to bondage in the fair land wherein they once dwelt so peacefully, under the benign sway of their mighty brother?"

"The answer to this question, my Sesostris," said the prince, "will involve a history of the overthrow of the dynasty of the Phœnician conquerors, which lasted over two hundred years, with a succession of six kings. Upon the death of the Prince Joseph in his one hundred and tenth year, Apophis the king, being also of great age, became incapable of managing his kingdom, which he had for sixty years intrusted to the hands of his Hebrew prime minister. Ignorant of the true condition of his government—known to but few of his subjects—aged and imbecile, he was incapable of holding the reins of state, left by the Hebrew in his hands. The ever-jealous and watchful king of the Thebaïd, in Upper Egypt, did not delay to take advantage of an opportunity like this to attempt the restoration, in Lower Egypt, of the ancient throne of the native Pharaohs, by the expulsion of the usurping dynasty. But, my Sesostris, you know well the subsequent history—how Pharaoh Amosis, with his Theban hosts, drove them from city to city, and finally pursued them into Arabia, whence they settled in the land of the Philistines, and, capturing Salem, made it their capital city—at least such is one of the traditions."

"They held it for a time," I answered, "but, being driven from it by the King of Elam, they subsequently fortified Askelon. They are still a powerful people, under the name of Philistines; and, what is singular, retain scarcely a custom derived from the two hundred and twenty-five years' residence and reign in Egypt."

"It is not more remarkable than the fact that their domination here made no impression upon the people of Egypt; they left no words of their own in our language, and no customs of theirs were adopted by the Egyptians They simply held military possession of the kingdom, living in fortified cities and levying tribute upon the people for their support. The few monuments they erected were defaced or overthrown by the victorious Theban king and restorer, Amosis, my great ancestor, or by his successor, Amunophis I.

"When these invaders were expelled from Lower Egypt, then the two crowns of the Thebaïd and Memphitic kingdoms became united in the person of Amunophis, the son of 'the Restorer,' and it is this Thebaïd dynasty which now holds the sceptre of the two kingdoms, and which is represented in the person of my mother, the daughter of Amunophis, who died when she was a young girl. She has ever since reigned with the title of 'the Daughter of Pharaoh,' being so called by the people when she ascended the throne of Memphis and Thebes. But my dear prince," said Remeses, with a smile, "I have been giving you the history of the dynasty of my race, rather than of the Hebrew people."

"I am not the less interested, dear Remeses," I said, "and perceive that the two histories are naturally united."

"Yes. The new king, Amosis, called 'Restorer,' upon the obelisk at Memphis which bears his name, and upon which the scenes of the expulsion of these Philistine soldier-monarchs are depicted with great spirit and fidelity—the new king, I say, upon driving out the invaders, keeping the Phœnician king's fair daughter, Ephtha, as his wife, turned his attention to the other class of strangers, who had the fairest portion of Egypt for their possession. He accordingly visited, in state, the city of Succoth, in the province of Goshen, which they had built and beautified during the seventy years they had dwelt there under Prince Joseph's mild and partial rule. It was without walls, wholly unfortified, and had not even a temple—for the Hebrews of the better class worship only with the intellect, a spiritual Deity in his unity."

"Which, if I dare speak so boldly to you, O Remeses," I said, "appears to me to be the noblest species of worship, and the purest sort of religion for an intellectual being."

"Sayest thou?" quickly demanded the prince, surveying my face with his full bright gaze. "Thou art in advance of the rest of mankind, my Sesostris! The same feeling exists in my own bosom; but I believed myself alone in experiencing it. Some day we will hold discourse together on this high mystery. There seems to come up from my childhood a voice which I can never silence, and which I hear loudest when I am most solemnly engaged in the sacred rites of the altars of our gods, saying—

"'Son of earth, there is but one GOD, invisible, eternal, uncreated, and whose glory He will not share with another; worship Him with the spirit and with the understanding.'"

"This is remarkable," I said, "for such also is the mystery taught by the priests of Chaldea, of whom Melchisedec was the first high-priest. I have read their sacred books in Damascus."

"I have never seen them; yet this voice forces itself upon me everywhere, my Sesostris. All is dark and inscrutable to us mortals. We hang our faith upon a tradition, and our hopes upon a myth. We feel ourselves equal or superior to the deities we worship, and find no repose in the observances our religion demands. Would that I had the power to penetrate the blue heavens above us and find out God, and know what life means, and whence we came and whither we go."

"Once across the Lake of the Dead," I answered, "and all will be revealed. Osiris in his vast judgment-hall will give each soul the key of the past and the future."

"So say the priests, and so we believe. But to return to the Hebrews. Another time we will discourse on these themes. The new king hearing that two hundred thousand and more foreigners dwelt here, called all the elders and chief men before him; and when he had questioned them and heard their history, and had learned that the Prince Joseph, who had done so much to uphold and consolidate the Phœnician rule, was one of their ancestors, his wrath was presently kindled against them. He saw in them the friends and adherents of the overthrown dynasty; both as allied by blood to the great Hebrew prime-minister, and as originating from the same country with the expelled Phœnician king. He, therefore, perceiving they were not a warlike people, and could not be dreaded as an army, instead of declaring war against them and driving them out of Egypt, as he had done the Syrian kings, resolved to reduce them to servitude like captives taken in war. Having come to this resolution, he held as prisoners the chief men before him, and placed the whole people under the yoke of bondage, enrolling them under task-officers, and putting them to work upon the cities, temples, palaces, and canals, which the Phœnicians had either destroyed, or suffered to fall into ruin. This was the beginning, my Sesostris, of the subjugation to perpetual labor of these Syrians or Hebrews in the very land where one of their family had ruled next to the throne. They have been engaged since in building cities, and walls, and in cultivating and irrigating the royal wheat-fields; aiding in hewing stone in the quarries, and in all other works of servitude: but as the making of bricks requires no intelligence, and as it was not the policy of Amunophis-Pharaoh to elevate their intellects, but the contrary, lest they should prove troublesome, they have chiefly been kept to this, the most degrading of all labor."

"How long is it that they have been in this condition?" I asked.

"About one hundred and five or six years have elapsed since the death of Prince Joseph. But they were gradually reduced to their present state. During the latter years only of Amunophis were their tasks increased. They, nevertheless, multiplied in such numbers that the king began to apprehend danger to his crown from their multitude."

"Were there men among them who sought to free their fellows?" I inquired.

"Always, and to this hour. They are a proud, haughty, resolute, and stubborn race. They bend to the yoke, indeed, but with hatred of the oppressor, not with the willing submission of the Libyan or Nubian captive. The king had reason to fear from the increase of their numbers, when he found the census of this people gave more than a million of souls, while the number of his own subjects in both provinces did not exceed six millions; his own Thebans not amounting to as many as the Hebrews numbered. Upon this he became alarmed, for he was about entering into a war with the kings of Syro-Arabia, and apprehended that being of the same Syrian stock they might join themselves to his enemies. He, therefore, increased their burdens and taskmasters in order to keep them in closer subjugation; but the more he oppressed them the more they multiplied. In relating these facts, O prince, do not think I approve of cruelty even in my royal ancestor. It was, no doubt, a great wrong in the beginning inflicted upon them, in making them servants, and the subsequent series of oppressions were but the natural results of the first act. It was one unmixed evil throughout. Having committed the manifest error in the outset, of enslaving them to the crown, it now became a necessary policy to prevent their dangerous increase. He would not send them with his army into Arabia lest they should join his enemies. He, therefore, to keep down their numbers, ordered all the male infants as soon as born to be put to death by the Egyptian women."

"A dreadful alternative!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, and one not to be defended," answered Remeses, in a decided tone. "But Amunophis, having caught the lion by the jaws, was compelled either to destroy him, or be destroyed himself. The result of the edict was, that many perished. The Nile, it is said, was constantly bearing down upon its bosom corpses of new-born Hebrew babes."

"Dreadful!" I ejaculated.

"It became so to the king. But he felt that one or the other must perish, and that these innocent infants must die for the future safety of the kingdom. There were sad and tragic scenes! Many a Hebrew mother fought to save her infant, or perished with it clasped to her heart! Many a desperate father resisted the soldiers who sought his hut for his concealed child, and died on the threshold, in the ineffectual effort to save his son! You perceive, Sesostris, that I speak with emotion. I have heard the scenes of that era described by those who witnessed them. I was an infant at the time, and do not speak of my own knowledge; but many live who then saw tragedies of horror such as few lands have witnessed. Had I been Amunophis I think I should have devised some other way to ward off the anticipated danger from my kingdom. But this sanguinary edict was unsuccessful. The Egyptian nurses were tenderer of heart than the king, and saved many to the tears and entreaties of mothers. Thousands of mothers, stifling every cry of nature, gave birth secretly, and in silence, to their babes, and the fathers or friends stood ready to fly with it to some prepared concealment. Thousands were thus saved, as the innumerable multitudes of men you have beheld this day toiling in the fields, making brick to build up Raamses, bear witness. The edict continued in force for two years, when Amunophis died. After the seventy days of mourning were ended, his daughter Amense, who had been married to the prince of the Thebaïd, a nephew of Amunophis, but had been left a widow about the time of her father's death, came to the throne as the next in succession to the double crown. With the sceptre was bequeathed to her the iron chain that bound the Hebrews. Young, inexperienced in rule, without advisers, my mother knew not how to solve the problem these enslaved Syrians presented to her. As a woman, she felt that she could originate no new policy. But prompted by humanity, the first act of her power was to repeal the edict commanding the death of the infants. This act alone kindled in the hearts of the whole of the oppressed people a sentiment of gratitude. On the contrary, her lords, generals, chief princes of the nomes, and dukes of cities, with one voice assured her that this act of clemency would destroy her throne. But you see, my Sesostris, that it still stands. For thirty-four years she has reigned over the empire of Egypt, and it has never before reached so high a degree of prosperity, power, and strength. Her armies of the east, and of the south, and of Libya, are superior to those of all nations."

"Yet is the problem more intricate, and farther from solution than ever," I said to the prince. "The Hebrew is still in the land, still increasing in numbers, and now far more formidable than in the reign of your grandsire, Amunophis."

"This is true. My mother and I have talked for hours together upon the theme. She, with her woman's gentler nature, would not oppress them, yet has she been compelled by necessity to hold them in strict subjugation, lest they become a formidable element of insurrection in the kingdom. So far as is consistent with safety to her two crowns, she mitigates the severity of their condition; and as you have understood, has forbidden the women to be struck with blows, or put to heavy toil. Still it is not easy, among so many thousand taskmasters, and so many myriads of bondmen, to oversee all individual acts of oppression; but when brought to our notice they are severely punished. The condition of the Hebrew is an incubus upon the soul of my noble mother, and if it were in her power, with safety to her subjects, to release them to-morrow from their bondage, she would do so. But state policy demands imperatively, rigid supervision, severe discipline, and constant labor, lest being idle, and at liberty to go where they choose, they conspire against us. Several times agents from the King of Ethiopia, our natural and hereditary foe, with whom we are almost always at war, have been discovered among them; and arms have been placed in their possession by the spies of the Queen of Arabia. They have, moreover, among them men of courage and talent, who, like their ancestor, Prince Abraham, possess warlike fire, and, like the Prime Minister Joseph, have wisdom in council, to advise and rule. Such persons, among slaves, are to be feared, and there is necessary a certain severity, you would call it oppression, to keep down all such spirit."

"The burdens of these Hebrews still seem very heavy, O Remeses," I said.

"They doubtless are; but their condition is far lighter than it has been. They are allotted certain tasks, according to their strength, and if these are done early they have the rest of the day to themselves."

"And if late?"

"They must complete their tale of bricks, unless disabled by sickness. Blows are not given to men unless they are wilful and insubordinate. Once a year the queen visits all the Hebrews in the country of Avaris, of which Goshen forms but a part, and regulates abuses. The Hebrew always has the right of appealing to the governor of the province, against his taskmaster, if cruelly treated. All that the queen can do is to execute with severity the laws against oppressing them."

"This Hebrew people, O Remeses," I said, as he ceased speaking, "are the cloud which overshadows Egypt. I foresee danger to the dynasty from it."

"I have in vain tried to settle upon some policy, to be pursued—when I come to the throne, if it please Heaven that my mother depart this life before me, (I pray the god to keep her to a good old age)—in reference to them. But my wisdom is at fault. When I take the sceptre I shall feel that the bondage of the Hebrew, which I inherit with it, will make it lead in my hand."

While he was speaking, the impatient pawing of his spirited chariot-horses, restrained with difficulty by three footmen, reminded him that we were delaying at Raamses when we ought to be on our way back to On.

"Come, Sesostris, let us get upon the chariot and return, for I promised to dine with my mother and the Lord Prince Mœris to-day; and it is already past noon by the shadow of that obelisk."

We stood upon the silver-chased chariot, and taking the leopard-skin reins in his left hand, he made a sign to his footmen, who, springing away from the heads of the fretting and frothing horses, let them fly. Away, like the wind, we swept the plain in front of the treasure-city; along the plateau where had stood the palace and gardens of Joseph, the lord of Egypt; past the ruined strangers' fountain, where I had talked with the venerable Ben Isaac and his handsome son; past a well beside which Jacob had his great house, during the seventeen years he lived in Goshen, the ruins of which were visible a little ways off to the east. On we rolled, preceded and followed by the fleet-footed runners, across the plain of the Hebrew brick-makers, who still bent to their labors. Women and children, with dark fine eyes and raven hair, gathering straw by the wayside or in the stubble-fields, were passed in vast numbers. Crossing an open space, I saw before me a black mass on the ground, which, as we advanced, proved to be a crowd of vultures or carrion eagles, that slowly and reluctantly moved aside at our coming; and the next moment our horses shied at the dead body of a man, around which they had been gathered feasting upon the flesh. The long beard and dark hair, the coarse blue loin-cloth, and the pile of bricks at his side, told the whole tale. It was an emaciated Hebrew, who had perished on the road-side under his burden.

I did not look at Remeses. I knew that he saw and felt. He reined up, and sternly commanded two of his footmen to remain and bury the body.

"Sesostris," he said, as we went forward again, "what can be done? Humanity, piety, and every element of the soul call for the deepest commiseration of this unhappy people. I sometimes feel that it would be better to send them in a mass out of Egypt into Arabia, and follow them with an army to see that they went beyond our boundaries, and then establish a cordon of military posts from Ezion-Geber, on the Arabian Sea, to the shores of the Great Sea, north. But how could we provide food for such a host, now amounting to two and a half millions of people? Thousands would perish in the wilderness for want of water and food. Only a miracle of the gods could preserve them, their women and children, from a lingering death. And would not this be more cruel than the edict of Amunophis; only executing it in an indirect way, and on a gigantic scale? I would, were I Pharaoh to-day, give the half of my kingdom to the wise man who could devise a practicable way of freeing Egypt from the Hebrews, without destroying them or suffering them to die in the wilderness. If men are ever deified, such a benefactor would deserve the honor."

These words, my dear mother, were spoken with deep feeling, and showed me that the heart of Remeses is manly and tender, that his sentiments are always elevated and noble, and that the oppression of the Hebrew is not so much the fault of himself or of the queen mother, as it is the irresistible sequence of causes which were in action before they were born; and to the effects of which they must yield, until the gods in their wisdom and power make known to them the way to remove from the land so great an evil: for none but the Deity Supreme is wise enough to solve this intricate problem of Egypt. Certain it is, that if the Hebrews go on multiplying and growing as they now do, in another generation they will outnumber the Egyptians, and will need only a great leader like their warlike ancestor Prince Abram, or the hero king of Philistia, who established the Phœnician dynasty, to enable them to subvert the kingdom, and upon its ruins establish another Syro-Hebraic dynasty. One of their ancestors has already ruled Egypt, and another may yet sit in the very seat of the Pharaohs.

As we re-entered the City of the Sun, we passed by the base of an obelisk which Queen Amense is erecting to mark the era and acts of her long reign. Upon it were sculptured representations of her battles with the Ethiopians, her wars with Libya, and her conquest of Arabia. The work was executed by Phœnician and Egyptian artists; and I am rejoiced to see that the painters of Tyre and the sculptors of Sidon are greatly esteemed for the delicacy and perfection of their work. When these persons saw me, they dropped their pencils and chisels, and with their hands upon their bosoms, manifested every sign of delight. You may suppose I responded with more than usual gratification to the homage thus paid me; for in a foreign land the sight of the humblest of one's own countrymen, refreshes the eye and warms the heart.

But I have too long occupied your time, dearest mother, with one letter.

Your devoted son,

Sesostris