There is also evidence of quite another kind that this latter part of Genesis was written in Egypt. This is afforded by six passages, where, after the name of a place, is added some such phrase as which is in Canaan.[32] Yet there do not appear to be any other places of the same name liable to be confused with these. When then would it be necessary to explain to the Israelites that these places, Shechem, etc., were in Canaan? Certainly not after the conquest, when they were living there, and it was obvious to everyone; so we must refer them to the time when they were in Egypt.
[32] Gen. 23. 2, 19; 33. 18; 35. 6; 48. 3; 49. 30.
And this is strongly confirmed by a little remark as to the desert of Shur, which lies between Egypt and Canaan, and which is described as being before Egypt as thou goest towards Assyria.[33] Clearly then this also must have been written in Egypt, since only to a person living there would Shur be on the way to Assyria.
[33] Gen. 25. 18.
And the same may be said of the curious custom of first asking after a person's health, and then, if he is still alive.[34] This was thoroughly Egyptian, as some exactly similar cases have been found in a papyrus dated in the eighth year of Menephthah, generally thought to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus.[35] But it is scarcely likely to have been adopted by a writer in Canaan, as it makes the narrative seem so ridiculous.
[34] Gen. 43. 27-28.
[35] Chabas, Mélanges Égyptologiques, Third Series, vol. ii., Paris, 1873, p. 152.
(2.) In the history of Moses.
Secondly, as to the history of Moses. The name itself is Egyptian;[36] and his being placed in an ark of papyrus smeared with bitumen was quite suited to Egypt, where both materials were commonly used, but would have been most unsuitable anywhere else. And several of the words used here, as well as in other parts of the Pentateuch, show that the writer was well acquainted with the Egyptian language. In this single verse for instance, there are as many as six Egyptian words, ark, papyrus, pitch, flags, brick, and river; though some of these were also used in Hebrew.[37] Then as to the Israelites making bricks with straw. This is interesting, because we know from the monuments that straw was often used for the purpose, the Nile mud not holding together without it, and that its absence was looked upon as a hardship. So here again the narrative suits Egypt, and not Canaan; where as far as we know, bricks were never made with straw. And it so happens that we have a little direct evidence here. For some excavations were made at Tel-el-Muskhuta in 1883; which turns out to be Pithom, one of the store cities said to have been built by the Israelites.[38] And nearly its whole extent is occupied by large brick stores; some of the bricks being made with straw, some with fragments of reed or stubble used instead, and some without any straw at all. While, unlike the usual Egyptian custom, the walls are built with mortar; all of which exactly agrees with the narrative.[39]
[36] Driver's Exodus, 1911, p. 11.