We do not know that any Authority, either Egyptologist or Expositor, has suggested

this connection, but we feel that it is so evident, that it has but to be mentioned to Bible

students for them to appreciate the connection. What the Egyptian did perhaps as a

meaningless ceremonial, or perhaps under the influence of false hopes, the believer in the

Lord Jesus Christ possesses. In fact, for this "the whole creation groaneth. . . .

waiting" (Rom. 8: 19-23).

The Egyptian Gallery is so arranged that entering it from the north and traversing its

length, the monuments and antiquities are placed as far as possible in chronological

order. Egyptology divides the history of Egypt into the Ancient Empire, which ends with

the eleventh dynasty. The Middle Empire, which ends with the nineteenth dynasty, the

New Empire, which ends with the thirtieth dynasty. Then come the Ptolemaic Period, the

Roman and the Christian Periods. The Sculptures in the first part of the gallery form a

link between the time of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses.

The dynasty to which the Pharaoh belonged who reigned during the time of Joseph

was a foreign one. These kings were not Egyptians at all; they were known as the

Hyksos, or "Shepherd Kings". Hyk means "king", and sos is derived from shasu, which

meant primarily "a robber", the nomad desert man, who plundered the caravans. Later,

shasu meant merely "pastoral desert tribes". We can well understand why the "shepherd"

was an abomination to the Egyptian, for he was the symbol of their conqueror; we can

understand also the reason why Joseph instructs his brethren to tell Pharaoh that they had

had dealings with cattle from their youth. The children of Israel found in Pharaoh one of

a race much more akin to themselves than to the people over whom he ruled. There

seems every reason to believe that the Pharaoh of the time of Joseph was the last of his

line, Apophis II. or Apepi. We are told that this Hyksos king "chose the god Set as his

master, and served no other god that was in Egypt", and risked civil war in the endeavour

to have one god only worshipped in Egypt. The reason for this remarkable turning to

monotheism is not far to seek. The one true God had delivered his land from famine; this

fact may lessen the difficulty that we may feel regarding the marriage of Joseph with the

daughter of a Priest of On. We are told in Gen. 39: 1, 2, that Potiphar was (1) an

officer of Pharaoh, and (2) an Egyptian. Why should it be noted that Potiphar was an

Egyptian? The reason is that it was somewhat rare for the kings of a conquered people to

allow one of them an office of responsibility and importance. If we walk along the

gallery into the Southern section we shall find in Bay 22 and 20, the head and seated

figure in colossal proportions of a Pharaoh; the name inscribed upon the statue is that of

Osorkon 2:, but this king seems to have indulged in the vain-glorious habit of erasing the

names of the originals of these monuments, and of appropriating them to himself. (See

for other examples Vestibule, West doorway, No. 1146, and Bay 2, No. 688). This

colossal figure was discovered at Bubastis; the cartouche of Apepi (the Pharaoh of