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In the painting of the procession of the Amu in Beni-hassan, there are four women,
and they all unveiled, the veil was not introduced into Egypt until later than Abraham's
time.
The British Museum contains, perhaps, the oldest piece of fiction in existence, it is a
papyrus and is called "The story of the two brothers". In it we read: "The Pharaoh of the
time, acting on the advice of his counselors, sends two armies to fetch a beautiful woman
by force, and then to murder her husband." In all this there is not the slightest hint that
anyone considered the act of Pharaoh to be wrong. Indeed, as Erman says:
"What can we say when an ancient sacred book, describing the life of the deceased
Pharaoh's in bliss, assures him, with the addition of some words which we cannot
understand, that in heaven he will at his pleasure take the wives away from their
husbands?"
We say nothing here as to the sad backsliding of Abraham and his refuge of lies, but
we do see that his fears were well grounded in fact. The British Museum contains
another papyrus of the eleventh dynasty, Abraham's time being the twelfth, where the
Pharaoh seizes a foreigner's wife and children, but orders so much bread and beer to be
given daily to the husband. This has its parallel in the gifts made by Pharaoh to Abraham
(12: 16). Egypt plays an important part in the history of Israel and in the working out of
the Divine programme. It will come before us again in the story of Joseph and in the
book of Exodus. We shall then have opportunity of becoming more fully acquainted with
the government of the land, and its religion.
The narrative of Abraham's first visit to Egypt has demonstrated the trustworthiness
of the scriptures, and with this we must be content to leave the subject for the time being.
ISRAEL NEWS IN BRIEF.
Preparation has now been started by the Minister of Agriculture for ploughing the
second half-million dunams (1250,000 acres) in the Southern Negev.
In a festive mood and impressive celebration, the people of the Negev marked the
official opening of the central water pumping station for the Northern Negev. The
station, located north-west of Beersheba, was built in eight months by recent immigrants
from Yemen, under the direction of Swiss engineers and Israel water experts. The
electrically-run pumps are Swiss-made. It is the first of four stations planned by the
government at a cost of 2,000,000 Israel pounds, which will provide water to the whole
of Northern Negev and irrigate about 100,000 dunams.--The American Zionist.