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THE INFANT MOSES FOUND BY PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.

(EXODUS II. 5, 6.)

IN the patriarchal ages, Egypt was visited by two remarkable providential occurrences. During seven years a superabundance of corn grew in that fertile "valley of the Nile;" which seven years were succeeded by an equal period of great dearth. This had been signified to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in two night visions; which none of his wise men could interpret. Joseph, however, who was at that time confined unjustly in the king's prison, was inspired by God to reveal the secret; and, being raised for his wisdom to the high post of governor of Egypt, he preserved the nation from the dire effects of the famine.

Pharaoh and his people were grateful for the services of Joseph. This was shown in various ways; but one of the most pleasing instances of the monarch's gratitude, is that in which he directed Joseph to send for his aged father, and his numerous descendants, out of Syria-where the effects of the famine were also felt that they might enjoy "the good of all the land of Egypt." The father and the brethren of Joseph, therefore, went down to Egypt; and the rich pastures of the land of Goshen were assigned to them by the grateful monarch. But in process of time a Pharaoh, or king, ascended the throne of Egypt, who, unlike his predecessors, looked upon the Hebrews with a jealous eye, and commenced an iron rule over them. Conceiving their increasing numbers formidable to the future peace and prosperity of the Egyptian state, in order to reduce them he compelled them to relinquish their mode of life as tent-dwelling shepherds, and to cultivate that soil originally granted them for pasturage. He likewise required that they should make bricks, build towns, and perform many other works, both painful and hateful to a pastoral people. Like the Bedouins of the present day, indeed, they would not have executed such works, unless by coercion. Pharaoh knew this, and the execution of his will was confided to task-masters, who "made their lives bitter with hard bondage."

But the end was not accomplished. The more the Hebrews were oppressed the more they multiplied, and the more Pharaoh and his people were alarmed. A new expedient was, therefore, devised to

check their increase. The Hebrew midwives were ordered to destroy all the male children that should be born; and they daring to disobey, an edict was issued by the cruel monarch, empowering and directing his own subjects to commit the dark crime.

This edict threatened to desolate the Hebrew race; but it proved the means of their deliverance. Jochebed, the wife of Amram, of the tribe of Levi, bare a son shortly after its promulgation, and the fond parents hazarded their safety by concealing him in the house three months. At length, however, it became impossible to hide the infant any longer; but his tender mother was unwilling to give him up to immediate death. In her extremity, she made a basket-work boat of bulrushes, or cyperus papyrus, coating it within and without with slime and pitch, mineral and vegetable productions, that it might float upon the water.

Thus was Moses, the future deliverer of Israel, committed to the waters of the Nile, that stream which abounded with the crocodile, remorseless as the monarch; and his sister was stationed near to watch the event. His death appeared to be certain. But, no! He who spread abroad the blue vault of heaven as a molten glass, He who created the stupendous globe on which we live, with all the diversified and wonderful divisions of the universe, cared for the tender babe. The daughter of the regal murderer came down to bathe in the waters of the Nile, and the directing hand of Providence gave the babe into her charge. The sacred historian says::

"And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children."

Though the babe belonged to the despised Hebrew race, and though doomed to destruction by her tyrant father, as she saw the tears trickling down the face of the innocent, she resolved to be his protectress. Influenced by the tender sentiments of humanity, she called aloud for a nurse, and his sister, who had now mingled with her attendants, offered to recommend a Hebrew matron to undertake the charge. The offer was accepted, and his sister fetched the babe's own mother, who received him from the noble-minded princess, with a charge to nurse him for her, for wages.

FOUND BY PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.

In works of art it has been the practice to place these occurrences in the centre of a pond, and to give the characters an Italian costume, while the child is represented stretching its naked limbs on a vessel similar to a needlewoman's fancy basket. Such is the celebrated picture of Vandyke; and, to carry out his European ideas to the utmost, he has represented the princess and a single attendant reaching over a bed of flags, such as are seen on the margin of our own rivers, as though they were in the act of searching for some lost treasure, while tame water-fowl of the family of the Anatine, stand gazing and cackling at the intruders.

In opposition to these travesties, it has been the artist's aim, in the accompanying drawing, to give a faithful translation of the Scripture narrative. In doing so, however, he has been compelled to infer the presence of the various objects which constitute the action and locality of the picture. Still, in these arrangements, he has been guided by the analogies furnished in the contemporary monuments of Egypt, which pour a flood of light on ancient usages. Thus, he has determined that when the daughter of Pharaoh went "down to wash herself at the river," she went not down into the open stream. Had she done this, she would have been exposed to the inconveniences of a scorching sun, to the dangers of a rapid current, and to the devouring jaws of the crocodile. According to oriental and classical, to ancient and modern usages, the cool chambers of a bath are employed for such a purpose. Hence it is, that the princess is supposed, in the drawing, to be walking on the terrace of such a bath, where she becomes a witness to the safe arrival of the little stranger at its portal. Hence, it is also supposed, that the affectionate care of the mother would prompt her to close the ark, and give it a form capable of floating. The narrative intimates, indeed, that when the maid had "opened" the ark the princess "saw the child:" and it was common in Egypt, in the days of the ancients, to make little barks of the cyperus papyrus, to float upon the Nile at the period of its inundation. Such vessels were also used, with slight variation, on the rivers of Mesopotamia; and Lucan describes such in connexion with our own forefathers.

The bending willows into barks they twine,

Then line the work with skins of slaughtered kine;

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Though the babe belonged to the despised Hebrew race, and Saonga dccmed to destruction by her tyrant father, as she saw the * "dekling down the face of the inaccent, she rescived to be his gertaerrous. Influenced by the tender sentiments of humanity, she hase buy siond for a nurse, and his sister, who had now mingled with tep attendants, offered to recommend a Hebrew matron to underfare the charge. The offer was accepted, and his sister fetched the band's own mother, who received him from the noble-minded prin, with a charge to nurse him for her, for wages.

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