SOMT1 BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading los notice stuck Books if the week as have net been reserved for review in other forms.]
Israel and Egypt. By W. K Flinders Petrie. (S.P.C.K. 2s. 6d.) —We are very glad to see this very reasonable account of some difficult subjects published by a great Church society. It contains nothing really destructive or even disturbing, but it necessitates considerable modification of some current opinions. Certain Egyptian records make it probable that all the Israelites did not go down into Egypt with Jacob. Possibly the historian records the fortunes of the leading family only. Then the numbers con- - cerned in the Exodus must be greatly diminished. Goshen is a small and not very fertile region. It now supports about nine
thousand people ; the six hundred thousand men, with women and children, of Exodus could not have issued from it. Professor Petrie suggests, as he has already done in early works, the substi- tution of tent groups for thousands (alaf). The poorer tribes would have a small average for each tent. The number is thus reduced from six hundred thousand to five thousand five hundred, " just a match for the scanty population of Sinai." This seems somewhat small. But numbers are a difficulty in all histories. Professor Petrie traces the history down to the latest times, and even tells us something of Christianity in Egypt.
Previous page
