Note 349 — THE HEBREW TRADITION. (continued 2)

By the kind permission of Chevalier Bunsen we are enabled to give the following note, which contains the result he has arrived at on this subject:—Chevalier Bunsen agrees with Dr. Lepsius in the conviction that the arrival of the Israelites cannot have taken place under the Hyksos. On the question whether they arrived before or after them, Chevalier Bunsen differs from Dr. Lepsius, since he believes that Jacob’s family came to Egypt at a far earlier period, viz., in the reign of Sesurtesen (Sesostris) the Second (or Third, according to some), in whose reign he thinks the ancient writers place those changes in the tenure of land which the Bible ascribes to Joseph’s advice as prime minister. This Sesurtesen (Sesostris) reigned, according to the tables of Bunsen, about 2650 B.C., and since he agrees with Dr. Lepsius in placing the Exodus in the reign of Menephthes, 1210 B.C., he allows an interval of 1440 years to elapse between Joseph and the Exodus, more than fourteen centuries.—Tr.