in which the tribes of Israel marched through the wilderness, had each its governing standard,* and tradition has assigned to these ensigns the respective forms of the symbolic cherubim seen in vision by Ezekiel and John, that of Judah being a lion, that of Reuben a man, that of Ephraim an ox, and that of Dan an eagle. The brazen serpent† lifted up on a pole (or banner, D) to the view of the dying Israelites, so beautiful an emblem of the Lord Jesus lifted up on the cross, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life,"+-will occur to every one familiar with the Scriptures. Nor is this the only passage in which the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned under this figure, for Isaiah says, "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious."§ The influence which venerated standards are known to have on the courage and daring of the soldiery is alluded to in the Song of Songs, where the Church is described as "terrible as an army with banners."|| The post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest importance; and none but officers of consideration, and of approved valour, were ever chosen for such a service; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which He was about to bring upon the haughty king of Assyria, says, " And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth."¶ The barbarous practice of mutilating the bodies of enemies slain in battle, we have already glanced at, * Numb. ii. Numb. xxi. 9. John iii. 15. § Isa. xi. 10. as illustrating some curious allusions in the Holy Scriptures. The object in both cases, however, was not so much the gratification of ungenerous and insulting cruelty, as the securing of an unexceptionable proof of the amount of the enemy's loss; for the amputated members were delivered in tale, and counted by scribes appointed for the purpose. We refer the reader to the scene copied in page 137, for an instance of cruelty but too common in these representations, the heads of the slain chiefs being attached to various parts of the chariot of the conqueror. But more revolting still is the treatment which we find the polished Egyptian Pharaohs inflicted upon their wretched captives, the record of which by their own flattering artists abundantly bears out the character of cruelty which the sacred narrative attributes to some among them. The above scene is from a triumph of Sesostris, one of the very individuals (as we believe) who afflicted the Hebrew strangers, and "made their lives bitter." This is not an isolated case. It occurs in every triumphal procession. Long lines of prisoners are led in strings by the monarch, the same cord passing round the necks of all in each line. Their arms are tied in the most distorted positions behind their backs, and over their heads, in such modes as must have produced dislocation, the agony from which, as it is carefully depicted by the artist, must have formed a very acceptable part of the ceremony. Some have their arms put into a wooden fetter, and others have the hands amputated, and the bleeding stumps tied together. On the return of the monarch from a successful expedition, one of the first ceremonies he performed seems to have been to present himself in the temple of his idol, to offer up a wholesale human sacrifice. He is usually depicted as grasping by the hair, a dozen or more of kneeling victims, whose heads he prepares with uplifted arm to strike off at a blow with his heavy falchion or battle-axe. It is true, Sir Gardnor Wilkinson, Mr. Birch, and other antiquarians, suppose these to be allegorical and not literal representations, but the well-known existence of other pictures of human sacrifice, the horrible meaning of which cannot be doubted, incline us to understand these also as representing real, and not symbolical transactions.* * See the engravings and observations in Kitto's "History of Palestine," i. 583. The office of military scribes, whose duty it was to superintend the levying of soldiers, to record the names, &c. of recruits, to count the trophies of victory, to present to the monarch a return of the spoil, and such like, will probably throw some light on the Shatarim or "officers" of the Hebrews, mentioned in Deut. xx. 5, 8, 9. These seem to have been warscribes, who determined on the liability of individuals to military service, and who had the privilege of appointing even the "captains of the armies." The priesthood and the soldiery may be considered the dominant castes of ancient Egypt; we come now to consider the subordinate classes. Of these the husbandmen claim the first rank. We know from sacred, profane, and monumental testimony, that Egypt was a corn-producing country; though limited in territorial extent, it was the granary of surrounding nations. In Pharaoh's symbolical dream of the coming abundance and famine, he first saw seven fat and seven lean kine come up out of the river.* Plutarch and Clemens inform us, that the cow was the received symbol of the earth itself and its cultivation, and of food. The circumstance that both the fat and the lean came up from the river, has an obvious reference to the fact, that the periodical overflowing of the Nile is the immediate cause of either abundance or famine, according to its extent. The river, retiring within its banks in the month of November, leaves a deposit of the richest mud upon the surface of the land, upon which the seed of * Gen. xli. 2, 3. No the various kinds of crops is immediately sown. preparation of the soil is required: the soft and moist earth receives the grain, and a simple plough follows SOWING AND PLOUGHING. the sower, just scratching the surface, and turning the fresh mould lightly over it. But though little labour is required to commit the seed to the earth, a series of toils commences after it is sown, which is unknown in countries where rain habitually falls. Michaud observes, that "the labour of tillage is not that which most occupies the agricultural population here, for the land is easy to cultivate. The great difficulty is to water the fields; even the most robust of the Fellahs [modern peasants] are employed to raise the water and perform the irrigation."* From other writers+ we learn, that a single acre sometimes requires a hundred days' work of watering; and that it is the custom to water the fields in winter, once every fourteen days; in the * Correspondence from the East, viii. 54. † As Girard, and Prokesch. |