Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/603

 and considering the fertility of Egypt, the impost is not excessive; a much higher percentage being frequently exacted under Eastern governments (cf. 1 Mac. 10$30$, and the authorities cited by Di. p. 444). On the severities of taxation under the New Empire, see LAE, 122.—25. The people gratefully accept the terms.—26. The arrangement is fixed by administrative decree, and survives to the time of the writer. 27. (P, v.i.) is the conclusion of the settlement of Israel in Egypt (v.$11$).

The system of land-tenure reflected in vv.$13-26$? is supposed by Erman to have actually arisen through the extermination of the old landed aristocracy which followed the expulsion of the Hyksos and the founding of the New Empire (LAE, 102 f.). The same writer thus sums up what is known or surmised of social conditions under the New Empire: "The landed property was partly in the hands of the state, partly in those of the priesthood; it was tilled by peasant-serfs; there seem to have been no private estates belonging to the nobility, at any rate not under the 19th dynasty. The lower orders consisted mostly of serfs and foreign slaves; the higher, of officials in the service of the state and of the temples" (ib. 129). The peculiar privileges of the priests (and soldiers) are attested by Diod. i. 73 f.; Herod, ii. 168 (but cf. ii. 141): the latter says that every priest and warrior possessed 12 [Greek: arourai] of land tax-free. Of the amount of the land-tax (one fifth) there appears to be no independent confirmation.—The interest of the biblical account is ætiological. The Hebrews were impressed by the vast difference between the land-tenure of Egypt and that under which they themselves lived; and sought an explanation of the 'abnormal agrarian conditions' (Erman) prevailing in the Nile-valley. Whether the explanation here given rests on any Egyptian tradition, or is due to the national imagination of Israel, working on material supplied by the story of Joseph, remains as yet uncertain (see Gu. 410 f.).

The close connexion between Egypt and Palestine in the matter of food-supply is illustrated by the Amarna letters, where a powerful minister named Yanḫamu is frequently mentioned as holding a position somewhat corresponding to that of Joseph. Yanḫamu, whose name suggests Semitic extraction, was governor of an unknown province

means 'increase' or 'produce.' To omit (with G) does not yield a natural construction.—] Ba. happily emends .—] Better omitted with G.—26. ] G. is not found, and the expression is very awkward. A good sense might be obtained by transposing (with G$A, al.$); but whether that is the original text is very doubtful.—27. The v. is usually divided between J and P; but is no sure sign of J, since it denotes the nation. The only characteristic of J is, which may be very well excised as a gloss: the rest may then quite suitably be assigned to P (cf. ).