Page:Ancient Egypt Her Testimony to the Truth.pdf/20

Rh IV. The Greek historians Herodotus and Diodorus have also recorded many anecdotes of the ancient kings of Egypt; but, as they observe no chronological order, it is only by the aid of the preceding authorities that these anecdotes can be made available as history.

From the casual notices of the history of Egypt in the Bible, we learn the following facts:—

1st. Egypt was colonised by the descendants of Mizraim, the son of Ham, who gave to the country its Oriental name, both in ancient and modern times. This event took place shortly after the dispersion of mankind from Babel (Gen. x. 13).

2nd. Egypt was a settled kingdom, ruled by a Pharaoh, at the time of Abram (Gen. xii. 10 seq.)

3rd. Egypt acquired immense wealth under the administration of Joseph (Gen. xlviii. 1).

4th. Egypt sustained terrible national calamities, which, from the tenor of the narrative, would appear to have been irretrievable ones, at the time of the Exodus (Ex. vii. to xii.)

The monumental remains of Ancient Egypt now in existence, collated with the fragments furnished by Manetho and the Greek historians, supply the following indications:—

I.—The name of the first monarch of Egypt,, the Menes of Manetho, who, according to Josephus, reigned many years before Abraham.