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more in the towns, with their Egyptian neighbors.Accordingly, it needed the Paschal
provision of the blood to distinguish the houses of the Israelitesfrom those of the
Egyptians; (Exodus 12:13) while Exodus 3:22 seems to imply that they were notonly
neighbors, but perhaps, occasionally, residents in the same houses. This also accounts
for the"mixed multitude" that accompanied Israel at the Exodus, and, later on, in the
wilderness, for thepresence in the congregation of offspring from marriages between
Jewish women and Egyptianhusbands. (Leviticus 24:10)
While the greater part of Israel had thus acquired the settled habits of a nation, the
inhabitants of theborder-district between Goshen and Canaan continued their nomadic
life. This explains how thetribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh possessed so much
larger flocks than their brethren, asafterwards to claim the wide pasture-lands to the
east of Jordan. (Numbers 32:1-4) We have, also,among the records of "ancient
stories," (1 Chronicles 4:22) a notice of some of the descendants ofJudah exercising
lordship in Moab, and we read of a predatory incursion into Gath on the part ofsome
of the descendants of Ephraim, which terminated fatally. It is but fair to assume that
these areonly instances, mentioned, the one on account of its signal success, the other
on that of its failure, andthat both imply nomadic habits and incursions into Canaan on
the part of those who inhabited theborder-land.
But whether nomadic or settled, Israel preserved its ancient constitution and religion,
though herealso we notice modifications and adaptations, arising from their long
settlement in Egypt. The originaldivision of Israel was into twelve tribes, after the
twelve sons of Jacob, an arrangement whichcontinued, although the sons of Joseph
became two tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh), since thepriestly tribe of Levi had no
independent political standing. These twelve tribes were againsubdivided into families
(or rather clans), mostly founded by the grandsons of Jacob, of which wefind a record
in Numbers 26., and which amounted in all to sixty. From Joshua 7:14 we learn
thatthose "families" had at that time, if not earlier, branched into "households," and
these again into whatis described by the expression "man by man" (in the Hebrew,
Gevarim). The latter term, however, isreally equivalent to our "family," as appears
from a comparison of Joshua 7:14 with vers. 17, 18.Thus we have in the oldest times
tribes and clans, and in those of Joshua, if not earlier, the clansagain branching into
households (kin) and families. The "heads" of those clans and families were
theirchiefs; those of the tribes, "the princes." (Numbers 1:4, 16, 44; 2:3; etc.; 7:10)
These twelve princeswere "the rulers of the congregation." (Exodus 34:31; Numbers
7:2; 30:1; 31:13; 32:2; 34:18) Bythe side of these rulers, who formed a hereditary
aristocracy, we find two classes of elective officials,(Deuteronomy 1:9-14) as
"representatives" of "the congregation." (Numbers 27:2) These aredesignated in
Deuteronomy 29:10 as the "elders" and the "officers," or, rather, "scribes." Thus
therule of the people was jointly committed to the "princes," the "elders," and the
"officers." Theinstitution of "elders" and of "scribes" had already existed among the
(^)