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(^51) So the words should be translated.
(^52) As Jacob was seventy-seven years old when he went into Mesopotamia, he must
have been one hundred and eight on his return to Hebron; while Isaac was at the time
only one hundred and sixty-eight years old, since Jacob was born in the sixtieth year
of his father's age, as appears from Genesis 25:26. It is, however, fair to add that Dr.
Herald Browne proposes another chronology of Jacob's life (after Kennicott and
Horsley), which would make him twenty years younger, or fifty-seven years of age,
at the time of his flight to Padan-Aram. (See Bible Commentary, vol. 1. pp. 177,
178.)
(^53) Mr. R. S. Poole (in the article on Joseph, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible) writes:
"The richer classes among the ancient Egyptians wore long dresses of white linen.
The people of Palestine and Syria, represented on the Egyptian monuments as
enemies or tributaries, wore similar dresses, partly colored, generally with a stripe
round the skirts and the borders of the sleeves."
(^54) This is the literal translation.
(^55) Our quotation here is from the present writer's book on Elisha the Prophet, a Type
of Christ (ch. 19 "an Unseen Host," p. 225).
(^56) R. S. Poole, as above. We have here stated the ordinarily received view. But Canon
Cook has urged strong and, as it seems to us, convincing reasons for supposing that
the sale of Joseph took place at the close of the twelfth dynasty, or under the original
Pharaohs, before the foreign domination of the Shepherd-kings had commenced. The
question will be fully discussed in the next vol. Meantime, the curious reader must be
referred to the essay on Egyptian History at the close of vol. 1 of The Speaker's
Commentary.
(^57) R. S. Poole, as above.
(^58) Quite a similar Egyptian story exists, entitled "The Two Brothers," which has lately
been translated. It resembles so closely the Biblical account that we are disposed to
regard it as at least founded upon the trial of Joseph. Differing in this from Mr. Poole,
we hold that the weight of evidence is in favor of the supposition.
(^59) This is the literal translation.
(^)