The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-04-15

Jacob were settled in Egypt until the completion
| of the four hundred years, during which 0od had
foretold to Abraham that his family should dwell
there, there is a chssm in the sacred history. We
| are expressly told that all the house of Jacob
which came into Egypt, were three score and ten:
il is said then that Joseph died, did all that gen
Grafton; after which nothing farther is related Of
their posterity than that ''they were faithful and
multiplied abundanty, and waxed exceeding
mighty, and the land was filled with them, until
| there arose q new king who knew not Joseph. =
l On his first arrival in Egypt, Jacob had obtained
i grant from Pharaoh of the land OF Goshen, a
place particularly suited to the pasorage Of focks;
Jacob and his family were shepherds, and this cir
/ cumstance was, in the first instance, the occasion
upon which that separate spot was assigned to
them, and, secondarily, he was the means proyid-
/ ed by God for keeping separate two nations thus
residing together; every shepherd was an abomi
| nation to the Egyptisns, and the lsraelites were
/ shepherds although dwelling in the land of Egypt
therefore the Israelites We're sooumers and stran
gers, and by mutual antpathy toward each other
originating from their respective conditions, they
We're prevented from intemngling by marriage
and losing their distinctive characters. This wa
| the canse which had been reserved by the Su
preme Creator, during the space of three genera
tons and more than four centuries as the occasion
for eventually bringing them out Of the land; for
in proportion as they multiplied, il had the ten
depcy to excite the iealonsies and fears of th'
uyptian king-as actually happened. Thes'
~
the most intolerable oppression and the most exc
cradle cruelty toward the lsraelites not eontenies
with reducing them TO the most degraded condition
of servitude, and making their lives bitter will
hard bondage, he conceived the project Of destroy
ing the whole race, by ordering all the male chill
dren 10 be murdered as soon as they were born
In the wisdom Of Providence, this very command
was the means Of preparing this family--wheu
they had multiplied into a nation--for their issu,
from Egypt, and for their conquest Of the lans
u I'D In hrah han al
at the same time the immediate occasion ofraisin,
up the great Warrior, Legislator and Prophet, wht
was to be their deliverer and leader. Thenceforth
they are to be considered as people, and thei
history as that of nation. During period o
more than a thousand years, the Bible gives us
particular account Of their destinies; an outline o
their constitution, civil, military and religious
with the code of laws presented 10 them BY the
De'ty, IN contained in the books OF Moses, an,
will afforl us copious materials for future consid
Grafton. Their subsequent revolutions of govern
men under Joshua, fifteen successive chiefs, de
nominated judges, and succession Of kings, unit
they we're first dismembered into twoseparate king
doms, and after lapse of some centuries, bol
conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians an
at the end Of seventy years, Partially restored Il
their country and their temple, constitute the re
manning historical books Of the Old Testament
every part Of which is full of instructions. M
my present purpose is only 70 point your attention
To their general historical character. My nex
will contain q few remarks on the Bible as a Sys
tenn of Morals. In the meantime,
remain your affectionate Father,
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.