The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-06-25

ports on its face to embrace, with only
single exception, Jacob himself, his sons
and grandsons. But besides these, as is
expressly stated, were his sons wives
and, moreover, as in the long run the
numbers the sexes are essentially equal,
Jacob must have had as many grand
daughters as grandsons. Thus the orig
inal emigrants specified or directly i'm.
piled, were lao instead Of 10. This of
ITSELF however, we admit, scarcely light
ems the difficulty !; for the posterity of 140
persons, doubling every "a years, would
at the end of2l7 years amount to only
71,6S0-less than one thirty-6fth part
of the number positively declared to have
gone out.
But we undertake to demonstrate that
these lao souls constituted only q small
part of the horde of people who went to
Egypt with Jacob upon the invitation of
Joseph, the viceroy. 1t would have been
absurd for the Egyptian monarch to have
bestowed upon such mere family the
large land of Goshen. Let US glance a
little at the earlier records of the He
brews, using here and there modern words
to express old ideas,
When the childless Abram left Meso-
potamia for Canaan he was no poor ad-
venturer. Ho was tho head Of a great
horde. His name-or rather title-sig-
n6es his position. He was great shek
or chief. In Canaan he was only over.
m, q fobod hr tha Dh;Ust;no ru1ar uoon tba
sea-board He was match for any five
of the petty kings or sheiks of the inter
ior. An almost incidental statement
gives us some intimaton of the numbers
of his horde. Upon sudden emergen-
cy he was able to put in motion more
than 300 "trained men, born in his own
house." A pastoral horde which could
on the moment furnish so many men
must have numbered several thousands
in all. And this was after the original
horde had separated into two under Alb
ram-now called Abraham-and Lot
We have still another incidental notice
(all the more valuable because it is in
cidentaT of the strength of Abraham's
horde. We are told that he dug well
at Beersheba. That well still exists No
man who sees its deep excavation and
massive construction will doub. that who
soever dug it had at his command large
force Of men.
The Hebrew branch of the horde ID
creased under Isaac, the peaceful son of
Abraham, and again separated into two
under Esau and Jacob. How strong
these were may be inferred from the pres
ents which Jacob, then the weaker of the
two offered to his elder brother.
1t is clear from the narrative that the
part of the horde which remained under
JaFo5 was, on the whole, prosperous, not
with@tanding intervals of famine. Upon
occasion of sore stress he sent ten OF his
sons to E gypt to buy corn. OF course
the great body of his tribe had to re-
main at home with their hocks and herds
When finally Jacob went to Egypt, at
the invitation of Joseph, he went in state,
with not only his own immediate family,
but with his focks and herds, and, of
course, servitors and herdsmen, all of
kindred race and faith, and all therefore
properly numbered as Hebrews, or Is
raelites, as the horde had now come to
be called, in memory of the second name.
or rather title, assumed b. Jacob. No
census is noted as having been taken of
the number of the horde; but no one.
fairly considering the record, can place
it at less than 5000. This number. To-
Gated in land like that of Goshen, where
there was room for expansion, would by
the natural law of increase, double once
in "a years, reach in PIT years the full
number of two and half millions as
signed to them by the census recorded in
the Fentateuch.