=14. The name of Egypt= occurs now for the first time in Scripture, and we may judge of its importance from the fact that the name occurs six hundred and thirteen times, twenty-four of which number are to be found in the New Testament. In this instance the mention is made about 1920 B. C.,[49] and the kingdom is referred to as fully established and well known. The occasion of Abram’s visit was the famine existing in the land of Canaan. Abram journeys southward with the intention of entering Egypt to provide sustenance for himself and his retinue against this famine. =15. The condition of Egypt= at or just before the time of Abram’s first visit was one of great prosperity. The reigning Pharaohs, generally called those of the twelfth dynasty, were most probably the Usertesens and the Amen-emhats. Under this dynasty the sceptres of Upper and Lower Egypt were united. All the kings were powerful and prosperous and art flourished, the Sun temple at Heliopolis (six miles northeast of the present Cairo) was magnificently restored, and in the Fayum on the west of the Nile (about 50 miles southwest of Cairo) the practice of building pyramids was revived. Here was the vast lake or inland sea made by Amen-emhat III., to receive the overplus waters of the annual overflow of the Nile and to distribute them in case of need. This king also built the great labyrinth in the Fayum, the latter name being an alteration of the Egyptian word for “sea,” namely “_Piom_.” =16.= During this period fortifications were erected on the northeastern frontier of Egypt, which appear to have extended across the whole of the present isthmus of Suez (_Socin_). The term Shur used six times in Scripture is now supposed to refer to this “wall.”[50] =17. As the pyramids of Gizeh= were built in the fourth dynasty (the most recent date of which is given by Wilkinson as 2450 B. C.), they had been in existence more than 400 years before Abram’s visit. The Sphinx was then existing also, as seems probable from an inscription found by M. Mariette, which indicates that there was a “temple of the Sphinx” in the time of Cheops,[51] the builder of the great pyramid. It seems also probable that the rule of the foreigners, called the Shepherd Kings, had begun before Abram’s visit. =18. These foreigners= took possession of Lower Egypt and drove the original rulers up the Nile to Thebes and other parts of Upper Egypt. Long before this period emigrants from the East had been admitted to Egypt and had settled in various places upon the rich lands of the Delta, until, finding themselves sufficiently powerful, they usurped all authority without a battle. They were called the Shepherd kings, or Hyksos, from what was supposed to be their employment. They governed Lower Egypt for about five hundred years, until they were finally driven out by the Egyptian royal family.