The Jews, while in Egypt, seem to have been reduced to a state of serfdom only--crown slaves, not chattels personal; which would give them a certain degree of respect in the eyes of the ordinary slaves of the country, and lead them, owing to the dignity of their descent, to look down with disdain upon the "mixed multitude" which followed them. While it is said that they were "scattered over the land of Egypt," we are told, in Ex. ix. 4, that the murrain touched not the cattle of Israel; and in the 26th verse, that "in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, there was no hail." And Moses said to Pharaoh, "Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof we must take to serve the Lord our God" (Ex. x. 26). From this we would naturally conclude, that such of the Jews only as were capable of work, were scattered over the land of Egypt to do the work of Pharaoh, while the rest were left in the land of Goshen. By both the Egyptians and their slaves, the Hebrews would be looked upon as a mysterious people, which the former would be glad to send out of the land, owing to the many plagues which they had been the cause of being sent upon them; and while they got quit of them, as they did, there would be no earthly motive for the Egyptians to follow them, through a wilderness, into a country of which the Hebrews themselves knew nothing. But it would be different with their slaves; they had everything to hope from a change of condition, and would readily avail themselves of the chance to effect it.