patriarchal family where love and reverence and a common faith are the ties that bind the units together. Genesis 47.13 to 26 is interesting in the light of what we know of Egyptian history from other sources than the Bible. The Pharaoh at the time of Joseph was, it is generally agreed, one of the Hyksos dynasty, which belonged to a Semitic tribe that had conquered Egypt. The land before that time had been held in a sort of feudal tenure by some of the old nobility. These gave constant trouble, particularly in the south, to the Hyksos rulers. Joseph's policy therefore was aimed at securing a centralization of power in the hands of Pharaoh through his obtaining all the land and reducing all others except the priests to the status of tenants. This concentration of power in the hands of a single monarch, intolerable as it would be in a modern state, was often in ancient times the very best means of securing that measure of peace from constant strife between petty principalities which was an absolute prerequisite of progress and civilization. Of course the child is not interested in such problems and this whole incident should be omitted, but it is well for the teacher to bear these truths in mind lest his modern political and economic theories prejudice him against the character of Joseph. =Aim.= There are two aims which the teacher should bear in mind in this lesson, one relating to the historic interest we have shown it to contain and the other to the personal interest. In accord with the former the teacher must give to the child those historical and religious ideas contained in this chapter which summarize the significance of the patriarchal period and prepare the way for their next year's work, namely the idea of how God was making a great nation of Jews in accordance with his promise to the patriarchs by permitting them to multiply in Egypt, at the same time reminding them that they were not to become Egyptians but would one day be brought back to their land. But the aspect of the lesson that can impress itself most readily on the children is the more personal one with its picture of the ideal family life as a sort of final tableau to the drama of Joseph that they have been learning. Of particular value is the example of reverence for parents which it holds before them.