(M65) Egypt had long been governed by its native princes, when strangers, called Shepherd-kings, (Hycsos in the Egyptian language,) from Arabia or Phœnicia, invaded and seized a great part of Lower Egypt, and Memphis itself; but Upper Egypt remained unconquered, and the kingdom of Thebes existed till the reign of Sesostris. These foreign princes governed about 260 years. (M66) Under one of these princes, called Pharaoh in Scripture,(411) (a name common to all the kings of Egypt,) Abraham arrived there with his wife Sarah, who was exposed to great hazard, on account of her exquisite beauty, which reaching the prince’s ear, she was by him taken from Abraham, upon the supposition that she was not his wife, but only his sister. (M67) THETHMOSIS, or Amosis, having expelled the Shepherd-kings, reigned in Lower Egypt. (M68) Long after his reign, Joseph was brought a slave into Egypt, by some Ishmaelitish merchants; sold to Potiphar; and, by a series of wonderful events, enjoyed the supreme authority, by his being raised to the chief employment of the kingdom. I shall pass over his history, as it is so universally known. But I must take notice of a remark of Justin, (the epitomizer of Trogus Pompeius,(412) an excellent historian of the Augustan age,) _viz._ that Joseph, the youngest of Jacob’s children, whom his brethren, through envy, had sold to foreign merchants, being endowed from heaven(413) with the interpretation of dreams, and a knowledge of futurity, preserved, by his uncommon prudence, Egypt from the famine with which it was menaced, and was extremely caressed by the king. (M69) Jacob also went into Egypt with his whole family, which met with the kindest treatment from the Egyptians, whilst Joseph’s important services were fresh in their memories. But after his death, say the Scriptures,(414) “there arose up a new king, which knew not Joseph.” (M70) RAMESES-MIAMUN, according to archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most grievous manner. “He set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities,(415) Pithom and Raamses—and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”(416) This king had two sons, Amenophis and Busiris. (M71) AMENOPHIS, the eldest, succeeded him. He was the Pharaoh, under whose reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and was drowned in passing the Red-Sea.