The two Pyramids, El Haraman.1

Among the most remarkable ruins in Egypt are the Pyramids. These are two enormous and very ancient edifices; they are so lofty that an arrow shot from a good bow would not reach the top. They are said to be ancient sepulchres, and many fables have been related respecting them. (May it please God to let the truth be discovered.) They are situated a day's journey from Fostat, on the western shore or bank of the Nile, and are surrounded by many others, none of which approach in size the two pyramids.

On the Pyramids, extracted from the Geography of Bakuy.

[ باقوي ]

The two pyramids situated opposite to Fostat are constructed with large square stones: these edifices have four sides, forming as many equilateral triangles, each side having four hundred and sixty cubits []; their perpendicular height is three hundred and seventeen cubits.

2

The pyramids are enormous structures, built with solidity, as well as with symmetry; they have never been shaken by the violence of the winds, nor by the ravages of tempests, nor by the shock of earthquakes. It is said that the following words were found written on them in the Mousneddy character [

. [المسنداي

"We have been so powerful as to raise these monuments; let him that would show his strength undertake to demolish them, We have covered although it is easier to destroy than to erect. them with a cloth of silk [], let him that is able clothe them with a cover of common matting [2]." It is pretended that there was discovered in one of these ancient monuments a

[L] El Haraman,i. e. the two pyramids. This word is the dual of []. The true dimensions of the pyramids have perhaps never been accurately ascertained. Volney in his chapter on the ruins and py"On a mesuré plusieurs fois ramids in his Lettres sur l'Egypte, &c. says, leurs hauteurs par des procédés géométriques, et chaque opération a donné un résultat différent, pendant qu'une calculation récente donne 600 pieds. sur chaque face à la grande, et 450 pieds de hauteur perpendiculaire." 2 See note 3, p. 249.

leaf, which was deciphered by a sheik of the monastery of Kalmune, [] as follows: "We have examined the motions of the stars, and we perceived that a scourge or calamity falling from heaven, and also proceeding from the earth, would destroy all vegetables as well as animals. When our observations were terminated we went in search of our King,

: and we said unto him [سوري بن سلوق] Sureed ben Saluke

Elevate for thyself and for thine household, sepulchres which time shall be unable to destroy. Then Sureed ben Saluke built

w

for himself the pyramid of the East [],2 and that of the West [l] for his brother; and the smaller one,

, كرورس]

الغربي]

called El Muzer], for his nephew. When Sureed died he was interred in the Eastern pyramid, and his brother in that of the West, and the remains of his nephew, Kerourse were deposited in that called Muzer which is situated below the others. The descent into all these edifices was by a subterraneous passage a hundred and fifty cubits long. The gate of the oriental pyramid is in the Eastern side, that of the Western on the West, and that of Muzer on the North. These pyramids contain incalculable riches. The narrative imports that these words were translated from the Coptic into Arabic.” JAMES G. JACKSON.

Bakuy says that this leaf was written 395 years before the Deluge,

[ طوفان ]

2 Volney attempts to prove the etymology of the word pyramid. He first makes it Greek, then Egyptian, he then gives it an Arabic derivation; but finding no p in that language, he substitutes b, and constitutes the word bouramis; he then substitutes the final t for s, making it bouram it, "c'est-à-dire caveau des morts." It is curious to see what changes and permutations etymologists will adopt for the purpose of proving some favorite hypothesis: they write whole pages to prove, not the truth, but their own dogma!-We will not discuss the etymology of the word pyramid, a term used only by Europeans, but unknown in the country where those immense masses have been erected; but we will observe, that the term which designates these edifices in Egypt is hurem, i. e. a sanctuary, sacred place, consecrated ground. All depositories of the dead among the descendants of Ismael are consecrated ground, and this is a reason for supposing that these buildings were erected for preserving the body from the ravages of war, as the embalming was to preserve the component parts of that body from decomposition, so as to be enabled at the expiration of 6000 years to receive the soul again to animate it; a circumstance which was generally believed in Egypt before the time of Moses.

253

THE ARITHMETIC OF THE HOLY

SCRIPTURES.

No. III. [Continued from No. LI. p. 17.]

As the design of these suggestions is to advert to materials, at least, for what may be called an Arithmetical exposition of Scripture, the particular of Numbers has not yet been concluded. It closes, however, with the present No. by noticing some particular texts in which the word Number occurs-a few additional terms to what have already been considered-and also some enumerations which appear contradictory to each other, or to correctness and matters of fact. Afterwards there will follow in successive order, the Measures, Weights, and Money of the Sacred Writings; each of which will be entitled to a distinct and deliberate consideration.

The APPLICATION of the word, or idea of, NUMBER, in different parts of the Bible, is worthy of being noticed. The rule, mentioned in No. 11. p. 15, is generally, if not uniformly, true: that when DD stands before the word with which it is connected, it signifies many; and when after it, a few.

have מספר שניו .26 .and Job xxxvi שנות מספר .22 .Job xvi

directly opposite meanings: the former denoting a small number, and the latter, a multitude.

Deut. xxxiii. 6. " should be read in English: "And let his men be a number:" and there is no necessity for the Italic addition of the common version.

Gen. xxxiv. 30. 750D 'MD 'INI "But I, men of a number;" very few. So in Deut. iv. 27. must also be inter

preted.

Ps. xc. 12. "to reckon," or, "distribute our days;" is so to enumerate them, as to improve the smallness of their number to the greatest advantage.

Eccl. vii. 27. nan "a complete enumeration:" such a one, no doubt, Solomon had made among the women of his seraglio.

by מנו .3 .are compared with Job vii מנא מנה .26 .Dan. v

Michaelis, and rendered "numerans, uumeravit." Supplem. p. 1518.

When the Redeemer said, as recorded in Matt. x. 30, 'Tuv δὲ καὶ αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς πᾶσαι ἠριθμημέναι εἰσὶ; “ But even

all the hairs of your head are enumerated;" he intimated the kind condescension of Providence in numbering all the circumstances and proceedings of the saints. The Syriac version of this text reads, literally, "the numerable part of your head," omitting the usual word for hair, ;: but in the corresponding passage of Luke xii. 7. this word appears. This text, says the learned Lightfoot, puts me in mind of Luke xxi. 18. Καὶ θρὶς ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὑμῶν οὐ μὴ ἀπόληται; which appears to be a proverbial speech, by 1 Sam. xiv. 45. p b ON

. See his Works, ii, p. 1251. fol. ed. of 1684. Rev. xiii. 17, 18. Τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου or τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνό Matos auтou: "The number of the beast," or, "the number of his name," stands for the numerical value of the letters that his name. compose This is expressed in Greek by "xes," or, according to some readings of Griesbach, "axoriai déxa e;"

66

six hundreds " ܫܬ ܡܙ1 ܘܫܬܢܢ ܘܫܬ ,and at full length in Syriac

and sixty and six." See a lengthened discussion of this subject in Calmet's Bibl. Encyclop. on Antichrist, 4th ed. On the general word Numerus, for a judicious and scriptural amplification, consult the Clavis Script. Sac. a Matt. Flacio Illyrico, p. 749, 750;-a work on Biblical Literature that deserves to be better known.

The NUMERAL WORDS, in addition to those noticed in No. II. which seem to require some expository remarks for the purpose of illustrating the texts in which they occur, are the following; and appear in the writings of the New Testament.

1: Araxóσion, 4, two hundreds. Acts xxvii. 37. διακόσιαι ἑβδομήκοντα ἓξ Boμnxovтα ; "two hundreds seventy-six." This, says Parkhurst, to some not sufficiently acquainted with the state of ancient shipping about this time, may appear an extraordinary number, but it is not. Josephus, who, a very few years before, namely, in the procuratorship of Felix, was sent from Judea to Rome, tells us in his life, (Sect. 3.) that the ship in which he sailed, and which was shipwrecked in the Adriatic, had on board « about six hundred men,” περὶ ἑξακοσίους τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντες.

'Exarov, 11, a hundred. The circumstance of so large a produce as "a hundredfold," mentioned in Matt. xiii. 8, has not been noticed by Commentators in general: but it was observed by that interesting Lexicographer, the late Rev. John Parkhurst; who has, by his two Scripture Dictionaries, contributed so much to the service and success of Biblical science. Citing from the father of Greek history, he writes:-"Herodotus,

lib. 1. cap. 193. says, that the country about Babylon was so fertile as constantly to produce two hundred, and sometimes three hundred fold." From "an Agricultural Experiment," recently made by Dr. Adam Clarke, it was shown that, by subdividing and transplanting, "2 grains of wheat had yielded 574 distinct plants;" and in the following season," the one of these multiplied itself into 900 plants, and the second grain into 916!" See the West. Meth. Mag. for September, 1822. p. 573, 574. Τεσσαράκοντα, 61, forty. 2 Cor. ii. 24. Τεσσαράκοντα (Anys elliptically, but not unusually, omitted: Bos Ellips. p. 177. and Wetstein on Luke xii, 47.) яaρà μíav, "forty (stripes) save one." The rule in Deut. xxv. 3: ' DIVIN TD was (according to Michaelis, "Laws of Moses," iii. p. 446.) since the Babylonish captivity, observed by the Jews with such ridiculous scrupulosity, as noted here by the Apostle. Josephus even represents the Law as ordering πληγὰς τεσσαράκοντα μias Toons: Antiq. lib. iv. cap. 8. sect. 21, 23. The modern Jews observe the same custom, as appears from the case of the wretched Acosta-which article see in Bayle's Dict. note F.

Διετές, 42, two years. In Matt. ii. 16: 'Anò dieтoug means, "from the beginning of," or, "entrance into, the second year." Aristotle uses the word in this sense when he says, Hist. Anim. lib. ix. 5, stags, dieres," of the second year" begin first to produce horns. But it is certain, that stags do this at the beginning of their second year. Further, Herod is said, Matt. ii. 7, to have "accurately learned of the Magi the time of the star's (first) appearance," Tov xpóvov тou pavoμévou άorégos, and ver. 16, "to have slain all the children” åπò diεTous and under, according to the time which he had of them learned by accurate inquiry. But it is impossible that the Magi, whether they were of Arabia or Persia, should spend more than a year in coming to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, which confirms the interpretation of anò dieтous here given.-Parkhurst's Greek Lex.: who also refers to Knatchbull's and Campbell's notes on Matt. ii. 16.

The APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS in Scripture, arising from differences in Numbers, have been judiciously classified, and very satisfactorily explained by the Rev. T. H. Horne, in his excellent "Introduct. to the Crit. &c. of the H. Scriptures:" Vol. 1. p. 594-598. 2d ed. A few selections may suffice for the present purpose.