EGG
roll
of
the
Law,
the
opening
chapters
of
Leviticus
being
usually
the
first
to
be
taken
in
hand.
After
the
letters
were
mastered,
the
teacher
copied
a
verse
which
the
child
had
already
learned
by
heart,
and
taught
him
to
identify
the
individual
words.
The
chief
feature
of
the
teaching
was
learning
by
rote,
and
that
audibly,
for
the
Jewish
teachers
were
thorough
believers
in
the
Latin
maxim,
repetilio
mater
studwrum.
The
pupils
sat
on
the
floor
at
the
teacher's
feet,
as
did
Saul
at
the
feet
of
GamaUel
(Ac
22').
The
subjects
taught
were
'the
three
R's'
—
reading,
writing,
and
arithmetic,
the
last
in
a
very
elementary
form.
The
child's
first
attempts
at
writing
were
prob-ably
done,
as
in
the
Greek
schools
of
the
period,
on
sherds
of
pottery;
from
these
he
would
be
promoted
to
a
wax
tablet
(Lk
f
RV),
on
which
he
wrote
'with
a
pointed
style
or
metal
instrument,
very
much
as
if
one
wrote
on
thickly
buttered
bread
with
a
small
stiletto.'
Only
after
considerable
progress
had
been
made
would
he
finally
reach
the
dignity
of
papyrus.
For
the
mass
of
young
Jews
of
the
male
sex,
for
whom
alone
public
provision
was
made,
the
girls
being
still
restricted
to
the
tuition
of
the
home,
the
teaching
of
the
primary
school
sufficed.
Those,
however,
who
wished
to
be
themselves
teachers,
or
otherwise
to
devote
themselves
to
the
professional
study
of
the
Law,
passed
on
to
the
higher
schools
or
colleges
above
mentioned.
At
the
beginning
of
our
era
the
two
most
important
of
these
colleges
were
taught
by
the
famous
'doctors
of
the
law,'
Hillel
and
Shammai.
It
was
a
grandson
of
the
former,
Gamaliel
i.,
who,
thirty
years
later,
num-bered
Saul
of
Tarsus
among
his
students
(Ac
22').
In
the
Beth
hammidrash
(house
of
study)
the
exclusive
subjects
o|
study
were
the
interpretation
of
the
OT,
and
the
art
of
applying
the
regulations
of
the
Torah,
by
means
of
certain
exegetical
canons,
to
the
minutest
details
of
the
life
of
the
time.
A.
H.
S.
Kennedy.
EGG.—
See
Food,
§
7.
EGLAH
('heifer').
—
One
of
the
wives
of
David,
and
mother
of
Ithream
(2
S
3',
1
Ch
3').
EGLADH
(Is
15').—
A
town
of
Moab.
The
name
has
not
been
recovered.
•
EGLATH
-SHELI8HITAH
occurs
in
an
ancient
oracle
against
Moab,
which
Is
quoted
in
Is
15*
and
Jer
48''.
In
both
these
passages
BV
takes
the
word
to
be
a
proper
name,
giving
in
margin
the
alternative
tr.
'
[as]
an
heifer
of
three
years
old,'
which
is
AV
in
Jer
48"
and
AVm
in
Is
15'.
In
the
latter
passage,
AV
text
omits
'[as].'
It
is
still
somewhat
uncertain
whether
the
word
is
an
appellative
or
a
proper
name,
although
the
latter
view
has
commended
itself
to
the
majority
of
modem
scholars.
EGLON.
—
King
of
Moab,
under
whose
leadership
the
Ammonites
and
Amalekites
joined
with
the
Moabites
in
fighting
and
defeating
the
Israelites.
The
latter
'
served,'
i.e.
paid
tribute
to,
Eglon
for
eiglD^een
years.
Towards
the
end
of
this
period
Ehud
assassinated
Eglon,
and
brought
to
an
end
the
Moabite
ascendency
over
Israel
(Jg
3'2ff).
W.
O.
E.
Oebtehley.
EGLON.
—
A
town
near
Lachish,
mentioned
only
in
connexion
with
the
campaign
of
Joshua.
Its
king,
Debir,
joined
the
coalition
against
the
Gibeonites
(Jos
10'),
and
after
the
reduction
of
Lachish
Joshua
captured
and
destroyed
it
(los*').
The
site
is
probably
Tell
NejUeh,
near
Tell
el-Hesy
(Lachish);
the
neigh-bouring
Khurheh
*
Ajlan
better
preserves
the
name,
but
the
site
is
of
no
great
antiquity.
R.
A.
S.
Macalister.
EGYPT.—
Habitable
and
cultivable
Egypt
consists
practically
of
the
broad
fan-shaped'
Delta
opening
on
to
the
Mediterranean,
and
tlie
narrow
valley
of
the
Nile
bordered
by
deserts
as
far
as
the
First
Cataract
(beyond
which
is
Nubia,
i.e.
Ethiopia),
with
a
few
oases
westward
of
the
valley.
Amongst
the
latter
may
be
EGYPT
counted
the
Fayyum,
which,
however,
is
separated
from
the
river
only
by
a
narrow
ridge,
and
is
connected
therewith
by
a
canal
or
natural
channel
conveying
the
waters
of
the
river
to
the
oasis.
The
Greek
name
Aigvptos
may
perhaps
be
connected
with
Hakeptah,
a
name
in
vogue
during
the
New
Kingdom
for
Memphis,
the
northern
capital.
Egypt
was
divided
anciently
into
Upper
and
Lower,
the
latter
comprising
the
Delta
and
a
portion
of
the
valley
reaching
above
Memphis,
while
Upper
Egypt
(the
northern
portion
of
which
is
often
spoken
of
as
Middle
Egypt)
terminated
at
the
First
Cataract
(Aswan).
Each
of
these
main
divisions
was
subdivided
into
nomes,
or
counties,
varying
to
some
extent
at
different
times,
22
being
a
standard
number
for
the
Upper
Country
and
20
for
the
Lower.
Each
nome
had
its
capital
city
—
the
god
of
which
was
im-portant
throughout
the
nome
—
and
was
generally
governed
by
a
nomarch.
The
alluvial
land
of
Egypt
is
very
fertile
and
easy
to
cultivate.
Its
fertility
is
independent
of
rainfall,
that
being
quite
insignificant
except
along
the
Mediterranean
coast;
it
depends
on
the
annual
rise
of
the
Nile,
which
commences
in
June
and
continues
till
October.
If
the
rise
is
adequate,
it
secures
the
main
crops
throughout
the
country.
In
ancient
times
there
may
have
been
extensive
groves
of
acacia
trees
on
the
borders
of
the
alluvium
kept
moist
by
soakage
from
the
Nile;
but
at
most
seasons
of
the
year
there
was
practically
no
natural
pasture
or
other
spontaneous
growth
except
in
marshy
districts.
In
this
brief
sketch
it
is
impossible
to
bestow
more
than
a
glance
upon
the
various
aspects
of
Egyptian
civilization.
The
ancient
Egyptians
were
essentially
not
negroes,
though
some
affirm
that
their
skulls
reveal
a
negro
admixture.
Their
language
shows
a
remote
affinity
with
the
Semitic
group
in
structure,
but
very
little
in
vocabulary;
the
writing
for
monumental
and
decorative
purposes
was
in
pictorial
'hieroglyphic'
signs,
modified
for
ordinary
purposes
into
cursive
'hieratic'
and
in
late
times
further
to
'demotic':
the
last
form
preserves
no
traces
of
the
pictorial
origins
recognizable
by
any
one
but
a
student.
The
Egyptian,
like
the
old
Hebrew
writing,
cannot
record
vowels,
but
only
the
consonantal
skeletons
of
words.*
The
Egyptian
artist
at
his
best
could
rise
to
great
beauty
and
sublimity,
but
the
bulk
of
his
work
is
dead
with
conventionality,
and
he
never
attained
to
the
idea
of
perspective
in
drawing.
The
Egyptian
engineers
could
accurately
place
the
largest
monoUths,
without,
however,
learning
any
such
mechanical
contrivances
as
the
pulley
or
the
screw.
The
'wisdom
of
the
Egyptians'
was
neither
far
advanced
nor
profound,
thougtf
many
ideas
were
familiar
to
them
that
had
never
entered
the
heads
of
the
nomads
and
inferior
races
about
them.
Their
mathematics
and
astronomy
were
of
the
simplest
kind;
yet
the
Egyptian
calendar
was
infinitely
superior
to
all
its
contemporaries,
and
is
scarcely
surpassed
by
our
own.
The
special
import-ance
attached
by
the
Egyptians
to
the
disposal
and
furnishing
of
the
body
after
death
may
have
been
inspired
by
the
preservative
climate.
From
an
early
time
the
elaboration
of
doctrines
regarding
the
after-life
went
on,
involving
endless
contradictions.
We
may
well
admire
the
early
connexion
of
religion
with
moraUty,
shown
especially
in
the
'Negative
(Jonfession'
and
the
judgment
scene
of
the
weighing
of
the
soul
before
Osiris,
dating
not
later
than
the
18th
Dynasty;
yet
in
practice
the
Egyptian
religion,
so
far
as
we
can
judge,
was
mainly
a
compeUing
of
the
gods
by
magic
formulffi.
The
priesthood
was
wealthy
and
powerful,
*
Egyptian
names
in
this
and
other
articles
by
the
same
writer,
ifnot
in
their
Grecized
or
Hebraizedf
ormB,
are
given,
where
possible,
as
they
appear
to
have
been
pronounced
in
the
time
of
the
Deltaic
Dynasties
and
onwards,
i.e.
during
the
last
1000
years
B.C.
This
appears
preferable
to
a
purely
conventional
form,
as
it
represents
approximately
the
pro-nunciation
heard
by
the
Heorew
writers.
The
vowels
are
to
be
pronounced
as
tn
Italian.
