language in the phrase--

"The fairest of her daughters Eve."

Joseph is also reckoned, although he "was in Egypt already." Now, it
must be observed that of these seventy, sixty-eight were males, and
therefore the people of the Exodus must not be reckoned to have sprung
in the interval from seventy, but (remembering polygamy) from more than
twice that number, even if we refuse to make any account of the
household which is mentioned as coming with every man. These households
were probably smaller in each case than that of Abraham, and the famine
in its early stages may have reduced the number of retainers; yet they
account for much of what is pronounced incredible in the rapid expansion
of the clan into a nation.[1] But when all allowance has been made, the
increase continues to be, such as the narrator clearly regards it,
abnormal, well-nigh preternatural, a fitting type of the expansion, amid
fiercer persecutions, of the later Church of God, the true circumcision,
who also sprang from the spiritual parentage of another Seventy and
another Twelve.

"And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation." Thus
the connection with Canaan became a mere tradition, and the powerful
courtier who had nursed their interests disappeared. When they
remembered him, in the bitter time which lay before them, it was only to
reflect that all mortal help must perish. It is thus in the spiritual
world also. Paul reminds the Philippians that they can obey in his
absence and not in his presence only, working out their own salvation,
as no apostle can work it out on their behalf. And the reason is that
the one real support is ever present. Work out your own salvation, for
it is God (not any teacher) Who worketh in you. The Hebrew race was to
learn its need of Him, and in Him to recover its freedom. Moreover, the
influences which mould all men's characters, their surroundings and
mental atmosphere, were completely changed. These wanderers for pasture
were now in the presence of a compact and impressive social system, vast
cities, gorgeous temples, an imposing ritual. They were infected as well
as educated there, and we find the men of the Exodus not only murmuring
for Egyptian comforts, but demanding visible gods to go before them.

Yet, with all its drawbacks, the change was a necessary part of their
development. They should return from Egypt relying upon no courtly
patron, no mortal might or wisdom, aware of a name of God