ring the hundred years of the bondage.
Therefore the name is godly. Of her, what would thy heart say? Hath
she not beauty, hath she not wisdom, hath she not great winsomeness?
There is none like her in these days among all the children of Abraham.
To her Israel looketh for example, for, since she compelleth by her
grace, those who behold her will consider whatever she doeth as good.
Great is the reward of him who can direct and directeth aright, but
shall he not appear abominable in the sight of the Lord if he useth his
power to lead astray? Lo! if she wed thee, to her people it will seem
that she would say: 'Behold, this man is fair in my sight, and it is
good for the chosen of the Lord to take the idolater into his bosom.'
There is a multitude in Israel, which, like sheep, follow blindly as
they are led. Great will be the labor to engrave the worship of the
Lord God in their hearts, when all the powers of Israel shall strive to
do that thing for them. How shall there be any success if Moses and
the appointed of the Lord bid them worship, while the husband or wife
that dwelleth in their tent saith 'Worship not'? To these, Rachel's
marriage with thee would be justification and incentive to incline
toward idolaters and idols. Then there are the wise and discerning who
know that Rachel hath turned away from the best among her people. How,
then, shall she be fallen in their sight if she wed with an idolater?

"She knoweth all these things and she keepeth a firm hold upon herself,
but she hath not said these things to thee lest her strength fail her."

And thus was the mystery explained to him.

"Thou bowest down to a beetle," she went on without pausing. "Thou
worshipest a cat; thou offerest up sacrifice to an image and conservest
abominable and heathen rites. Thou art an idolater, and as such thou
art not for Rachel. And yet, this further: if thou canst become a
worshiper of the true God, thou shalt take her. Never have I seen an
Egyptian won over to the faith of Abraham, but there approacheth a time
of wonders and I shall not marvel."

To Egypt its faith was paramount. Israel in its palmiest days was not
more vigilantly, jealously fanatical than Egypt. Every worshiper was a
zealot; every ecclesiast an inquisitor. Church and State were
inseparably united; law was fused with religion; science and the arts
were governed by hieratic canons.

The individual ate, slept and labored in the name of the gods, an