This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
By Georg Ebers
Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford
Last winter I resolved to complete this book, and while giving it theform in which it now goes forth into the world, I was constantly remindedof the dear friend to whom I intended to dedicate it. Now I am permittedto offer it only to the manes of Gustav Baur; for a few months ago deathsnatched him from us.
Every one who was allowed to be on terms of intimacy with this man feelshis departure from earth as an unspeakably heavy loss, not only becausehis sunny, cheerful nature and brilliant intellect brightened the soulsof his friends; not only because he poured generously from theoverflowing cornucopia of his rich knowledge precious gifts to those withwhom he stood in intellectual relations, but above all because of theloving heart which beamed through his clear eyes, and enabled him toshare the joys and sorrows of others, and enter into their thoughts andfeelings.
To my life's end I shall not forget that during the last few years,himself physically disabled and overburdened by the duties imposed by theoffice of professor and counsellor of the Consistory, he so often foundhis way to me, a still greater invalid. The hours he then permitted meto spend in animated conversation with him are among those which,according to old Horace, whom he know so thoroughly and loved so well,must be numbered among the 'good ones'. I have done so, and whenever Igratefully recall them, in my ear rings my friend's question:
"What of the story of the Exodus?"
After I had told him that in the midst of the desert, while following thetraces of the departing Hebrews, the idea had occurred to me of treatingtheir wanderings in the form of a romance, he expressed his approval inthe eager, enthusiastic manner natural to him. When I finally enteredfarther into the details of the sketch outlined on the back of a camel,he never ceased to encourage me, though he thoroughly understood myscruples and fully appreciated the difficulties which attended thefulfilment of my task.
So in a certain degree this book is his, and the inability to offer itto the living man and hear his acute judgment is one of the griefs whichrender it hard to reconcile oneself to the advancing years which in otherrespects bring many a joy.
Himself one of the most renowned, acute and learned students andinterpreters of the Bible, he was perfectly familiar with the criticalworks the last five years have brought to light in the domain of OldTestament criticism. He had taken a firm stand against the views of theyounger school, who seek to banish the Exodus of the Jews from theprovince of history and represent it as a later production of the myth-making popular mind; a theory we both believed untenable. One of hisremarks on this subject has lingered in my memory and ran nearly asfollows:
"If the events recorded in the Second Book of Moses—which I believe aretrue—really never occurred, then nowhere and at no period has ahistorical event of equally momentous result taken place. For thousandsof years the story of the Exodus has lived in the minds of numberlesspeople as something actual, and it still retains its vitality. Thereforeit belongs to history no