On this subject
the lawgiver could have learned nothing in Egypt. The commerce of that
country was confined to the inland caravan trade. The Egyptians hated
or dreaded the sea, which they considered either the dwelling of the
evil principle, or the evil principle itself. At all events, the
Hebrews at this period were either blind to the maritime advantages of
their situation, or unable to profit by them. The ports were the last
places they conquered. Sidon, if indeed within their boundary, never
lost its independence; Tyre, if it existed, was a town too obscure to
be named; Ecdippa and Acco remained in the power of the Canaanites;
Joppa is not mentioned as a port till much later. The manufactures of
the people supplied their own wants; they brought from Egypt the arts
of weaving woollens and linens, stuffs made of fine goats' hair, and
probably cotton; of dying in various colours, and bleaching, and of
embroidering; of many kinds of carpenter's work; of building, some
of the rules of which were regulated by law; of making earthenware
vessels; of working in iron, brass, and the precious metals, both
casting them and forming them with the tool; of gilding, engraving
seals, and various other kinds of ornamental work, which were
employed in the construction of the altars and sacred vessels of the
Tabernacle.
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