the Scriptures privately, it was the duty of the Levites to instruct the people in them, and we may rest assured that such important laws as those appertaining to marriages with near relatives were most prominently brought before the people by their teachers. The customs among the Egyptians, among whom the Israelites had so long sojourned, and with whose practices they may easily have become imbued, were so exceedingly loose in these respects that they did not even hesitate to contract marriages with their own sisters, a practice which was by no means confined only to the common people, since we have instances on record of even their Kings having contracted such incestuous alliances; as for example, Ptolemy Philadelphus with his sister Arsinoe, and Ptolemy Energetus with Berenice. The surrounding idolatrous nations with whom the Israelites might constantly come into contact after their having taken possession of the promised land, were no less conspicuous for their incestuous intercourse than the Egyptians. The awful depravity of the Canaanites is frequently spoken of in Scripture, and the record of the awful fate of Sodom and Gomorrah stands as an everlasting memorial of the fearful wickedness of that people. Among the enlightened Persians the marriages called quaetvodatha, embracing even those with mothers and daughters, were considered as most pleasing to the Gods.
No wonder, then, that the Mosaic matrimonial laws were introduced with the solemn exhortation, "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, ye shall not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I will bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances." (Verses 2, 3.) Considering then that these laws were not only given for the purpose of
