Egypt’s Imperial City in Moses’ Day.

Scenes that Israel’s great leader may have looked upon while receiving his education at Pharaoh’s court.
IT matters little for our present purpose what date may be accepted for the exodus of Israel. Whether we think that event took place in Merneptah’s reign, about 1230 B. C., or earlier, as some suppose. Thebes was the great imperial city of the age. There can be little question that Moses knew this city well. After being found by the Pharaoh’s daughter of that time, who later adopted him (Exod. 2: 10), it would be the natural place for him to live, at least for the greater part of the first forty years of his life. She, we are told, “nourished him for her own son,” educated him “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” so that he became “mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7: 21, 22). Moses became familiar with “the treasures in Egypt,” and knew of “the pleasures of sin” which might be enjoyed in that land (Heb. 11: 25, 26).
Stephen seems to intimate plainly that until he was forty years old, Moses had not dwelt with the children of Israel (Acts 7: 23). It then “came into his heart to visit his brethren.” They lived in the land of Goshen, to the north of Thebes, a journey of about four hundred miles.
Let us try to get a picture of this world-metropolis of that time when Israel’s great leader was reared by the Pharaoh’s daughter’ amid the splendors of the Egyptian court. Though adopted by her, he later refused to recognize this relation (Heb. 11: 24). Perhaps this was connected with his purpose to visit his brethren. Evidently, he had come to know his true lineage and chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God” (Heb. 11: 25).
The extensive and successful campaigns of the early Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty made Thebes the great commercial center of the world. Both banks of the river were crowded with shipping which passed to and fro between the maritime provinces. The world’s commerce converged there, and there the financial masters controlled the world’s exchange. 
Wandering along the quays of this ancient metropolis, you would have seen shipments of grain, various woods, wines, spices, wonderful pottery, tapestries, bronzes, oils, ivory, war equipment, and products from the mines of Sinai. Going in a southerly direction, you would reach the landing stages to which the great building stones were brought from the Aswan quarries.
The way in which these immense masses of stone were handled still remains very much of a mystery. Amenhotep III erected two immense statues of himself, each being about seventy feet high, cut from one block of stone, and weighing fully seven hundred tons. What Petrie says about the preparation and erection of one of the obelisks at Thebes, which was nearly one hundred feet high and of hard granite, was doubtless true in many other departments of activity. “Nothing impresses us more with the magnificent organization of the Egyptians, than [their] power of launching hundreds of highly trained and competent workmen on a single scheme in perfect co-ordination. It is not a question of a tyranny of brute force and mere numbers; but, on the contrary, a brilliant organization and foresight dealing with a carefully prepared staff.”
Eastward from the river stretched the main part of the city containing the business and residential sections, many gorgeous temples, palaces, and villas, for Thebes, “the hundred-gated city,” was a luxurious metropolis, the glory of the Pharaohs as great Babylon was of Nebuchadnezzar.
To the north stretched out the great temple area of Karnak, with its pylons, obelisks, terraces, and columned halls, an awe-inspiring sight, its many brilliantly colored surfaces standing out against the dull tone of its massive walls, holding the spectator in rapt wonder as he gazed upon some of the most stupendous works of antiquity.
The western part of Thebes unrolled before the eye like some great park district reaching from near the river back toward the Libyan Mountains which terminate the Sahara Plateau. At the foot of the cliffs which bounded this western plain, the tombs of the kings are found. And on this side, too, the pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty early began to build their palaces, finest among which was that of Amenhotep II, who was well called “The Magnificent.” From this vantage ground they gazed over the fruitful lowlands that reached to the Nile, and then across to the rising eastern bank where lay the closely built city. A pleasing panorama spread out before their eyes, as the city’s broken sky-line died away amid the groves of palm and olive trees in the midst of which nestled the suburban estates of the Theban upper class. A little beyond the massive lines of the temple structures broke into the blue of the northern horizon, their highly colored surfaces appearing amid the green of the acacia and sycamore that lined the avenues of those sacred precincts. High above all other surroundings, as though bidding defiance to all who would question Egypt’s supremacy, there fluttered from the huge flagstaffs at Karnak the dual colors of the empire, long streamers of white and red. Close by like giant sentinels capped in silver and gold, rose the great obelisks inscribed with records of Egypt's greatness.
Passing through the streets and avenues of this wonder-city, you would see richly decorated chariots drawn by wonderful Syrian horses; or you might look upon a gang of slaves being driven to their tasks; or see craftsman, artist, and merchant busy at their respective occupations. You would be filled with amazement at the lavish show of wealth, evidence of which was displayed by men and women from nearly every station of life, whose rich character of dress, display of jewelry, and general surroundings gave witness to abundant means.
Thebes fills a place second to none on the list of great cities. It was the heart of an empire, the power of which was felt from the headwaters of the Nile to the banks of the Euphrates. The seat of government, it ranked first among other notable cities as the world-center of art, learning, commerce, wealth, and luxury. This is the Thebes in which Moses must have spent many of his first forty years as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was educated in its schools, made proficient in “all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and in deeds,” the first stage in the preparation of this great leader.
It is of interest, also, to know something of the palace surroundings with which Moses must have become familiar in those early years of intimacy at the Pharaoh’s court. We cannot describe the palace to which Moses was introduced when brought by his mother-nurse to the Pharaoh’s daughter (Exod. 2: 10), since we are not presuming to fix the exact time of Moses’ advent. But we can outline the palace of Amenhotep III, which we are assured, except for its size, is a good example of the dwellings in Thebes occupied by the noble and wealthy classes.
Wilson, in his “Living Pageant of the Nile,” tells us:
“Modern excavations have uncovered such vestiges of this palace that an expert architect could almost reconstruct it. We know that the rooms of state were wainscoted with gleaming tiles overlaid with gold leaf, and above the wainscoting, rich tapestries concealed the tinted plaster. The floors were of smooth composition painted with scenes of marsh life . . . the ceilings were frescoed with white doves and golden butterflies in regular patterns.
“Within a great enclosing wall of brick and surrounded by lawns and trees, stood the palace structure, a large rectangular building of light wood and stucco, painted in bright colors, and having a front entrance with an overhanging canopy supported on columns. . . . Passing through the entrance, the visitor found himself in a vestibule, the doors of which opened into the state reception and banqueting hall. This was an enormous room two stories high . . . with tall columns around the sides supporting a flat roof raised several feet above the top of the room walls so as to give open-air space on all sides . . . This great room of state opened upon the first of a series of grassy courtyards which brought light and air into the living apartments. Every court had its tiled pool in which fish swam and lotus bloomed. Vines covered the courtyard walls with restful green beds of amaranth, asphodel, and heliotrope, also beds of better-known flowers as scarlet sage, poppies, larkspur, mignonette, and chrysanthemums, in their various seasons, gladdened the eye and loaded the air with perfume. Ornamental trees, summer houses, and arbored walks gave shade at noon.
“The ground floors around these courtyards were occupied almost exclusively by storage rooms and the various kitchens, bakeries, and other workrooms. The living quarters were above, except that the private suite of the king was on the ground floor along one side of the great court. Outer stairways led to the chambers above. One feature of the palace was a gorgeous balcony in the great court of 'good gold and lazulite and malachite.'
“Every suite in the living quarters had a bathroom; in fact almost every house in ancient Egypt possessed this luxury, for with the Egyptians, cleanliness was an actual part of godliness. Slaves substituted for modern piping and poured water upon the bathers from earthen jars. The stone floors sloped toward drains.
“On the terraced roofs of the palace were loggias that were favorite gathering-places on summer evenings after the refreshing north breeze began to blow.” Moses moved in the midst of scenes similar to this.
We do not know when, in the course of his experience, Moses came to know his true birth-connection, and turned his attention to consider the standing and condition of the people to whom he discovered he really belonged. One can imagine the conflicting emotions which surged through his breast as he contemplated the wealth, glory, and power of Thebes, and contrasted with it the downtrodden state of his own people. That, in those years there developed in him an inner consciousness of his high calling to deliver Israel is evident from Stephen’s address before the council at Jerusalem. Compare Acts 7: 23-29 with Exodus 2: 11-15. As he certainly could not have thought that his people were mental telepathists, his supposition that they would understand his future work must have arisen out of previous intercourse with them concerning deliverance from slavery.
Evidently Moses was impetuous though courageous, and at the first, his way and time were not the way and time for action according to the plans of an all-wise and ever-superintending Providence, however correct his intuitive knowledge that God would deliver Israel by his hand. The ways and thoughts of God are as high above the ways and thoughts of man as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isa. 55: 8, 9), and who has measured this? Moses’ hasty action necessitated his flight to the desert where he remained for years in the solitude as a shepherd, away from the glamour, tumult, luxury, and pleasure of Thebes, out of the reach of court intrigues, sharing in spirit at least amid his lonely surroundings, the affliction of his oppressed people, learning doubtless much of a very different order from what he had studied under Egyptian court tutelage. Thus, he passed through another stage of preparation during the second forty years of his life, awaiting the Divine signal to return to Egypt to commence his great lifework. This came in due time—and Jehovah said, “Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life” (Exod. 4: 19).
PLAINFIELD, N. J.
"The Sunday School Times" June 26, 1926