Ancient Egypt was the Big Apple of its time. In terms of
technology, art, architecture, literature, wealth, and highly
organized bureaucracy, Egypt was a consummate civilization. It
had been so for many centuries when a small group of 70 Semitic
herdsmen arrived there 3,528 years ago. No wonder that the
second and third generations of that Semitic family, the
grandchildren of Jacob, were enthralled by Egyptian society. Its
grandeur, its power, and its cosmopolitan air were enough to
dazzle any immigrant child. Imagine an Israelite youth peering
at the imposing line of towering pyramids that started at the
Nile Delta and extended for 1500 miles southward. The largest of
them, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, stood 481 feet high; its base
covered an area of 13 acres. The monumental structure contained
2.3 million blocks of limestone, each averaging 2½ tons. Gazing
at this centuries-old pyramid, our immigrant youth would not
have known -- and perhaps not have cared -- that its
construction took 100,000 laborers 20 ye