As Charles Dickens might have said, it was the best of times and the worst of times in Egypt when Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, was sold into bondage And as he might have said further, it was a time of light and of darkness, of hope and yet of despair. Egypt at that time was a land of confusion, of political upheaval, of scheming and intrigue and conquest. It was a time of prosperity for the rich minority and yet of extreme poverty for...