Pharaohs in the Bible

The Bible makes reference to various pharaohs (Hebrew: פַּרְעֹה‎, Parʿō) of Egypt. These include unnamed pharaohs in events described in the Torah, as well as several later named pharaohs, some of whom were historical or can be identified with historical pharaohs.

Shoshenq I (centre), founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt and the earliest Biblical figure to be attested in the archaeological record

Unnamed pharaohs

In the Book of Genesis

Joseph presenting his father and brethren to the Pharaoh (1896)

Genesis 12:10–20 tells of Abram moving to Egypt to escape a period of famine in Canaan. Abram worries that the unnamed pharaoh will kill him and take away his wife Sarai, so Abram tells her to say she is his sister. They are eventually summoned to meet the pharaoh, but God sends plagues against the pharaoh because of his intention to marry Sarai. After discovering that Sarai is Abram's wife, he releases her and orders Abram to take his belongings and return to Canaan. Abd al-Husayn Tayyib claimed this Pharaoh was Sanakht, while Al-Maqrizi regards his name as "Tutis".^[1] Egyptologist David Rohl argued that this pharaoh was Nebkaure Khety IV.^[2] Rohl's claim has been rejected by the vast majority of Egyptologists.^[3]

The final chapters of the Book of Genesis (Genesis 37–50) tell how Joseph, son of Jacob, is sold by his brothers into Egyptian slavery, promoted by another unnamed pharaoh to vizier of Egypt, and later given permission to bring his father, his brothers, and their families into Egypt to live in the Land of Goshen (eastern Nile Delta around modern Faqus). Author Ahmed Osman proposed that this pharaoh was Thutmose IV and identified Joseph as the Egyptian figure Yuya.^[4] Other scholars generally reject Osman's claims.^[5] David Rohl argued that this pharaoh was Amenemhat III and identified Joseph as the Egyptian vizer Ankhu.^[6] Rohl's claim has been turned down by the vast majority of Egyptologists.^[7]

In the Book of Exodus

In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites—the descendants of Jacob's sons—are living in the Land of Goshen under a new pharaoh who oppresses the Hebrews. He forces them to work long hours, which includes building Pithom and Ramses, making mortar, and baking bricks. He also issues a decree to kill their newborn males in order to reduce their numbers due to concerns about their growing population (Shiphrah and Puah briefly try to prevent this, to no avail). Moses, a Levite, is saved by his mother who instructs his sister Miriam to watch over him after he is placed in a reed basket in the Nile River. He is discovered and adopted by the pharaoh's daughter. Miriam asks the princess if she would like an Israelite woman to help nurse the child and returns with Moses' own mother, who is then able to raise her child under royal protection. Later, Moses is returned to the pharaoh's daughter and raised as part of the royal household.

Hypotheses on identity

Most scholars do not recognize the biblical portrayal of the Exodus as an actual historical event.^[8] Most modern scholars believe that some elements in the story of the Exodus might have some historical basis, but that any such basis has little resemblance to the story told in the Pentateuch.^[9][10] However, numerous Pharaohs have been proposed as contemporary with the Exodus with varying degrees of plausibility:

• Pepi I (24th–23rd century BC): Emmanuel Anati has argued that the Exodus should be placed between the 24th and the 21st century BC and that Pepi I should be identified as the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[11] This theory has not gained acceptance and has received strong criticism from Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein and American Egyptologist James K. Hoffmeier.^[12][13]
• Dedumose II (died c. 1690 BC): David Rohl's 1995 A Test of Time revised Egyptian history by shortening the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt by almost 300 years. As a result, the synchronisms with the biblical narrative results in the Second Intermediate Period King Dedumose II the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[14] Rohl's revision has been turned down by the vast majority of Egyptologists.^[15]
• Ahmose I (1550–1525 BC): Several church fathers identified Ahmose I, who reconquered lower Egypt from the Hyksos, rulers of Asiatic (Semitic) origin, as the pharaoh of the Exodus, based on Herodotus, Manetho, Josephus and other classical authors' identification of the Hyksos with the Hebrews.^[16]
• Hatshepsut (1507–1458 BC): Diodorus Siculus identified the Jews with the Hyksos and identified the pharaoh of the Exodus with Queen Hatshepsut.^[17] However, since Hatshepsut is a woman, she cannot possibly be identified as the pharaoh of the Exodus, who was clearly stated multiple times to be a man.^[18]
• Thutmose II (1493–1479 BC): Alfred Edersheim proposes in Old Testament Bible History that Thutmose II is best qualified to be the pharaoh of Exodus based on the fact that he had a brief, prosperous reign and then a sudden collapse with no legitimate son to succeed him. His widow Hatshepsut then became first regent (for Thutmose III, his son by his concubine Iset) before becoming pharaoh herself. Edersheim states that Thutmose II is the only pharaoh's mummy to display cysts, possible evidence of plagues that spread through the Egyptian and Hittite Empires at that time.^[19]
• Thutmose III (1479-1427 BC): Popular candidate for the Exodus pharaoh because his reign corresponds with the Masoretic text of when the 1 Kings account claims the Exodus occurred.^[20][21] Thutmose III was a brilliant military strategist who founded a navy and brought Egypt to its largest extent in history due to a result of many foreign military campaigns. However, this pharaoh was also regarded as one of the greatest in history with a reign that was incredibly prosperous, thus making it somewhat unlikely that he was the pharaoh who brought Egypt to its knees during the Exodus.^[22]
• Amenhotep II (1427–1401 BC): Popular candidate for the Exodus pharaoh for many reasons. Amenhotep II claimed to have brought tens of thousands of slaves from the Levant to Egypt. 3,600 of these slaves were "Apiru", which is believed to mean "Hebrew". This word is similar to the Akkadian word for Hebrew, "Habiru".^[23] Amenhotep II is also notoriously remembered for his excessive cruelty, at one point transported enemy leaders tied upside down on a ship, before nailing them to the walls of Thebes and Napata. This is consistent with the character of the Exodus pharaoh, stated to have a "hardened heart". Amenhotep II also distrusted enemy magicians, and ordered his officials to be wary of their tricks, possible evidence for the miracles performed by Moses and Aaron during the Exodus.^[24] Amenhotep II's mummy also displays tubercles of unknown origin, which could be possible evidence of the plague of boils, and the son that succeeded him, Thutmose IV, wasn't Amenhotep II's firstborn. It is also noteworthy that Amenhotep II was not the firstborn son of his father, Thutmose III, which would fit with the Bible claiming that the Exodus pharaoh did not die in the tenth plague.^[25][26] Chronologically, Amenhotep II also makes sense, because the Exodus account records that Moses lived in Midian for 40 years until the people who wanted his life were dead. Since the pharaoh before Amenhotep II, Thutmose III, reigned for 54 years, this would account for the 40 years Moses spent in Midian.^[27] Furthermore, multiple ancient writers, including Manetho and Josephus, referred to the pharaoh of the Exodus as being called "Amenophis", which is the Greek translation of the name "Amenhotep".^[28]
• Akhenaten (1353–1349 BC): In his book Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest of Akhenaten who was forced to leave Egypt, along with his followers, following the pharaoh's death. Eusebius identified the pharaoh of the Exodus with a king called "Acencheres", who may be identified with Akenhaten.^[29]
• Ramesses I (1292–1290 BC): Ahmed Osman identified Ramesses I as the pharaoh of the Exodus in his controversial argument about the identity of the Egyptian official Yuya.^[30]
• Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BC): Ramesses II, or Ramesses the Great, is the most common figure for the Exodus pharaoh as Rameses is mentioned in the Bible as a place name (see Genesis 47:11, Exodus 1:11, Numbers 33:3, etc).^[31] As such, he is often the pharaoh depicted in most popular culture narratives of the event (such as the 1956 film The Ten Commandments and the 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt). Although Ramesses II's late 13th century BC stela in Beth Shan mentions two conquered peoples who came to "make obeisance to him" in his city of Raameses or Pi-Ramesses, the text mentions neither the building of the city nor, as some have written, the Israelites or Hapiru.^[32] However, many scholars today do not subscribe to a late date for the Exodus and therefore hold that he lived far too late to be the Exodus pharaoh.^[33][34]
• Merneptah (c. 1213–1203 BC): Isaac Asimov in Guide to the Bible makes a case for Merneptah to be the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[35]
• Setnakhte (c. 1189–1186 BC): Igor P. Lipovsky and Israel Knohl make a case for Setnakhte to be the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[36][37]
• Ramesses III (c. 1186–1155 BC): Gary A. Rendsburg, Baruch Halpern and Manfred Bietak make a case for Ramesses III as the pharaoh of the Exodus.^[38][39][40]
• Bakenranef (c. 725–720 BC): Tacitus writes in his Histories that Bakenranef (whom he refers to as "Bocchoris") had expelled the Jews from Egypt because they suffered from a horrible disease and because he was instructed to do so by an oracle of the god Amun.^[41] Lysimachus of Alexandria, quoted by Josephus in Against Apion, also identifies the pharaoh of the Exodus with Bakenranef.^[42]
• Ramses (?–?): Manetho and Chaeremon of Alexandria, both quoted by Josephus in Against Apion, state that the Jews were expelled from Egypt by a pharaoh named "Ramses", son of another pharaoh named "Amenophis". It is unclear which pharaoh this could be, since no pharaoh named Ramses had a predecessor named Amenophis.^[42]

In the Books of Kings

Main article: Pharaoh's daughter (wife of Solomon)

In 1 Kings 3:1, it is narrated that to seal an alliance, the pharaoh of Egypt gave a daughter in marriage to Solomon. The same ruler later captured the city of Gezer and gave it to Solomon as well (1 Kings 9:16). No name is given for the pharaoh, and some hypotheses have been proposed:

• Horemheb (c. 1319–1292 BC): David Rohl's 1995 A Test of Time identified Horemheb as the Pharaoh who destroyed Gezer and later gave it to Solomon, together with one of his daughters as a wife. When Horemheb took Gezer he was not yet the ruler, but was a military commander serving under Tutankhamun. However, he became Pharaoh not long after, and Tutankhamun died too young to have left any marriageable daughters.^[43] In any case, Rohl's claim has been turned down by the vast majority of Egyptologists.^[44]
• Siamun (c. 986–967 BC): is the most commonly proposed candidate for this role.^{[45][46][47][48]}
• Psusennes II (c. 967–943 BC): the Catholic Encyclopedia sees him as the best candidate.^[49]
• Shoshenq I (c. 943–922 BC): Edward Lipiński dated the destruction of Gezer to the late 10th century rather than earlier, and suggested that its conqueror was Shoshenq I of the 22nd Dynasty.^[50]

Conjectural pharaohs

• 1 Kings 11:40 and 2 Chronicles 12:2 sqq. tell of an invasion of Israel by Shishak, and a subsequent raid of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon. He is generally identified with Shoshenq I (943–922 BC), whose military campaign in the Levant is attested in some of his inscriptions.^[51]
• "So, King of Egypt" is mentioned in 2 Kings 17:4, where king Hoshea is said to have sent him a letter. No pharaoh of this name is known for the time of Hoshea (about 730 BC), during which Egypt had three dynasties ruling contemporaneously: 22nd at Tanis, 23rd at Leontopolis, and 24th at Sais. Nevertheless, this ruler is commonly identified with Osorkon IV (730–715 BC) who ruled from Tanis,^[52][53][54] though it is possible that the biblical writer has mistaken the king with his city and equated So with Sais, at this time ruled by Tefnakht.^{[citation needed]}

Historical pharaohs

Taharqa offering to Falcon-god Hemen (close-up)

• Shoshenq I (see above): Generally identified with the pharaoh Shishak, who is described as raiding Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon in 1 Kings 11:40 and 2 Chronicles 12:2 sqq.^[55]
• Taharqa (690–664 BC): Identified as Tirhaqa, who is described in 2 Kings 19:9 and Isaiah 37:9 as a king of Kush, who waged war against Sennacherib during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah.^[56] The events in the biblical account are believed to have taken place in 701 BC, whereas Taharqa came to the throne some ten years later. A number of explanations have been proposed: one being that the title of king in the Biblical text refers to his future royal title, when at the time of this account he was likely only a military commander serving under Shabaka.^[57]
• Necho II (610–595 BC): Necho is mentioned in several books of the Bible (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah).^[58][59] Jeremiah 44:30 also mentions his successor Apries (589–570 BC).

See also

• Ipuwer Papyrus
• Moses in Islam
• New Chronology (Rohl)
• Shiphrah
• Thrasyllus of Mendes