The Pharaohs of the Exodus
In the last issue of Uplook, we took a look at the Pharaohs of Genesis. In this issue, we’ll start to turn our attention to the Pharaohs of Exodus.
There is probably no Old Testament account about which more has been written, or more movies have been made, than the book of Exodus. Echoes of its seminal events reach to today. Yet little is known or understood about the main antagonists. A study of archaeology and a review of history enable us to piece together the Pharaohs whose decisions wrought such havoc on both the children of Israel and the children of Egypt.
Invaders
In the late 17th and early 16th centuries BC, a group of people referred to as the “Hyksos” held sway in the Nile Delta. The Egyptian hieroglyph for “Hyksos” literally means “foreign rulers.”1 They made their capital at a city called Avaris in the eastern part of the delta. Speculation exists that they were Amorites, Amalekites, or possibly even Hittites. The key item, though, is that they are widely regarded as having entered Egypt from Asia, probably from the land of Canaan.2
Egyptologists believe that a power change took place in the middle of the 16th Century BC. In 1570 BC, an Egyptian from Thebes named Ahmose I3 began the process of conquering and uniting Egypt. By 1554 BC, he and his armies had made their way north and driven the Hyksos from the Nile Delta. In the process, he established what has come to be known as the New Kingdom. His successors are referred to as Egypt’s 18th Dynasty.4
It is pretty clear that this Theban-based regime deeply resented those who had entered their country from the East. Having wrested control of the country back from Canaanite invaders, there is no doubt that they viewed the Israelites as a continued foreign threat within their midst. But the new regime also saw them as a great source of wealth for their Empire.
Destroyers
Ahmose I was succeeded by his son Amenhotep I around 1551 BC. This is the Pharaoh who issued a decree, the inspiration for which seems to have come directly from hell: the decree to harshly enslave the children of Israel and execute the Hebrew baby boys (Ex. 1:13-16). We believe this brutal decree was issued circa 1530 BC, just as the despot’s rule was drawing to a close. His son, Thutmose I, began to co-reign with him in under a year. Not too long afterwards (circa 1526 BC), Moses was born.5
“And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.” (Ex. 2:1-5)
Rescuers
A good deal has been written in Jewish literature of the heroism displayed by Shiphrah and Puah in resisting Pharaoh’s decree. It is a study for another time, but, more than likely, they were one of the earliest (perhaps even the first) implementers of a basic hospital system. When we recognize that the Israelite population had grown by leaps and bounds since Jacob made his entry into Egypt in roughly 1876 BC, we realize that the midwives were tending to the births of a population that was at least several hundred thousand strong.
The princess who fished Moses from the Nile was Hatshepsut.6 She was the only child that Thutmose I had by his wife, Queen Ahmose.7 Hatshepsut was very young at the time—anywhere from 6 to 16 years of age. She found the little ark and ultimately adopted Moses as her own (see Acts 7:21).
Thutmose I fathered sons from his concubines but never from his wife. This gives you a sense of just how close to the throne of Egypt Moses actually was. Legally, the right to the throne passes through Hatshepsut. In order for the son of one of Pharaoh’s concubines to become Pharaoh’s heir, the son would have to marry Hatshepsut. And this is exactly what Thutmose II did to become the next ruler of Egypt. He wed his half-sister to become legal heir to the throne.8 When this took place, he adopted Moses by extension.
Similar to his father’s fate, Thutmose II did not produce any male heirs with Hatshepsut. They only had a daughter. His sons were all produced from concubines. Apparently, one of these sons followed a similar path to the throne as his father. Thutmose III wedded his half-sister and eventually rose to the throne in 1504 BC. It would seem that Moses was perceived to be a rival by Thutmose III. Regardless, this is the Pharaoh who later sought Moses’ life (Ex. 2:11-15).
God’s ways, not man’s
Moses was a hair’s breadth away from the most powerful position the world had to offer in the 15th century BC. It would seem that he expected to be the vehicle by which the Lord God would deliver the Hebrews (see Acts 7:23-29). But his plan was to accomplish this through his own power and position. God had bigger plans—not just for Moses but for Israel, and for the whole world. The same can be said of us: the Lord God would have us put aside the cares and schemes of this world and fix our minds on things above (Col. 3:2). He has more in store for us than we can imagine.
In the next issue, we’ll take a look at the most important Pharaoh of them all. We’ll also take a look at the significance of the plagues and how they spoke more to the grace of God than we might ever have thought.
ENDNOTES
1 http://bit.ly/biblearch-israel-in-egypt
2 http://bit.ly/jvl-Hyksos
3 Fragmentary statue of Ahmose I found in New York’s Metropolitan Museum (image source: http://bit.ly/Ahmose-I)
4 http://bit.ly/Egypt-in-New-Kingdom
5 http://bit.ly/Moses-and-Hatshepsut
6 Quartz diorite statue of Hatshepsut found in Boston’s Fine Arts Museum (image source: http://bit.ly/Hatshepsut)
7 Ibid
8 Ibid