Pharaohs in the Bible

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

The passages Genesis 12:10–20 narrate how Abraham moves to Egypt to escape a period of famine in Canaan. The unnamed pharaoh, through his princes, hears of the beauty of Abraham's wife Sarah who is summoned to meet him. Because of her, Abraham rises in the Pharaoh's favor and acquires livestock and servants. After discovering Sarah's true relationship to Abraham, the pharaoh chooses not to take her as his own wife. He releases her and Abraham and orders them to take their goods and to leave Egypt.

The last chapters of the Book of Genesis (Genesis 37–50) tell how Joseph, son of Jacob/Israel, is first sold by his brothers into Egyptian slavery but is promoted by the unnamed pharaoh to vizier of Egypt and is 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).

In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob's sons, are living in the Land of Goshen, under a new pharaoh. This pharaoh has forgotten all of Joseph's contributions and seeks to oppress the Hebrews. He forces them to work long hours without breaks and issues a decree to kill their newborn male offspring in order to reduce their numbers after concerns are raised by those guarding the Israelite's that their numbers are becoming too great. Moses, a Levite, is saved from this slaughter by his mother who instructs his sister Miriam to keep watch over him after he is placed in a reed basket and floated off on the river Nile. He is discovered and adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter. Miriam approaches the princess and asks if she would like her to fetch an Israelite woman to help nurse the child. She is instructed to do so and subsequently returns with Moses's own mother, who thereby now has the protection of the royal household when raising her own child protecting him from the decree issued by the Pharaoh to kill all newborn male offspring. During his infant years, he is instructed by his natural mother about the customs and history of his people, the Israelites, and is taught all about Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. Later Moses is returned to Pharaoh's daughter and is from then on raised in the Pharaoh's house according to the Egyptian way of life. Throughout Moses's life as an Egyptian prince, he is aware of his Israelite origins.

Possible suggestions for a historical counterpart to Pharaoh include:

• 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 by-result the synchronisms with the biblical narrative have changed, making the Second Intermediate Period king Dedumose II the pharaoh of the Exodus.[1] Rohl's theory has failed to find support among scholars in his field.[2]
• Ahmose I (1550–1525 BC): Most ancient writers considered Ahmose I to be the pharaoh of the Exodus.[3]
• Akhenaten (1353–1349 BC). In his book Moses and Monotheism Sigmund Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten's death.[4]
• Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BC): Also known as Ramesses the Great, he is the most commonly imagined figure in popular culture (most widely via the 1956 film The Ten Commandments), being one of the most long standing rulers at the height of Egyptian power, but, as with all other Pharaohs, there is no documentary or archaeological evidence that he chased any slaves fleeing Egypt. 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 but mentions neither the building of the city nor, as some have written, the Israelites or Hapiru.[5] Additionally, the historical Pithom was built in the 7th century BC, during the Saite period.[6][7]
• Merneptah (c. 1213–1203 BC): Isaac Asimov in his Guide to the Bible makes a case for him to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus.[8]
• Setnakhte (c. 1189–1186 BC): Igor P. Lipovsky makes a case for him to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus.[9] and Prof. Israel Knohl [10]
• Senusret III[11]

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:

• Siamun (c. 986–967 BC): is the most commonly proposed candidate for this role.[12][13][14]
• Psusennes II (c. 967–943 BC): the Catholic Encyclopedia sees him as the best candidate.[15]
• 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.[16]