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Who was the pharaoh ‘who did not know Joseph’?
“Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”” (Exodus 1:8–10 NASB)
This new Pharaoh fears the Israelites. They are many of them and he worries they might become a military threat and help their enemies conquer them.
There are two dominate theories about the identity of the Pharaoh of the Exodus: Rameses, which has been debunked for generations or Thutmoses III. Most modern scholars believe that Thutmoses III was the Pharaoh of the Exodus.
The Pharaoh Ahmoses (Nebpehtyre) expelled the Hyksos about 1557 B.C. The Hyksos were a Canaanite-Semitic people, who ruled Egypt about 100 years or so. Ahmoses (Nebpehtyre) expelled the Hyksos from power but there were still large numbers of Semitic people living in Goshen even after the Hyksos no longer ruled Egypt.
The Pharaoh who Joseph worked for was a Hyksos pharaoh, not an Egyptian pharaoh. When Ahmoses (Nebpehtyre) gained the throne, he did not feel compelled to continue favoring the Israelites in Goshen the way the Hyksos did before him.
Ahmoses (Nebpehtyre) had a son named Amuntotep I (Djeserkare) who some scholars believe was the Pharaoh who called for all the Hebrew boys to be killed in the Nile. Amuntotep I (Djeserkare) had a daughter named Hatshepsut, who was the adopted mother of Moses. She later marries her half-brother Thutmoses I (Aakheperkare).
Most of these Pharaohs did not reign very long. Most reigned for about 20 years or so at the most. Each new Pharaoh was more oppressive and cruel to the Israelites than the one before him.
Egypt was at constant war with various Canaanite tribes, so Pharaoh’s fear that the Israelites might have a natural favoritism to the Canaanites was not an irrational fear.
There are four ways you can deal with an enemy:
- Befriend
- Expel
- Oppress
- Kill
King who tried to kill the Messiah parallels the evil pharaoh who wouldn’t let Israel go
Egypt chose to oppress the Israelites. Egypt wasn’t the only king who had to deal with enemies in his country. Let’s look at King Herod and compare how he dealt with the threat of the coming of Yeshua v. how Pharaoh dealt with the coming of Yeshua.
| Pharaoh of the Exodus | Herod |
|---|---|
| Pharaoh Ahmoses I took throne by force, expelling foreign Semitic Hyksos | Herod took throne by force killing Hasmoneans & expelling Parthians |
| Pharaoh was Egyptian & did not know Joseph (Viceroy for Hyksos dynasty) | Herod was Edomite did not obey laws of God (Hasmonean) |
| Did not recognize tax free gift of Goshen/Ramses to Hebrews for ruling their own affairs. Maintained fear. | Did not allow Sanhedrin to rule their own affairs (executed & oppressed most of them). Killed many to maintain fear. |
| Enslaved Semitic Hebrews with cruelty fearing they would join Semitic enemies & take throne. | The most cruel King of the Roman empire (up-to-then). Conspired to murder family & leaders. |
| Built cities by the Hebrew slave labor (Pithon & Ramses). | Built cities by extreme taxation (Caesarea, Temple & Idols). |
| Pharaoh Amunhotep I ordered Midwives to kill Semitic boys. | Instructed Parthian Magi king-makers to lead way to Yeshua to kill him. |
| Midwives disobeyed & given houses of their own. | Magi disobey Herod & return home another route. |
| Moses’ parents saw he was special & concealed him from Pharaoh. | Yeshua’s parents warned & concealed him in Egypt from Herod. |
| Orders killing of male baby boys (not including Aaron 3 years older). | Orders killing of boys under 2 years old in Bethlehem. |
| Moses delivered from execution by Pharaoh’s daughter Hatshepsut (10 or 15 years old). | Heads of every household delivered from execution by Herod’s Sister (after he died). |
| Moses adopted as first-born to Thutmoses II (Aakheperenre) (Thutmoses II only had daughters with Hatshepsut). | Yeshua became God’s heir to throne (all others are dead). |
The minds of the evil rulers are not clear. They are like drunkards who are blind and stupid. Pharaoh in Egypt and Herod were not clear thinking men. Both of them were, by every historical account, rotten human beings. They rule by instinct not by logic and reason. God crushes prideful and arrogant kings like this.
“Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:11–12 NASB)
Moses certainly had witnessed the beating of many Hebrew slaves before. Why did he step in and prevent this one? I believe it’s because, as Moses saw it, this beating wasn’t merely a beating of reprimand but that the Egyptian taskmaster seriously intended to severely injure or even kill this particular Hebrew slave and Moses felt compelled to step in and prevent the Egyptian from murdering the Hebrew slave. Whether Moses intended to inflict a fatal injury on the Egyptian, he did end up killing the Egyptian and is now a murderer. He has to flee.
“When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh…” (Exodus 2:15 NASB)
When evil is coming, if you are pre-warned and you can flee, you should do so. Yeshua warned His people that there would be a day coming when Jerusalem would be conquered and His followers escaped certain death by fleeing before Rome consumed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70.
“The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2–3 NASB)
Moses saw a thorn bush on fire that should be consumed that isn’t. Yeshua was crowned with a crown of thorns, making him a spectacle to the people. Yeshua should have been consumed by death, yet He over came it.
“The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.” (Exodus 3:7 NASB)
God knows everything truly and completely and Messiah knows that in the future, He will know the sufferings of humanity fully and completely.
““So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.” (Exodus 3:8 NASB)
This is a physical explanation of a spiritual concept. Moses is told to bring the children of Israel to the Promised Land. God’s ultimate goal is to bring all His children to the Promised Land of eternity.
Moses foreshadows the Messiah
When God introduces Himself to Moses, He simply says “I am.” Is that even a name? It’s not supposed to be a name. God exists in a way that no one else can ever exist. He is self-existent. He does not require our existence to exist. We only exist because of His good pleasure. God is making it nearly impossible to label Him or limit Him.
God gives Moses three messianic symbols of his prophetic office:
- Serpent: It harkens back to the Garden of Eden and the curse on the Serpent. Moses grabs the tail, expressing ownership and dominion over the adversary.
- Leprosy: Moses shows this to the Israelite leaders and later to Pharaoh. This is to show that God will bring death on the Egyptians. Egypt’s hand on the Hebrews is healthy and strong now but God will kill it.
- Blood: When Messiah died, the Roman stabbed him and blood and water came out of his side. Moses taking the water out of a jar and pouring blood on the ground, it’s a symbol of cleansing and life. Both water and blood give life. God is going to give the Israelites life and freedom.
Moses complains that he doesn’t want to go. He was afraid. Jeremiah said the same thing and God fortified Him as we read in Jer. 1:4-19.
Neither of them had a pleasant message. Neither were sent to give a message saying “Good job.” It’s hard. Being a prophet is supposed to be a hard job. It is a difficult job but it’s the right thing to do.
When Moses returned to Egypt, he had to come face to face with Thutmoses III, the step-son of Hapshepsut. He was born of Thutmoses II and hs Queen Iset. His stepmother Hatshepsut acted as regent for about the first 20 or so years of his life. After her death he finally became ruler in his own right.
However, by Egyptian law, Moses, not Thutmoses III, should have been Pharaoh. However, Moses had fled to Midian for 40 years. When Thutmoses II died, there was only one heir around to take the throne. When the 10th plague came and killed all the first born, Thutmoses III himself survived that plague. Why? Because God did not consider him his father’s first born son. Moses was legally and by all rights the legal first born son of Thutmoses II, which angered Thutmoses III very much.
Thutmoses III took out his anger about Moses on his late step mother Hapshepsut and went to all of her memorials, as well as the memorials of her most trusted advisor and carved all of them off, trying to erase her existence from all of history.
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.” (Hebrews 11:24–29 NASB)
Summary: Tammy
Banner Photo: Decapitated statuary at the Temple of Hatshepsut Deir el-Bahri in Luxor, Egypt.
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