Who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus?
The book of Exodus never gives the name of the king who fought Moses, and that silence has left room for centuries of guessing. Writers in this collection do offer a favoured candidate from Egyptian records, but they are careful to hold it loosely — and they spend far more effort on what the man was than on who he was.
Pharaoh Is a Title, Not a Name
The first difficulty is built into the word itself. It works like "king" or "emperor," so it identifies an office rather than a person:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThis was the royal title of the kings of Egypt, so the bare word 'Pharaoh' in no way shows which king is meant. Some kings of Egypt are mentioned in Scripture without this title, such as Shishak, Necho, Hophra, So, and Tirhakah, the last two of whom were Ethiopians.
The same dictionary explains what the title carried: each ruler had "a title of honour as well as his personal name," and the word Pharaoh itself is judged to mean "Great House."
The Usual Identification — and Its Weakness
The most common proposal names two men: a father who enslaved Israel and a son who faced Moses. But the same writer who reports the theory also dismantles the certainty around it:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe Pharaoh of the oppression has been thought to be RAMESES II of the nineteenth dynasty, and the Pharaoh of the Exodus to be MENEPHTHAH his son… Since Scripture does not give the names of the Pharaohs in the Pentateuch, there is really no definite link between those mentioned there and any particular kings found on the monuments. Some students of Egypt consider other kings more probable than the above.
Commentators differ, then, and they say so openly. One writer describing the plagues frames it as a condition rather than a fact — "If we accept Meneptah, the son of Rameses the Great, as the Pharaoh of the Exodus" — and another sets the whole question aside as secondary, calling him "this Pharaoh, whatever his name may have been as recorded in secular history."
Did He Drown in the Red Sea?
Egyptian records raise a further problem: the mummy of the proposed king has never been found, and he seems to be spoken of as still reigning afterwards. A reader once put that objection to William Kelly, citing scholars who doubted that Menephthah died in the sea. The reply moved the argument off the monuments and onto Scripture:
William KellyWe are not limited to the writings of Moses. The Psalms are no less divinely inspired. If the language is only general in Exodus, Psalm 136:15 is explicit, that the LORD "overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea."
A Man Who Thought He Was a God
Egypt's records also explain why this king could hear God's demand and answer with contempt. His pride was not simple arrogance; it was official theology:
H Forbes WitherbyThe key to the pride that possessed him was his belief that he was the incarnation of the deity. "The ruling Pharaoh of the day was the living image and the vice-regent of the sun." He was "the living representation of the deity," and was addressed in terms exactly like those they used in worshipping their god.
How He Came to the Throne
Paul later quotes God's word to this king about being raised up. One writer passes on a suggestion from Egyptian studies that sharpens what "raised up" means:
F. B. HoleSome of those who have studied the records of ancient Egypt have told us that in their opinion this Pharaoh of the exodus was not altogether of royal blood, but rather a son of the harem, who came to the throne by marrying a princess of full royal blood who was in the line of succession. If this is so, it throws light on the position. He was "raised up" by God, not in the sense of being born into the world, but of being lifted to the throne in an unusual way.
The Order of the Hardening
The hardening of his heart is often read as though God shut him up from the start. One writer traces the sequence carefully and finds the man's own choices came first:
W. H. WestcottMercy had been within his reach, but he refused it again and again. Six times over he had been solemnly warned about the folly of resisting God, in the form of terrible plagues, but each time he hardened his heart… The Lord did not judicially harden him until chapter 9. Then came that terrible word, "In very deed, for this cause have I raised you up, to show in you My power."
What He Stands For
Finally, the New Testament reading of the story makes the king's name almost beside the point, because he pictures a larger enemy:
F. B. HolePharaoh held the power of death over the children of Israel, and by that kept them in bondage. He is therefore a type of Satan as he is presented in Hebrews 2:14-15. Egypt with all its splendour is clearly a type of the world, enslaving the people of God under the direction of the devil, and, ironically enough, using them to increase the power and glory of the system that oppressed them.
Summary
- Nameless. "Pharaoh" is a royal title, not a personal name, so the word alone identifies no particular king.
- Uncertain. Rameses II is commonly held to be the oppressor and his son Menephthah the king of the exodus, but Scripture names no Pharaoh in these books, so no firm link to the monuments exists.
- Proud. He was worshipped as the living image of the sun-god, which explains his answer that he did not know the LORD.
- Responsible. He hardened his own heart against repeated mercy before God judicially hardened him and made him a public display of His power.
- Overthrown. Psalm 136:15 settles what Egypt's records leave open — and the whole account stands as a picture of a greater bondage broken.