Pharaoh

About Pharaoh

This Pharaoh was the Egyptian ruler during the time of Moses' birth and early life (Exodus 1-2). Fearing the growing Hebrew population, Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites and subjected them to hard labor. He ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill any male infants born to the Israelites, but they disobeyed, claiming that Hebrew women gave birth too quickly. Pharaoh then commanded that all Hebrew male infants be thrown into the Nile River.

During this time, Moses was born and hidden by his mother for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she placed him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter discovered the baby and decided to adopt him, unknowingly hiring Moses' mother as his nurse. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's court, but he later fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew (Exo.2.11-15; Act.7.21-29; Heb.11.24-27).

The Bible does not provide the specific name or historical identity of this Pharaoh, as the term "Pharaoh" was used as a title for Egyptian kings. Some scholars suggest that this Pharaoh may have been from the 18th or 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, possibly Thutmose I, Thutmose II, or Amenhotep I, based on the historical and archaeological evidence of the Israelites' presence in Egypt.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.