Introduction:
The term "Pharaoh" refers to the title used by the ancient Egyptian monarchs. In the biblical narrative, Pharaohs play significant roles, particularly in the books of Genesis and Exodus. The interactions between the Israelites and the Pharaohs are pivotal in understanding the unfolding of God's plan for His chosen people.

Pharaohs in Genesis:
The first mention of a Pharaoh in the Bible occurs in Genesis 12:10-20, during the time of Abram (later Abraham). Due to a severe famine, Abram and Sarai (later Sarah) travel to Egypt. Fearing for his life, Abram instructs Sarai to say she is his sister. The Pharaoh, attracted by Sarai's beauty, takes her into his palace. However, God afflicts Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues, leading to the revelation of the truth and Abram's subsequent departure from Egypt.

Another significant Pharaoh appears in the account of Joseph (Genesis 37-50). Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, eventually rises to power in Egypt, becoming second only to Pharaoh. This Pharaoh is depicted as wise and discerning, recognizing Joseph's God-given ability to interpret dreams. Under Joseph's administration, Egypt is saved from a severe famine, and the Israelites are invited to settle in the land of Goshen.

Pharaohs in Exodus:
The most prominent Pharaoh in the biblical narrative is the one who opposes Moses during the Exodus. This Pharaoh's identity is not explicitly stated in the Bible, but he is characterized by his hardened heart and refusal to let the Israelites go, despite the series of plagues that God inflicts upon Egypt (Exodus 7-12).

The narrative of the Exodus highlights the power struggle between the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt, with Pharaoh as the earthly representative of Egyptian divinity. The plagues serve as judgments against the Egyptian gods and demonstrate Yahweh's supremacy. The final plague, the death of the firstborn, compels Pharaoh to release the Israelites, only for him to pursue them to the Red Sea, where his army is ultimately destroyed (Exodus 14).

Pharaoh's Hardened Heart:
A recurring theme in the Exodus account is the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. This hardening is attributed both to Pharaoh himself and to God (Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 8:15). This dual attribution underscores the tension between human free will and divine sovereignty. Pharaoh's obstinacy serves to magnify God's power and glory, as stated in Exodus 9:16 : "But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

Pharaohs in Later Biblical References:
Pharaohs are mentioned in other parts of the Bible, often symbolizing opposition to God's people. In 1 Kings 3:1, Solomon forms an alliance with Egypt by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. In Isaiah 30:2-3, the prophet warns against relying on Egypt for help, indicating a lack of trust in God. Ezekiel 29-32 contains oracles against Pharaoh and Egypt, portraying them as symbols of pride and opposition to God's purposes.

Conclusion:
The biblical portrayal of Pharaohs serves as a backdrop for God's redemptive work through the history of Israel. The interactions between the Pharaohs and the Israelites highlight themes of divine sovereignty, judgment, and deliverance, which are central to the biblical narrative.Pharaoh

that disperses; that spoils

Pharaoh

the common title of the native kings of Egypt in the Bible, corresponding to P-ra or Ph-ra "the sun," of the hieroglyphics. Brugsch, Ebers and other modern Egyptologists define it to mean the great house," which would correspond to our "the Sublime Porte." As several kings are mentioned only by the title "Pharaoh" in the Bible, it is important to endeavor to discriminate them:

1. The Pharaoh of Abraham . (Genesis 12:15) --At the time at which the patriarch went into Egypt, it is generally held that the country, or at least lower Egypt, was ruled by the Shepherd kings, of whom the first and moat powerful line was the fifteenth dynasty, the undoubted territories of which would be first entered by one coming from the east. The date at which Abraham visited Egypt was about B.C. 2081, which would accord with the time of Salatis the head of the fifteenth dynasty, according to our reckoning.
2. The Pharoah of Joseph . (Genesis 41:1) ... --One of the Shepherd kings perhaps Apophis, who belonged to the fifteenth dynasty. He appears to have reigned from Joseph's appointment (or perhaps somewhat earlier) until Jacob's death, a period of at least twenty-six years, from about B.C. 1876 to 1850 and to have been the fifth or sixth king of the fifteenth dynasty.
3. The Pharoah of the oppression . (Exodus 1:8) --The first Persecutor of the Israelites may be distinguished as the Pharaoh of the oppression, from the second, the Pharoah of the exodus especially as he commenced and probably long carried on the persecution. The general view is that he was an Egyptian. One class of Egyptologists think that Amosis (Ahmes), the first sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, is the Pharaoh of the oppression; but Brugsch and others identify him with Rameses II. (the Sesostris of the Greeks), of the nineteenth dynasty. (B.C. 1340.)
4. The Pharoah of the exodus . (Exodus 5:1) --Either Thothmes III., as Wilkinson, or Menephthah son of Rameses II., whom Brugsch thinks was probably the Pharaoh of the exodus, who with his army pursued the Israelites and were overwhelmed in the Red Sea. "The events which form the lamentable close of his rule over Egypt are Passed over by the monuments (very naturally) with perfect silence. The dumb tumults covers the misfortune: which was suffered, for the record of these events was inseparably connected with the humiliating confession of a divine visitation, to which a patriotic writer at the court of Pharaoh would hardly have brought his mind." The table on page 186 gives some of the latest opinions.
5. Pharaoh, father-in-law of Mered . --In the genealogies of the tribe of Judah, mention is made of the daughter of a Pharaoh married to an Israelite--" Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh. which Mered took." (1 Chronicles 4:18)
6. Pharaoh, brother-in-law of Hadad the Edomite . --This king gave Haadad. as his wife, the sister of his own wife, Tahpenes. (1 Kings 11:18-20)
7. Pharaoh, father-in-law of Solomon . --The mention that the queen was brought into the city of David while Solomon's house and the temple and the city wall were building shows that the marriage took place not later than the eleventh year of the king, when the temple was finished, having been commenced in the Pharaoh led an expedition into Palestine. (1 Kings 9:16)
8. Pharaoh, the opponent of Sennacherib . --This Pharaoh, (Isaiah 36:6) can only be the Sethos whom Herodotus mentions as the opponent of Sennacherib and who may reasonably be supposed to be the Zet of Manetho.
9. Pharoah-necho . --The first mention in the Bible of a proper name with the title Pharaoh is the case of Pharaoh-necho, who is also called Necho simply. This king was of the Saite twenty-sixth dynasty, of which Manetho makes him either the fifth or the sixth ruler. Herodotus calls him Nekos, and assigns to him a reign of sixteen years, which is confirmed by the monuments. He seems to have been an enterprising king, as he is related to have attempted to complete the canal connecting the Red Sea with the Nile, and to have sent an expedition of Phoenicians to circumnavigate Africa, which was successfully accomplished. At the commencement of his reign B.C. 610, he made war against the king of Assyria, and, being encountered on his way by Josiah, defeated and slew the king of Judah at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29,30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-24) Necho seems to have soon returned to Egypt. Perhaps he was on his way thither when he deposed Jehoahaz. The army was probably posted at Carchemish, and was there defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Necho, B.C. 607, that king not being, as it seems, then at its head. (Jeremiah 46:1,2,6,10) This battle led to the loss of all the Asiatic dominions of Egypt. (2 Kings 24:7)
10. Pharaoh-hophra . --The next king of Egypt mentioned in the Bible is Pharaoh-hophra, the second successor of Necho, from whom he was separated by the six-years reign of Psammetichus II. He came to the throne about B.C. 589, and ruled nineteen years. Herodotus who calls him Apries, makes him son of Psammetichus II., whom he calls Psammis, and great-grandson of Psammetichus I. In the Bible it is related that Zedekiah, the last king of Judah was aided by a Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar, in fulfillment of it treaty, and that an army came out of Egypt, so that the Chaldeans were obliged to raise the siege of Jerusalem. The city was first besieged in the ninth year of Zedekiah B.C. 590, and was captured in his eleventh year, B.C. 588. It was evidently continuously invested for a length of time before was taken, so that it is most probable that Pharaoh's expedition took place during 590 or 589. The Egyptian army returned without effecting its purpose. (Jeremiah 27:5-8; Ezekiel 17:11-18) comp. 2Kin 25:1-4 No subsequent Pharaoh is mentioned in Scripture, but there are predictions doubtless referring to the misfortunes of later princes until the second Persian conquest, when the prophecy, "There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt," (Ezekiel 30:13) was fulfilled. (In the summer of 1881 a large number of the mummies of the Pharaohs were found in a tomb near Thebes --among them Raskenen, of the seventeenth dynasty, Ahmes I., founder of the eighteenth dynasty, Thothmes I,II, and III., and Rameses I. It was first thought that Rameses II, of the nineteenth dynasty, was there, But this was found to be a mistake. A group of coffins belonging to the twenty-first dynasty has been found, and it is probable that we will learn not a little about the early Pharaohs, especially from the inscriptions on their shrouds. --ED.)

Pharaoh

Is properly an Egyptian word adopted into the Hebrew, and signifies king; so that when we find this name it means everywhere the king. Thus, also, Pharaoh Hophra is simply king Hophra.

Of the kings of Egypt, there are not less than twelve or thirteen mentioned in Scripture, all of whom bore the general title of Pharaoh, except four. Along with this title, two of them have also other proper names, Necho and Hophra. The following is their order. Some of them have been identified, by the labors of Champollion and others, with kings whose proper names we know from other sources, while others still remain in obscurity. Indeed, so brief, obscure, and conflicting are the details of Egyptian history and ancient chronology, which no name before that of Shishak can be regarded as identified beyond dispute.

1. Pharaoh, Genesis 12:15, in the time of Abraham, B. C. 1920. He was probably a king of the Theban dynasty.

2. Pharaoh, the master of Joseph, Genesis 37:36 39:1-23 Acts 7:10,13, B. C. 1728. Some suppose that the Pharaoh to whom Joseph became Prime Minister was the son of the one mentioned in Genesis 37:36.

3. Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, and under whom Moses was born, B. C. 1571, Exodus 1:8 Acts 7:18 Hebrews 11:23.

Very probably there was another Pharaoh reigning at the time when Moses fled into Midian, and who died before Moses at the age of eighty returned from Midian into Egypt, Exodus 2:11-23 4:19 Acts 7:23.

4. Pharaoh, under whom the Israelites left Egypt, and who perished in the Red Sea, Exodus 5:1-14:31 2 Kings 17:7 Nehemiah 9:10 Psalm 135:9 136:13 Romans 9:17 Hebrews 11:27, B. C. 1491.

5. Pharaoh, in the time of David, 1 Kings 11:18-22; B. C. 1030.

6. Pharaoh, the father-in-law of Solomon, 1 Kings 3:1 7:8 9:16,24, B. C. 1010.

7. Shishak, near the end of Solomon's reign, and under Rehoboam, B. C. 975, 1 Kings 11:40 14:25 2 Chronicles 12:2. From this time onward the proper name of the Egyptian kings are mentioned in Scripture. See SHISHAK.

8. Zerah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia in the time of Asa, B. C. 930; called Osorchon by historians. See ZERAH.

9. So, or Sevechus, contemporary with Ahaz, B. C. 730, 2 Kings 17:4. See SO.

10. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia and Egypt, in the time of Hezekiah, B. C. 720, 2 Kings 19:9 Isaiah 37:9. The Tearcho of Strabo, and the Taracles of Manetho. See TIRHAKAH.

11. Pharaoh Necho, in the time of Josiah, B. C. 612, 2 Kings 23:29-30 2 Chronicles 35:20-24, etc. Necho, the son of Psammeticus. See NECHO.

12. Pharaoh Hophra, contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar. He was the grandson of Necho, and is the Apries of Herodotus. Zedekiah formed an alliance with him against Nebuchadnezzar, and he drove the Assyrians from Palestine, took Zidon and Tyre, and returned to Egypt with great spoil. He seems to have done nothing to prevent the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 37:1-5 47:1 Eze 29:21. He reigned twenty-five years, and was dethroned by his army after an unsuccessful expedition against Cyrene, as was foretold, Jeremiah 44:30.

The official title borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that country was conquered by the Greeks. (see EGYPT.) The name is a compound, as some think, of the words Ra, the "sun" or "sun-god," and the article phe, "the," prefixed; hence phera, "the sun," or "the sun-god." But others, perhaps more correctly, think the name derived from Perao, "the great house" = his majesty = in Turkish, "the Sublime Porte."

(1.) The Pharaoh who was on the throne when Abram went down into Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20) was probably one of the Hyksos, or "shepherd kings." The Egyptians called the nomad tribes of Syria Shasu, "plunderers," their king or chief Hyk, and hence the name of those invaders who conquered the native kings and established a strong government, with Zoan or Tanis as their capital. They were of Semitic origin, and of kindred blood accordingly with Abram. They were probably driven forward by the pressure of the Hittites. The name they bear on the monuments is "Mentiu."

(2.) The Pharaoh of Joseph's days (Genesis 41) was probably Apopi, or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. To the old native Egyptians, who were an African race, shepherds were "an abomination;" but to the Hyksos kings these Asiatic shepherds who now appeared with Jacob at their head were congenial, and being akin to their own race, had a warm welcome (Genesis 47:5, 6). Some argue that Joseph came to Egypt in the reign of Thothmes III., long after the expulsion of the Hyksos, and that his influence is to be seen in the rise and progress of the religious revolution in the direction of monotheism which characterized the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The wife of Amenophis III., of that dynasty, was a Semite. Is this singular fact to be explained from the presence of some of Joseph's kindred at the Egyptian court? Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell" (Genesis 47:5, 6).

(3.) The "new king who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8-22) has been generally supposed to have been Aahmes I., or Amosis, as he is called by Josephus. Recent discoveries, however, have led to the conclusion that Seti was the "new king."

For about seventy years the Hebrews in Egypt were under the powerful protection of Joseph. After his death their condition was probably very slowly and gradually changed. The invaders, the Hyksos, who for some five centuries had been masters of Egypt, were driven out, and the old dynasty restored. The Israelites now began to be looked down upon. They began to be afflicted and tyrannized over. In process of time a change appears to have taken place in the government of Egypt. A new dynasty, the Nineteenth, as it is called, came into power under Seti I., who was its founder. He associated with him in his government his son, Rameses II., when he was yet young, probably ten or twelve years of age.

Note, Professor Maspero, keeper of the museum of Bulak, near Cairo, had his attention in 1870 directed to the fact that scarabs, i.e., stone and metal imitations of the beetle (symbols of immortality), originally worn as amulets by royal personages, which were evidently genuine relics of the time of the ancient Pharaohs, were being sold at Thebes and different places along the Nile. This led him to suspect that some hitherto undiscovered burial-place of the Pharaohs had been opened, and that these and other relics, now secretly sold, were a part of the treasure found there. For a long time he failed, with all his ingenuity, to find the source of these rare treasures. At length one of those in the secret volunteered to give information regarding this burial-place. The result was that a party was conducted in 1881 to Dier el-Bahari, near Thebes, when the wonderful discovery was made of thirty-six mummies of kings, queens, princes, and high priests hidden away in a cavern prepared for them, where they had lain undisturbed for thirty centuries. "The temple of Deir el-Bahari stands in the middle of a natural amphitheatre of cliffs, which is only one of a number of smaller amphitheatres into which the limestone mountains of the tombs are broken up. In the wall of rock separating this basin from the one next to it some ancient Egyptian engineers had constructed the hiding-place, whose secret had been kept for nearly three thousand years." The exploring party being guided to the place, found behind a great rock a shaft 6 feet square and about 40 feet deep, sunk into the limestone. At the bottom of this a passage led westward for 25 feet, and then turned sharply northward into the very heart of the mountain, where in a chamber 23 feet by 13, and 6 feet in height, they came upon the wonderful treasures of antiquity. The mummies were all carefully secured and brought down to Bulak, where they were deposited in the royal museum, which has now been removed to Ghizeh.

Among the most notable of the ancient kings of Egypt thus discovered were Thothmes III., Seti I., and Rameses II. Thothmes III. was the most distinguished monarch of the brilliant Eighteenth Dynasty. When this mummy was unwound "once more, after an interval of thirty-six centuries, human eyes gazed on the features of the man who had conquered Syria and Cyprus and Ethiopia, and had raised Egypt to the highest pinnacle of her power. The spectacle, however, was of brief duration. The remains proved to be in so fragile a state that there was only time to take a hasty photograph, and then the features crumbled to pieces and vanished like an apparition, and so passed away from human view for ever." "It seems strange that though the body of this man," who overran Palestine with his armies two hundred years before the birth of Moses, "mouldered to dust, the flowers with which it had been wreathed were so wonderfully preserved that even their colour could be distinguished" (Manning's Land of the Pharaohs).

Seti I. (his throne name Merenptah), the father of Rameses II., was a great and successful warrior, also a great builder. The mummy of this Pharaoh, when unrolled, brought to view "the most beautiful mummy head ever seen within the walls of the museum. The sculptors of Thebes and Abydos did not flatter this Pharaoh when they gave him that delicate, sweet, and smiling profile which is the admiration of travellers. After a lapse of thirty-two centuries, the mummy retains the same expression which characterized the features of the living man. Most remarkable of all, when compared with the mummy of Rameses II., is the striking resemblance between the father and the son. Seti I. is, as it were, the idealized type of Rameses II. He must have died at an advanced age. The head is shaven, the eyebrows are white, the condition of the body points to considerably more than threescore years of life, thus confirming the opinions of the learned, who have attributed a long reign to this king."

(4.) Rameses II., the son of Seti I., is probably the Pharaoh of the Oppression. During his forty years' residence at the court of Egypt, Moses must have known this ruler well. During his sojourn in Midian, however, Rameses died, after a reign of sixty-seven years, and his body embalmed and laid in the royal sepulchre in the Valley of the Tombs of Kings beside that of his father. Like the other mummies found hidden in the cave of Deir el-Bahari, it had been for some reason removed from its original tomb, and probably carried from place to place till finally deposited in the cave where it was so recently discovered.

In 1886, the mummy of this king, the "great Rameses," the "Sesostris" of the Greeks, was unwound, and showed the body of what must have been a robust old man. The features revealed to view are thus described by Maspero: "The head is long and small in proportion to the body. The top of the skull is quite bare. On the temple there are a few sparse hairs, but at the poll the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, straight locks about two inches in length. White at the time of death, they have been dyed a light yellow by the spices used in embalmment. The forehead is low and narrow; the brow-ridge prominent; the eye-brows are thick and white; the eyes are small and close together; the nose is long, thin, arched like the noses of the Bourbons; the temples are sunk; the cheek-bones very prominent; the ears round, standing far out from the head, and pierced, like those of a woman, for the wearing of earrings; the jaw-bone is massive and strong; the chin very prominent; the mouth small, but thick-lipped; the teeth worn and very brittle, but white and well preserved. The moustache and beard are thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life, but were probably allowed to grow during the king's last illness, or they may have grown after death. The hairs are white, like those of the head and eyebrows, but are harsh and bristly, and a tenth of an inch in length. The skin is of an earthy-brown, streaked with black. Finally, it may be said, the face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living king. The expression is unintellectual, perhaps slightly animal; but even under the somewhat grotesque disguise of mummification there is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign majesty, of resolve, and of pride."

Both on his father's and his mother's side it has been pretty clearly shown that Rameses had Chaldean or Mesopotamian blood in his veins to such a degree that he might be called an Assyrian. This fact is thought to throw light on Isaiah 52:4.

(5.) The Pharaoh of the Exodus was probably Menephtah I., the fourteenth and eldest surviving son of Rameses II. He resided at Zoan, where he had the various interviews with Moses and Aaron recorded in the book of Exodus. His mummy was not among those found at Deir el-Bahari. It is still a question, however, whether Seti II. or his father Menephtah was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Some think the balance of evidence to be in favour of the former, whose reign it is known began peacefully, but came to a sudden and disastrous end. The "Harris papyrus," found at Medinet-Abou in Upper Egypt in 1856, a state document written by Rameses III., the second king of the Twentieth Dynasty, gives at length an account of a great exodus from Egypt, followed by wide-spread confusion and anarchy. This, there is great reason to believe, was the Hebrew exodus, with which the Nineteenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs came to an end. This period of anarchy was brought to a close by Setnekht, the founder of the Twentieth Dynasty.

"In the spring of 1896, Professor Flinders Petrie discovered, among the ruins of the temple of Menephtah at Thebes, a large granite stela, on which is engraved a hymn of victory commemorating the defeat of Libyan invaders who had overrun the Delta. At the end other victories of Menephtah are glanced at, and it is said that `the Israelites (I-s-y-r-a-e-l-u) are minished (?) so that they have no seed.' Menephtah was son and successor of Rameses II., the builder of Pithom, and Egyptian scholars have long seen in him the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The Exodus is also placed in his reign by the Egyptian legend of the event preserved by the historian Manetho. In the inscription the name of the Israelites has no determinative of `country' or 'district' attached to it, as is the case with all the other names (Canaan, Ashkelon, Gezer, Khar or Southern Palestine, etc.) mentioned along with it, and it would therefore appear that at the time the hymn was composed, the Israelites had already been lost to the sight of the Egyptians in the desert. At all events they must have had as yet no fixed home or district of their own. We may therefore see in the reference to them the Pharaoh's version of the Exodus, the disasters which befell the Egyptians being naturally passed over in silence, and only the destruction of the `men children' of the Israelites being recorded. The statement of the Egyptian poet is a remarkable parallel to Exodus 1:10-22."

(6.) The Pharaoh of 1 Kings 11:18-22.

(7.) So, king of Egypt (2 Kings 17:4).

(8.) The Pharaoh of 1 Chronicles 4:18.

(9.) Pharaoh, whose daughter Solomon married (1 Kings 3:1; 7:8).

(10.) Pharaoh, in whom Hezekiah put his trust in his war against Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:21).

(11.) The Pharaoh by whom Josiah was defeated and slain at Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:20-24; 2 Kings 23:29, 30). (see NECHO.)

(12.) Pharaoh-hophra, who in vain sought to relieve Jerusalem when it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (q.v.), 2 Kings 25:1-4; comp. Jeremiah 37:5-8; Ezek. 17:11-13. (see ZEDEKIAH.)

1. (n.) A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated.

2. (n.) See Faro.

PHARAOH

fa'-ro, fa'-ra-o (par`oh; Pharao); Egyptian per aa, "great house"):em; the King James Version Pharacim): One of the families of temple-servants who returned with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:31; not found in Ezra or Nehemiah).

1. The Use of Name in Egypt:

Many and strange differences of opinion have been expressed concerning the use of this name in Egypt and elsewhere, because of its importance in critical discussions (see below). Encyclopaedia Biblica says "a name given to all Egyptian kings in the Bible"; it also claims that the name could not have been received by the Hebrews before 1000 B.C. HDB (III, 819) says that a letter was addressed to Amenhotep as "Pharaoh, lord of," etc. According to Winckler's theory of a North Arabian Musri, it was the Hebrews alone in ancient times who adopted the term Pharaoh from the Egyptians, the name not being found even in the Tell el-Amarna Letters or anywhere else in cuneiform literature for the king of Egypt. Such a result is obtained according to Winckler's theory by referring every reference in cuneiform to "Pir`u, king of Musri" to the North Arabian country.

In Egyptian inscriptions the term "Pharaoh" occurs from the Pyramid inscriptions onward. At first it is used with distinct reference to its etymology and not clearly as an independent title. Pharaoh, "great house," like Sublime Porte, was applied first as a metaphor to mean the government. But as in such an absolute monarchy as Egypt the king was the government, Pharaoh was, by a figure of speech, put for the king. Its use in Egypt clearly as a title denoting the ruler, whoever he might be, as Caesar among the Romans, Shah among Persians, and Czar among Russians, belongs to a few dynasties probably beginning with the XVIIIth, and certainly ending not later than the XXIst, when we read of Pharaoh Sheshonk, but the Bible does not speak so, but calls him "Shishak king of Egypt" (1 Kings 14:25). This new custom in the use of the title Pharaoh does not appear in the Bible until we have "Pharaoh-necoh." Pharaoh is certainly used in the time of Rameses II, in the "Tale of Two Brothers" (Records of the Past, 1st series, II, 137; Recueil de Travaux, XXI, 13, l. 1).

2. Significance of Use in the Bible:

It appears from the preceding that Biblical writers use this word with historical accuracy for the various periods to which it refers, not only for the time of Necoh and Hophra, but for the time of Rameses II, and use the style of the time of Rameses II for the time of Abraham and Joseph, concerning which we have not certain knowledge of its use in Egypt. It is strongly urged that writers of the 7th or 5th century B.C. would not have been able to make such historical use of this name, while, to a writer at the time of the exodus, it would have been perfectly natural to use Pharaoh for the king without any further name; and historical writers in the time of the prophets in Palestine would likewise have used Pharaoh-necoh and Pharaoh Hophra. This evidence is not absolutely conclusive for an early authorship of the Pentateuch and historical books, but is very difficult to set aside for a late authorship (compare Genesis 12:14-20; Genesis 41:14 Exodus 1:11; Exodus 3:11 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 14:25; 2 Kings 23:29 Jeremiah 44:30; also 1 Kings 11:19 2 Kings 18:21; 1 Chronicles 4:18).

M. G. Kyle

PHARAOH HOPHRA

hof'-ra (par`oh chophra`; Houaphre):

1. Sole King, 589-570 B.C.:

He is so called in Scripture (Jeremiah 44:30); Herodotus calls him Apries (ii.169). He is known on the monuments as Uah `ab `ra. He was the son of Psammetichus II, whose Greek mercenaries have left in scriptions upon the rocks of Abu-Sim-bel, and the grandson of Pharaoh-necoh. He reigned alone from 589 B.C. to 570 B.C., and jointly, by compulsion of his people, with his son-in-law Aahmes (Greek Amasis) for some years longer.

2. Alliance with Zedekiah:

No sooner had he mounted the throne than he yielded to the overtures of Zedekiah of Judah, who thought Hophra's accession a good opportunity for throwing off the yoke of Babylon. So, as Ezekiel says (17:15), "he rebelled against him (Nebuchadrezzar) in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people." Zedekiah had entered into the intrigue against the advice of Jeremiah, and it proved fatal to Zedekiah and the kingdom. Nebuchadrezzar was not slow to punish the disloyalty of his vassal, and in a brief space his armies were beleaguering Jerusalem. The Egyptians did indeed march to the relief of their allies, and the Chaldeans drew off their forces from Jerusalem to meet them. But the Egyptians returned without attempting to meet the Chaldeans in a pitched battle, and Jerusalem was taken, the walls broken down and the temple burnt up with fire.

3. Reception of Jeremiah and Jewish Captives:

When Jerusalem had fallen and Nebuchadrezzar's governor, Gedaliah, had been assassinated, the dispirited remnant of Judah, against the advice of Jeremiah, fled into Egypt, carrying the prophet with them. They settled at Tahpanhes, then Daphnae (modern Tell Defenneh), now identified with a mound bearing the significant name of Qatsr Bint el Yahudi, "the palace of the Jew's daughter." Here Pharaoh had a palace, for Jeremiah took great stones and hid them in mortar in the brickwork "which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house at Tahpanhes," and prophesied that Nebuchadrezzar would spread his royal pavilion over them (Jeremiah 43:8-13). The Pharaoh of that day was Hophra, and when the fortress of Tahpanhes was discovered and cleared in 1886, the open-air platform before the entrance was found. "Here the ceremony described by Jeremiah took place before the chiefs of the fugitives assembled on the platform, and here Nebuchadrezzar spread his royal pavilion. The very nature of the site is precisely applicable to all the events" (Flinders Petrie, Nebesheh and Defenneh, 51). It was in 568 B.C. that the prophecy was fulfilled when Nebuchadrezzar marched into the Delta.

4. Palace of Memphis:

More recently, in 1909, in the course of excavations carried on by the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, the palace of King Apries, Pharaoh Hophra, has been discovered on the site of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Under the gray mud hill, close to the squalid Arab village of Mitrahenny, which every tourist passes on the way to Sakkhara, had lain for centuries Hophra's magnificent palace, 400 ft. long by 200 ft., with a splendid pylon, an immense court, and stonelined halls, of which seven have been found intact. With many other objects of value there was found a fitting of a palanquin of solid silver, decorated with a bust of Hathor with a gold face. It is said to be of the finest workmanship of the time of Apries, a relic of the fire, which, Jeremiah predicted at Tahpanhes, the Lord of Hosts was to kindle "in the houses of the gods of Egypt" (Jeremiah 43:12).

Pharaoh Hophra, as Jeremiah prophesied (44:29), became the victim of a revolt and was finally strangled.

LITERATURE.

Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 344 f; Wiedemann, Geschichte von Alt-Aegypten, 190;; Flinders Petrie and J. H. Walker, Memphis, I, II ("The Palace of Apries"); Herodotus ii.161-69.

T. Nicol.

5328. Pharao -- Pharaoh, an Eg. king
... 5327, 5328. Pharao. 5329 . Pharaoh, an Eg. king. Part ... Egyptian kings. Word
Origin of Eg. origin (great house) Definition Pharaoh, an Eg. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5328.htm - 6k

2387. Iambres -- Jambres, an Eg. sorcerer
... Noun, Masculine Transliteration: Iambres Phonetic Spelling: (ee-am-brace') Short
Definition: Jambres Definition: Jambres, a sorcerer at the court of the Pharaoh ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2387.htm - 6k

2389. Iannes -- Jannes, an Eg. sorcerer
... Noun, Masculine Transliteration: Iannes Phonetic Spelling: (ee-an-nace') Short
Definition: Jannes Definition: Jannes, a sorcerer at the court of the Pharaoh. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2389.htm - 6k

6547. Paroh -- a title of Egypt kings
... a title of Egypt kings. Transliteration: Paroh Phonetic Spelling: (par-o') Short
Definition: Pharaoh. ... kings NASB Word Usage Pharaoh (214), Pharaoh's (53). ...
/hebrew/6547.htm - 5k

6548. Paroh Chophra -- an Eg. king
... king NASB Word Usage Pharaoh Hophra (1). Pharaoh-hophra. Of Egyptian derivation;
Paroh- Chophra, an Egyptian king -- Pharaoh-hophra. 6547, 6548. ...
/hebrew/6548.htm - 6k

6549. Paroh Neko -- an Eg. king
... Neco. Word Origin from Paroh and Neko Definition an Eg. king NASB Word Usage
Pharaoh Neco (5). Paroh-Nekoh or, an Egyptian king. Or ...
/hebrew/6549.htm - 6k

The Coming of the Pharaoh
... CHAPTER XIII THE COMING OF THE PHARAOH. On the ... bride. Now, on the eve of
the Pharaoh's coming, the preparations were complete. The ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xiii the coming of.htm

The Tomb of the Pharaoh
... CHAPTER XXIII THE TOMB OF THE PHARAOH. ... "I am the son of Mentu," he said,
"thy friend, and the friend of the Incomparable Pharaoh. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xxiii the tomb of.htm

"The Pharaoh Drew Nigh"
... CHAPTER XLIII "THE PHARAOH DREW NIGH". ... Of the citizens, haggard and solemn
as they had been in Tanis, he asked concerning the Pharaoh. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the yoke/chapter xliii the pharaoh drew.htm

We were Pharaoh's Bondmen. Deut 6:20-23
... HYMNS after Sermons to young people, on new-years evenings, suited to the subjects.
Hymn 25 We were PHARAOH's bondmen. ... 8,6,8,6. We were PHARAOH's bondmen. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/newton/olney hymns/hymn 25 we were pharaohs.htm

Pharaoh the Stubborn Ruler
... THE OLD TESTAMENT PHARAOH THE STUBBORN RULER. Then Jehovah said to Aaron,
"Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he went and ...
/.../sherman/the childrens bible/pharaoh the stubborn ruler.htm

Refutation of the Arguments of the Marcionites, who Attempted to ...
... IV Chapter XXIX."Refutation of the arguments of the Marcionites, who attempted to
show that God was the author of sin, because He blinded Pharaoh and his ...
/.../irenaeus/against heresies/chapter xxix refutation of the arguments.htm

Have Compared Thee, O My Love, to My Company of Horsemen in ...
... COMMENTARY. CHAPTER I. 8. I have compared thee, O my love, to my company
of horsemen in Pharaoh's chariots. The Bridegroom knowing ...
/.../guyon/song of songs of solomon/8 i have compared thee.htm

How Moses and Aaron Returned into Egypt to Pharaoh.
... From The Death Of Isaac To The Exodus Out Of Egypt. CHAPTER 13. How Moses
And Aaron Returned Into Egypt To Pharaoh. 1. So Moses, when ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 13 how moses and.htm

Joseph's Loyalty to his Family
... The news that Joseph's brothers had arrived became known in Pharaoh's palace;
and it pleased Pharaoh and his servants greatly. Pharaoh ...
/.../sherman/the childrens bible/josephs loyalty to his family.htm

A Prisoner who Became a Mighty Ruler
... Two years later Pharaoh had a dream: as he stood by the river Nile, he saw coming
up from the water seven cows, well fed and fat, for they had been feeding in ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/sherman/the childrens bible/a prisoner who became a.htm

Pharaoh (245 Occurrences)
... (1.) The Pharaoh who was on the throne when Abram ... (2.) The Pharaoh of Joseph's days
(Genesis 41) was probably Apopi, or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. ...
/p/pharaoh.htm - 60k

Pharaoh's (72 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Pharaoh's daughters. Three ... Bahari. (2.) "Bithiah the
daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took (1 Chronicles 4:18). ...
/p/pharaoh's.htm - 31k

Pharaoh-necoh (3 Occurrences)
Pharaoh-necoh. Pharaohnecoh, Pharaoh-necoh. Pharaoh's . Int. Standard
Bible Encyclopedia PHARAOH-NECOH. ne'-ko (par`oh ...
/p/pharaoh-necoh.htm - 12k

Pharaoh-nechoh (3 Occurrences)
Pharaoh-nechoh. Pharaohnechoh, Pharaoh-nechoh. Pharaoh-neco .
Multi-Version Concordance Pharaoh-nechoh (3 Occurrences). ...
/p/pharaoh-nechoh.htm - 7k

Pharaoh-neco (1 Occurrence)
Pharaoh-neco. Pharaoh-nechoh, Pharaoh-neco. Pharaohnecoh .
Multi-Version Concordance Pharaoh-neco (1 Occurrence). Jeremiah ...
/p/pharaoh-neco.htm - 6k

Pharaoh-necho (1 Occurrence)
Pharaoh-necho. Pharaohnecho, Pharaoh-necho. Pharaohnechoh .
Multi-Version Concordance Pharaoh-necho (1 Occurrence). ...
/p/pharaoh-necho.htm - 6k

Stubborn (40 Occurrences)
... self-will. (WEY). Exodus 7:13 And Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he
hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said. (DBY). Exodus 7 ...
/s/stubborn.htm - 18k

Pharaohnecoh
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia PHARAOH-NECOH. ne'-ko (par`oh nekhoh, also
nekho; Nechao (2 Kings 23:29, 33, 34 2 Chronicles 35:22 ...
/p/pharaohnecoh.htm - 11k

Egypt's (13 Occurrences)
... and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could
interpret them to Pharaoh. (WEB). Genesis 41:34 Let Pharaoh...
/e/egypt's.htm - 10k

Monster (10 Occurrences)
... Exodus 7:9 When Pharaoh speaketh unto you, saying, Give for yourselves a wonder;
then thou hast said unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast before Pharaoh -- it ...
/m/monster.htm - 10k

Why was Pharaoh so resistant to Moses' pleas to “let my people go”? | GotQuestions.org

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? | GotQuestions.org

What was the meaning and purpose of the ten plagues of Egypt? | GotQuestions.org

Pharaoh: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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