To discover who the pharaoh of the Exodus was we must determine who the 'daughter of Pharaoh' was, EXODUS 2:5-10
To do this we must first discover which 'house' was ruling Egypt at the time of Joseph, GENESIS 39:1 and who was the Pharaoh who..'knew NOT Joseph' EXODUS 1:8.. by the way, he was I believe, an EGYPTIAN Pharaoh !
The title PHARAOH finds it's origin in the Egyptian per aa meaning "great house" it is the Hebrew par-o' first found in GENESIS 12:15
called the 'Shepherd Kings'
Note: Dates given are always OPEN to the speculation of scholars..
from my own study I lean towards the dates of c.1580 to
1340 B.C. for dynasty XVIII
The war of liberation was spearheaded by Thebes and one can be certain that
alliances in the Middle and Upper Egypt were not too difficult to come by.
However the Theban rulers of dynasty XVII (1660-1580 B.C.) do not seem to
have been very successful in their struggle. The mummy of King Sequen-re of
that period is marked by severe wounds on the head as if he had been killed
in fighting the Hyksos. But Kamose the last king of dynasty XVII, left a
record of his efforts. Kamose had called his nobles together and in evident
disgust pointed out the he, a powerful king, had to share Egypt with the Hyksos
King and the King of Nubia. In order to remedy this situation Kamose overcame
the doubts of his nobles and at the head of an army moved against Apophis the
Hyksos King at Avaris. Kamose's raid was crowned with such success that the
Hyksos ruler sent a messenger to the Nubian prince advocating a united attack
upon Kamose from two directions.
Fortunately, Kamose's forces captured the messenger as he was going around
the Theban forces and foiled the plot. This effort by Apophis would indicate
that there was some unity among tthe rulers of Nubia, perhaps a kind of
confederation ?
For the Egyptians the Hyksos were the people to be beaten, for the Egyptians
'despised those who feed cattle'..see Genesis 46:31-34; 47:1-6; note that this
Pharaoh of Genesis 47:6 was an owner of cattle..and that Jacob and family
were allowed to dwell in the..'land of Goshen'..Exodus 47:4
Now we move on to Ahmose 1 founder of dynasty XVIII and thus the New Kingdom
(1850-1085 B.C.) was a vigorous Monarch..( the King who 'knew NOT Joseph' )
Exodus 1:8, who lost no time in assaulting Avaris, center of Hyksos control
over Egypt, and near if not in..'the land of Goshen'. It is of interest that
much of the Egyptian fighting was on the river Nile and the canals where ship
battles took place, regarding this and Avaris see Manetho's account, Josephus
Against Apion, Book 1:14.
The Hyksos were put of their element on the water and the river-wise men gave
Egypt advantage. The light chariot, the slashing sword, the hard bronze, and
the composite bow now were in the Egyptian hands as well as Hyksos. A most
patriotic fervor, reinforced by a unity enforced by a common foe, roused the
Egyptians as never before, Avaris fell and the Hyksos were driven out of
Egypt. Ahmose I moved down into Nubia, and apparently broke the back of the
Nubian control. There was resistance to the new Egyptian invasion of Nubia,
but both Ahmose I and his successor-son Amenhotep I (the Pharaoh from whom
Moses fled) Exodus 2:15; flattened this resistance with liitle trouble.
Thutmose I, (Pharaoh of the Exodus ?), successor to Amenhotep I, though not
his son was already the possessor of an army of veterans when he ascended the
throne. When Thutmose I died after a reign of about fifteen years
(d1515 B.C. ?) he was succeeded by the physically weak Thutmose II, who is
known to have died prematurely. Exodus 12:29-31. Hatshepsut took control,
she being the dauhgter of Thutmose I and wife of Thutmose II, might have
been present when Moses spoke with Pharaoh ?
The Theban royal house that challenged the power of their overlords, and
initiated the liberation of Egypt from the Hyksos yoke, was not only
fortunate in the fire and courage of its kings, it was also exceptional for
a series of outstanding queens who won the veneration of later generations.
Queen Ahhotep, for instance, mother of Ahmose I (Amosis), took over the reigns
of government on the sudden death of her husband Sequen-re. Evidently at this
critical junction she rallied the Theban forces, since a large stella
(a large stone commemerating a deceased person), later erected in her honour
by Ahmose I, speaks of her cherishing Egypt and attending her soldiers. But
even more influential was her daughter-in-law, Ahmose-Nefertari, the chief
queen of Ahmose and his possible cousin. She owned her renown to her position
in the Theban religious establishment, and was seen as Pharaoh's wife,
daughter and queen, their infant son Ahmose died, (was this Ahmose-Nefertari
the 'Pharaoh's daughter' who adopted Moses ?). Exodus 2:10 see my summary
below.
As to Avaris in the Eastern delta, a town which from about 1700 B.C. became
the chief seat of power of the Hyksos. from this center they extended their
grip until Memphis, the ancient religious capital, fell into their hands,
and with it presumably the whole of Lower Egypt. When Joseph arrived in Egypt
was it to Memphis that he went with Potiphar ? As to the land of GOSHEN
(Genesis 47:1-4) is this another name for the land of RAMESES also ? my reason
for this question is (Genesis 47:11)
What had begun as an insurrection developed into a war of national liberation
when the struggle was continued by Ahmose, the infant nephew and successor of
Kamose. The nature of the terrain in Egypt with its many irrigation canals
and branches of the Nile, both large and small, in the Delta, dictated that
the campaigns would be mainlly shipborne operations; and in point of fact our
slender knowledge of this contest is largely derived from the laconic reports
that an officer of marines inscribed in his tomb at El Kab. It has been
suggested that it was not until his tenth regnal year that Ahmose I reduced
Avaris to a plundered ruin and expelled the Hyksos, if Ahmose I was the Pharaoh
of the 'bondage' Exodus 1:8-10; and I believe so..then we can understand why
he was afraid that Israel would 'join our enemies' Exodus 1:10. Those enemies
were the HYKSOS, the 'shepherd kings' who received Joseph and Jacob.
Many argue that dynasty XVIII could have had no involvement in the Biblical
account because the Theban kings did not have much to do with Lower Egypt and
that it would have been impractical for Moses to be commuting back
and forth between Pharaoh at Thebes in the South (Upper Egypt) and the
Israelites in the North (Lower Egypt). This argument bears no weight at all
for the Biblical record tells us that the Israelites had multiplied and did
'fill the land' Exodus 1:7, and the Theban kings did have dealings and
did reside at Memphis, for Amenhotep II was born in Memphis, and it is to be
noted that the influence of the culture of Upper Egypt under the princes of
Thebes declined after the reigns of the first two Pharaohs of dynasty XVIII.
The dominance of the ancient capital of Memphis was reasserted once more when
THUTMOSE I founded a great palace complex at Memphis, which is
known to have been still in use at the end of the dynasty and continued to be
important to the Ramessides of dynasty XIX.
Therefore I reason that dynasty XVIII was very much involved in Lower Egypt
and it might have been very possible for Moses to have presented himself
before a Pharaoh of that dynasty who was residing at Memphis...that Pharaoh
I believe may have been Thutmose I.
Furthermore as to Ahmose-Nefertari the wife of Ahmose I..my leaning to the
opinion that she was the ' daughter of Pharaoh Exodus 2:5-10 is based
on the fact her infant son Ahmose died...and she seeing Moses may have wanted
to adopt him. However that is assumption on my part but the salient point I
want to make is that a funery cone has survived showing that Prince Ahmose
was buried in the Theban necropolis. Also the 'Donation Stella' from
Karnak has a relief of Ahmose I followed by the " King's Daughter, King's
Sister, God's Wife and Chief Queen, whose every bequest is done for her....
Ahmose-Nefertari.' and the young Prince Ahmose.
Josephus also gives a clue in his Antiquities of the Jews, for he has
Miriam the sister of Moses saying to Pharaoh's Daughter, "It is in vain O Queen..."
Book 2,9:5. Also some argue that Pharaoh Ramesses was the pharaoh of the Exodus
because the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years, but that is a great error
for the 430 years began when Abraham received the covenant from God..for the
law came 430 after that event..see Galatians 3:16,17; so the Israelites were in
Egypt for 215 years..but it must be remembered that when Abraham was in Canaan
that Canaan was under the rule of Egypt. 'Now the sojourning of the
children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.'
Exodus 12:40 the King James translation. This is an error when we consider Galatians 3:16,17
from the same translation !
But if you read the Septuagint, the Scriptures in Greek..which were in use in
the time of our Lord..you will see that it reads thus..' And the sojourning
of the children of Israel while they soujourned in the land of Egypt AND in
the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.'
It is clear that the modern accepted teaching that the Exodus was in the time of the
Ramessides is incorrect.
In 1 Kings 6:1 it is stated that “In the 480th year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel... that he began to build the house of the Lord”. Most scholars would accept a date of about 970 BC for the beginning of Solomon’s reign. His 4th year would be 966 BC, and this being the 480th year after the Exodus would place that event about 1445 BC. THIS COVERS DYNASTY XVIII
Mask of Tutankamun
AKHENATEN, Cyril Aldred