Guess Who
a look into the Pharaoh reigning during the life of Joseph
Hey everyone! As promised, I did some research and wrote a short essay on some of the details behind who the Pharaoh might have been during the life of Joseph. I thought it was very fascinating and I hope you do too! If y’all like it, I’m hoping to do another essay like this on who the Pharaoh during the Exodus was. But more on that later!
Recently, I have jumped headfirst into the deep historical context of what we’ve been studying in Genesis! Mainly, I’ve been trying to figure out who the Pharaoh was during the time of Joseph.
I am not a historian, but from what I have gleaned there are two schools of thought. Both theories revolve around one specific dynasty of Egypt, the Hyksos.
The word Hyksos means “Desert Princes'' or “Shepherd Kings.” The reason they were such a unique dynasty over Egypt is that they were foreigners who invaded Egypt. In fact, they were of Semite descent, which means they looked and lived similar lives to the Israelites.
The Hyksos were a smaller group of people that invaded Egypt and took over only small portions. Their main strategy was not to conquer by sheer force, but by holding strategic positions in the land.
The two theories revolving around the Hyksos’s involvement in Israel’s history are as such:
The Hyksos were the Pharaohs during the time of Joseph around the 15th dynasty. They were the ones who welcomed Israel into their homeland and made Joseph vizier.
The Hyksos were the rulers of Egypt that enslaved the Israelites, meaning the Pharaoh in charge during the time of Joseph was much earlier in the 12th or 13th dynasty.
We will take each of these theories one at a time and explain some of the proof behind them.
Evidence Supporting an Early Date Exodus
Before we jump into the role of the Hyksos, we must first go into the future and discuss the date of the Exodus. There are a couple of theories on the date, early date, and a late date. Most evidence supports the early date, which I will detail here.
The date most commonly used is 1446 B.C.
They get this from a few historical facts and Biblical evidence.
According to 1 Kings 6:1, the Exodus happened 480 years before Solomon began building the temple.
“Solomon began to build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month.” (1 Kings 6:1 CSB).
Solomon’s temple is also believed to have been constructed in 966 B.C. If you add those numbers together, that puts us at 1446 B.C. for the Exodus.
The next evidence comes from Judges 11:26:
“While Israel lived three hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their surrounding villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time?” (Judges 11:26 CSB).
Here we see that Israel had possession of the promised land for 300 years by the time of the judge, Jephthah.
What does that prove? It shows that the period of the Judges would have required a bit more time than what is theorized with a later date Exodus.
So let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far. Due to the construction of Solomon’s temple and the need for a longer period of the Judges, we can rest assured the date of the Exodus is most likely the early date of 1446 B.C.
Evidence Supporting Hyksos Befriending Joseph.
The important piece to support their kindness towards Israel was that they would have been of a similar race. They were both from Semitic regions and lived similar lifestyles.
Later the 18th dynasty ruler, Ahmose I, was the ruler who came in and cleared out all the Hyksos. As such, they had a great disdain for the Semitic people who came in and took over the Egyptian land. It would make sense that Ahmose I and the 18th dynasty rulers would hate and enslave the Israelites, who would have looked similar.
If the Hyksos were the ones in rule during Joseph’s life, then it might lend to the belief of the later date Exodus. Many historians argue that this late date would actually not give enough time for certain other historical periods like the Judges. That being said, historians have found a way to show that the Hyksos could have been in charge during Joseph’s life while also sticking to the early date theory.
A lot of theories over who was in charge during Joseph’s life revolve around the key verse in Exodus 1:8, which says:
“A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” (Exodus 1:8 CSB).
It would make sense that a ruler like Ahmose I would not know or care about Joseph. Ahmose I was removing the Semite Hyksos people from their land. Joseph would have looked similar to those people and disdain would follow.
Though it is debated whether the Israelites lived in Egypt for 200 or 400 years, most evidence points towards 400. Exodus 12:40 mentions it, Acts 7:6 does as well, and to multiply to 2 million people would not have been possible in 200 years. So for the remainder of this essay, we’ll consider the 400 year period.
By the way, we get the 2 million number from this passage in Numbers, shortly after the Exodus:
“So all the Israelites twenty years old or more, everyone who could serve in Israel’s army, were registered by their ancestral families. All those registered numbered 603,550.” (Numbers 1:45-46 CSB).
If the men were over 600K, then including women and children, the number could easily have been upwards of 2 million total Israelites.
Evidence Supporting Hyksos Enslaving Israel
A lot of the evidence and theories revolving around the Hyksos enslaving Israel comes from the first few verses in Exodus:
“A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise, they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” (Exodus 1:8-10 CSB)
The first point of evidence for Hyksos enslavement roots from a prophecy God gave to Abraham in Genesis 15:13:
“Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.” (Genesis 15:13 CSB).
This tells us that Egypt enslaved Israel for 400 years. We discussed earlier that in those 400 years, Israel grew to 2 million people.
This means that when the Pharaoh says Israel is “more numerous and powerful than we are,” he is saying this well before Israel was 2 million people. This would support a Hyksos presence, who we know was a smaller group of people. A small group of Israelites would have been enough to scare them.
Another point in favor of the Hyksos is when the Bible tells us Pharaoh feared the Israelites would join their enemy. The Hyksos did not take over all of Egypt, only small important cities. Therefore, their enemies were the natural-born Egyptians who were in the rest of the country. However, if it were Ahmose I that enslaved Israel, then the Hyksos would have been driven out and their next enemy would have been in Palestine. This would make the Pharaoh's statement a little odd.
Finally, there is archaeological evidence that supports the Hyksos being the ones to enslave Israel as well. In Exodus 1:11 we see:
“So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.” (Exodus 1:11 CSB).
Our focus is on the city of Rameses, which is also identified as the Hyksos capital, Avaris. Archaeologists have never found any evidence to support the 18th dynasty of Egypt ever living in that city. In fact, just the opposite. There is evidence to show that Ahmose I of the 18th dynasty actually destroyed the city and left it unoccupied until the 19th dynasty.
Archaeological evidence has been found, however, to support Hyksos having lived there, and that perhaps they were the ones to build it in the first place.
So Who Was The Pharaoh that Befriended Israel?
It’s a lot to take in for sure. At first glance, I tend to fall more in the Hyksos were Israel’s oppressors camp. That would mean that the 12th dynasty was most likely in charge during the time of Joseph.
I think the supporting evidence of this theory outweighs the opposing. I also thought of one last piece of evidence to support this claim. In Genesis 43, we see the Hebrews and Egyptians sitting separately.
“They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is detestable to them.” (Genesis 43:32 CSB).
It would make sense that the Egyptians at this time were not of Semite origin like the Hyksos were. Most historians believe the Egyptians separated themselves because a lot of the food Hebrews ate was considered sacred to the Egyptians. Others also say that the Egyptians didn’t like shepherds. This doesn’t necessarily prove that the Hyksos couldn’t have had their reasons for wanting to be kept separate too, but I tend to believe it makes more sense the other way around.
On the flip side, it would also make sense to me if the Hyksos were friendly with Joseph, since they were of a similar race, and in the end, the dates can still line up to match an early Exodus date.
I guess my final answer is that it’s inconclusive, but I lean towards the Hyksos being oppressors and a 12th or 13th dynasty Pharaoh befriending Israel.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
The bottom line is that the Hyksos were an important dynasty period for the Israelite people; whether friend or foe. The other important piece is that God is sovereign and brought the Israelites out of bondage, no matter who was oppressing them. He rescued them and delivered them into the promised land. The beauty is that God extends that same rescue to us through Jesus Christ!
In the coming weeks, I am going to construct another essay like this to discuss the Pharaohs during the life of Moses, as it gets pretty interesting! Luckily for us, it also gets less confusing. It seems most historians agree on the early date of Exodus, around 1446 B.C. The only disagreement they have is whether the Hyksos were friends or foes to Israel. However, once the Israelites are enslaved, it seems those two camps coincide into the same timeline.