Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•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.
•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.
•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.)
•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.
•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)
•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)
•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)
•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.
•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,
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William Smith