Pharaoh

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 (Gen. 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 (Gen. 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 (Gen. 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” (Gen. 47:5, 6). (3.) The “new king who knew not Joseph” (Ex. 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

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:

PHA'RAOH, an Egyptian word applied by the Egyptians themselves to their kings as a generic name or title, and adopted into Hebrew, where it was used either alone or with the addition "king of Egypt," or, as in two cases, followed by a proper name - Pharaoh-nechoh and Pharaoh-hophra. The word was formerly derived from the Egyptian article Pi or Ph and the word Ra, denoting "the sun," as the Egyptian king was considered the representative on earth of the sun-god, or from the Coptic ouro, "king." Modern Egyptologists (De Rouge, Brugsch, and Ebers) define its meaning as "the great house," and its application would thus be equivalent to our "the sublime porte." On account of the great uncertainty which still surrounds Egyptian chronology, it has proved very difficult to identify the different Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible, but, in many points, the investigations of Egyptologists and biblical scholars have reached pretty certain conclusions. Ten Pharaohs are mentioned in the O.T. The Pharaoh of the time of Abraham. Gen 12:15. He is probably identical with Salatis, the head of the fifteenth dynasty, one of the Shepherd-kings (Hyksos), foreigners of the Semitic race, who conquered Egypt and, having become Egyptianized, ruled it for several centuries. The date of Abraham's visit to Egypt is most probably fixed at about b.c. 2080. The Pharaoh of Joseph, Gen 41, was the last, or the last but one, of the fifteenth dynasty; probably identical with Apophis, who reigned at least 26 years, b.c. 1876-1850. The Pharaoh of the Oppression - "the new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph," Ex 1:8, and under whose reign Moses was born - is now by most Egyptologists identified with Rameses II., the third sovereign of the nineteenth dynasty (the Sesostris of the Greeks), the most prominent of the Pharaohs, a conqueror of many lands, the masterbuilder of Egypt, whose statues and temples in ruins are found all over the Nile valley from Zoan (Tanis) to Karnak and Aboo Simbel. The other theory, which seeks the Pharaoh of the Oppression in Aahmes I. (the Amosis of Josephus), who began to reign b.c. 1706 as the first sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, is now pretty generally abandoned. See Egypt. The Pharaoh of the Exodus, Ex 5:1, before whom Moses wrought his miracles, and who perished with his army in the pursuit of the Israelites, was Menephtha, the thirteenth son of Rameses II., who began to rule b.c. 1325. His reign was inglorious and marked a period of decline. He did not even finish his father's tomb. On a monument of Tanis mention is made of the fact that he lost a son, and Dr. Brugsch connects this with the death of the first-born, the last of the plagues. The Pharaoh whose daughter, Bithiah, was given in marriage to Mered, a descendant of Judah. 1 Chr 4:18. The Pharaoh who gave the sister of his queen in marriage to Hadad, an Edomite of royal blood, who escaped the massacre of Joab and fled to Egypt. 1 Kgs 11:18-20. The Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon married and brought "into the city of David until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord," 1 Kgs 3:1, consequently before the eleventh year of his reign, in which year the temple was finished. 1 Kgs 6:37-38. This Pharaoh afterward made an expedition into Palestine, took Gerar, slew the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and gave it to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 1 Kgs 9:16. The Pharaoh in whom King Hezekiah put his confidence in his war with Sennacherib, 2 Kgs 18:21, probably identical with Sethos or Zet. Pharaoh-nechoh, also called simply Necho, was the fifth or sixth ruler of the Saite dynasty, and reigned from b.c. 610 to 594. He made an expedition against Assyria, but was encountered by Josiah, king of Judah, who sided with Assyria, but was defeated and killed at Megiddo. 2 Chr 35:20-24; 2 Kgs 23:29-30. The Jews then raised Jehoahaz, the younger son of Josiah, to the throne, but he was deposed by Necho, who gave the sceptre to Jehoiakim, the elder son of Josiah. Necho's army was afterward defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, and he lost all his Asiatic possessions. 2 Kgs 24:7. See Necho. Pharaoh-hophra, the Apries of secular historians, was the second successor of Necho, and entered Palestine, probably in b.c. 590, in order to relieve Jerusalem, which was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. Jer 37:5-8; Eze 17:11-13; comp. 2 Kgs 25:1-4. The campaign was of no avail. Jerusalem fell, and Nebuchadnezzar made a successful invasion into Egypt. Pharaoh-hophra was afterward deposed by his own subjects, and, though he was at first treated kindly by his successor, Amosis, he was finally strangled. In their prophecies Jeremiah and Ezekiel give a very striking picture of this king, his arrogance and conceit, which corresponds closely with that given by Herodotus.

that disperses; that spoils

PHA'RAOH, an Egyptian word applied by the Egyptians themselves to their kings as a generic name or title, and adopted into Hebrew, where it was used either alone or with the addition "king of Egypt," or, as in two cases, followed by a proper name - Pharaoh-nechoh and Pharaoh-hophra. The word was formerly derived from the Egyptian article Pi or Ph and the word Ra, denoting "the sun," as the Egyptian king was considered the representative on earth of the sun-god, or from the Coptic ouro, "king." Modern Egyptologists (De Rouge, Brugsch, and Ebers) define its meaning as "the great house," and its application would thus be equivalent to our "the sublime porte." On account of the great uncertainty which still surrounds Egyptian chronology, it has proved very difficult to identify the different Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible, but, in many points, the investigations of Egyptologists and biblical scholars have reached pretty certain conclusions. Ten Pharaohs are mentioned in the O.T. The Pharaoh of the time of Abraham. Gen 12:15. He is probably identical with Salatis, the head of the fifteenth dynasty, one of the Shepherd-kings (Hyksos), foreigners of the Semitic race, who conquered Egypt and, having become Egyptianized, ruled it for several centuries. The date of Abraham's visit to Egypt is most probably fixed at about b.c. 2080. The Pharaoh of Joseph, Gen 41, was the last, or the last but one, of the fifteenth dynasty; probably identical with Apophis, who reigned at least 26 years, b.c. 1876-1850. The Pharaoh of the Oppression - "the new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph," Ex 1:8, and under whose reign Moses was born - is now by most Egyptologists identified with Rameses II., the third sovereign of the nineteenth dynasty (the Sesostris of the Greeks), the most prominent of the Pharaohs, a conqueror of many lands, the masterbuilder of Egypt, whose statues and temples in ruins are found all over the Nile valley from Zoan (Tanis) to Karnak and Aboo Simbel. The other theory, which seeks the Pharaoh of the Oppression in Aahmes I. (the Amosis of Josephus), who began to reign b.c. 1706 as the first sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty, is now pretty generally abandoned. See Egypt. The Pharaoh of the Exodus, Ex 5:1, before whom Moses wrought his miracles, and who perished with his army in the pursuit of the Israelites, was Menephtha, the thirteenth son of Rameses II., who began to rule b.c. 1325. His reign was inglorious and marked a period of decline. He did not even finish his father's tomb. On a monument of Tanis mention is made of the fact that he lost a son, and Dr. Brugsch connects this with the death of the first-born, the last of the plagues. The Pharaoh whose daughter, Bithiah, was given in marriage to Mered, a descendant of Judah. 1 Chr 4:18. The Pharaoh who gave the sister of his queen in marriage to Hadad, an Edomite of royal blood, who escaped the massacre of Joab and fled to Egypt. 1 Kgs 11:18-20. The Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon married and brought "into the city of David until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord," 1 Kgs 3:1, consequently before the eleventh year of his reign, in which year the temple was finished. 1 Kgs 6:37-38. This Pharaoh afterward made an expedition into Palestine, took Gerar, slew the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and gave it to his daughter, Solomon's wife. 1 Kgs 9:16. The Pharaoh in whom King Hezekiah put his confidence in his war with Sennacherib, 2 Kgs 18:21, probably identical with Sethos or Zet. Pharaoh-nechoh, also called simply Necho, was the fifth or sixth ruler of the Saite dynasty, and reigned from b.c. 610 to 594. He made an expedition against Assyria, but was encountered by Josiah, king of Judah, who sided with Assyria, but was defeated and killed at Megiddo. 2 Chr 35:20-24; 2 Kgs 23:29-30. The Jews then raised Jehoahaz, the younger son of Josiah, to the throne, but he was deposed by Necho, who gave the sceptre to Jehoiakim, the elder son of Josiah. Necho's army was afterward defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, and he lost all his Asiatic possessions. 2 Kgs 24:7. See Necho.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

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

2. See Faro. Pharaoh's chicken (Zoöl.), the gier-eagle, or Egyptian vulture; -- so called because often sculpured on Egyptian monuments. It is nearly white in color. -- Pharaoh's rat (Zoöl.), the common ichneumon.