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Exodus 1 · a question people ask

Which Pharaoh was this?

In the text

The chapter never names him. He is "a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph" (1:8), "the king of Egypt" (1:15, 17-18) and "Pharaoh" (1:11, 19, 22). Elsewhere the Bible sometimes gives a king of Egypt's name, as with "Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt" (2 Kings 23:29), but not here. Attempts to name this king rest partly on history from outside the Bible. The text leaves him unnamed and names the two midwives instead (1:15).

The verses

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.”
Exodus 1:8 · World English Bible
“Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.”
Exodus 1:11 · World English Bible
“In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him.”
2 Kings 23:29 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 1

Exodus 1: The more they multiplied

Exodus opens with God's first blessing coming true in Egypt: Israel was fruitful, multiplied and filled the land, the first three verbs of Genesis 1:28. A new king plotted, lest they "escape out of the land", the same Hebrew verb as Joseph's promise that God would bring them up. The more he afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and two midwives, named when the king isn't, feared God.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions