Chronology check . . . Pharaoh who?

The fact that Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Jewish historians all noted the Exodus begs one to take a closer look at the Pharaoh(s) involved. The story of Israel's release from Egyptian bondage is one that would have left its mark on the Egyptian rulers and people. Who was this God of Israel compared to the stronghold of Egypt?

"Awesome God" by Glad

Some parallels of Scripture and Egyptian history:

• Reverse chronology from "Pharaoh Necho" back to Exodus:
• Reign of King Josiah of Judah -  31 years (II Kings 22:1)--Josiah killed by Pharaoh Necho
• Reign of King Amon of Judah - 2 years (II Kings 21:19)
• Reign of King Manasseh of Judah - 55 years (II Kings 21:1) 
• Reign of King Hezekiah of Judah - 29 years (II Kings 18:2)  
• Reign of King Ahaz of Judah - 16 years (II Kings 16:2) 
• Reign of King Jotham of Judah - 16 years (II Kings 15:33)  
• Reign of King Azariah/Uzziah of Judah - 52 years (II Kings 15:2)
• Reign of King Amaziah of Judah - 29 years (II Kings 14:2)
• Reign of King Joash/Jehoash of Judah - 40 years (II Kings 12:1)
• Reign of Queen Athaliah of Judah - 6 years (II Kings 11:3)
• Reign of King Ahaziah of Judah - 1 year (II Kings 8:26)
• Reign of King Jehoram/Joram of Judah - 8 years (II Kings 8:17)
• Reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah - 25 years (I Kings 22:42)
• Reign of King Asa of Judah - 41 years (I Kings 15:10)
• Reign of King Abijam of Judah - 3 years (I Kings 15:2)
• Reign of King Rehoboam of Judah - 17 years (I Kings 14:21)--Pharaoh Shishak plunders the Temple and palace during Rehoboam's 5th year.
• Reign of King Solomon - 40 years (I Kings 11:42)--Pharaoh Shishak ruling Egypt
• Time from Exodus to Solomon's 4th year of reign - 480 years (I Kings 6:1)
• Total from Exodus to Pharaoh Necho: 480 years + (36 + 17 + 3 + 41 + 25 + 8 + 1 + 6 + 40 + 29 + 52 + 16 + 16 + 29 + 55 + 2 + 31) years = 887 years
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Pharaoh Necho, who killed King Josiah, is identified with Pharaoh Necho II. Accordingly, King Josiah was slain ~608 B.C. when he went to Megiddo to oppose Pharaoh Necho II. This places the Exodus at ~1495 B.C. (608 B.C. + 887 years from Pharaoh Necho to Exodus).
• Livius.org - Pharaoh Necho in II Kings is identified with Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt, who reigned from 610 B.C. until his death in 595 B.C. Pharaoh Necho II slew King Josiah in ~609 B.C. at Megiddo. This places the Exodus at 1496 B.C. (609 B.C. + 887 years from Pharaoh Necho to Exodus).
• Tour Egypt Site - Pharaoh Shishak, the ruler of Egypt during the days of King Solomon and King Rehoboam, is identified with Pharaoh Shoshenq I, who founded the 22nd Eygptian dynasty in 945 B.C. Solomon by comparison died in 930 B.C., placing the Exodus in 1450 B.C. (930 B.C. + 40 year reign of Solomon + 480 years to Exodus).
• Oriental Institute Publications at the University of Chicago - Pharaoh Shishak is identified with Pharaoh Shoshenq I, by aid of the Bubastite Portal inscriptions at Karnak in Egypt. Pharaoh Shoshenq I made the inscriptions in ~925 B.C., after completing his Palestinian campaign. This would place the Exodus at 1450 B.C. (925 B.C. + 5 years of peace under Rehoboam + 40 year reign of Solomon + 480 years to Exodus).
• Therefore, it does indeed appear that the Exodus Pharaoh ruled no later than 1450 B.C., and at least as early as 1500 B.C. from combined Scriptural and Egyptian records.
• Egyptian Pharaohs during 1650-1450 B.C.:
• Upper and Lower Egypt disambiguation - Lower Egypt corresponded to the fertile Nile delta region (i.e. Hebrew Goshen), while Upper Egypt consisted of inland setttlements primarily along the Nile valley.
• c. 1630-1603 B.C.--Pharaoh "who did not know Joseph":
• Hyksos foreign kings - Ruled Lower Egypt during the period of c. 1630-1523 B.C. The Hyksos came from an influx of foreigners and Palestinians into Egypt (which I have previously linked to Joseph's famine). Then the Hyksos dynasty arose to usurp rule from the Egyptians in Lower Egypt, possibly through a famine in the delta region. Therefore, the Hyksos dynasty would fit the pharaoh who did not know Joseph and subjected the Hebrew people to forced labor. Interestingly, the Hyksos brought the compound bow, the horse and chariot, and better metal weaponry to Egypt.
• Death of infants -  Pre or early Hyksos period excavation layer with 65% of graves belonging to infants 2 years or younger found at Avaris Hyksos capital in Lower Egypt.
• Exodus1:8-10, 22, "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land' . . . Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.'"
• c. 1603 B.C.--Naming of Moses:
• List of Pharaohs - Scroll down to the 16th dynasty (c. 1650-1580 B.C.) which was a native Egyptian dynasty ruling Upper Egypt at Thebes. The suffix "-mose" begins to appear with the names of Dedumose I & II, and continues in usage up to Pharaoh Thutmose IV (1400-1390 B.C.) of the 18th dynasty.
• Reshafim - Hyksos ruler Khyan finally conquered Thebes (see Fifteenth Dynasty section) c. 1610-1580 B.C., bringing Hyksos Lower Egypt into direct contact with the culture, rulers, and names in Upper Egypt.
• Exodus 2:5-6, 10, "The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews’ children' . . . The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, 'Because I drew him out of the water.'"
• c. 1523 B.C.--Death of [Hyksos] Pharaoh seeking Moses' life: 
• Pharaoh Ahmose - Re-united Upper and Lower Egypt by the conquest and expulsion of the Hyksos dynasty from Lower Egypt. Pharaoh Ahomose ruled during c. 1550-1525 B.C.
• Exodus 2:11-12, 15, 23-24, "Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand . . . When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian . . . Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
• Exodus 7:1-2, 7, "Then the LORD said to Moses . . . 'You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land' . . . Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh."
• c. 1526-1500 B.C.--"Exodus" Pharaoh:
• Pharaoh Amenhotep I - Ruled Upper and Lower Egypt beginning his rule in ~1526 B.C., according to the apparent heliacal rising of Sirius during Amenhotep's 9th year, and reigned ~25 years. Amenhotep I and his mother were both deified to the rare status of patron gods of Thebes (capital of Upper Egypt) upon Amenhotep's death. Pharaoh Amenhotep I's tomb has not been discovered, only his mortuary temple. In break with tradition, his mummy was not buried in the mortuary temple.
• An Egyptologist's summary - Little is known about Pharaoh Amenhotep I. His mummy was found in a royal mummy cache at Deir el-Bahri. Although the mummy was rewrapped by Egyptian priests in the 21st dynasty, it remains the only mummy yet unwrapped in modernity.
• Exodus 14:8, 27-28, 30, "The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly . . . Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained . . . Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore."
• c. 1526-1500 B.C.--Plagues and upheaval of Egypt:
• Admonition of Ipuwer (unabridged) - Describes overturning of societal ranks and  power in both Upper and Lower Egypt. The discovered Ipuwer papyrus appears to be a copy made during the New Kingdom (c. 1543-1064 B.C.), with the date of the original remaining uncertain.
• Roman Historian Tacitus - See section 3. Tacitus named the Exodus Pharaoh Bocchoris, who saw the Egyptian people afflicted with disfiguring disease during his reign. Bocchoris expelled the Hebrews from the land to cleanse his land.
• Greek Historian Diodorus - Described that the Jews were expelled from Egypt in a general expulsion of foreigners from the land to please the gods and remove a great plague.
• Exodus 12:30-36, "Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians . . . he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go . . . Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.' The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, 'We will all be dead' . . . Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians."
• c. 1500 B.C.--Death of Egyptian firstborn:
• Amenhotep I (1526-1506 B.C.) - Amenhotep's only heir died in his youth, resulting in appointment of his brother-in-law to inherit the throne.
• Thutmose I (1493-1982 B.C.) - Thutmose I held half-royal sonship right to Pharaoh Amenhotep's throne, likely ruled as co-regent for some time with Amenhotep I, pursued the expelled Hyksos rulers, renovated the Thebes temple of Amon, suffered loss of two crown princes (one led his armies), and expanded the Dayr al-Madīnah workers village.
• Exodus 12:29-30, "Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive [excluding the Hebrew people who observed their first Passover--see Exodus 12:21-23] who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead."
• c. 1500 B.C. (see first part of post)--Red Sea crossing:
• Egyptian account: the Egyptians who pursued the Israelites are said to have all perished in the Red Sea and thus could not write an account of this event.
• Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews - See Chap. 16, section 2. When the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and the Egyptians pursued after them into the Red Sea, the waters fell back on the Egyptians, drowning the entire army, accompanied by wind, rain, thunder, and lightening. No Egyptian survived to return with the tale to Egypt.
• Psalm 77:16-20, "The waters saw You, O God;
              The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
              The deeps also trembled.
        The clouds poured out water;
              The skies gave forth a sound;
              Your arrows flashed here and there.
        The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
              The lightnings lit up the world;
              The earth trembled and shook.
        Your way was in the sea
              And Your paths in the mighty waters,
              And Your footprints may not be known.
        You led Your people like a flock
              By the hand of Moses and Aaron."