Egyptology has fascinated many of the world's scholars who have invested much time and energy into this study. There has never been any conclusive proof from Egyptian records concerning the Israeli Exodus, let alone who might have been the Pharaoh at that time. This has to be determined by chronology. Therefore, who the Pharaoh was that Moses and Aaron dealt with in Egypt will depend on how the chronology of the Hebrews is calculated. In this Chronology, I have set the time of the Exodus about 130 years later than most chronologists. Most Chronologies have the Exodus in the 1600s BC, while I place the date at 1494 BC.

In setting my date for the Exodus, I made no attempt to harmonize my dates with Egyptology. I have no feel whatsoever for the accuracy of their dates. But I do find it interesting that there are certain coincidences in Egyptology which match my dates.

For instance, the Pharaoh lines are broken into various divisions which represent strong philosophical and political changes within Egypt itself. They are called 1) The old Kingdom, 2) the Middle Kingdom, and 3) The New Kingdom. Besides these, there are periods called "Intermediate Periods" which fall between the Kingdoms. The time periods for these are as follows:

Now the Scriptural account is that:

EXO 1:8-11 "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses."

According to my chronology, Joseph would have been the hero of the Middle Kingdom, saving Egypt from famine in 1683 - 1669 BC. But Joseph would have actually died in the Second Intermediate Period, after those who he had worked closely with had been conquered and removed from power. He would have died in 1603 BC at age 110.

The change of periods in 1630 BC (27 years before the death of Joseph) was caused by an invading group of Asians (thought to be from the land of Palestine) called the Hyksos. The word Hyksos in Egyptian meant "Ruler of Foreign Lands." These people moved into Egypt, conquered it, and took on the identity of Egyptians. In his History, Josephus depicts the new rulers as sacrilegious invaders who despoiled the land. As these men were not Egyptian natives, they would naturally have no respect for Joseph or the things he had accomplished some 70 years previous on behalf of Egypt. This change in political leadership may also explain while Joseph was permitted by the Egyptians to take his father Jacob back to Israel to be buried, but he himself knew that the Egyptians would not allow him to be buried in Israel. Joseph was embalmed in Egypt, awaiting an opportunity for going back to Israel.

GEN 50:25-26 "And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt."

In my Chronology, Moses is born in 1574 BC, during the reign of the Hyksos. He flees Egypt in 1534, just after Egypt has begun to be reclaimed by an Egyptian native, Ahmose, who eventually sets up the "new Kingdom". Egyptologists say that it took Ahmose till his 10th year (1530) to expel the Hyksos. Moses' flight from Egypt and the people who raised him, would be only 4 years prior to them being driven out of Egypt. Was his flight then, the hand of God preserving him from the fate of his adopted family?

When Moses returned to Egypt 40 years later, it was to deal with the true Egyptians, a different race of people than those who raised him. Ahmose, the conqueror of Egypt had died in 1514 BC and left the kingdom to his son, Amenhotep. (History's Amenhotep I.) Amenhotep, then, would be the Pharaoh to whom the plagues of God were unleashed.

My Chronology has the Passover/Exodus from Egypt to be 1494. As we recall, the Passover led to the death of the firstborn:

EXO 12:29 "And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle."

Of Amenhotep it is said that he died in 1493 BC. He has no tomb ever found in Egypt, nor did he have an heir to take his throne. Rather he was succeeded by Thutmose I, one of his Generals. This would be consistent with the Pharaoh whose son died in the Passover, and who himself was drowned in the Red Sea.