The Rise of a New Egyptian King

Having established that Exodus will tell the continuing story of Israel, whose numbers had grown quite large (Ex. 1:1–7), Moses in today’s passage explains how the people went from being honored guests to hated slaves. It all started when “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (v. 8).

Scholars debate the identity of this king or pharaoh, since Exodus 1:8 does not give us his name. Most likely, he was Pharaoh Ahmose I, who reigned over Egypt from about 1550 to 1525 BC. Ahmose I rose to power by successfully expelling the Hyskos from Egypt. The Hyskos were a Semitic people who controlled Egypt from roughly 1700 to 1550 BC. Joseph came to power near the start of the Hyskos reign, or shortly before it, so he would have been associated in the minds of the Egyptians with foreign rule over them, and this helps us make sense of why the new pharaoh turned against the Israelites. It is not that the pharaoh had no knowledge of Joseph’s leadership; rather, the idea in the Hebrew is that the pharaoh did not acknowledge Joseph or give him credit for the good he had done. Why? Because the pharaoh was a native Egyptian who had just restored native Egyptian rule to his country, and he certainly would not want to embrace the accomplishments of those associated with the regime he had cast out.

Taking notice of Israel’s size, the new pharaoh played on the people’s fears that Israel might help foreigners take control of Egypt again. He enacted a policy to enslave the Israelites to keep their numbers down and in a state of weakness relative to Egypt (vv. 9–11). The male Israelite slaves had to travel away from their homes to do their work, reducing opportunities for conceiving children with their wives and making it harder to care for their livestock and sustain their families. Furthermore, many of the slaves would end up working themselves to death. Moses notes that the Israelites built two “store cities, Pithom and Raamses.” These were likely fortifications located in the northeast corner of Egypt to help resist invaders.

We have been describing events from the perspective of human history, but we dare not miss the larger spiritual reality. When God’s people experience success, as the Israelites did in Egypt, the devil and his evil minions always take notice and try to stop them. In light of the Bible’s entire witness, this enslavement was just another chapter in the story of Satan’s attempts to destroy God’s people, from whom would come the One to conquer the devil (see Rev. 12:1–6).