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Pharaoh of the exodus

Never named, which for a man whose whole life was built on having his name last is the sharpest thing in the account.

The king of Egypt is the only major figure in the exodus who is never given a name. He is introduced as a new king who did not know Joseph, and his first policy is arithmetic: there are too many of them, work them harder. When that fails he orders the boys drowned. Against Moses he moves from contempt to bargaining to fury, giving ground after each sign and taking it back as soon as the pressure lifts. He lets them go at midnight after the firstborn die, and then sends six hundred chariots after them.

Where he appearsExodus 1 to 15

Exodus
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Pharaoh of the exodus

The movements, in the order the text gives them.

The Account of Pharaoh of the exodus

  1. 01

    Exodus 1:8-14

    A new king who did not know Joseph

    The family that Egypt once fed has become a nation Egypt fears. The response is supervisors, mortar, brick and a policy of making the work bitter.

    The king calls it dealing wisely. The next thing on the page is forced labour. That change of register matters: the polished language of a royal proposal becomes mortar, bricks, field work and bitter lives. Pharaoh describes Israel's numbers as a danger, but the Book of Exodus has just described their increase as fruitfulness. The same people appear as a blessing in the account and a threat in the king's speech.

    His policy also fails on its own stated terms. The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. The sentence does not make the suffering harmless; verse 14 takes care of that. It makes the king's proposed solution ineffective. Labour can be extracted, cities can be built, and lives can be made bitter without the royal command acquiring control over Israel's future. Even the distribution of names is striking. The cities are named. Joseph is named. Immediately after this passage, two midwives are named. The king remains a title.

    Verse by verse

    1. 1:8

      Exodus 2:23 reports the death of Egypt's king before Moses returns. This sheet follows the Egyptian kingship across the oppression and exodus, not one demonstrably continuous reign.

    2. 1:9

      More and mightier is the king's claim in his speech, not an independently supplied population census.

    3. 1:11

      Treasure cities means storage cities. The place-name Raamses does not supply a personal name for the unnamed Pharaoh.

    4. 1:14

      Rigour is repeated from verse 13; the passage explicitly describes harsh compulsory service, not merely a large building programme.

    Exodus 1:8-14

    King James Version · 7 verses

    1:8Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

    1:9And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

    1:10Come 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.

    1:11Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

    1:12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

    1:13And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

    1:14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

    Exodus 1:8-14: A new king who did not know Joseph
  2. 02

    Exodus 5:1-21

    Bricks without straw

    Asked to let them go, he doubles the load and lets them gather their own straw. The Israelite foremen come out and blame Moses, which is the point.

    The brick quota stays put. The straw disappears. Pharaoh's answer to a request for worship is not merely refusal but a new arrangement in which the workers must supply an additional task without receiving an additional hour. When they cannot keep up, their Hebrew officers are beaten. The arithmetic is royal; the bruises belong to somebody else.

    Two announcements frame the conflict. Thus saith the LORD opens the audience with Pharaoh; Thus saith Pharaoh introduces the order about straw. The repetition places competing claims to obedience directly beside one another. Pharaoh then calls the demand to worship idleness, twice, as though repeating the accusation could provide the missing material.

    The officers still petition him as his servants. They identify the impossible conditions, but the king gives them their accusation back. Outside the audience, their anger lands on Moses and Aaron. That is the terrible practical result of this first confrontation: the men announcing release are blamed for making captivity worse. The Book of Exodus leaves the complaint on the page. Deliverance has been proclaimed, and the workers have been beaten.

    Verse by verse

    1. 5:2

      Pharaoh's refusal joins two claims: he does not acknowledge the LORD and he will not release Israel. The line is more than a request for information.

    2. 5:8

      Tale means the required count or quota of bricks, not a narrative.

    3. 5:14

      The beaten officers belong to the children of Israel; Pharaoh's taskmasters stand above them. The two groups are not interchangeable.

    4. 5:21

      Savour describes reputation through the image of smell. The officers say Moses and Aaron have made them abhorrent to the Egyptian authorities.

    Exodus 5:1-21: Bricks without straw

    Exodus 5:1-21

    King James Version · 21 verses

    5:1And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

    5:2And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

    5:3And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

    5:4And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.

    5:5And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.

    5:6And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,

    5:7Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

    5:8And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

    5:9Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

    5:10And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

    5:11Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.

    5:12So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.

    5:13And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

    5:14And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

    5:15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

    5:16There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.

    5:17But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.

    5:18Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.

    5:19And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.

    5:20And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:

    5:21And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

  3. 03

    Exodus 8:25-32

    The bargaining

    Sacrifice here, not out there. Go, but not far. The men only. Leave the flocks. Each offer concedes a little and keeps the hold, and each is withdrawn when the frogs die or the hail stops.

    Pharaoh offers permission without surrendering control. First the sacrifice can happen in the land. Then it can happen outside, provided the worshippers do not go very far. The terms move, but the royal hand stays extended over the boundary. Moses refuses to let the location become a detail that Pharaoh can settle for Israel's God.

    The king's request for prayer is especially revealing beside his earlier refusal to acknowledge the LORD. Intreat for me. He now asks the man carrying the rejected command to seek relief from the God behind it. Moses agrees, but attaches a plain warning against further deceit. The removal is complete: there remained not one. So is the reversal. With the flies gone, the promised departure goes too.

    Here Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Elsewhere the LORD hardens it, and Exodus 4:21 announced that divine action before these negotiations began. Neither strand can honestly erase the other. Romans 9:17-18 later takes Pharaoh into Paul's argument about divine power and mercy. The wording is firm; explanations of how human refusal and divine hardening relate have not been equally uniform.

    Verse by verse

    1. 8:26

      The passage does not identify the exact animals or explain the precise Egyptian objection. A detailed claim about which animal every Egyptian worshipped would exceed the text.

    2. 8:28

      Not very far away qualifies the concession; Pharaoh is still attempting to set the conditions of Israel's worship.

    3. 8:31

      Not one makes the removal comprehensive. The broken promise cannot be blamed on an incomplete answer to Moses' prayer.

    4. 8:32

      This verse assigns the hardening to Pharaoh; Exodus 9:12 assigns it to the LORD. Romans 9:17-18 emphasizes divine agency without changing the wording of this verse.

    Exodus 8:25-32

    King James Version · 8 verses

    8:25And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

    8:26And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

    8:27We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.

    8:28And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.

    8:29And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.

    8:30And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.

    8:31And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.

    8:32And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

    Exodus 8:25-32: The bargaining
  4. 04

    Exodus 12:29-32

    Rise up and go out

    At midnight there is not a house without someone dead in it, including his own. He calls for Moses in the dark and tells them to take everything and go, and asks to be blessed.

    The royal command ends with a request: and bless me also. Pharaoh, who began by denying the LORD's claim on Israel, now asks the departing servants for a blessing. That is a remarkable reversal of language. It is not a statement that his character has been permanently transformed.

    The words immediately before it are almost stripped of bargaining. As ye have said occurs twice. The people may go; the flocks and herds may go. Earlier restrictions have collapsed, but the Book of Exodus does not let the reader reach the permission without passing through the houses. The firstborn of the throne and the firstborn of the prisoner appear in the same sentence. Royal position does not protect the first household, and captivity does not protect the second. The cry is national, not merely a sound from the palace.

    The passage gives four verses to something no ornament can make light. A king gives the order to leave, but the chapter's terrible centre is the death that precedes the order. Bless me also does not erase it. Those words are spoken in its aftermath.

    Verse by verse

    1. 12:29

      The range from throne to dungeon deliberately includes both the ruler's household and a captive's household; the deaths are not confined to Pharaoh's family.

    2. 12:31

      Serve the LORD answers the demand repeatedly refused in the earlier confrontations. Pharaoh finally speaks permission in the terms of that demand.

    3. 12:32

      The request for blessing is explicit. A lasting conversion or a settled change of heart is not asserted here.

    Exodus 12:29-32

    King James Version · 4 verses

    12:29And 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.

    12:30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

    12:31And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.

    12:32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.

    Exodus 12:29-32: Rise up and go out
  5. 05

    Exodus 14:5-28

    Six hundred chariots

    Told the people have fled, he asks what he has done in letting them go and changes his mind one last time. The pursuit ends in water that had been standing open all night.

    The pursuit begins with a complaint about lost labour. Pharaoh and his servants do not say that Israel has stolen a march on military glory; they say Israel has stopped serving them. The king who permitted departure now mobilizes to reverse its economic consequence. Six hundred chosen chariots appear, and then all the chariots of Egypt. The six hundred are not the whole force.

    The passage steadily takes that force apart. The cloud that led Israel moves behind the camp and prevents contact through the night. A strong east wind works all night; the morning watch brings confusion to the pursuers. Then the chariot wheels come off. The equipment named as the army's strength has become its impediment.

    The most exact reversal is spoken by the Egyptians themselves. Moses had said that the LORD would fight for Israel; the soldiers now say that the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. Pharaoh began the confrontation by refusing to acknowledge that name. His own army ends by identifying the combatant. The water returns over the force that entered the sea. Its recognition does not secure its escape.

    Verse by verse

    1. 14:7

      Six hundred chosen chariots are followed by all the chariots of Egypt. The verse does not give six hundred as a complete total.

    2. 14:19-21

      The protective cloud and the east wind operate through the night. The text supplies this duration rather than describing every event as instantaneous.

    3. 14:25

      The Egyptian acknowledgment echoes Moses' statement in 14:14, now spoken from the opposing side.

    4. 14:28

      This verse describes the destruction of the force that entered the sea, without separately narrating the king's final movements. Psalm 136:15 names Pharaoh and his host together in the overthrow.

    Exodus 14:5-28: Six hundred chariots

    Exodus 14:5-28

    King James Version · 24 verses

    14:5And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?

    14:6And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

    14:7And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.

    14:8And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.

    14:9But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

    14:10And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

    14:11And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

    14:12Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

    14:13And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

    14:14The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

    14:15And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

    14:16But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

    14:17And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

    14:18And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

    14:19And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

    14:20And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

    14:21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

    14:22And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

    14:23And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

    14:24And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

    14:25And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

    14:26And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

    14:27And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

    14:28And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

Why it matters

Egypt built enormous monuments so that names would survive, and Exodus withholds his. It gives us the names of the two midwives instead. The account also refuses to simplify what happens to him: sometimes he hardens his own heart, sometimes it is hardened for him, and the text lets both stand. He is the picture of a power that cannot be reasoned with and does not have to be defeated by the people it holds.

16 songs

The music

Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.

  1. Exodus 1:1-2:10

    A Child Drawn from the River

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  2. Exodus 1:1-2:10

    Drawn from the Water

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  3. Exodus 2:11-4:17

    Fire in the Bush

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  4. Exodus 2:11-4:17

    Fire That Would Not Burn Away

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  5. Exodus 4:18-6:30

    Bricks Without Straw

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  6. Exodus 5:1-7:13

    Let the People Go

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  7. Exodus 7:14-10:29

    Signs Upon Egypt

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  8. Exodus 7:1-8:19

    The Finger of God

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  9. Exodus 8:20-10:29

    A Difference in Goshen

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  10. Exodus 11:1-12:36

    Blood upon the Door

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  11. Exodus 11-12

    When the Blood Was Seen

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  12. Exodus 12:31-13:22

    Out of the House of Bondage

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  13. Exodus 12:37-15:21

    The Sea Stood Up

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  14. Exodus 14:1-15:21

    A Way Through the Sea

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  15. Exodus 14:13-31

    Stand Still and See

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  16. Exodus 15:22-17:16

    Bread from Heaven, Water from Stone

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