Exodus 5:2—Who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus?

Problem: The predominant view of modern scholars is that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Ramsees II. If this is right, that would mean that the Exodus took place about 1270 to 1260 b.c. However, from several references in the Bible (Jud. 11:26; 1 Kings 6:1; Acts 13:19–20), the Exodus is dated from ca. 1447 b.c. If this is true, then given the commonly accepted dating system, the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Amenhotep II. Who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and when did the Exodus take place?

Solution: Although much of modern scholarship has proposed a late date for the Exodus, about 1270–1260 b.c., there is sufficient evidence to say that it is not necessary to accept this date, and alternative explanations provide a better accounting of all the historical data, and place the Exodus at about 1447 b.c.

First, the biblical dates for the Exodus place it in the 1400’s b.c., since 1 Kings 6:1 declares that it was 480 years before the fourth year of Solomon’s reign (which was about 967 b.c.). This would place the Exodus around 1447 b.c. This fits also with Judges 11:26 which affirms that Israel spent 300 years in the land up to the time of Jepthah (which was about 1000 b.c.). Likewise, Acts 13:20 speaks of there being 450 years of judges from Moses to Samuel who lived around 1000 b.c. The same is true of the 430 years mentioned in Galatians 3:17 (see comments) spanning from around 1800 to 1450 b.c. (from Jacob to Moses). The same figure is used in Exodus 12:40. All of these passages provide a 1400 b.c. date, not 1200 b.c. as the critics claim.

Second, John Bimson and David Livingston have proposed a revision of the traditional dating of the end of the Middle Bronze Age and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age from 1550 to shortly before 1400 b.c. The Middle Bronze Age was characterized by large fortified cities, a description which fits well with the account which the spies brought back to Moses (Deut. 1:28). This would mean that the conquest of Canaan took place about 1400 b.c. Since the Scriptures state that Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, that would put the Exodus at about 1440 b.c., in complete accord with biblical chronology. If we accept the traditional account of the reigns of the Pharaohs, this would mean that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Amenhotep II who reigned from about 1450 to 1425 b.c.

Third, another possible solution, known as the Velikovsky-Courville revision, proposes a redating of the traditional chronology of the reigns of the Pharaohs. Velikovsky and Courville assert that there are an extra 600 years in the chronology of the kings of Egypt. Archaeological evidence can be mustered to substantiate this proposal which again places the date of the Exodus in the 1440s b.c. According to this view, the Pharaoh at this time was King Thom. This fits the statement in Exodus 1:11 that the Israelites were enslaved to build the city called Pithom, (“the abode of Thom”). When the biblical chronology is taken as the pattern, all of the historical and archaeological evidence fits together in a unified picture. (See Geisler and Brooks, When Skeptics Ask, Victor Books, 1990, chap. 9.)

This excerpt is from When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1992). © 2014 Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Click here to purchase this book.