Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 15:2 (Spring 1972)
Article: A Consideration Of The Identity Of The Pharaoh Of Genesis 47
Author: James R. Battenfield

JETS 15:2 (Spring 1972) p. 77

A Consideration Of The Identity
Of The Pharaoh Of Genesis 47

James R. Battenfield*

Introduction

The problem of this paper may be phrased in the question, who was the pharaoh of Genesis 47? In a day when questions of this kind on biblical chronology find no consensus of agreement among scholars, a problem such as this seems incapable of solution.1 Certainly the possible dates given for Joseph cover a wide range. Among the main views, Erich Zehren has found Joseph in the person of Irsu the Syrian, who lived about 1200 B.C.2 C. H. Gordon argued for a Ramesside date.3 H. H. Rowley affirmed that he connects the life of Jacob (and Joseph) with the Amarna age.4 Yet the majority of experts today assign Joseph to the time of the Hyksos.5 This last view is perhaps the most secure, since inscriptional evidence is almost totally lacking for the Hyksos period in Egypt’s history.6 Could Joseph, however, have lived before the Hyksos domination? Some scholars are of this opinion. Gleason Archer,7 Merrill Unger,8 and John Rea,9 among others, would place Joseph in Egypt’s Middle Kingdom period. J. Barton Payne,10 John Whitcomb,11 and Leon

*Th.M. degree from Talbot Theological Seminary and now instructor in Old Testament and Hebrew at Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Indiana.

JETS 15:2 (Spring 1972) p. 78

Wood12 have stated that the coming of Jacob to Egypt should fall in the reign of Sesostris III, or ca. 1875 B.C. I am in agreement with this last view, yet no matter what view one espouses for Joseph, several assumptions must first be made clear.

Assumptions

Support for such a synchronism may be found in the familiar passages which give chronological notations. If one takes Thiele’s 931 B.C. date for the dividing of the Monarchy,13 and adds the forty years of Solomon’s reign (I Kings 11:42), he arrives at 971 B.C. I Kings 6:1, often claimed, yet still without proof, to be an editorial addition,14 gives 480 years as the t...