Pharaoh of Abraham and Isaac

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

Upon close examination the Book of Genesis affords us with several vital clues about the pharaoh encountered by Abram and Sarai that ought to assist us in determining just who was this enigmatic ruler in the Egyptian records. From a study of the structure of the relevant Genesis passages, from toledôt and chiasmus, as explained in our article

Abram’s“Pharaoh” Biblically Named and Archaeologically Identified

http://houseofgold.blog.com/2011/01/09/abram%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cpharaoh%E2%80%9D-biblically-named-and-archaeologically-identified/

we learned that the biblical pharaoh:

Was the same as the Abimelech of Gerar, ruler of the Philistines, contemporaneous with both Abram (Abraham) and Isaac. Which means that:

This particular pharaoh must have reigned for at least 60+ years (the span from Abram’s famine to the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah).

We have also learned from archaeological analysis (see http://creation.com/the-times-of-abraham) that:

Abram was extremely close in time to pharaoh Narmer of Dynasty 0 or 1.

Dr. John Osgood has already done much of the ‘spade work’ for us here, firstly by nailing the archaeology of En-geddi at the time of Abram (in the context of Genesis 14) to the Late Chalcolithic period, corresponding to Ghassul IV in Palestine’s southern Jordan Valley; Stratum V at Arad; and the Gerzean period in Egypt (“The Times of Abraham”, Ex Nihilo TJ, Vol. 2, 1986, pp. 77-87); and secondly by showing that, immediately following this period, there was a migration out of Egypt into Philistia, bringing an entirely new culture (= Early Bronze I, Stratum IV at Arad). P. 86: “In all likelihood Egypt used northern Sinai as a springboard for forcing her way into Canaan with the result that all of southern Canaan became an Egyptian domain”.

This new phase would seem to correspond very nicely with the time of Narmer, since, at this very archaeological phase, according to Osgood (ibid., p. 85): “Belonging to Stratum IV [at Arad] Amiram found a sherd with the name of Narmer ...”. Now Narmer was either the first pharaoh of Egypt’s First Dynasty or the last pre-dynastic ruler of what is sometimes known as Dynasty 0 (or perhaps he was both).

(Taken from our: http://amaic1.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/ten_6466.html)

Some consider this Narmer to have been the father of Egypt’s first pharaoh, Menes, whom some equate in turn with pharaoh Hor-Aha (“Horus the Fighter”). It is thought that Hor’s nomen, Min, might have given rise to the classical name Menes.

Now, I fully accept Emmet Sweeney’s strong argument for a close convergence in time of Abraham and Menes (http://www.emmetsweeney.net/article-directory/item/70-abraham-and-egypt.html).

Most importantly, according to Manetho and Africanus, Hor (Menes) ruled for more than 60 years (http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/
pharaoh/dynasties/dyn01/01menes.html).

I have also suggested in articles that Abram’s pharaoh, Abimelech (“[My] Father is King”), may have been Mizraim’s son, Lehabim. Thus, if Narmer is the father of Hor (Menes), and the latter is Abimelech, this would mean that Narmer was Mizraim himself, though I might personally favour (given the archaeological correlations) that Narmer was the same as Hor.

My tentative proposal, therefore, is that Abram came to Egypt at the approximate time of Narmer and right near the beginning of the long reign of Hor (Menes), who in his youthfulness had fancied Sarai. However, by the end of his long reign, at the time when Isaac had married Rebekah, the pharaoh (as Abimelech) no longer sought personal involvement with the young woman, but rather commented (Genesis 26:10):
 

“What if one of the men had taken Rebekah for himself?”