The First Born of Pharaoh That Died in the Plague
According to Biblical chronology, Moses fled from Egypt a few years before the beginning of the sole reign of the Thutmose III. If we consider Amenhotep II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, it was his eldest son, the brother of his successor (Thutmose IV) who was killed by the angel of death at the tenth plague.
There are no records of this event in history as the ancient Egyptians didn’t record events that were unfavorable to them. However, Thutmose IV left proof of the unexpected death of his brother and his own rise to the royal throne.
This evidence is found on the stele of the Sphinx at Giza for it documents that he had the sand taken away from that ancient monument in gratefulness for the divine choice he suddenly had in its shadow. In the inscription, he tells of how he was hunting one day near the Sphinx. And while he was resting in its shade, this “great god” (the Sphinx) was revealed to him in a vision speaking to him as a father speaks to his son, telling him that he was going to be the pharaoh of Egypt.
The fact that this story is written on the monument reveals that Thutmose IV had not been first assigned to be the crown prince for this came as a surprise to him. It also shows that he credited his rising to the throne to the god’s selection and not humans. It is clear to those that study Egyptian inscriptions that an unusual thing happened to the eldest son of Amenhotep II.
Naturally, Thutmose IV didn’t wish to speak about what the God of Hebrews did to Egypt by sending the Ten Plagues, so he told the story of Sphinx foretelling of his rise to the throne. This was customary in ancient Egypt, for when Hatshepsut followed her father on the throne, it was declared that the god Amen had begotten her and commanded her to be Queen of Egypt. Also, when Thutmose III, rose to the throne as the pharaoh without any legal right during a temple uprising, a specific announcement of the god Amen was declared to make his reign official.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
