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Amenhotep III and the Bible

The Pharaohs of Egypt in the Ancient Times

Pharaohs are the Kings of Egypt, the most powerful people in the land. The Pharaoh is not only a ruler but a religious leader. Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt are subdivided into three kingdoms in the Bible timeline with World History, the old kingdom, the middle kingdom and the new kingdom.

Pharaoh as a word originated from Egyptian word ‘per-aa’ that means the ‘great house’ or the royal palace. Only in the new kingdom was it used to refer to the King. The Pharaoh was the commander-in-chief of his army, and the leader to maintain “Maat” or divine order. Without the Pharaoh, the ancient Egyptians believed there would be chaos in the land.

The history of Ancient Egypt has recorded several Pharaohs although only a few have achieved significance across the timeline. One of these great Pharaohs was Amenhotep III who ruled a peaceful Egypt for 40 years and left a legacy of beautiful monuments to imagine the splendour of Egypt in his time.

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Amenhotep III

Amenhotep_III,Egyptian_Pharoh
Statue of Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III is a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of the new kingdom around 1382 to 1344 BC. He was the 9th pharaoh, the grandson of Thutmosis III. He was also called Amenophis and his name Amenhotep means Amun, one of the gods in Egypt.

Throughout his 40 years of reign, he had built incredible statues. As a benevolent leader to his people at a time when Egypt was at its finest, Amenhotep the III was a magnificent ruler.

Amenhotep III was the son of Thutmose IV and Queen Mutmewiya who was a minor wife. Amenhotep III was made Pharaoh at a young age of 12. He had about 317 wives, but his favourite was Tiye. She was Yuya’s daughter, a high official of his father. Queen Tiye was of Nubian descent. They were married when Amenhotep III was just around 11 to 12 years of age. Queen Tiye was the first Pharaohs wife who had official acts giving an impression of her intelligence. Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye had a son named Akhenaten who later inherited the throne after the death of Amenhotep III.

Amenhotep III leadership was a peaceful reign. He was a prosperous king who spent most of his time supervising the construction of great monuments that, up to this time, still stand to commemorate his rule over Egypt in the Ancient times. His most famous structure was Luxor or the Temple of Amun. Today, this is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Egypt. After 40 years of reign as a Pharaoh in Egypt, Amenhotep III died from an unexplainable illness. He left his wife Tiye to live with their son Akhenaten.

Amenhotep III in the Bible

There are many speculations as to who Amenhotep III was in the Bible. The Pharaohs of Egypt are mentioned in the Biblical passages from the time of Abram and fair Sarai, his wife (Genesis 12), the time of Joseph the Dreamer (Genesis 39-50; Acts 7:13) to the famed story of Moses and the Exodus (Exodus 2-18; Deuteronomy 29:2; Hebrews 11:24) and even in the time of Solomon, the wise son of David (I Kings 3-11; II Chronicles 18:11), Pharaohs intersected with the lives of the Israel people. However, names were not mentioned. One can only speculate the names of the Pharaohs in the Bible according to the timeline of the history. Amenhotep III might be one of the Pharaohs of these Biblical passages as the timeline suggests, but the question remains unanswered: Which one of the Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible was Amenhotep III?

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4 thoughts on “Amenhotep III and the Bible

  1. I think it was amenotep 111 pharaoh of Moses time after his drowning in sea his moved Egypt capital away please let me know if u agree this

    1. Amenhotep III was Solomon

    2. It does seems possible. It’s very ineresting how his son took very mysterious and extreme actions after Amenhotep III`s reign ended. Amenhotep IV (or Akenhaten ) moved the capitol, made efforts to remove his father’s name, and changed the religion to monotheism. It would make sense that these were the actions of a pharaoh who was ashamed of his father and was angry with his father’s gods or had lost faith in them. Amenhotep III and his gods would have been blamed for the great embarrassment of losing Egypt’s massive population of slave people and shamefully losing the military in the sea. The many Egyptian gods were upstaged by the one god of the Hebrews. It may be that Amenhotep III was in fact the hard-hearted, arrogant pharoh of the exodus episode and his son Akenhaten’s enigmatic changes are reactions to the failures of Amenhotep III.

      Speculations and traditionally held views that Ramses II was pharaoh at the time of Moses may not be reliable and long-held conclusions/assumptions of when the exodus occurred may not be correct. Amenhotep III seems like a likely alternative candidate for this pharoh.

  2. Interesting study honestly!!! I believe that the pharaohs in that time tried to surpass or try to match the Hebrew God’s might and beauty in different ways but failed . They were handled with very oddly and, I also believe that this is the story we know about how Jehovah Jireh dealt with Egypt .

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