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Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22: King's Evil Plots

Article  in  Korean Journal of Christian Studies · July 2020

DOI: 10.18708/kjcs.2020.07.117.1.27

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 Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22:
King’s Evil Plots

Cheongsoo Park*
45

I. Renewed Perspective: Imagining Pharaoh as Shrewd

King

As long as Pharaoh heard Moses demanding: ‘Let My son go,’ he refused to

let them go; but when God Himself came to Egypt and brought Israel fort-
h...then Pharaoh began to wail: ‘Alas (way)! That I have sent Israel out!’
(Exod. 13:17).1

The mourning and regretting portrayal of Pharaoh in Midrash may well

represent his negative characterization in the book of Exodus. In fact, the
book’s overall design yields such a negative impression on this Egyptian rul-
er since its overriding concern of national exodus builds on a gradual loss
of Pharaoh’s control over the entire Hebrews; all his efforts to exploit and
subjugate them are constantly foiled and challenged by human characters
and God throughout the book.

https://doi.org/10.18708/kjcs.2020.07.117.1.27
* Ph. D. Candidate in Biblical Interpretation (Hebrew Bible), Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian
University.
1 H. Freedman, et al., The Midrash Rabbah: Shemoth (London: Soncino Press, 1977), 249.
28 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

From the very outset, the book of Exodus sets out its negative character-
ization of Pharaoh. Following the toledoth of Jacob (Exod 1:1-7), the author
(or the redactor responsible for the final form of the book) provides snippets
for this Egyptian tyrant, whose depiction is nowhere close to wise and be-
nevolent king (1:8-22). Appalled by the drastic increase in the Hebrew pop-
ulation, this anxious leader oppresses the Hebrews with forced labor (1:10)
and eventually plots to kill Hebrew male infants at their birth (1:16).
However, Pharaoh’s harsh governance to control the Hebrews only leaves
an indelible stigma for himself as two brave and wise midwives refuse to im-
plement his evil birth control (1:17). Without any hesitation, he sub-
sequently announces a genocide plan of throwing Hebrew male infants into
the Nile (1:22). Yet, as the story progresses, this effort turns out to be also
unworthy of gaining his control over the Hebrews, as proven with the emer-
gence of a new character, Moses, who eventually foils Pharaoh’s scheme to
permanently subjugate them (2:1–10).
As such, the book’s negative characterization of Pharaoh hinges on his
evil scheme to enslave the powerless, innocent group of people and his fail-
ure to achieve this goal. One can hardly deny that readers, guided by book’s
negative posture toward this Egyptian king, wittingly or unwittingly spec-
ulate unintelligence and incapacities that inhere in Pharaoh and his
governance. Exodus 1:8–22 has been the main locus in which readers read-
ily formulate such an inherent dullness of Pharaoh, thanks to book’s ex-
clusive attention to the troubling, but all unsuccessful, plots that this human
ruler contrives.2 First and foremost, midwives’ abortion of his birth control

2 As commentators often note, God is inactive in chapter 1. The book instead puts a focus on setting
up a pivotal incident that spurs God’s grand salvific plan to evacuate the Hebrews, building on af-
fairs of this very troubling king. For an inactive God in chapter 1, see Thomas B. Dozeman,
“Exodus,” The Pentateuch: Fortress Commentary on the Bible Study Edition, eds. Gale A. Yee, Hugh R.
Page, and Matthew J. M. Coomber (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), 142; Walter Houston,
“Exodus,” The Oxford Biblical Commentary, eds. John Barton and John Muddiman (Oxford; New
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 29

plot in 1:17 has led many readers to construe Pharaoh as a foolish and dull
king. For instance, James Ackerman contrasts “the crude, but shrewd, vial,
and resourceful” midwives with the “deceived” and “mocked” king.”3 Magdi
Gendi adds to a fooled king that Pharaoh “does not even recognize that he
is duped.”4 Carol Meyers also notices the clear contrast in the character-
izations between courageous midwives and terrified Egyptians.5 Trible
points to the carelessness of the king that he failed to recognize “the power
of these women.”6 Walter Houston may aptly represent all of these readerly
views as he states that Pharaoh’s plan is “anything but shrewd.”7
An advantage of speculating unintelligence of Pharaoh is clear. It easily
explains his eventual loss of control over the Hebrews; he is inherently in-
capable of carrying out his own schemes. Moreover, it justifies readers’ alli-
ance with the Hebrews since Pharaoh’s unintelligence discloses an irrational
basis of his plots that are designed to unjustly oppress these innocent
protagonists.
Having said all these, however, one’s speculation of inherent unin-
telligence of Pharaoh inevitably withdraws his/her in-depth engagement
with potential implications of seemingly irrational plots the Egyptian tyrant
devises in 1:8-22. Interpretive questions that are lost due to this withdrawal
do not seem insignificant: readers are not obliged to look closely into possi-
ble motivations and efficacies of Pharaoh’s plots (1:9-10, 16, 22); they do not

York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 69.

3 James S. Ackerman, “The Literary Context of the Moses Birth Story,” Literary Interpretations of
Biblical Narratives, eds. Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, James S. Ackerman, and Thayer S. Warshaw
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1974), 87.
4 Magdi S. Gendi, “Pharaoh as a Character in Exodus 1-2: An Egyptian Perspective,” Exodus and
Deuteronomy, eds. Athalya Brenner and Gale A. Yee (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), 65.
5 Carol Meyers, Exodus (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 37.
6 Phyllis Trible, “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation,” JAAR 41:1 (1973), 34.
7 Houston, “Exodus” (2012), 69–70.
30 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

form an urgent need to explicate some notable interpretive or exegetical

challenges involving his orders, such as his odd reticence over midwives’
deceptive report on their aborted mission (1:19) and missing subjects of the
infants to be thrown into the Nile (1:22). These points are all gaps that the
text leaves open and thus that need explanations in order to make one’s un-
derstanding of the text fuller and more robust.
I take this relative inattention to Pharaoh’s plots in 1:8-22 as a cue to look
matters more closely and propose that a shift in one’s view of Pharaoh’s in-
nate unintelligence can effect the ways to deal ably with those lacunae ad-
dressed above. More precisely, I will demonstrate that an assumption of
Pharaoh’s shrewd character makes it easier to reach fuller connotations of
his political decisions and orders. It will be shown that this renewed view
helps focus attention on details of his speeches and behaviors so as to sur-
face the cruel undercurrents of his seemingly irrational moves toward con-
trolling the Hebrews; he intends to permanently subjugate the Hebrews by
crushing their mentalities. This hermeneutic suggestion, however, is in no
ways to haphazardly fill in gaps based mainly on unrestrained readerly
imaginations, as Robert Alter and Richard Bowman warn of groundless in-
terpretations when one strives to make sense of the text while dealing with
indeterminacy of meaning8 or missing information.9 In speculating in-
tentions and analyzing patterns of character’s speeches and behaviors,

8 Alter characterizes the literary articulation of biblical narratives as genuinely containing an in-
determinacy of meaning which requires various efforts to filling in gaps. He warns however that
such efforts should not be “merely based on imaginative impression of the story but must be un-
dertaken through minute critical attention to the biblical writer’s articulations of narrative form.”
Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 2011), 13.
9 Bowman understands that although readers have to fill in places where desired information is
missing, they should not lend inordinate attention to these places in order avoid an
overinterpretation. Richard G. Bowman, “Narrative Criticism: Human Purpose in Conflict with
Divine Presence,” Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies, ed. Gale A. Yee
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), 19.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 31

therefore, I will be as faithful as possible to the information that the text

offers. Furthermore, my interpretive practice will be strictly limited to a
broader design of the book; however shrewd Pharaoh is his shrewdness
cannot outrun the divine salvific plan to set the Hebrews free. It will be pro-
ven that my reading strategy that discloses inefficacies of human shrewd-
ness before divine will strengthens the overall design of the book more dra-
matically than readings that deem Pharaoh a mere simpleton.

II. Pharaoh Defends Socio-Economic Benefits for the

Egyptians

After a brief summation of lineage of Jacob, the book of Exodus in-

troduces an initiation of conflict between the Hebrews and the Egyptians,
which takes roots in the proliferation of the former group of people (1:7).
As Meyer notes, the text draws attention to an overt link between the grow-
ing Hebrew population and the dread of Egyptians (1:12) through the repe-
tition of a Hebrew verb “‫( ”רבה‬to multiply; 1:7, 9, 10, 12, 20).10 A common
scholarly observation on Pharaoh’s perception of threat from the pro-
liferation of the Hebrews is his delusion that irrationally renders his current
circumstances. For instance, Ackerman comments that, while deliberately
refusing the authority of Joseph, Pharaoh exaggerates his current situation.11
Gendi similarly claims that Pharaoh’s perceived threat derives from his hy-
pothetical speculations.12
It is natural that such an observation of Pharaoh’s delusion substantially

10 Meyers, Exodus (2005), 33.

11 Ackerman, “The Literary Context of the Moses Birth Story” (1974), 80–81.
12 Gendi, “Pharaoh as a Character in Exodus 1-2” (2012), 57.
32 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

downplays potential reasons for his perception of growing Hebrew pop-

ulation as a threat to him and his kingdom. In the view of Pharaoh having
problematic psyche, finding realistic reasons for his perception of threat
seems to be beside the point. However, even if the text gives nuances to the
absurdity of Pharaoh’s rendering of the proliferation of the Hebrews, it nev-
ertheless does not close off clues to speculate what lies behind his absurd
rendering. These clues emerge when one begins to suspect Pharaoh’s irra-
tionality and look for a real motivation of his seeming exaggerative inter-
pretation of the Hebrew population.
Pharaoh’s speech in 1:10 seems to be one strong candidate that gives
hints at reasons for his perception of threat from the growing number of the
Hebrews.

Come. Let us be wise to them. Or they will multiply and, when a war occurs,
they will surely join our enemies, and they will fight against us and go up
from the land.13

In this speech, Pharaoh makes an interesting conjecture as to the in-

crease of Hebrew population. He thinks that if the Hebrews multiply they
will fight against his own people. It is striking, however, that the worst sce-
nario from this imaginable physical protest is not the defeat of or damages
to his people and kingdom, but the departure of the Hebrews from his land,
viz., a vacuum of their presence.
As for Pharaoh’s fear of their departure, Moses Greenberg points to the
disgrace it can cause; publicizing Pharaoh’s loss of control over the
Hebrews, their escape will critically damage his authority.14 I add here that

13 Provided here is my own literal translation of the Masoretic Exodus 1:10.

14 Moshe Greenberg, Understanding Exodus: A Holistic Commentary of Exodus 1-11, ed. Jeffrey H.
Tigay (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2013), 19.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 33

a socio-economic loss that their absence can bring forth should also count
towards his fear. Pharaoh’s overt concern for socio-economic benefits
comes into view in his comments on the partial release of the Hebrews at the
eighth (10:11) and the ninth plague (10:24). His lingering attachment to
their livestock (10:24) shows his anxiety over the economic loss that his ne-
gotiation with Moses over the release can cause. Noticeably, he shows even
stronger attachment to the Hebrew females as he enacts a partial release of
the people. In both incidents, he strives to keep these Hebrew females un-
der his control, releasing only men and children. It is very likely that this at-
tachment to the Hebrew females reflects his expectation of their re-
productive capacity that can regenerate human resources even after all
Hebrew males leave his kingdom.15 1:11 provides a useful hint at the so-
cio-economic benefits for the Egyptians, to which these Hebrew human re-
sources can contribute; they can provide cheap labor to construct infra-
structures that serve the entire Egyptians.
For Pharaoh, the loss of expectant socio-economic benefits for the
Egyptians loom large as the increase of Hebrew population endangers his
effective control over them, whom he deems useful laboring sources.
Anticipating potential damages to his authority and the loss of socio-eco-
nomic benefits, therefore, Pharaoh renders the growing number of
Hebrews as a threat to him and his kingdom. As king of a nation sensing an
impending danger, Pharaoh has to take an action for defending him and his
people. This action begins with a forced labor and develops into a shrewder
and more effective plot, killing of the Hebrew male infants.

15 Ibid., 24.
34 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

III. Selective Genocide Plan: An Effective Strategy to Gain

Control over the Hebrews

As a next phase to imposing forced labor, Pharaoh plots to kill the

Hebrew male infants at their birth (1:16, 20). Absurd and imprudent it may
seem, this plot does have efficacies to fulfill his intention to secure his con-
trol over the Hebrews for several reasons. First, as an immediate effect, this
plot can restrain the rapid growth rate of Hebrew population, making it eas-
ier for Pharaoh to control the overall Hebrew population in the long run.
Second, this particular type of infant killing will not cause a shortage of
available human resources. For the next several decades, current surviving
Hebrew adult males can serve the Egyptians for their socio-economic
benefits. Moreover, the reproductive capacity of the Hebrew females ―in-
cluding adults and infants that Pharaoh selectively spares― will make it pos-
sible to supply human resources when needed. Notwithstanding the num-
ber of the male infants to be killed, therefore, he will not experience a vac-
uum of human resources. Third, by killing male infants, Pharaoh can ma-
nipulate the mentality of the Hebrews. It is clear that the death of a child
leaves a serious psychological trauma to his/her family. What’s more, given
the patrilineal culture that governs the tradition of Hebrews (e.g. Gen
49:1-28; Exod 11:4-8), losing a male child means for them more than a loss
of an innocent life; it signals a significant damage to their entire life system.16
As such, Pharaoh, with his selective genocide plan, can impoverish the
mental health of the Hebrews, making them more easily controllable.

16 Cf. Houston points out the significant damage to the Hebrew leadership that this selective geno-
cide plan can bring forth. Houston, “Exodus” (2012), 69.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 35

IV. Implementing Plan: An Open Secret Mission

In 1:15, Pharaoh gives two midwives ―Shiphrah and Puah― a mission

to kill the Hebrew male infants at their birth: ‫ויאמר מלך מצרים למילדת העברית‬
(“And king said to midwives of the Hebrews”). As Dozeman rightly points
out, the situation in which his mission is given assumes secrecy since there
is no agent between him and the midwives when this event takes place.17
And yet, despite this assumed secrecy at the moment of the contact between
Pharaoh and two midwives, the text is not clear about whether or not this
mission has to be kept in secret once the midwives leave him. The following
modern play well captures an ambiguous nature of this assumed secrecy:

Puah: Sisters, there’s bad news, bad news.

Shiprah: Bad news for our people.
Jochebed: Sit, Puah. Sit, Shiprah. Tell us what the trouble is.
Puah: We were both summoned to Pharaoh’s palace this morning.
Shiprah: Pharaoh has ordered us to kill all the Hebrew male children at birth.18

This play posits a possibility of personal relationships between the mid-

wives and the Hebrews, through which the mission could leak out. It is in-
teresting to note that, once Pharaoh notices the failed mission, he merely
asks the midwives about the reason for their sparing infants, but not if they
have kept his mission secret (1:17).
The ongoing situation of the Hebrews elevates the ambiguity of the as-

17 Thomas B. Dozeman, Commentary on Exodus (Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 2009), 72.
18 Cresy John, Susan Joseph, and Pearl Derego, “An Asian Feminist Perspective: The Exodus Story
(Exodus 1:8-22; 2:1-10),” Voices from the Margin, ed. R. S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll: Orbis Books,
2006), 219.
36 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

sumed secrecy of the mission even more. Provided that this mission is given
at the pinnacle of physical oppression (1:11, 13-14), it would not be difficult
for the Hebrews to eventually notice an overt involvement of Pharaoh and
his people with this new type of persecution. The Egyptians has been the
main perpetrators of their hardships, and thus the Hebrews can gradually
perceive the odd deaths of their male infants as another type of hardship
conspired by these very perpetrators.
All these speculations over the ambiguous nature of the assumed secrecy
of the mission brings to the fore a possibility that Pharaoh intends the infant
killing as an open secret mission. An anticipated effect of this type of mis-
sion seems mental rather than physical. Whether or not the plan is even-
tually carried out, gradual dispersion of king’s horrible intention among the
powerless Hebrews suffices to permanently inscribe terrors and dread in
their minds. If what Pharaoh truly wanted is to concretize his control over
the Hebrews, this psychological damage could surely do its job.

V. Two Esteemed Midwifery Practitioners Stand Before

King

Midwives’ abortion of their mission to kill the Hebrew male infants (1:17)
has been widely recognized as heroic resistance to a powerful ruler. The un-
derlying assumptions of this interpretation include their Hebrew ethnicity
and corresponding lower status.19 Their positive characterizations serve to
undermine the presentation of Pharaoh in the text, and this presentational
relation seems to well uphold the book’s overall posture toward Pharaoh

19 Gendi, “Pharaoh as a Character in Exodus 1-2” (2012), 62; Dozeman, Commentary on Exodus
(2009), 72–73; Meyers, Exodus (2005), 36-37.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 37

that concludes with his eventual loss of control over the Hebrews
(14:21-29).
Despite its benefit of sustaining the overall design of the book, this inter-
pretation is not without its limits. One salient challenge derives from the eth-
nic identification of the two midwives. Dozeman helpfully introduces inter-
pretive confusion over the origin of these midwives. The critical issue at
stake here is how to translate “‫ ;”מילדת העברית‬these words can be rendered
into either “Hebrew midwives” or “midwives of the Hebrew.” The
Septuagint makes this issue convoluted as it translates these Hebrew words
into “ταῖς μαίαις τῶν Εβραίων” (the midwives of the Hebrew), appear-
ing to “identify the midwives as Egyptians.”20 Indeed, Josephus identifies
them as Egyptians.21
Unclear ethnic identity of the midwives calls their purported lower status
into question. Certainly, if they were Egyptians and thus had relatively high-
er status, their confrontation against Pharaoh would not seem as dramatic,
significantly diminishing their heroic presentation. In fact, Nahum Sarna’s
identification of midwifery in Egypt validates this assumption of relatively
high status of the two midwives who possibly have Egyptian origins.

Midwifery in Egypt was one of the few professions open to women. Its prac-
titioners seem to have been held in esteem, for a popular tale about magi-
cians has three important goddesses practicing the craft on a certain
occasion.22

20 Dozeman, ibid., 73–74; Dozeman, “Exodus” (2016), 143; Daniel M, Gurtner, Exodus: A
Commentary on the Greek Text of Codex Vaticanus (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 30-31; Nysha Junior,
“Exodus,” The Women’s Bible Commentary, Third Edition: Revised and Updated, eds. Carol A.
Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing
Corporation, 2012), 59.
21 Dozeman, “Exodus” (2016), 143.
22 Nahum M. Sarna, Exploring Exodus: The Heritage of Biblical Israel (New York: Schocken Books,
38 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

An assumption of a high status of the midwives and their possible

Egyptian origins shifts a whole view of thinking Pharaoh as a fooled and
mocked king, for this assumption no longer allows to view their encounter
with Pharaoh in terms of power disparity; the two Egyptians stand before
Pharaoh as revered experts in midwifery. There are at least two interpretive
benefits that this assumption can offer. First, it can explain why Pharaoh
gives his mission to only two midwives (1:15). Pharaoh is able to summon
only two midwives, since they are esteemed and cannot be treated as a col-
lective object whom he can coerce into accepting orders. He instead sug-
gests a mission to the two overseers or chiefs of the midwifery practitioners,
so that he allows them to feel that their discussion of the detailed practice
of the mission with other midwives is esteemed.23 Second, the assumption
about midwives’ status and origin can explain why Pharaoh is reticent at the
deceptive apology of the two midwives (1:19-22). Since the highly es-
teemed profession of the two midwives of the Hebrews warrants their au-
tonomous roles in decision making, Pharaoh might have already taken into
account a possibility of their abortion of his mission once it left his mouth.
In light of the open secret nature of his mission, such a prediction for the
eventual abortion would not discourage him from pressing on his plan; dis-
persion of his dreadful plan among the Hebrews through these midwives
will suffice for his goal to tighten his control. Thus, when he hears their re-
port, he no longer interrogates them.

1986), 24.
23 Sarna suggests two possible options for the identification of the two midwives; overseers or
guilds. Sarna, ibid., 24–25.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 39

VI. Missing Subject of Infants to be Killed: King’s

Hidden Cruelty

Upon his recognition of midwives’ failure to kill the Hebrew male infants,
Pharaoh commands all his people to throw every male-born infant into the
Nile. This is a bit striking order, for it does not specify whether the infants
to be thrown are Hebrews or Egyptians: ‫“( כל הבן הילוד היארה תשליכהו‬all male
born infants you will throw into the Nile,” 1:22). Common scholarly views
on the missing subject of the male infant include an authorial oversight and
Pharaoh’s insanity or inanity.24 I argue that, instead of finding flaws on the
part of either the author or Pharaoh, one can understand this order as it is
given in the text when he/she opts to admit Pharaoh’s shrewdness. Pharaoh
might have intently obscured the target of his order in order to trap the
Hebrews into inescapable despair. A clear power disparity between the
Egyptians and the Hebrews seems to bring into play this devilish plot. It is
very likely that the Egyptians, by their very origins, are naturally exempted
from their king’s order or that they at least hold a right or power to negotiate
over this order with its implementors who are likely to be the same
Egyptians. Indeed, a short piece of story in 2:5-10, in which Pharaoh’s
daughter spares the life of baby Moses, shows that Pharaoh’s order does not
apply all male infants, especially when they somehow relate to the
Egyptians. In contrast, the Hebrews must have no chance to avoid this hor-
rific order. Considering their slave like status as reflected in their forced la-
bor (1:11-14), they currently hold no right or power to defend themselves
from king’s order. Death of their children comes to them as an unavoidable
reality. Yet, what actually shatters their minds into pieces would not be their

24 William H. C. Propp, Exodus 1-18: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, The
Anchor Bible 2 (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 143; Cf. H. Freedman et al., The Midrash Rabbah
(1977), 25.
40 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

death itself. It would be their incompetence to make their situations better,

a reality that comes into a clear view as they observe the Egyptians who
manage to avert king’s order. Taking all these ideas into consideration,
therefore, Pharaoh’s seemingly obscure order reflects his intention to con-
trol not only the number of the Hebrews but also their mentalities.

VII. Concluding Remarks

My reading of Exodus 1:8-22 has demonstrated that an assumption of

Pharaoh’s shrewd character can produce robust insights into his seemingly
irrational orders and governance. By ably filling in gaps that the readings
that view Pharaoh as inherently foolish unintentionally overlook, the pro-
posed reading effectively discloses Pharaoh’s cruel intentions lurking in his
orders; he strives to manipulate the Hebrews through adjusting their num-
ber and, more importantly, crushing their mentalities. One salient strength
of this reading is that it reinforces an ethical need of the emergence of the
new character Moses who must thwart all his plans: Pharaoh’s cruelty and
malice reflected in his evil plots are far beyond acceptance. Finally, as com-
pared to the readings that deem Pharaoh inherently unintelligent, the pro-
posed reading more dramatically aggrandizes the divine salvific plan to free
the Hebrews; it proves that Pharaoh’s political agility and shrewdness,
which God and his human agents finally defeat, are not at all trivial hurdles.
 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 41

Keywords

character studies, Exodus, pharaoh, literary approaches, reader-oriented

reading, narrative criticism
(인물연구, 출애굽기, 바로, 문학적 접근, 독자 반응 읽기, 내러티브 읽기)

Date submitted: May 7, 2020. Date accepted: June 4, 2020. Date confirmed: June 7, 2020.
42 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

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 Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 43

Trible, Phyllis. “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation.” Journal of American Academy

of Religion 41:1 (1973), 30–48.
44 Korean Journal of Christian Studies

Abstract

This paper proposes to view Pharaoh as a shrewd character in order to

examine fuller connotations of his orders and governance represented in
Exodus 1:8-22. This standpoint allows readers to speculate some possible
intentions of his plots, those that a view of his inherent incapacity does not
satisfactorily deal with. Viewing the Hebrews as a cheap laboring source for
the socio-economic benefits of the Egyptians, Pharaoh contrives a selective
genocide plan to make them more easily controllable. This plan is more evil
than it looks as it conceals his cruel intention to crush their mentalities. To
achieve his goal, Pharaoh takes steps astutely and shrewdly; he intently
leaks out his plan through two esteemed Egyptian midwives and obscures
the exact target of the male infants to be thrown into the Nile. All his evil in-
tentions call for and justify an emergence of thwarters ―God and his human
agents― who must foil his plans.
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Cheongsoo Park ｜Rethinking Pharaoh in Exodus 1:8-22 45

한글 초록

본 논고는 출애굽기 1:8-22에 나타난 바로에 대해 새로운 관점으로 접근할

것을 제시하며, 바로를 무능한 인물보다는 기민한 인물로 가정하였을 때 얻
을 수 있는 해석적 장점을 토대로 본문 해석을 시도한다. 바로를 기민한 인
물로 보았을 때 우리는 그가 조금 더 구체적인 의도들을 가지고 이스라엘
백성의 압제에 임하였음을 이해할 수 있게 된다. 바로는 각 계획의 단계에
서 기민한 움직임들을 보이며, 이는 영아 학살에 관해 단지 인구수 조절에
대한 의도뿐 아니라 정신적인 압제를 가하려 했음에서 구체적으로 드러난
다. 궁극적으로 이 모든 계획들은 바로가 본인과 애굽의 이익에 이스라엘
백성들을 이용하기 위했음임을 예측해 볼 수 있다. 이러한 읽기의 장점은
성서에서 제시하는 다양한 해석적 실마리들이 어떻게 사실적이고 극적인
인물 이해를 도울 수 있는지 보여줌에 있다.