5 min read

The Pharaoh Who Came After Joseph Remembered Nothing

Joseph saved Egypt and Israel lived there in peace until a new Pharaoh rose who chose not to remember. The drowning decree came before the whips.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. What the Council Wanted
  2. Three Months Off the Throne
  3. The Seven Months of the River
  4. Seven Days in the Reeds
  5. What Came Up Out of the Brick Pits
  6. Tomorrow He Will Say It About God
The Pharaoh Who Came After Joseph Remembered Nothing Click for full size

What the Council Wanted

The numbers were the thing his advisors kept coming back to. Israel had grown until they filled the theaters and packed the circuses, until an Egyptian at the races found himself sitting shoulder to shoulder with them, and the first order to come out of that was an order about distance: let the Hebrews keep to themselves. It was not enough for the men around the throne. "Let us scheme against this nation," they said.

Pharaoh said no. He said it in front of all of them, and he gave a reason nobody in that room wanted written down. "Until now we have lived off what is theirs. Were it not for Joseph, not one of us would have a hand to lift."

He was right, and being right in that room was the mistake.

Three Months Off the Throne

They took him down. Not a knife in the dark and not an exile, because they wanted this man and only wanted him different, so they dragged him off the seat and kept him off it and left the seat empty where the court could see it. A day of that is a story for the palace. Three months of it is another thing entirely. He was still Pharaoh in every way except the one that counted, and every morning the seat was still empty, and every morning the same men came and asked him the same question.

Somewhere in the third month he heard his own voice answer it. "Whatever you say, I will obey." Nothing had been proved to him in the meantime. No one had brought him a document about Joseph or a census of the Hebrews or a report of a plot. He had simply been kept standing long enough, and the sentence came out of him, and there was no getting it back into the mouth it had come from.

Then he arose, a new king over Egypt. Same face, same hands, new in one respect only, which was what he was now willing to forget.

The Seven Months of the River

The first decree of the new reign was not the brick pits. It was the water. Every male child born to the Hebrews was to be thrown into the river, and the order ran seven months without a break before the month Moses was born in. Seven months is long enough to become a system, so the soldiers learned which streets to walk and at what hour, and the women learned to give birth without making a sound.

Seven Days in the Reeds

Yocheved kept her son three months in a house that anybody could walk into at any hour. When she could not keep him quiet any longer she built him a box, not a great ship like Noah's, only a basket about the length of her forearm, and she sealed it with pitch and asphalt so the river could not get in, and she set it down among the reeds at the edge of the water.

He was there seven days. She came at night and fed him and went back before the light. Miriam took the daylight hours, standing far enough off that nobody would wonder why a girl was standing there, keeping the birds off her brother. That was the whole arrangement: a mother in the dark and a girl in the sun, and between them a child in a basket in a river that was killing every boy like him.

What Came Up Out of the Brick Pits

The groaning went up out of the pits, and God saw the burden and the heavy work and settled on bringing them out. It was not a reward. They were empty of good deeds by then, ground down and half Egyptian in their habits, and He already knew about the calf they would build at the mountain out of the gold He was going to give them. He came for them anyway, for two reasons that had nothing to do with what they had earned. He remembered the covenant He had cut with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And He took the promise they made down in the pits, that once they were out they would do whatever He said, which they swore before they had heard one word of what He was going to ask.

Tomorrow He Will Say It About God

A man who throws a stone at the statue of a duke is not put to death over the statue. He is put to death because the king knows what that hand will reach for next, now that it has learned a face can be broken with nothing coming of it.

Pharaoh had said he did not know Joseph. Years afterward a shepherd came back out of Midian and stood in that same hall and asked, in the name of the God of the Hebrews, to have the people let go, and Pharaoh looked at him and gave the answer he had been rehearsing since the month they put him back on his throne. "I do not know the LORD."

PharaohMosesEgyptBondageExodusJoseph
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Book of Jubilees 47:6Book of Jubilees

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC-BY

The familiar story is this: Pharaoh, gripped by fear of the Israelites' growing numbers, decrees that all newborn Hebrew boys be cast into the Nile. A brutal, heartbreaking command. And as the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that retells and expands upon the biblical narrative, specifically Chapter 47, tells us, this wasn't a fleeting moment of terror. This went on.

“And Pharaoh, king of Egypt, issued a command regarding them that they should cast all their male children which were born into the river.” The text says, “And they cast them in for seven months until the day that thou wast born.” Seven months of unimaginable grief and fear.

Then Moses is born. His mother, Yocheved, bravely hides him for three months, a risky act of defiance fueled by a mother's love. But inevitably, she can no longer conceal him.

So, what does she do? She builds an ark. Not the massive ark of Noah, of course, but a small, protective basket. She covers it with pitch (kopher) and asphalt (zefet), sealing it against the waters of the Nile. She places the baby Moses in this tiny vessel.

And here's where the Book of Jubilees adds some beautiful, intimate details: "and placed it in the flags on the bank of the river, and she placed thee in it seven days, and thy mother came by night and suckled thee, and by day Miriam, thy sister, guarded thee from the birds."

Seven days. Seven days of Yocheved sneaking to the riverbank under the cover of darkness to feed her baby. Seven days of young Miriam, watchful and brave, protecting her little brother from danger. The sheer dedication, the unwavering love, the palpable fear. These are not just names in a story; they are people. Yocheved, driven by maternal instinct and faith. Miriam, stepping up to protect her family in the face of unimaginable adversity.

This passage in Jubilees gives us a more human, visceral understanding of the Moses story. It's a reminder that even the greatest leaders have humble beginnings, and that their journeys are often shaped by the love and sacrifice of those around them. It transforms a familiar narrative into a poignant evidence of family, faith, and the enduring power of hope in the face of despair. It also emphasizes the important role Miriam played in the Exodus story.

What does this little peek behind the curtain tell us? Perhaps that even in the darkest of times, acts of love and courage, no matter how small they may seem, can have a profound and lasting impact. And that sometimes, the greatest heroes are not those who wield power, but those who protect and nurture life in the face of overwhelming odds.

Full source
Legends of the Jews 4:147Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

They were enslaved, toiling under Pharaoh’s harsh rule. They’d hoped things would get better when he died, maybe his son would be more merciful. But nope. The new Pharaoh? Even worse than the old one. They were groaning under the weight of their suffering.

God saw it all.

The text says, "And God saw the burden of the children of Israel, and their heavy work, and He determined to deliver them." A simple statement, but packed with so much meaning. He didn't just notice their suffering; He saw it. He understood the depth of their pain, the weight of their oppression. And He decided to act.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. It wasn't exactly because they deserved it. The text is pretty blunt about this! It wasn’t for their own righteousness. They "were empty of good deeds," as it says in Legends of the Jews. God knew they’d mess up. He even knew they'd build and worship the golden calf (Ginzberg). Knowing all that, He still chose to redeem them.

So why did He do it?

Well, the text gives us two reasons. First, He remembered His covenant with the Fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A promise is a promise. A covenant is even more than that. It's a sacred bond.

And second, He looked upon their teshuvah, their repentance. Teshuvah is a powerful word, meaning not just regret, but a turning, a return. It indicates they were sorry for their sins, and they promised to follow God’s word once they were free (Ginzberg). They made this promise even before they heard the Ten Commandments! That's some serious commitment. He accepted their promise, their sincere intention, "to fulfil the word of God after their going forth from Egypt even before they should hear it."

So, think about that. Even when we're at our lowest, even when we're not exactly deserving, there's still hope. God sees our suffering. He remembers His promises. And He values our sincere desire to turn towards Him. Maybe, just maybe, that's enough to spark redemption.

Full source
Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 162:11Yalkut Shimoni on Torah

Translation of the source text.Torat Emet (Yalkut Shimoni) · CC-BY-NC

Another interpretation: that the theaters and circuses were filled with them. Immediately they decreed against them that they should keep apart from them. "And there arose a new king over Egypt" (Exodus 1:8). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Was he really a new king? Rather, he made new against them decrees of calamity. Another interpretation: he was the same Pharaoh as before, except that they said to him, "Come, let us scheme against this nation." He said to them, "Until now we have lived off what is theirs, and shall we scheme against them? Were it not for Joseph, those men would have no hands." Immediately they brought him down from his throne for three months, and when he saw this he said to them, "Whatever you say, I will obey you," therefore "there arose a new king." The prophet said, "They have dealt treacherously against the LORD, for they have begotten strange children" (Hosea 5:7), for they would bear children and not circumcise them. "Now shall the new moon [chodesh] devour them," "new" is written, "there arose a new [chadash] king." "Who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8), he did not recognize Joseph. To what is the matter compared? To one who stoned the statue of a duke. The king said, "Take him and cut off his head. Today he did this to that one, tomorrow he will do the like to me." The Holy One, blessed be He, said: now "he did not know Joseph," tomorrow he will say "I do not know the LORD" (Exodus 5:2).

Full source