First candidate, first book of the Bible.

Second candidate, second book of the Bible. The Pharaoh of the Exodus. Does he fit the same sort of description as we saw for Nimrod, and as we expect in antichrist?

There are certainly several characteristics that apply.

• Egypt was a major power of the day, the 1400’s BC.
• Egypt’s Pharaohs considered themselves to be Divine.
• This Pharaoh defied the God of Israel, and his messenger, Moses.
• He certainly died a violent death, by drowning.
• He persecuted the people of God.
• God raised him up to show His glory in him.

We have moved 500 years from the days of Abraham and Nimrod. The Egyptian might has risen, and God has planted His own people in their midst. Slaves for many years, and an important piece of the economy of Egypt, the Pharaoh is bound and determined to keep God’s people right where they are. The confrontation that follows is well-known Biblical history.

One question that arises is the definite identity of the Bible Pharaohs. There are three, you know. One elevated Joseph from prison, a later one “knew not Joseph,” at the time when Moses was born. And forty years later, there is the so-called “Pharaoh of the Exodus.” There is a range of opinion as to his historical identity, but quite a few Biblical scholars have settled on Thutmose II as the man in question. Wikipedia:

Thutmose II (1493 or 1492 to 1479 BC). Alfred Edersheim proposes in his "Old Testament Bible History" that Thutmose II is best qualified to be the pharaoh of Exodus based on the fact that he had a brief, prosperous reign and then a sudden collapse with no son to succeed him.His widow Hatshepsut then became first Regent (for Thutmose III) then Pharaoh in her own right. Edersheim states that Thutmose II is the only Pharaoh's mummy to display cysts, possible evidence of plagues which spread through the Egyptian and Hittite Empires at that time.

Ultimately this discussion is not that important, if Thutmose II is not the man we are seeking. In my opinion, if God was truly trying to lead our thinking to a particular man, He would make that man relatively easy to identify, by Scriptural means.