[Authorities and Sources:—“Egypt’s Place in Universal History.” By Christian C. J. Bunsen. “The Monuments of Upper Egypt.” By Auguste Mariette-Bey. “The Monumental History of Egypt.” Rede Lecture. By S. Birch, LL.D.]
2. Kings and Dynasties of Egypt.
It will be useful to give here a table of Egyptian Dynasties, so that when we come to speak of Israel in Egypt the reader may have some idea of the long antecedent history of the Empire, and the political circumstances of the time. Unfortunately we must be content at present with approximate dates, for the records of the Egyptians are not dated, and the chronology is but very imperfectly known.
Table of the Egyptian Dynasties.[1]
| Dynasty. | Capital. | Modern Name. | Approximate Date, according to Mariette. | Approximate Date, according to Wiedemann. | |
| The Old Empire. | |||||
| I. | Thinite | This | Girgeh | 5004 | 5650 |
| II. | Thinite | This | Girgeh | 4751 | 5400 |
| III. | Memphite | Memphis | Mitrahenny | 4449 | 5100 |
| IV. | Memphite | Memphis | Mitrahenny | 4235 | 4875 |
| V. | Memphite | Memphis | Mitrahenny | 3951 | 4600 |
| VI. | Elephantine | Elephantinê | Geziret-Assouan | 3703 | 4450 |
| VII. | Memphite | Memphis | Mitrahenny | 3500 | 4250 |
| VIII. | Memphite | Memphis | Mitrahenny | 3500 | 4250 |
| IX. | Heracleopolite | Heracleopolis | Ahnas el-Medineh | 3358 | 4000 |
| X. | Heracleopolite | Heracleopolis | Ahnas el-Medineh | 3249 | 3700 |
| XI. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | 3064 | 3510 |
| The Middle Empire. | |||||
| XII. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | 2851 | 3450 |
| XIII. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | — | 3250 |
| XIV. | Xoite | Xois | Sakha | 2398 | 2800 |
| The Shepherd Kings. | |||||
| XV. | Hyksos | Tanis (Zoan) | San | 2214 | 2325 |
| XVI. | Hyksos | Tanis | San | — | 2050 |
| Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | — | — | |
| XVII. | Hyksos | Tanis | San | — | 1800 |
| Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | — | — | |
| The New Empire. | |||||
| XVIII. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | 1700 | 1750 |
| XIX. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | 1400 | 1490 |
| XX. | Diospolitan | Thebes | Luxor, &c. | 1200 | 1280 |
| XXI. | Tanite | Tanis | San | 1100 | 1100 |
| XXII. | Bubastite | Bubastis | Tel Bast | 960 | 975 |
| XXIII. | Tanite | Tanis | San | 766 | 810 |
| XXIV. | Saite | Sais | Sa el-Hagar | 753 | 720 |
| XXV. | Ethiopian | Napata | Mount Barkal | 700 | 715 |
| XXVI. | Saite | Sais | Sa el-Hagar | 666 | 664 |
| XXVII. | Persian | Persepolis | — | 527 | 525 |
| XXVIII. | Saite | Sais | Sa el-Hagar | — | 415 |
| XXIX. | Mendesian | Mendes | Eshmun er-Român | 399 | 408 |
| XXX. | Sebennyte | Sebennytos | Semenhûd | 378 | 387 |
In the time of Moses the Egyptian power had already passed its zenith and begun to decay. There had been an Old Empire, with the City of This for its first capital and Menes as its first king. Dynasty had succeeded dynasty, during perhaps two thousand years, and the capital had been changed several times, when the Middle Empire came in, and the kings ruled from Thebes and afterwards from Xois. There had now been fourteen dynasties altogether; and the power of the kingdom was so far weakened that it was unable to keep out the invader. The Shepherd Kings, coming from Midian, or perhaps from Mesopotamia, established themselves in the Delta, and held possession for several centuries. Their conquest, however, did not extend to Upper Egypt, and so the native dynasties reigned contemporaneously, enthroned at Thebes, while the Hyksos kings were seated at Zoan.
It was probably towards the close of the Hyksos period that Joseph was made governor of Egypt, under the latest of the Shepherd Kings. The seventeenth dynasty saw the last of these foreigners, and after their expulsion the New Empire began, near the end of the eighteenth century before Christ. The eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties included several monarchs of great renown; and as the Israelitish sojourn falls chiefly within this period, it will be useful to give here a chronological list.
Monarchs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, with approximate dates, according to Brugsch.
| Eighteenth Dynasty. | B.C. |
| Aahmes, Amosis; its founder | 1700 |
| Amenhotep I. (Amenophis) | 1666 |
| Thothmes I. (Thotmosis) | 1633 |
| Thothmes II. and his sister-wife Hatshepsu | 1600 |
| Thothmes III. | |
| Amenhotep II., Son of Thothmes III. | 1566 |
| Thothmes IV. | 1533 |
| Amenhotep III., Son of Queen Mutemna | 1500 |
| Amenhotep IV., afterwards called Khuenaten | 1466 |
| Nineteenth Dynasty. | |
| Rameses I. | 1400 |
| Seti I. (Sethos) Menephtah | 1366 |
| Rameses II. (Sesostris) Miamun | 1333 |
| Menephtah II. (Menepthes) | 1300 |
| Seti II. Menephtah III., son of Menephtah II. | 1266 |
| Setnakht-Merer-Miamun II. | 1233 |
Rameses II. was the Pharaoh of the Oppression; and the Israelites left Egypt in the reign of his successor, Menephtah.