Egyptians

The Egyptians are the people of the Nile, descended in the Table of Nations from Mizraim son of Ham, and Scripture treats them across a long arc — hosts in famine, masters of the Hebrew slaves, the army drowned at the sea, the empire to the south whose wisdom Solomon outshines, and finally an oracle of dispersion paired with conversion. Israel's relation to Egypt swings between refuge and bondage, between forbidden alliance and prophetic hope. Scripture's references to EGYPT span the geographic anchors of that arc, and the people who inhabit it are collected under this head.

Sons of Mizraim

Egypt enters the canon as a Hamite line. The sons of Ham include Mizraim alongside Cush, Put, and Canaan (Gen 10:6); Mizraim in turn fathers seven peoples — Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, the last branch sourcing the Philistines (Gen 10:13-14). The Egyptian people are thus, in the genealogical frame, a confederation of sub-peoples descended from one Hamite ancestor.

Wisdom and Funerary Practice

Solomon's wisdom is measured against the Egyptians: it "excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt" (1 Ki 4:30). The same culture preserves the embalming arts. Joseph commands "his slaves the physicians to embalm his father," and Israel is embalmed over forty days, the formal "days of embalming"; the Egyptians weep for him seventy days (Gen 50:2-3). At the end of the same chapter Joseph himself dies in Egypt, "and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt" (Gen 50:26).

Hospitality to the Patriarchs

The patriarchal narratives treat Egypt first as refuge. Famine drives Abram down: "And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was intense in the land" (Gen 12:10). On arrival the Egyptians notice Sarai's beauty, the princes of Pharaoh praise her, and she is taken into Pharaoh's house; Pharaoh in return treats Abram well with sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves, and camels, until Yahweh plagues the household and Pharaoh sends them off (Gen 12:11-20). Yahweh later forbids Isaac the same descent — "Don't go down into Egypt. Stay in the land which I will tell you of" (Gen 26:2) — but reaffirms the promise to Jacob: "I am God, the God of your father: don't be afraid to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation" (Gen 46:3).

Egyptian Slaveholders

Egypt is also where foreign men are bought. Joseph is sold "into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard" (Gen 37:36); the same line reopens the cycle: "And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites" (Gen 39:1).

The Boundary Customs

Two scenes show the Egyptians keeping ritual distance from Israel. At Joseph's table the Egyptians eat by themselves "because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is disgusting to the Egyptians" (Gen 43:32). When Joseph coaches his brothers for an audience with Pharaoh, the same logic gives Israel the land of Goshen: "every shepherd is disgusting to the Egyptians" (Gen 46:34).

The Oppression

A new king arises "who didn't know Joseph" (Exo 1:8), fearing the multiplication of Israel; he sets slave masters over them and they build the store-cities Pithom and Raamses. "And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor: and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in bricks, and in all manner of service in the field" (Exo 1:13-14). Yahweh's call to Moses presupposes the same setting: "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought your soul" (Exo 4:19).

Refusal to Release

Pharaoh's first response to Moses' demand is heavier labor: the people will gather their own straw while keeping the brick quota intact (Exo 5:7-8). Through the plague cycle the refusal is repeated as a formula — "Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken" (Exo 7:13). Even the Egyptian sacred scholars concede after the gnats, "This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened" (Exo 8:19). After the hail "he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his slaves" (Exo 9:34); after the locusts, "Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go" (Exo 10:27).

The Plagues on Egypt

The plagues fall on the Egyptian land and people. Psalm 78 retells them in sequence — signs in Egypt and wonders in the field of Zoan, rivers turned to blood, swarms of flies and frogs, caterpillar and locust, hail on vine and sycamore, hail and thunderbolts on flock, "a band of angels of evil," pestilence, and finally the firstborn struck (Ps 78:43-51). At midnight "[the Speech of] Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon" (Exo 12:29). Other psalms repeat the same stroke: "He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength" (Ps 105:36), and "to him who struck Egypt in their firstborn" (Ps 136:10).

Sending and Spoiling

After the firstborn stroke the Egyptians reverse course: a great cry arises in Egypt because "there was not a house where there was not one dead" (Exo 12:30); Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron by night to "rise up, you⁺ get forth from among my people"; the Egyptians press the people to leave in haste, "for they said, We are all dead men" (Exo 12:33). Israel asks of the Egyptians "jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment," and "Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians" (Exo 12:35-36).

Pursuit and Destruction at the Sea

The Egyptian heart turns again. Pharaoh and his slaves regret releasing Israel, and Pharaoh prepares his chariot, takes "six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt," and the Egyptians pursue with "all the horses [and] chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army" (Exo 14:5-9). At the sea, "Yahweh looked forth on the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians"; their chariot wheels are locked, and they cry, "Let us flee from the face of Israel; for [the Speech of] Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians" (Exo 14:24-25). The waters return on chariots and horsemen so that "not so much as one of them remained" (Exo 14:28). The psalmist remembers it tersely: "the waters covered their adversaries; there was not one of them left" (Ps 106:11). Hebrews carries the same memory into the New Testament: "By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up" (Heb 11:29).

Eligible after the Third Generation

In the Mosaic legislation, despite the bondage memory, the Egyptian is not to be the object of revulsion: "you will not be disgusted by an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. The sons of the third generation who are born to them will enter into the assembly of Yahweh" (Deu 23:7-8).

Forbidden Alliances

The prophets repeatedly forbid leaning on Egypt. Isaiah names southward delegations who go "to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!" (Isa 30:2), and pronounces woe on those who "go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many… but don't rely on the [Speech] of the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Yahweh!" (Isa 31:1). Rabshakeh frames the same indictment in his speech: "Look, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him" (Isa 36:6). Ezekiel reads Zedekiah's revolt as the same sin: he rebelled "in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people" (Ezk 17:15). The verdict on Egypt itself: "all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel" (Ezk 29:6); Egypt "will be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance" (Ezk 29:16).

Solomon's Marriage and Egyptian Aid

Israel's intermarriage with Egypt begins at the top: "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David" (1 Ki 3:1). Centuries later, in the closing siege of Jerusalem, "Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke up from Jerusalem"; Yahweh's word through Jeremiah is that the relief is temporary — "Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you⁺, will return to Egypt into their own land" — and that the Chaldeans will return and burn the city (Jer 37:5-11).

Egyptian Invasions of the Land

Twice Egyptian kings invade Israelite territory. Under Rehoboam, "Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house" (1 Ki 14:25-26). The Chronicler adds the chariot count — twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, with Lubim, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians — and the prophet Shemaiah's word that humbling will avert destruction though tribute remains (2 Ch 12:2-9). Generations later "Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and King Josiah went against him; and [Pharaoh-necoh] slew him at Megiddo" (2 Ki 23:29). Necoh deposes Jehoahaz, installs Jehoiakim, and exacts a tribute of "a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold," with Jehoahaz carried to Egypt to die (2 Ki 23:33-34). The Chronicles parallel adds that Necoh sent ambassadors to Josiah claiming a divine commission — "God has commanded me to hurry: forbear yourself from [meddling with] God, who is with me" — but Josiah disguised himself, was wounded by archers, and died (2 Ch 35:20-24); the king of Egypt then deposed Joahaz and renamed Eliakim Jehoiakim (2 Ch 36:3-4).

Ben Sira and the Maccabean Egypt

In the later canon Egypt remains the southern kingdom. The Maccabees record Antiochus' design "to reign over the land of Egypt, that he might reign over two kingdoms" (1Ma 1:16); he enters with "a great multitude, with chariots and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships" (1Ma 1:17), defeats Ptolemy who "fled, and many were wounded to death" (1Ma 1:18), and takes "the strong cities in the land of Egypt" with their spoils (1Ma 1:19). Lysias is left "to oversee the affairs of the kingdom, from the river Euphrates even to the river of Egypt" (1Ma 3:32). Later Ptolemy goes out of Egypt with Cleopatra his daughter to Ptolemais (1Ma 10:57), and another king of Egypt gathers an army "like the sand that lies on the seashore, and many ships: and he sought to get the kingdom of Alexander by deceit" (1Ma 11:1). Roman correspondence with the same dynasty closes the cycle: "Lucius, the consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy: Greetings" (1Ma 15:16).

Dispersion and Restoration

Ezekiel pairs an oracle of dispersion with one of return. "I will make the land of Egypt a desolation… and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries"; at the end of forty years Yahweh will gather them, bring back "the captivity of Egypt," and cause them to return to Pathros, where "they will be there a base kingdom… the basest of the kingdoms" (Ezk 29:12-15). The dispersion oracle is repeated in the next chapter: "I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries" (Ezk 30:23), closing with the recognition formula, "they will know that I am Yahweh" (Ezk 30:26).

Conversion Foretold

The closing note is Isaiah's vision of Egypt swearing to Yahweh: "In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of hosts; one will be called The City of the Sun" (Isa 19:18). The same people whose army drowned at the sea, whose plagues filled the Hallel, and whose alliances Israel was forbidden to seek are, in the prophet's last word, given a place under the divine name.