Exodus 5:2

FIRST RESPONSE

"And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go."

This was the first in a series of responses by Pharaoh, and, as the series unfolds, there is visible a progressive erosion of his stubborn insolence. Unger believed that Pharaoh told the truth in professing ignorance of Jehovah: "The contemptuous Pharaoh, whose absolute power was enforced by his deification in the Egyptian religion, knew many gods, but he was ignorant of this God (the true God)."[8] However, we are inclined to agree with Rawlinson who thought that it was "more probable that he (merely) pretended ignorance."[9] Certainly we reject the notion that the name Jehovah (Yahweh) had been revealed only recently at that time, that "Pharaoh could not have known the name since the Hebrews had only recently been introduced to it." With Fields, we believe that, "This goes against Bible teaching."[10] It appears to us as extremely unlikely that Pharaoh did not know of Jehovah, because the action of Jehovah in the life of Joseph, elevating him to the throne of Egypt (as deputy), was no secret. If Pharaoh was ignorant, he was willfully ignorant. His response in denying that he knew Jehovah is very similar to that of Sennacherib's haughty response in 2 Kings 18:35.