Exodus 1:8

A new king. Not merely another individual but a new dynasty. Since this commentary adopts the mid-15th-century dating of the Exodus, it can be assumed that Joseph lived during the Hyksos rule in Egypt (see on Gen. 39:1; also pp. 191 ff., 492). Accordingly, the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty, who freed Egypt from Hyksos rule, were the Pharaohs of the oppression.

The Hyksos were Asiatic people like the Hebrews, and though Egyptianized they would be friendly toward Joseph and his family. But the expulsion of the Hyksos led to a new spirit of nationalism, and all foreigners were viewed with suspicion, especially those favored by the Hyksos. The contribution made by Joseph to the welfare of the people would be forgotten, primarily because he was an Asiatic and the minister of an alien king. The generation that had experienced the seven years of famine had died, and the descendants of Jacob’s sons were confronted with an entirely new situation, a native Egyptian population and a dynasty that hated the Israelites.