Exodus 2:23

In process of time. This expression covers a period of about 40 years (Acts 7:30).

The king of Egypt died. Thutmose III, from whom Moses had fled, died about 1450 B.C., after a sole reign of 32 years, which in turn had been preceded by a coregency with Hatshepsut lasting possibly for 22 years.

The children of Israel sighed. The death of Thutmose III brought no respite from oppression, but seems to have made it even more severe. Ancient Egyptian documents reveal that Thutmose III was succeeded on the throne by his son Amenhotep II, who proved to be a cruel king and a ruthless conqueror. Early in his reign he returned from an Asiatic campaign with seven Canaanite princes as captives. Sailing up the Nile to his capital, Thebes, he suspended these princes from his ship with their heads down. When he reached Thebes, he hanged six of them on the wall of the city, and carried the seventh to the Nubian capital, Napata, where he received the same treatment. Amenhotep II secured the obedience of his subjects at home and in conquered lands by an administration of calculated frightfulness. His character, as revealed by secular records, agrees well with that of the stubborn Pharaoh who intensified the oppression of the Israelites when Moses interceded in their behalf at the time of the pouring out of the plagues.