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I have seen the Ten Commandments movie from the 1950’s and the Pharaoh has a son which grows up with Moses. This Phaorah dies and his son becomes the King/Phaorah. So Moses approaches this Pharaoh..well his stepbrother! The 1990’s version with Ben Kingsley also seemingly depicts The Pharaoh as being his stepbrother too who also hates him. Another version with Dougray Scott doesn't make his stepbrother Pharaoh, but he seemingly grows up with him and is a friend?? (Am not 100% positive the character was meant to be a brother)..I didn't like that version very much. This guy later dies in the Red Sea parting. I can't confirm the brotherhood in the last two movies. Because the made up parts can be quite..unusual.

Is there any evidence Moses had an Egyptian stepbrother in Egypt? Where did this movie tradition start? I honestly thought Moses had an Egyptian stepbrother because of the movies.

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  • It wouldn't have been a step brother - Moses was effectively adopted into the family. – curiousdannii Dec 11 '16 at 11:11
  • Welcome Becky! If you haven't already done so, I hope you'll take a minute to take the tour and learn how this site is different from others. – Nathaniel is protesting Dec 11 '16 at 13:25
  • I didn't know this site was secular. Is there a Christian based opinion site? – Child of God Dec 12 '16 at 5:11
  • There are Christian opinion sites all over the internet. What this site does is answer questions from a Christian perspective, using supportable sources, rather than host a myriad of opinions. There is considerable expertise in the Bible, and experience from the point of view of many denominations, in the participants here. You came to a decent place to get a solid answer to your question. If you accept BYE's answer, please click on the check mark next to his answer. – KorvinStarmast Dec 12 '16 at 13:43
  • @Child of God I've written a reply to "Did Moses have an Egyptian stepbrother?" – Andrew Shanks Nov 11 '18 at 23:14
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The story of Moses is in the Book of Exodus in the Bible and begins in Chapter two. It is a fascinating story and the answer to your question is addressed in:

Exodus 2:10 KJV  And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

We do not know whether the eventual Pharaoh you asked about was a natural son of Pharaoh's daughter or not, but being the assumed son of Pharaoh's daughter; Moses would have grown up in the Palace. If the second Pharaoh was the natural son of Pharaoh's daughter, he would have been natural ascendant to the throne.

It is also probable that He and Moses would have been considered as brothers.

Other than those considerations the Bible shows Aaron and Meriam to be the only siblings of Moses.

Hope this helps.

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  • Thank you. These movies often pervert the story and cause confusion. – Child of God Dec 12 '16 at 5:13
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The daughter of Pharaoh who retrieved Moses from the basket in the Nile and adopted him was Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut had no sons and only one daughter called Neferura. Hatshepsut's husband was Thutmose II who had one son by one of his lesser marriages who became Thutmose III.

The difficulty of the Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty to have sons, especially by the Great Royal Wives may have been a consequence of interbreeding. The Great Royal Wives were often half-sisters or even full sisters. Hatshepsut needed a son, even if an adopted son, in order that when her husband, as Pharaoh, died, then her son would become Pharaoh rather than the son of a lesser wife. If her son became Pharaoh then her position and power would be maintained. We see then her need to adopt a son which providentially was Moses.

So Thutmose III was Moses's half-brother. Thutmose III father was Moses's adoptive father.

When Thutmose II died in 1504 Moses would have been 22 years old and Thutmose III would have been perhaps as young as 2 years old. So Moses claim to the throne was better because he was an older son. But what really made his claim better was that he was the (only) son of the Great Royal Marriage. The statement of Hebrews 11:24-26 is borne out by the historical data, the most realistic reason Moses did not become Pharaoh himself is that he refused, and furthermore he would have refused greatly to the annoyance of, and under great pressure from, his mother Hatshepsut. Her plans to maintain her power were completely messed up by Moses's refusal.

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  • @luchonacho - I've finally got round to removing the very long answer and replaced with this. – Andrew Shanks Oct 3 '19 at 17:05
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    Do you have any citations as to the identities of the pharaoh in the Biblical story? I'm looking at Exodus 2, and it doesn't provide any names for any of the Egyptian royalty involved in the story. – nick012000 Oct 4 '19 at 3:57
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    @nick012000 - thanks for question and sorry for delay. I think the date of the Exodus is certain at 1446 BC. It is too long to argue here, please see my answer here: christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/3160/… In that answer you will also see the standard dates for High Chronology of the Egyptian Pharaoh's for the 18th dynasty. Please note the following verses of Scripture: Exodus 2:15, Ex 2:23, Acts 7:23 and Acts 7:30. Notice how the Biblical account fits neatly with – Andrew Shanks Oct 4 '19 at 21:55
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    @nick012000 neatly with the long reign of Thutmose III. When Moses had been forty years in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt, God said to him "all the men are dead that sought thy life" (Ex 4:19). This included Pharaoh himself (Ex 2:23). So the Pharaoh that wanted to kill Moses must have reigned close to 40 years. For instance, suppose it was Thutmose I who wanted to kill Moses. He reigned only 12 years. Even if Moses had fled Egypt in the first year of Thutmose I then God would have had to have told Moses the "All the men are dead who wanted to kill you" 28 years after – Andrew Shanks Oct 4 '19 at 22:12
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    @nick012000 28 years after the death of the Pharaoh... a bit of a strange thing to say. (With Thutmose III God told Moses the Pharaoh was dead about 5 years after his death, which is much more reasonable.) In fact all the reign lengths in the 18th dynasty are too short for such a comment except Thutmose III (54 year reign) and possibly Amenhotep III (38 year reign). None of the other Pharaohs have a reign length to fit with Ex 2:23, and Ex 4:19. Also, Pharaoh Akhenaten was contemporary with Ashur-uballit I, 1365-1330 BC. There's little room to change the dates for the 18th dynasty. – Andrew Shanks Oct 4 '19 at 22:20

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