Who was the Pharaoh in charge at this time who hardened his heart and would not, at first, let the Israelites go. There is significant scholastic confusion over who the Pharaoh of Egypt was the time of the Exodus. Although the Bible does not specifically name the pharaoh of the Exodus, enough data is supplied for us to be relatively sure who he was. Admittedly, there are two schools of thought concerning the date of the Exodus (i.e., the early date and late date theories). Proponents of the late date theory (1290 B.C.), which would put the Pharaoh as Ramses II. The late date theorists claim that since the Israelites were building a city called Raamses that he must have been Pharaoh at the time. Scriptures say: “And they [the Israelites] built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses” (Exodus 1:11). Late date theorists mistake the storage city of Ramses as the great city of Pi-Ramses (Pi-Ramesses Aa-nakhtu, meaning "House of Ramesses, Great in Victory") was the new capital built by the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt Pharaoh Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great). The Bible describes the city being built by the Israeli’s called Raamses as a "store-city". The exact meaning of the Hebrew phrase is not certain, but it does suggest supply depots on or near the frontier. This would be an appropriate description for Pithom (Tel al-Maskhuta) in the 6th century BC, but not for the royal capital in the time of Ramesses, when the nearest frontier was far off in the north of Syria. Hebrews had to labor on Pharaoh’s store-cities Pithom and Ra‘amses on the eve of the Exodus (Ex. 1:11). But these “store cities” were certainly not the glorious city of Pi-Ramesses, which was magnificently built as Egypt’s new Capitol City on or around 1290 B.C.
However modern scholars place the date of the exodus at about 1446 B.C. hundreds of years before Ramses. In I Kings 6:1 the Scriptures say: "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Zif, which is the second month that he began to build the house of the Lord.". Scholars have identified the fourth year of Solomon's reign as 966 B.C. (Gleason, A Survey of Old Testamsnt Introduction, 1974, p. 223). Counting backwards from 996 B.C. we find that the Exodus took place in 1445 B.C. Now, if this information is correct, the Exodus occurred in the third year of the reign of the Pharaoh Amenhotep II.
History tells us that for several years after 1445 B.C. Amenhotep II was unable to carry out any invasions or extensive military operations. This would seem like very strange behavior for a Pharaoh who hoped to equal his father's record of no less than seventeen military campaigns in nineteen years. But this is exactly what one would expect from a Pharaoh who had lost almost all his cavalry, chariotry, and army at the Red (Reed) Sea (Exodus 14:23, 27-30).
Furthermore, we learn from the Dream Stela of Thutmose IV, son of Amenhotep II, that he was not the legitimate successor to the throne (J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near-Eastern Texts, p. 449). This means that Thutmose IV was not the firstborn son, who would have been the legitimate heir. The firstborn son of Amenhotep II had evidently died prior to taking the throne of Egypt. This would agree with Exodus 12:29 which says the Pharaoh's first-born son was killed during the Passover. Although in a Hollywood sense the Exodus would be more exciting if it occurred during the reign of the Great Ramses, but that is not the case. If the Exodus did take place in 1445 B.C., forty years of wilderness wandering would bring us about to 1400 B.C. for the destruction of Jericho. Interestingly enough, John Garstang, who excavated the site of ancient Jericho, came to the conclusion that the destruction of the city took place around 1400 B.C. (Garstang, The Story of Jericho, 1948, p. 122). He also concluded that the walls of the city toppled outward, which would compare favorably with Joshua 6:20. Amenhotep II was also known as Amenophis II and he was the son of Thutmose III. If Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt during the reign of Amenophis II, then the main oppressor of Israel would have been his father Thutmose III who was also the greatest conqueror in Egyptian history. His sister Queen Hatshepsut would have rescued Moses and brought him up.
Scholars have been fascinated by a revolutionary religious doctrine which developed shortly after 1445 B.C. that threatened to sweep away Egypt’s polytheistic theological dogmas of centuries. These scholars have credited Amenhotep IV, great grandson of Amenhotep II, with founding the religious concept of Monotheism (the idea that there is only one God). This Pharoh started the cult of Aton [a Sun god] removing all the other polytheistic gods and setting up a monotheistic system where Aton was the only god. But it does not seem unusual that a people who had been so influenced by the one God of Moses would try to worship the one god that had so convincingly defeated their gods. A continually increasing body of evidence indicates that this cult of Aton had its beginning in the reign of Thutmose IV, grandson of Amenhotep II, Pharaoh of the Exodus and that he learned the idea from Moses and the miraculous display put on by God during the Exodus. This monotheism lasted only during the reign of Amenhotep IV because the people of Israel did not like this system of one God. It was his grandson Tutankhamen, the boy King, who returned the people to Egypt’s former polytheistic system. After the Exodus, Egypt would not achieve the place of power she once held (The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures).
The Israelite elders were upset at Moses, to say the least. They told him in no uncertain terms, that he had done nothing but make matters worse. “Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? “Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all” (5:22-23). The Lord responded to Moses reiterating the Promises that he had already spoke to him that he fully intended to release the Israelites and deliver them to their new home in the Promised Land in Canaan (Exodus 6:1-13).
The Deliverance of Israel
So the Lord through Moses began His judgments of Egypt, each time the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the people go. Note that throughout the coming judgments God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; he didn’t do it by himself. God had a two-fold reason for allowing the plagues to continue as they did. One He wanted to deliver His people from bondage. But at the same time He intended to judge all the gods of Egypt to cripple the powerful, paganistic country that lived before His face. He revealed this purpose later in the Book: “against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord” (Ex 12:12). Most of the judgments were executed against the symbols of things the Egyptians worshipped as gods. The phrase אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים (’e’eseh shéfatim) is “I will do judgments.” The statement clearly includes what had begun in Ex 6:1. But the statement that God would judge the gods of Egypt is appropriately introduced here (see also Num 33:4) because with the judgment on Pharaoh and the deliverance from bondage, Yahweh would truly show himself to be the one true God. Thus, “I am Yahweh” is fitting here (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 312). Christ also, by the cross experience judged Satan freeing and delivering God’s people forever.
The first judgment humiliated the magicians of Egypt as Egypt was a land of magic. The Lord told them: “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” So they did just that. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent….[Pharaoh’s] magicians did the same with their secret arts. Each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (Ex 7:9-12). The next miracle was thus: “I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. “The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking