society
the Egyptian monarch
At a glance
In short
Paroh is Pharaoh, a title and not a personal name. Melech Mitzrayim is the King of Egypt; Rav Chaim Kanievsky reads it as the office in its national capacity. The Torah's choice between them is deliberate, and in six places it writes both (Paroh Melech Mitzrayim).
Distinctions
Rabbi Klein's fifth grade rebbe, Rabbi A. Y. Berman, put it as the hundred-dollar question: why does the Torah sometimes say Melech Mitzrayim, sometimes Paroh, and sometimes both?
Paroh (פרעה)
A title held by the King of Egypt, not a name. Rashi (Tehillim 34:1; Ezra 6:14): every king of Egypt is called Paroh. Radak (Bereishis 26:9) is narrower: most Egyptian kings were so called. In some versions of Rashi's commentary he makes the point again at Bereishis 41:10, where the butler says "Paroh was angry with his servant," and Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura (1440-1500) explains why: without it one would think Paroh was the king's personal name and the butler had used it to his face, which would be an insolence. Ibn Ezra there makes a similar point.
- As to what the word means, Abarbanel (1437-1508) and Rabbi Avraham Menachem Rappaport (1520-1596) read it as a contraction marking the king's depravity, either po'el ra, doer of evil, or peh ra, bad mouth.
- Rabbi Eliezer ben Eliyahu Ashkenazi (1515-1585) claims in Maaseh Hashem that the Egyptians spoke Latin or Italian, and on that premise that Paroh means "master" in Italian; Rabbi Klein reports that after consulting experts he remains unable to confirm this, and that it is virtually a historical fact that the Egyptians spoke Egyptian, not Latin.
- Academia tends to explain that Paroh means "the great house."
- Shadal (to Bereishis 12:15): Paroh is phi, the, plus uro, king, or is related to Re, the sun god.
- Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (Eim LaMikra to Bereishis 12:15): Paroh is also the name of an Egyptian god, Phre, which explains why Paroh is named twice in Yirmiyahu 46:25, once the king and once the deity.
- Chasam Sofer (beginning of Bo, explaining a saying of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli): Hashem turned the letters of Paroh's name, peh to beis and ayin to aleph, making it arbeh for the plague of locusts.
Melech Mitzrayim (מלך מצרים)
The King of Egypt, the office as the nation's head. It appears close to fifty times against Paroh's 274. Shishak, the Egyptian king in the days of Shlomo and Rechavam, is called Melech Mitzrayim and never Paroh.
Paroh Melech Mitzrayim (פרעה מלך מצרים)
The doubled form, in six places: Shemos 6:11, 6:13, 6:29, 14:8; Melachim I 3:1; Yechezkel 29:2.
Why the Torah alternates
- The Zohar (Shemos 17a, 19b): through most of the opening of Shemos, Melech Mitzrayim names the heavenly minister of the Egyptian nation, while Paroh and Paroh Melech Mitzrayim name the flesh-and-blood king. On this reading "and the Melech Mitzrayim died" (Shemos 2:23) is not the death of the earthly king but the fall of Egypt's heavenly representative, after which Hashem began to hear the Jews' cries.
- Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishis 41:1): through the dream narrative the king is only Paroh, because that episode begins his personal decline, which ends at the sea. The exception is Bereishis 41:46, where Yosef stands before Paroh Melech Mitzrayim, to say that he kept his throne only because he took Yosef's counsel. Rabbeinu Bachya's explanation does not yield a rule covering every case.
- Rav Chaim Kanievsky, basing himself partly on Rabbeinu Bachya, offers a comprehensive discussion of all three usages: acting on behalf of the national interest, he is Melech Mitzrayim; acting out of personal interest, self-aggrandizement or sheer stubbornness, he is Paroh; where both are at work, Paroh Melech Mitzrayim.
Named Egyptian kings
Tanach names three: Shishak, in the days of Shlomo and his son Rechavam, whom archaeologists commonly identify with Pharaoh Shoshenq I; Paroh Necho, "lame" or "handicapped," in the days of Yoshiyahu; and Paroh Chafra, king of Egypt, whom Yirmiyahu names in foretelling Egypt's downfall (Yirmiyahu 44:30). The Midrash reads Necho's name as earned: he was partially paralyzed, because having killed Yoshiyahu in battle he captured Shlomo's throne, and when he dared sit on it one of its lions struck him.
Sefer HaYashar, which Rabbi Klein calls an apocryphal midrash, supplies more. Severus son of Anam (Bereishis 10:13 lists the Anamites among the descendants of Ham's son Mitzrayim) was king of Egypt when a Babylonian named Rakayon impressed him and his nation with his great wisdom; Severus renamed him "Paroh" and set him over the day-to-day rule of Egypt while remaining the ultimate king himself, appearing in public only once a year, and the Egyptians decreed that every future king of Egypt bear the name Paroh. The Paroh of the generation after Yosef's death was Paroh Melol, who ruled ninety-four years; instead of Melol Melech Mitzrayim the Jews called him Maror Melech Mitzrayim, because he embittered (maror) their lives with slavery. Egyptologists have found that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics used one glyph for the r-sound and the l-sound, and some scholars identify Paroh Melol with Pharaoh Pepi II, whose alternate name was Merire. Melol's successor was his son Paroh Adikam, also called Adikam Achuz because achuz means "short" in Egyptian and he stood one amah tall (see also Moed Katan 18a); he was a short, ugly fellow whose beard reached to his ankles, and the Exodus took place in his reign. According to Artapanus, the Paroh at the time of Moshe's birth was Palmanothes, and it was his son-in-law Chenephres who persecuted the Jews. On Sefer HaYashar's account Paroh and Melech Mitzrayim were originally two different titles held by different people, later, it seems, merged into one office, which still does not explain the Torah's alternation.
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
מ-ל-ך
To reign; מֶלֶךְ, a king; מְלוּכָה, מַמְלָכָה and מַלְכוּת, kingship. In another sense, to take counsel. And מֹלֶךְ, an avodah zarah served with two fires.
Reigning
בְּחֶבְרוֹן מָלַךְ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים (Melachim I 2:11), in Chevron he reigned seven years, and וּמָלַךְ מֶלֶךְ וְהִשְׂכִּיל (Yirmiyahu 23:5), a king shall reign and prosper. Of a woman, וַעֲתַלְיָה מֹלֶכֶת עַל הָאָרֶץ (Melachim II 11:3), and Asalyah reigned over the land. Where the verb takes an object, הִמְלִיךְ אֶת שָׁאוּל (Shmuel I 15:35), he made Shaul king; in the passive, אֲשֶׁר הָמְלַךְ עַל מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), who was made king over the kingdom of the Kasdim. The sense of kingship, he says, is known.
The nouns of kingship
The noun is מֶלֶךְ, a king, and the plural אַרְבָּעָה מְלָכִים (Bereishis 14:9), four kings, written also with an alef of prolongation, לְעֵת צֵאת הַמְּלָאכִים (Shmuel II 11:1), at the time kings go out. Kingship is מְלוּכָה: וְאֶת דְּבַר הַמְּלוּכָה לֹא הִגִּיד לוֹ (Shmuel I 10:16), but the matter of the kingship he did not tell him. Other forms are מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים (Shemos 19:6), a kingdom of kohanim, and מַמְלְכוּת עוֹג (Yehoshua 13:12), the kingdom of Og; and without the added mem, מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), the kingdom of the Kasdim. Its plural is אַרְבַּע מַלְכֻיוֹת (Daniel 8:22), four kingdoms, where, tav and heh being alike, the yud that stands for the heh in the plural takes the place of the tav, as in גָּלוּת, exile, and גָּלֻיּוֹת, exiles. Some explain לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם (Yirmiyahu 7:18), to the מְלֶכֶת of the heavens, from this sense, meaning to a great star in the heavens.
Taking counsel
In another sense, וַיִּמָּלֵךְ לִבִּי עָלַי (Nechemiah 5:7), my heart took counsel within me: its sense is taking counsel, and it resembles the Aramaic מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (Daniel 4:24), let my counsel be pleasing to you, and the words of Chazal (Berachos 29b), המלך בקונך וצא, take counsel with your Maker and go out. Some explain from this בֶּן מַלְכֵי קֶדֶם (Yeshayahu 19:11) as a son of counsellors of old.
Rabbi Yonah, and Radak's answer
Rabbi Yonah explained מְלָכִין (Mishlei 31:3) from this sense of counsel, and so also הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (Yirmiyahu 22:15), התמלך because you vie with the cedar, the tav drawn out with a maarich and the mem with a sheva and a patach, which Radak spells out, on that reading, as: do you think in your heart to liken and equal yourself to the great king. There is no need, Radak says, to take them out of the sense of kingship. That pasuk in Mishlei he explains under the root מחה; and הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז is: do you imagine yourself a king, and grow proud to vie with the cedar, that is, with one greater than you; that is, the kingship is not yours, to be proud over one greater than you.
מֹלֶךְ
אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ (Vayikra 20:2), who gives of his seed to the Molech, and וּלְמֹלֶךְ שִׁקֻּץ בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן (Melachim I 11:7), and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon: it is the name of an avodah zarah. Its service was that a man handed his son to its priests, and they made two great fires and passed the son on his feet between the two fires. In לֹא תִתֵּן (Vayikra 18:21), you shall not give, is the handing to the priests, and in לְהַעֲבִיר, to pass over, the passing through the fire.
בְּחֶבְרוֹן מָלַךְ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים (מלכים א' ב, יא), וּמָלַךְ מֶלֶךְ וְהִשְׂכִּיל (ירמיה כג, ה), וּמָלַכְתָּ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־תְּאַוֶּה נַפְשֶׁךָ (שמואל ב' ג, כא), הַמֹּלֵךְ תַּחַת יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ אָבִיו (ירמיה כב, יא), וַֽעֲתַלְיָה מֹלֶכֶת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ (מלכים ב' יא, ג), הֲתִֽמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַֽחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (ירמיה כב, טו), הֵן לְצֶדֶק יִמְלָךְ־מֶלֶךְ (ישעיה לב, א), יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶֽד (שמות טו, יח), מְלָךְ־עָלֵֽינוּ (שופטים ט, יד), מָלְכִי עָלֵֽינוּ (שופטים ט, י). לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ־מֶלֶךְ (בראשית לו, לא), יְרָא אֶת־י"י בְּנִי וָמֶלֶךְ (משלי כד, כא) בשש נקודות. והקבוץ אַרְבָּעָה מְלָכִים (בראשית יד, ט). ונכתב באל"ף המשך לְעֵת צֵאת הַמְּלָאכִים (שמואל ב' יא, א). והשם מְלוּכָה. וְאֶת־דְּבַר הַמְּלוּכָה לֹֽא־הִגִּיד לוֹ (שמואל א' י, טז). ומשקל אחר מַמְלָכָה וְשָׂרֶֽיהָ (איכה ב, ב), לְךָ י"י הַמַּמְלָכָה (דברי הימים א' כט, יא), מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּֽהֲנִים (שמות יט, ו), וַתְּהִי רֵאשִׁית מַמְלַכְתּוֹ (בראשית י, י), לֹֽא־נַֽעֲשָׂה כֵן לְכָל־מַמְלָכֽוֹת (מלכים א' י, כ). מַמְלְכוּת עוֹג (יהושע יג, יב), בשורק. אֶת־מַמְלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל (שמואל א' טו, כח). ומבלי מ"ם נוספת מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּֽים (דניאל ט, א), עַד־מְלֹךְ מַלְכוּת פָּרָֽס (דברי הימים ב' לו, כ), וּמַלְכוּתוֹ בַּכֹּל מָשָֽׁלָה (תהלים קג, יט). וקבוצו אַרְבַּע מַלְכֻיוֹת (דניאל ח, כב), ולפי שהתי"ו והה"א שוים באה היו"ד שהיא מקום הה"א בקבוץ תמורת התי"ו כמשפטה לבוא תמורת הה"א. וכן נהגו בקבוץ גָּלוּת, גָּלֻיּוֹת. ויש מפרשים מזה לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם (ירמיה ז, יח), רוצה לומר לכוכב גדול שבשמים. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] הִמְלִיךְ אֶת־שָׁאוּל (שמואל א' טו, לה), וָֽאַמְלִיךְ עֲלֵיכֶם מֶֽלֶךְ (שמואל א' א' יב,. ושלא נזכר פעלו ממנו [הָפְעַל] אֲשֶׁר הָמְלַךְ עַל מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּֽים (דניאל ט, א), ענין המלוכה ידוע. וענין אחר וַיִּמָּלֵךְ לִבִּי עָלַי (נחמיה ה, ז), ענינו ויתיעץ והוא דומה לארמית מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (דניאל ד, כד). וכן בדברי רבותינו ז"ל (ברכות כט, ע"ב), המלך בקונך וצא. ויש מפרשים מזה בֶּן־חֲכָמִים אֲנִי בֶּן־מַלְכֵי־קֶֽדֶם (ישעיה יט, יא), כמו יועצי קדם. ורבי יונה פירש מזה לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִֽין (משלי לא, ג), וכן פירש מזה הֲתִֽמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַֽחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (ירמיה כב, טו), התי"ו נמשכת במאריך והמ"ם בשוא ופתח, כלומר התחשוב בלבך להדמות ולהשתוות למלך הגדול. ואין צורך להוציאם מעני מלוכה. ופירוש לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִֽין (משלי לא, ג) פירשתיו בשרש מָחָה. ופירוש הֲֽתִמֲלֹךְ כי אחה מתחרה בארז התדמה היות מלך והתגאה להתחרות בארז כלומר גדול ממך, כלומר אין המלכות לך להתגאות על גדול ממך. אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ (ויקרא כ, ב), וּלְמֹלֶךְ שִׁקֻּץ בְּנֵי עַמּֽוֹן (מלכים א' יא, ז), שם עבודה זרה כך. וזו עבודתה שמוסר בנו לכומרים ועושין שתי מדורות גדולות ומעבירין את הבן ברגליו בין שתי מדורות האש. לֹֽא־תִתֵּן [לְהַֽעֲבִיר לַמֹּלֶךְ] (ויקרא יח, כא), זו מסירת הכומרים. לְהַֽעֲבִיר זו העברת האש.
פ-ר-ע
Rebelling, keeping far off and setting aside; in another sense, uncovering, as of the head and its hair; and in a third, vengeance.
Rebelling and setting aside
שִׁמְעוּ מוּסָר וַֽחֲכָמוּ וְאַל־ תִּפְרָֽעוּ (Mishlei 8:33), hear instruction and be wise, and do not set it aside; וַתִּפְרְעוּ כָל־עֲצָתִי (Mishlei 1:25), you set all my counsel at nothing; פּוֹרֵעַ מוּסָר (Mishlei 15:32), one who sets instruction aside; פְּרָעֵהוּ אַל־תַּֽעֲבָר־בּוֹ (Mishlei 4:15), keep far from it, do not pass through it; בְּאֵין חָזוֹן יִפָּרַֽע עָם (Mishlei 29:18), where there is no vision a people rebels; and of making others leave off, תַּפְרִיעוּ אֶת־הָעָם מִֽמַּֽעֲשָׂיו (Shemos 5:4), you make the people leave off their work. The sense of all of them, and of those like them, is המרי והריחוק והבטול, rebellion, keeping far, and setting aside.
Read as turning backwards
Some take them from the usage of Chazal (Megillah 17a), one who reads the Megillah למפרע, out of its order, that is, turning a thing backwards and reversed. Read the same way, לֹֽא־ אֶפְרַע וְלֹֽא־אָחוּס (Yechezkel 24:14), I will not turn back and will not spare, is that He will not go back from what He has spoken.
Uncovering
In another sense, כִּי פָרֻעַ הוּא כִּֽי־פְרָעֹה אַֽהֲרֹן (Shemos 32:25), for it was uncovered, for Aharon had uncovered it: exposed in its evil deeds. וּפָרַע אֶת־רֹאשׁ הָֽאִשָּׁה (Bamidbar 5:18), and he shall uncover the woman's head: he uncovers the hair of her head that is hidden under the veil. וְרֹאשׁוֹ יִהְיֶה פָרוּעַ (Vayikra 13:45), and his head shall be uncovered; אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ לֹא יִפְרָע (Vayikra 21:10), he shall not uncover his head; רָֽאשֵׁיכֶם אַל־ תִּפְרָעוּ (Vayikra 10:6), do not uncover your heads: since a mourner's way is to uncover his head and take off his turban or his cap and his headdress. And גַּדֵּל פֶּרַע שְׂעַר רֹאשֽׁוֹ (Bamidbar 6:5), letting the hair of his head grow uncovered, the pei with a segol: when his hair grows long it is uncovered below the turban.
Two more read this way
Some explain בִּפְרֹעַ פְּרָעוֹת בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל (Shoftim 5:2) and כִּי הִפְרִיעַ בִּֽיהוּדָה (Divrei HaYamim II 28:19) from this sense of uncovering: on that reading, when things were laid bare in Yisrael, and for he laid things bare in Yehudah.
Vengeance
In a third sense, מראשׁ פַּרְעוֹת אויב (Devarim 32:42), from the first of the vengeances of the enemy: the פרעות are נקמות, vengeances. So too בפרוע פרעות בישראל, when vengeances were taken in Yisrael, and in the heavy form כִּי הִפְרִיעַ בִּֽיהוּדָה, for he took vengeance in Yehudah. The Targum of נְקֹם נִקְמַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (Bamidbar 31:2), avenge the vengeance of the children of Yisrael, is אִתְפְּרַע פֻּרְעֲנוּת, exact the retribution.
שִׁמְעוּ מוּסָר וַֽחֲכָמוּ וְאַל־תִּפְרָֽעוּ (משלי ח, לג), וַתִּפְרְעוּ כָל־עֲצָתִי (משלי א, כה), פּוֹרֵעַ מוּסָר (משלי טו, לב), פְּרָעֵהוּ אַל־תַּֽעֲבָר־בּוֹ (משלי ד, טו). והנפעל בְּאֵין חָזוֹן יִפָּרַֽע עָם (משלי כט, יח). והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] תַּפְרִיעוּ אֶת־הָעָם מִֽמַּֽעֲשָׂיו (שמות ה, ד), ענין כלם והדומים להם המרי והריחוק והבטול. ויש מפרשים אותם מדברי רבותינו ז"ל (מגילה פב משנה א. דף יז, ע"א) הקורא ארת המגלה למפרע, כלומר השבת הדבר לאחור וההפך. וכן לֹֽא־אֶפְרַע וְלֹֽא־אָחוּס (יחזקאל כד, יד), כלומר שלא אשוב אחור ממה שדברתי. וענין אחר כִּי פָרֻעַ הוּא כִּֽי־פְרָעֹה אַֽהֲרֹן (שמות לב, כה), פירוש מגולה ממעשיו הרעים. וכן וּפָרַע אֶת־רֹאשׁ הָֽאִשָּׁה (במדבר ה, יח), כלומר יגלה שער ראשה הנסתר תחת הצעיף. וכן גַּדֵּל פֶּרַע שְׂעַר רֹאשֽׁוֹ (במדבר ו, ה), הפ"א בסגול. וְרֹאשׁוֹ יִהְיֶה פָרוּעַ (ויקרא יג, מה), אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ לֹא יִפְרָע (ויקרא כא, י), רָֽאשֵׁיכֶם אַל־תִּפְרָעוּ (ויקרא י, ו), כי דרך האבל לגלות ראשו ולהסיר מצנפתו או מגבעתו ופארו מעל ראשו. ופירוש גַּדֵּל פֶּרַע כי כשיגדל שערו הנה הוא מגולה תחת המצנפת. ויש מפרשים מזה הענין בִּפְרֹעַ פְּרָעוֹת בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל (שופטים ה, ב). כִּי הִפְרִיעַ בִּֽיהוּדָה (דברי הימים ב' כח, יט). וענין אחר מראשׁ פַּרְעוֹת אויב (דברים לב, מ), נקמות האויב. וכן בפרוע פרעות בישראל. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] כִּי הִפְרִיעַ בִּֽיהוּדָה. ותרגום נְקֹם נִקְמַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (במדבר לא, ב) אִתְפְּרַע פֻּרְעֲנוּת.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Pharaoh and the King," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 6 January 2018.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Pharaoh and the King," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Shemos 2:23, 6:11, 6:13, 6:29, 14:8; Bereishis 10:13, 26:9, 41:1, 41:10, 41:46; Melachim I 3:1; Yechezkel 29:2; Yirmiyahu 44:30; Tehillim 34:1; Ezra 6:14; Moed Katan 18a; Zohar, Shemos 17a and 19b; Rabbeinu Bachya to Bereishis 41:1; Abarbanel; Maaseh Hashem; Sefer HaYashar; Artapanus; Chasam Sofer, beginning of Bo; Shadal to Bereishis 12:15; Benamozegh, Eim LaMikra to Bereishis 12:15; Yirmiyahu 46:25.