Who was the pharaoh in office during joseph-zaphnath-paaneah's reign?

Answer 1

THE ANSWER IS Djoser and Joseph was named Imhotep

Joseph and Imhotep. Egyptian tradition tells us that two centuries or so after Menes there lived a great pharaoh named Djoser (?the Wise?), whose vizier, Imhotep, was regarded as the greatest of all Egyptian sages.

Djoser and Imhotep, the legend says, lived during a famine lasting seven years, and it was a dream of the king?s that provided Imhotep with the clue to solving the crisis. Similarly, Hebrew history tells us that two centuries or so after Abraham there lived Joseph, the great seer and visionary, who became pharaoh?s vizier, and helped solve the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting the king?s dreams.

Historians, of course, have long been aware of the striking resemblances between Imhotep and Joseph, and a great deal has been written on the subject. They would undoubtedly have realised the identity of the two men a long time ago, but the erroneous chronology, which separated them by over a thousand years, confused the issue.

Djoser and the Seven Years? Famine

Egyptian tradition recorded a great famine lasting seven years. This disaster was said to have occurred during the reign of Djoser, and from the story of this event we may come to understand exactly why pharaoh Netjerkhet was called ?The Wise?.

The only account of the seven years famine to survive is on a rock-cut inscription near Aswan, which dates from a very late period possibly from the reign of Ptolemy V (Epiphanes), who lived in the first century BC. The inscription records the famine as an historical fact, placing it in the eighteenth year of Djoser.

Indeed the inscription purports to date from Djosers time, though this is generally dismissed. Nevertheless, it may well be a copy (with of course updated spellings) of an extremely ancient record. We are told that during Djosers reign Egypt found itself in a great crisis. The pharaoh bewails his lot:

I was in distress on the Great Throne, and those who are in the palace were in hearts affliction from a very great evil, since the Nile had not come in my time for a space of seven years. Grain was scant, fruits were dried up, and everything which they eat was short

Again the Egyptian story has the wise seer Imhotep assist the king in dealing with the famine, and it is obvious that Imhoteps role closely resembles that of Joseph in the Genesis story.

Could it be then that Djoser is indeed Joseph?s pharaoh, and that Imhotep, the great seer who advised Djoser on the seven years? famine, is none other than Joseph?