Hophra: The Pharaoh Whose Arm God Broke

Who He Is and When He Lived

Hophra is a Pharaoh, named in the dossier by that name, though the Hebrew behind his mentions is simply פַּרְעֹה, Pharaoh, and the prophets call him "Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Ezekiel 29:2-3). He belongs to the era of the divided kingdom, an era placed on Ussher's chronology (1650) at around 975 BC to 586 BC. His homeland is Egypt. He appears in eighteen verses across nine passages, first at Jeremiah 37:5 and last in Ezekiel, with twelve of those verses in Ezekiel and six in Jeremiah. That is his whole footprint in Scripture: a king of one of the great powers of the ancient world, given fewer lines than many a lesser man in the same books.

How Scripture Mentions Him

It is worth saying plainly what kind of mentions these are, because it shapes everything. No scene is told about this man. He never speaks a recorded conversation, never crosses a stage, never meets a prophet face to face. Every appearance is either a passing note or a word spoken about him by God through Ezekiel. He is talked about; he does not act in front of us.

Jeremiah mentions him at Jeremiah 37:5, Jeremiah 37:7 and Jeremiah 37:11, then again at Jeremiah 43:9, Jeremiah 44:30 and Jeremiah 47:1. These are notes, not narrative built around him.

Ezekiel is where the weight falls. God sets a prophet's face against him: "Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak and say, 'The Lord Yahweh says: "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, 'My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.'" (Ezekiel 29:2-3). That is the charge in a single sentence. He looked at the water that fed his kingdom and said it was his own, and that he had made it for himself.

Against that boast comes a picture of a wound already given. "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it become strong to hold the sword. Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: 'Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand" (Ezekiel 30:21-22). The broken arm is not merely injured; it is unbandaged, untreated, and the sword is going to drop.

The reason is given at once, and it names who will do it. "I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before the king of Babylon with the groaning of a mortally wounded man. I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh will fall down. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out on the land of Egypt" (Ezekiel 30:24-25). Two pairs of arms, one held up and one broken, and both by the same hand.

His greatness is put to him as a question: "Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his multitude: 'Whom are you like in your greatness?" (Ezekiel 31:2). Further words about him stand at Ezekiel 31:18 and Ezekiel 32:2. And the end of the matter is the grave: "Pharaoh will see them, and will be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword," says the Lord Yahweh. "For I have put his terror in the land of the living. He will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude," says the Lord Yahweh" (Ezekiel 32:31-32).

The Failure

The boast is the failure: "My river is my own, and I have made it for myself" (Ezekiel 29:2-3). A creature claiming to be his own maker and his own provider. The second failure is his uselessness to those who leaned on him: "Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company won't help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons" (Ezekiel 17:17). The strength was real enough to trust and too weak to save. The verdict spoken over such a man is not that he was small, but that his arm would break and his sword would fall (Ezekiel 30:21-22). His terror was real in the land of the living, and it ended with him laid among the uncircumcised and the slain (Ezekiel 32:31-32).

What We Do Not Know

Scripture does not name his parents. No children of his are named. And, as noted above, no scene is told about him: every mention is a list, a genealogy or a passing note. We know his boast and his end, and little else of the man.

The dossier lists no New Testament references for this Pharaoh, so no line is drawn from him into the New Testament here. What stands is the word spoken over him in Ezekiel, and the purpose given for it, which was never merely the ruin of one king: "Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out on the land of Egypt" (Ezekiel 30:24-25).