Pharaoh
Pharaoh, the Egyptian ruler whose daughter Bithiah married Mered, a descendant of Judah.
Pharaoh is not a personal name but the Hebrew rendering of the Egyptian royal title pr-aa ('great house'), used for several Egyptian rulers in the biblical narrative. The Pharaoh of the Exodus—unnamed in the biblical text—is the figure most prominent in theological tradition, hardening his heart through the ten plagues and pursuing the Israelites only to drown in the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 5–14). Paul cites God's declaration to Pharaoh—'For this very purpose I raised you up'—as a key text on divine sovereignty and human hardness of heart (Romans 9:17). An earlier Pharaoh interacted with Abraham (Genesis 12), and the Pharaoh of Joseph's time elevated him to second-in-command of Egypt (Genesis 41). The historically debated identity of the Exodus Pharaoh is one of the most contested topics in biblical archaeology.