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According to Exodus 7:7 Aaron is three years older than Moses. And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh. When this fact is presented, the immediate question is: Why didn’t Aaron face the death penalty when he was born? The answer is found in some interesting facts from Egyptian history. These facts and their timing bring out a very important point. Nothing happens by accident with God. He not only controls when His children are born, He arranges all the circumstances of their birth so they, and others, will know they are born to serve the Lord.

This "small" point about Aaron not facing the death penalty when he is born also substantiates the following dates of Egyptian history.

HYKSOS (Hihk' sohs) Racial name from the Greek form of an Egyptian word meaning "rulers of foreign lands" given to kings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties of Egypt. The word, which does not appear in the Bible, was later misinterpreted by Josephus as meaning "shepherd kings."

With the decline of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (about 2000-1786 B.C.) large numbers of Asiatics, mostly Semites like the Hebrew patriarchs, migrated into the Nile Delta of northern Egypt from Canaan. These probably came initially for reasons of economic distress, such as famine, as did Abraham (Gen. 12:10). Unlike Abraham, many groups stayed in Egypt as permanent settlers. Under the weak Thirteenth Dynasty, some Asiatics established local independent chiefdoms in the eastern Delta region. Eventually, one of these local rulers managed to consolidate the rule of northern Egypt as pharaoh, thus beginning the Fifteenth Dynasty. The Sixteenth Dynasty, perhaps contemporary with the Fifteenth, consisted of minor Asiatic kings. As these dynasties of pharaohs were not ethnic Egyptians, they were remembered by the native population as "Hyksos."

While the Hyksos pharaohs ruled northern Egypt from Avaris in the eastern Delta, the native Egyptian Seventeenth Dynasty ruled southern Egypt from Thebes. This period is known as the Second Intermediate or Hyksos Period (about 1786-1540 B.C.). The status quo was maintained until war erupted between the Hyksos and the last two pharaohs of the Seventeenth Dynasty. About 1540 B.C., Ahmose I sacked Avaris and expelled the Hyksos. As the first pharaoh of a reunited Egypt, Ahmose I established the Eighteenth Dynasty and inaugurated the Egyptian New Kingdom or Empire.

Joseph's rise to power (Gen. 41:39-45) as pharaoh's second-in-command would have been far more likely under a Hyksos king. Joseph was related ethnically to the Semitic Hyksos rulers, while the native Egyptians regarded Semites with contempt. Ahmose I is very likely the pharaoh "who did not know Joseph" (Ex. 1:8 NRSV). If Joseph served a Hyksos pharaoh, an Egyptian king would not have "known" of him in a political or historical sense, nor would he have regarded him as significant in an ethnic sense.

The rulers of the 13th Dynasty—some 65 of them, following one another in rapid succession—were weaker than their predecessors, although they were still able to control Nubia and the administration of the central government. During the latter part of their rule, however, their power was challenged not only by the rival 14th Dynasty, which won control over the delta, but also by invaders from Palestine, called the Hyksos, who overran the country in the early part of the 17th century bc. This marks the beginning of the Second Intermediate period, a time of turmoil and disunity that lasted for some 150 years. The Hyksos of the 15th Dynasty ruled from their capital at Avaris in the eastern delta, maintaining control over the middle and northern parts of the country. At the same time, the 16th Dynasty also existed in the delta and Middle Egypt, but it may have been subservient to the Hyksos. More independence was exerted in the south by a third contemporaneous power, the Theban 17th Dynasty that ruled over the territory between Elephantine and Abydos. The Theban ruler Kamose (r. about 1576-1570 bc) battled the Hyksos successfully, but his brother Ahmose I finally subdued them, reuniting Egypt.

Ahmose I, king of Egypt (reigned 1570-1546 bc), founder of the 18th Dynasty, the first of the New Kingdom. A Theban prince, he completed (circa 1567 bc) the expulsion of the Hyksos begun by his brother Kamose (reigned 1576-1570 bc), recaptured northern Nubia, and reorganized Egypt as a unified country under his sole rule.

Aaron was born in 1580 B. C. There was no threat upon his life. Kamose, the first ruler of the 18th dynasty came to rule in 1576 B. C. and started trying to get rid of the Hyksos. He didn't recognize Joseph as a political power, nor did he recognize the Hebrews as the people that had saved Egypt during the seven year famine. Therefore as he was trying to get rid of the Hyksos, he also tried to get rid of all foreigners, the Hebrews included. When Moses was born (1575 B. C.) the order from Kamose was to kill all Hebrew boy babies, thus the girls wouldn't have anybody to marry and would then marry Egyptians, thus eventually merging the two nations into one.