Malol

Also known as: Pharaoh (this chapter) · Family: Egyptians · Role: king of Egypt · First appears: The Beginning Of The Egyptian Bondage

After Magron died, Malol succeeded him as king of Egypt. Malol and his court did not know the sons of Jacob and oppressed the Hebrews. During his wars against Zepho, the Israelites saved the Egyptians from a crushing defeat. Malol’s grandfather was the Pharaoh of former days. He was married to Alfar'anit, and had three sons—Atro, Adikam and Moryon—and two daughters, Bithiah and Akuzit. Thermutis was his daughter.

At Pithom and Raamses, Malol first persuaded the Israelites to build cities for wages, then withheld their pay and put them under Egyptian taskmasters. He ordered Hebrew husbands kept from their homes, condemned those who missed their brick quotas to be entombed in buildings, and commanded the midwives Jochebed and Miriam to kill newborn boys while sparing girls. The midwives defied him and kept the children alive. When Miriam rebuked him, Jochebed calmed his anger. Malol dismissed Reuel in disgrace after hearing his words, and Reuel went to Midian.

When Moses was set adrift, Malol halted the drowning of the boys of his empire. In Moses’s third year, the child took Malol’s crown and placed it on his own head. Balaam urged Malol to kill him, so the king summoned Egypt’s wise men to judge the matter; Malol and the princes concluded Moses had acted unknowingly and refrained from killing him. God turned Malol’s mind toward mercy, and Moses’s foster-mother took him away and arranged his education. Later, after Dathan and Abiram reported Moses, Malol ordered his arrest and condemned him to death by the sword.

Malol was afflicted with leprosy over his whole body. For ten years he bathed in the blood of Israelitish children, but his disease worsened into boils. On his way to Goshen, he was thrown from his horse and badly injured. He chose Adikam to succeed him, and Adikam was made king in his place. Three years later, Malol died in shame and disgrace and was buried at Zoan without being embalmed.