the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Shishak
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
or
1. Shishak, 952-930 BC:
Sheshonk or Sheshenq I, as he is called on the monuments, the founder of the
2. Patron of Jeroboam:
He had not long been seated on the throne when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim, whom Solomon had promoted but afterward had cause to suspect, fled from the displeasure of his sovereign to the court of Shishak (1 Kings 11:26 ff). There Jeroboam remained till the death of Solomon, when he returned to Canaan, and, on Rehoboam's returning an unsatisfactory answer to the people's demands for relief from their burdens, headed the revolt of the Ten Tribes, over whom he was chosen king with his capital at Shechem ( 1 Kings 12:25 ff). Whether there was not in the
3. Syrian Campaign:
So it came to pass that in the 5th year of Rehoboam, Shishak came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, and 60,000 horsemen, and people without number out of Egypt, the Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians, and took the fenced cities of Judah, and came to Jerusalem. At the preaching of the prophet Shemaiah, Rehoboam and his people repented, and Jerusalem was saved from destruction, though not from plunder nor from servitude, for he became Shishak's servant (2 Chronicles 12:8 ). Shishak took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, carrying off among the most precious of the spoils all the shields of gold which Solomon had made (1 Kings 14:25 ff; 2 Chronicles 12:1-9 ). From the Scripture narrative it does not appear that there was any occupation of Palestine by the Egyptian forces on this occasion.
4. Shishak's Record at Karnak:
There is, however, a remarkable contemporary record of the campaign engraved on the south wall of the Temple of Amon at Karnak by Shishak himself. Not only is the expedition recorded, but there is a list of districts and towns of Palestine granted to his victories by Amon-Ra and the goddess of Thebes engraved there. A number of towns mentioned in the Book of Josh have been identified; and among the names of the list are Rabbath, Taanach, Gibeon, Mahanaim, Beth-horon and other towns both of Israel and Judah. That names of places in the Northem Kingdom are mentioned in the list does not imply that Shishak had directed his armies against Jeroboam and plundered his territories. It was the custom in antiquity for a victorious monarch to include among conquered cities any place that paid tribute or was under subjection, whether captured in war or not; and it was sufficient reason for Shishak to include these Israelite places that Jeroboam, as seems probable, had invited him to come to his aid. Among the names in the list was "Jud-hamalek"
Literature.
Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt , III, 227 ff; Maspero, Struggle of the Nations , 772 ff; Nicol, Recent Archaeology and the Bible , 222-25.
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Shishak'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/s/shishak.html. 1915.
