Shishak

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Sheshonk Ι in the monuments; first sovereign of the Bubastite 22nd dynasty. He comes before us without the ancient name of Pharaoh; he probably was a bold adventurer who supplanted the previous dynasty. Hence arose his hostility to Solomon, who was allied to a daughter of the former Pharaoh. By comparing Manetho and the monuments with  2 Chronicles 12:2-9 and  1 Kings 11:40;  1 Kings 14:25-28, we infer that the first year of Shishak corresponds to Solomon's 26th year, about 988 B.C. (980: Hincks); and the 20th of Shishak when he invaded Judah (969 B.C.) to Rehoboam's fifth year. Zerah probably succeeded Shishak and attacked Judah before the 15tb year of Asa. The name Shishak answers to Sheshach ("Babylon"), as Usarken and Tekerut, his successors, answer to Sargon and Tiglath, Semitic names; Νamuret ("Nimrod") too is a name of princes of this line.

The tablet of Harpsen from the Serapeium (Lepsius) makes Shishak son of a chief named Namuret, whose ancestors are untitled and bear foreign names. Shishak took as the title of his standard "he who attains royalty by uniting the two regions of Egypt." He married the heiress of the Rameses family; his son and successor took to wife the daughter of the Tanite 21st dynasty. A Pharaoh of the 21st dynasty took Gezer in Palestine from the Canaanites ( 1 Kings 9:16) and gave it as a present to his daughter, Solomon's wife. It was only late in his reign that Shishak could, like that Pharaoh, carry on foreign wars. Shishak early in his reign received Jeroboam the political exile, fleeing from Solomon, Jeroboam's enemy, toward whom Shishak would feel only jealousy, having no He of affinity as the Pharaoh of the previous dynasty had. During Solomon's powerful reign Shishak attempted no attack.

The division of the tribes under Rehoboam gave Shishak the opportunity which he sought. (See Rehoboam .) With 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and Lubim, Sukkiim and Cushim without number, he took Judah's cities fortified by Rehoboam ( 2 Chronicles 11:5-12) and came to Jerusalem ( 2 Chronicles 12:2;  2 Chronicles 12:4-5;  2 Chronicles 12:9-12). (See Shemaiah .) Shishak has recorded this expedition on the wall of the great temple at Karnak; there is a list of the countries, cities and tribes, ruled, conquered, or made tributary by him, including many Jewish names, Taanach, Rehob, Mahanaim, Gibeon, Bethhoron, Kedemoth, Aijalon, Megiddo, Ibleam, Almon, Shoco, one of Rehoboam's fenced cities, etc. Telaim, Beth Tappuah, Golan, the circle of Jordan, the valley ( 'Eemek ), Beth Emek;  Joshua 19:27), the Negeb or S. of Judah, Jerahmeelites, Rekem (Petra), and the Hagarites, are all specified;

(1) the Levitical and Canaanite cities are grouped together;

(2) the cities of Judah;

(3) Arab tribes S. of Palestine. Champollion reads in the inscription "the kingdom of Judah." Brugsch objects that the "kingdom of Judah" would be out of place as following names of towns in Judah, the supposed equivalent of "kingdom" ( Malkuwth ) rather answers to "king" ( Melek ). Shishak went to settle his protege, Jeroboam, in his northern kingdom, where he was endangered from the Levitical ( 2 Chronicles 11:13) and the Canaanite towns in northern Israel not being in his hands; these Shishak reduced and banded over to him.

Shishak contented himself with receiving Rehoboam's submission, and carrying away the accumulated temple treasures of David's and Solomon's reigns, the golden shields, etc.; and allowed him to retain Judah, lest Jeroboam should become strong. His policy was to leave the two petty kings as checks upon each other, letting neither gain strength enough to trouble himself. He was not strong enough to attack Assyria; so he contented himself with subjugating Palestine and the parts of Arabia bordering on Egypt, so as to make them an effectual barrier against Assyria's advance. An inscription in the Silsilis quarries mentions the cutting of stone for the chief temple of Thebes in Shishak's 22nd year. He appears in the temple at Thebes as "lord of both Upper and Lower Egypt." The lotus and the papyrus are both upon the shields carried before him; the "nine bows" follow, symbolizing Libya .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A king of Egypt, who declared war against Rehoboam king of Judah in the fifth year of his reign. He entered Judah, B. C. 971, with an innumerable multitude of people out of Egypt, the countries of Lubim, of Suchim, and of Cush, captured the strongest places in the country, and carried away from Jerusalem the treasures of the Lord's house and of the king's palace, as well as the golden bucklers of Solomon.

Jeroboam having secured the friendship of Shishak, his territories were not invaded,  1 Kings 11:40   14:25,26   2 Chronicles 12:2-9 . Shishak is generally believed to have been the Sesonchis of secular history, the first king of the twenty-second or Budastine line. He dethroned the dynasty into which Solomon married,  1 Kings 3:1 , and made many foreign conquests. In the palace-temple of Karnak in Egypt, the walls of which are yet standing, Sesonchis is represented in a large basrelief, dragging captive kings in triumph before the three chief Theban gods. Each country or city is personified, and its name written in an oval above it. One of these figures, with Jewish features, has an inscription, which Campollion interprets, "kingdom of Judah." Several other symbols are thought to denote as many walled towns of Judah, captured by Shishak. See Pharaoh .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Shi'shak. King of Egypt, the Sheshonk I, of the monuments, first sovereign of the Bubastite twenty-second dynasty. His reign offers the first determined syncronism of Egyptian and Hebrew history. The first year of Shishak would about correspond to the 26th of Solomon, (B.C. 989), and the 20th of Shishak to the 5th of Rehoboam.

Shishak, at the beginning of his reign, received the fugitive Jeroboam,  1 Kings 11:40, and it was, probably, at the instigation of Jeroboam, that he attacked Rehoboam. "He took the fenced cities which [pertained] to Judah, and came to Jerusalem." he exacted all the treasures of his city from Rehoboam, and, apparently, made him tributary.  1 Kings 14:25-26;  2 Chronicles 12:2-9. Shishak has left a record of this expedition. sculptured on the wall of the great temple of El-Karnak. It is a list of the countries, cities and tribes conquered or ruled by him, or tributary to him.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

SHISHAK (Egyp. Shoshenk or Sheshonk I .). Founder of the 22nd Dyn. ( c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 950). He reigned at least 21 years. Jeroboam fled to him (  1 Kings 11:40 ), and he plundered Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam (  1 Kings 14:25 ,   2 Chronicles 12:2 ). A long list of Palestinian towns of Israel, as well as of Judah, was engraved by Sheshonk on the south wall of the temple of Karnak, but Jerusalem has not been recognized among the surviving names in the list. Max Müller suggests that these towns may not have been conquered but that they merely paid tribute, hence the appearance of Israelitish towns among them.

F. Ll. Griffith.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

king of Egypt, declared war against Rehoboam in the fifth year of the reign of that prince,  2 Chronicles 12:2-3 , &c. This Shishak, according to Sir Isaac Newton, was the greatest conqueror, and the most celebrated hero, of all antiquity, being the son of Ammon, or the Egyptian Jupiter, and known to the Greeks by the name of Bacchus, Osiris, and Hercules; was the Belus of the Chaldeans, and the Mars or Mavors of the Thracians, &c. He made great conquests in India, Assyria, Media, Scythia, Phenicia, Syria, Judea, &c. His army was at last routed in Greece by Perseus; which, with other circumstances, compelled him to return home.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

King of Egypt, to whom Jeroboam fled for protection from Solomon. Shishak afterwards invaded Judah during the reign of Rehoboam, "because they had transgressed against the Lord." He came with an immense army, took fenced cities, and pillaged Jerusalem and the temple. Shishak left an account of this expedition. It gives a long list of places conquered, among which are the names of many Jewish towns, as Taanach, Rehob, Mahanaim, Gibeon, Beth-horon, Kedemoth, Aijalon and Megiddo.  1 Kings 11:40;  1 Kings 14:25,26;  2 Chronicles 12:2-9 . See Egypt

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Shishak ( Shî-Sh Ăk ). King of Egypt, known as Sheshonk I. The first year of Shishak would about correspond to the 26th of Solomon, b.c. 989, and the 20th of Shishak to the 5th of Rehoboam. Shishak at the beginning of his reign received the fugitive Jeroboam,  1 Kings 11:40; and it was probably at the instigation of Jeroboam that he attacked Rehoboam.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Kings 14:25-26 1 Kings 3:1 1 Kings 9:16Egypt

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

shı̄´shak ( שׁישׁק , shı̄shaḳ (  1 Kings 14:25 ); Σουσακείμ , Sousakeı́m ):

1. Shishak, 952-930 BC:

Sheshonk or Sheshenq I, as he is called on the monuments, the founder of the Xxii nd Dynasty, was in all probability of Libyan origin. It is possible that his claim to the throne was that of the sword, but it is more likely that he acquired it by marriage with a princess of the dynasty preceding. On the death of Pasebkhanu II, the last of the kings of the Xxi st Dynasty, 952 BC, Shishak ascended the throne, with an efficient army and a well-filled treasury at his command. He was a warlike prince and cherished dreams of Asiatic dominion.

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 Xxi st Dynasty some kind of suzerainty of Egypt over Palestine, when Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter and received with her Gezer as a dowry, seems not to be clearly established. It is, however, natural that Jeroboam's patron in the day of adversity should take sides with him against Rehoboam, now that the kingdom was divided. Active support of Jeroboam would be in the line of his dreams of an eastern empire.

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" - Y udhmalk on the monuments - which was at first believed to represent the king of Judah, with a figure which passed for Rehoboam. Being, however, a place-name, it is now recognized to be the town Yehudah, belonging to the king. On the death of Shishak his successor assumed a nominal suzerainty over the land of Canaan.

Literature.

Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt , III, 227 ff; Maspero, Struggle of the Nations , 772 ff; Nicol, Recent Archaeology and the Bible , 222-25.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Shi´shak, a king of Egypt contemporary with Jeroboam, to whom he gave an asylum when he fled from Solomon . This was indicative of his politic disposition to encourage the weakening of the neighboring kingdom, the growth of which under David and Solomon was probably regarded by the kings of Egypt with some alarm. After Jeroboam had become king of Israel, and probably at his suggestion, Shishak invaded the kingdom of Judah, B.C. 971, at the head of an immense army; and after having taken the fortified places, advanced against Jerusalem. Satisfied with the submission of Rehoboam, and with the immense spoils of the Temple, the king of Egypt withdrew without imposing any onerous conditions upon the humbled grandson of David . Shishak has been identified as the first king of the 22nd or Diospolitan dynasty, the Sesonchis of profane history. His name has been found on the Egyptian monuments. He is said to have been of Ethiopian origin, and it is supposed that, with the support of the military caste, he dethroned the Pharaoh who gave his daughter to Solomon . In the palace-temple of Karnak there still exists a large bas-relief representing Sesonchis, who bears to the feet of three great Theban gods the chiefs of vanquished nations. To each figure is attached an oval, indicating the town or district which he represents. One of the figures, with a pointed beard and a physiognomy decidedly Jewish, bears on his oval, characters which M. Champollion interprets Yooda Melchi, or 'kingdom of Judah.' It is well to observe that this figure has not, as some have hastily conceived, been alleged to represent the king, but to personify the kingdom of Judah.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

II. History. — In order to render the following observations clear, it will be necessary to say a few words on the history of Egypt before the accession of Sheshenk I. On the decline of the Theban line or Rameses family (the twentieth dynasty), two royal houses appear to have arisen. At Thebes the high priests of Amen, after a virtual usurpation; at last took the regal title, and in Lower Egypt a Tanitic dynasty (Manetho's twenty-first) seems to have gained royal power. But it is possible that there was but one line between the twentieth and twenty-second dynasties, and that the high priest kings belonged to the twenty-first. The origin of the royal line of which Sheshenk I was the head is extremely obscure. Mr. Birch's discovery that several of the names of the family are Shemitic has led to the supposition that, it was of Assyrian or Babylonian origin. Shishak, שַׁישִׁק , may be compared with

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Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Shishak'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/shishak.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

The name of several monarchs of Egypt of the twenty-second dynasty, the first of whom united nearly all Egypt under one government, invaded Judea and plundered the Temple of Jerusalem about 962 B.C.