1 Reis 14

1 Reis 14

Morris - An Egyptian inscription confirms this invasion by Shishak, a Pharaoh of Egypt's twenty-second dynasty, boasting of his triumphs in both the southern and northern kingdoms of Israel. ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTE: Shishak's Invasion of Judah. Shishak's own record of this campaign is inscribed on the south wall of the great Temple of Amon at Karnak, in which he is depicted as presenting 150 "cities" of Palestine to his god Amon. A fragment of a monument he set up in Megiddo has been found. Although Shishak received tribute from Rehoboam of Jerusalem, the cities he conquered indicate that he was active north of Jerusalem, in Israel, and south of Jerusalem, in the Negev. (Halley's Bible handbook BORROW) Geoffrey Kirkland: Historical Information on Shishak, King of Egypt: Before Shishak, the kingdom of Egypt didn’t really seem to be a big factor in the history of Israel once they were settled in Israel Shishak was hugely important in biblical history. He was able to bring UNITY and STRUCTURE and PURPOSE to the Egyptian nation. Shishak was Libyan, not a native Egyptian, THOUGH THIS HELPED HIM create a multinational army. And Shishak unified his army when Rehoboam SPLIT his nation apart In a king’s victory report, he even provided us with an inventory of all the towns he conquered during this operation. The INSCRIPTION in which Shishak tells the world of all his accomplishments in this Palestinian campaign, he listed 150! cities that he crushed. Even though he defeated many towns and cities, he acknowledged THAT HE DID NOT conquer — Jerusalem. This harmonizes perfectly with the biblical record. He plundered but didn’t destroy Jerusalem. Shishak, Sheshonq I (945-924 B.C.), was a Libyan who overthrew the Egyptian king and established the twenty-second dynasty. He also provided political asylum to Jeroboam, who fled to Egypt to escape King Solomon's displeasure (1 Kin. 11:40). During the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign (925 B.C.), Shishak plundered Jerusalem and removed the treasures of the temple and the palace which had been placed there by David and Solomon. When restoring the treasures, Rehoboam was unable to replace the gold items in kind, so he resorted to using bronze. The splendor of the golden age was lost in the judgment of the Lord against Rehoboam. When Rehoboam submitted himself in humble repentance (vv. 1-12), he experienced the faithfulness of the Lord to forgive and to restore His people (cf. 7:14-16), confirmation of the message of the chronicler. SHISHAK [ISBE] - shi'-shak (shishaq (1 Ki 14:25); Sousakeim): 1. Shishak, 952-930 BC: Sheshonk or Sheshenq I, as he is called on the monuments, the founder of the XXIInd 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 XXIst 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 Ki 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 Ki 12:25 ff). Whether there was not in the XXIst 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 Ch 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 Ki 14:25 ff; 2 Ch 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"--Yudhmalk 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. T. Nicol 1 Kings 14:27 So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. made: La 4:1,2 guard: Heb. runners, 1Ki 14:1,5 18:46 1Sa 8:11 22:17 2Sa 15:1 1 Kings 14 Resources - multiple sermons and commentaries GOLD TURNS TO BRONZE REFLECTING MORAL DEGRADATION So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house This is a very sad verse. Imagine the effect on those who had seen Solomon's gleaming golden shields proudly displayed on the walls and now they look and see the pitiable bronze substitutes! This reminds me of the naming of the boy Ichabod in 1Sa 4:21+ marking the departure of the glory (the Shekinah glory) when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. Bob Utley suggests that "Rehoboam was so embarrassed about the loss of all the wealth, he made decorative shields of bronze to hang in the place of Solomon's gold ones (cf. 1 Kgs. 10:17)."