Original Documents
22nd Dynasty

Why Pharaoh Sheshonk could not have been Pharaoh Shishak

Who then was Isôkos? This looks close to aSA-ix.t. Why would Josephus use this form in his book `Antiquities of the Jews' for Shashanq?

Others say: I have strong doubts about that. Asychis is primarily the Greek rendering of the Egyptian name aSA-ix.t. All clear Greek equivalents of Sheshonq are quite different.

It was in 1828 that Francoise Champollion visited Egypt for the last time together with Professor Ippolito Rossellini of the University of Pisa, Italy. They made their way to the triumph scene of Pharaoh Hedjkheperre Shoshenk I carved into the Bubastite walls of the temple of Karnak at Thebes. There on his right were the faint outlines of the pharaoh smashing his enemies. To the left was the royal figure of Amon dragging more captives surrounded with oval name rings before the king. The hieroglyphics inside the ring represented the names of the conquered cities in his 20th year. Champollion began to read the names inside the rings. When he came to 29 he read "y-w-d-h-m-l-k". Could that really be `Iouda-ha-malek' - kingdom of Judah [Yehud]? Indeed, Shishak had invaded and conquered Judah as we know from 1.Kings 14:25-26 and 2.Chronicles 12:2-9. From that moment on, Shoshenk I, founder of the 22nd Dynasty, became Shishak of scripture. It was the year 925 BC when this happened.

So why question this anchor date tying together the chronology of Egypt and Israel? As W. Max-Mueller pointed out already in 1888, ring 29 should be read as "Yah-ha-melek" which literally means `hand of the King' and should be understood as `Monument' or `Stela of the King'. In other words it is a location in Palestine where some un-named ruler had erected a commemorative stela [standing stone] of the King of Judah. More significantly still is the fact that `Yadhamelek' is located in northern Israel and therefore could not possibly have been a location inside the borders of the kingdom of Judah.

We also must ask the question, if Shoshenk was Shishak why did he attack locations in northern Israel and carefully avoided Judah and in particular did not attack Jerusalem? Scholars made a serious mistake and are still tenaciously clinging to it while ignoring the obvious discrepancies a comparison of the Egyptian and scriptural records reveal. There is a fundamental problem of methodology in the false assignment of Shoshenk being Shishak.

In Egyptian hieroglyphics the name Shoshenk is usually written as "Sh-sh-n-k" but occasionally as "Sh-sh-k" with the `n' missing. The latter form appears to be an exact match to `Shishak'. However, the few monumental inscriptions from Palestine of Shoshank I never display the missing `n' form of the name. In another Akkadian [east-semitic] cuneiform text his name is given as "Susink" - displaying both the `n' and the common transposition of the Egyptian `sh' into the semitic `s'. It is therefore clear that the name was pronounced with the `n' in it. Therefore, the biblical name `Shishak' is not an exact equivalent of `Shoshenk'.

The famous city list of pharaoh Sheshonk of the 22nd dynasty, long held to be Pharaoh Shishak's campaign to Jerusalem, is in reality his campaign to lend support to Jehoahaz of Israel against Hazael, king of Damascus which took place in about 816-810 BC.

Shoshenk's City List
Shoshenk I campaign into Palestine: His city list is an imitation of that of Thutmoses III but very instructive. The first 9 names are the `Nine Bows', #10 is the introduction saying simply "List of the towns". They are: 11=Gaza, 12=Makkedah, 13=Rubuti, 14=Aijalon, 15=Kiriathaim?, 16=Beth- horon, 17=Gibeon, 18=Mahanaim, 19=Shaud[y], 20=?, 21=Adoraim, 22=Hapharaim, 23=Rehob, 24=Betshan, 25= Shunem, 26=Taanach, 27=Megiddo, 28=Adar, 29=Yadhamelek, 30=[Heb]el?, 31=Honim?, 32=Aruna, 33=Borim, 34=Gathpadalla, 35=Yahma, 36=Betharuma, 37=Kekry, 38=Socoh, 39=Bethappuah... Between #17 & 18 should be Jerusalem by sequence if that is where he went according to conventional history, 1.Kings 14:25-26 & 2.Chronicles 12:2-9. [D.Rohl, `Pharaohs and Kings', p.124] Instead we realize that Shoshenk I helped Jehoahaz against Hazael, king of Damascus, the Aramean [Aram] kingdom in about 816 BC, "the saviour of Israel." 2.Kings 13:1-7. This contact between Jehoahaz and Shoshenk can only be established on the grounds of the revised chronology, otherwise this text remains obscure and unexplained.

This fact, that a king of the Libyan dynasty came to the aid of Israel against their enemies was tried once more at a later time when the Assyrians were besieging Samaria and a call for help went to Pharaoh So, 2.Kings 17:4. This time another Shoshenk or Sosenk was on the throne of Egypt, but he sent no military aid. Being Libyans, the rulers of these dynasties [22-24] did not view Israel in the same light as the native Egyptians and basically were not disinclined to help if they could.

A check on the importance of what we just said is at hand. Since the tablets found at Ras Shamra according to archaeologists belong into the time of the Amenhoteps and Thutmosides, according to our revision we should expect to find in them besides the biblical name of `Zerah' (Terah) of the `Poem of Keret' that of Pharaoh Shishak from the time of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon. As it so happens this name `Shishak' was among the first words deciphered and caused considerable surprise among the French researchers.

Dhorme wrote:

"Le mot `Swsk' semble, un nom propre, a rapprocher peut-etre de l'egyptien Sosenq, hebreu Sosaq, et Sisaq."
[Dhorme, `Revue biblique', Vol. XL (1931), p.55; Schaeffer, `Cuneiform Texts'; Virolleaud, `Les Inscriptions cuneiformes' in `Syria', Vol. X (1929), p. 305]

What is the implication of this much ignored discovery? The implication is that `Shishak' was a name (Horus name) for Thutmose and has nothing to do with a pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty by the name of Sheshonk. Therefore our conclusion is vindicated that the 18th Dynasty as well as the Ras Shamra period belong into the 11th to 9th century BC and their rulers and pharaohs were comtemporaries of the early Israelite kings.

The Time of Sheshonk I

In our revision Sheshonk was a contemporary of Pharaoh Tutankhamon and Pharaoh Ay (German: Eje). During the time of the latters reign it seems the `Stela of Shoshenk' makes references to when it addresses `His Majesty', meaning Pharaoh Ay. Convention assumes `His Majesty' refers to the 21st Dynasty Priest-king Pesibkhenno which does not make sense to us. We must ask the question, `What do we know about Pharaoh Ay and his relations to the Lybians?' Some point to Ay when it comes to the question how Tutankhamen and Smenkhare died. The painted chest from the tomb of Tutankhamen showing Africans/Ethiopians or more likely Lybians waging war against the Egyptians was arranged or supported by Ay to help him come to power. While the evidence is circumstantial, it makes sense in connection with Shoshenk I later coming to power in Egypt itself. There is then an overlap of reignal years probably from the time of Tutankhamen to the end of Ay with Shoshenk I's reignal years. [See A.M.Blackman, `The Stela of Shoshenk, Gret Chief of the Meshwesh' in JEA, Vol. 27, 1941, p. 83-95]

But there exists also a 15 inch fragment of a stela of Sheshonk which was found not in stratified levels but in a dump site at Megiddo. The hieroglyphics read, "Bright is the form of the [sun-god] Re ... Amun's beloved, Sheshonk [I]." But the cartouche is that of the 22nd dynasty pharaoh Sheshonk I. [For the story and images see BAR, Vol. 28, Nov/Dec 2002, p. 38-49, 68]

Pharaoh Shoshenk's City List The city-list relief of Pharaoh Sheshonk. Compare this relief to the city-list relief of Thutmose III at Karnak and compare the rendition of the individual figures with the reliefs of Queen-Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Puntites at Deir-el-Bahari to realize that Thutmose and Hatshepsut went to the same place. If Punt was in Africa it was a location where a Palestinian ambassador oversaw the commercial interests of the merchant fleet of Solomon. If it was an enclave in southern Palestine where blacks lived who had arrived on these merchant vessels, either way Punt and Palestine are closely associated for this period in history.
Karnak Victory List of Sheshonk
Detail Karnak Victory List of Sheshonk From the Victory scene city list at Karnak of Pharaoh Sheshonk (ca. 823-802 BC revised) comes also a partial cartouche (#106) interpreted by Kenneth Kitchen to have read, "The Heights of David". This is so because the hand stands for `t', since there is no `d' in hieroglyphics a `t' substitutes for it. The falcon stands for `a', the sling for `ua' in which the `u' is taken as a `v' and the rope stands for `th'. We have therefore `tavth', a good rendition of `David'. The double lines are taken as emphasis for the bottom crown which means `foreign'. Thus we have `David emphasized foreigner' or possible `heights of `David.' [See BAR, Jan/Feb 1999, p. 34.]

If that is the case, we would say that such commemorative assignment of names must have occurred sometime after the reign of King David (ca. 1010-970 BC).

Bible Topics Main Menu Submenu