Who Was Pharaoh Shishak?

Shoshenq I’s war efforts

On the wall of the Bubastite Portal at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, there is a list of place names recorded in relation to Egyptian military conquest during the reign of Shoshenq I and probably refer to his campaigns. These place names are locations within Israel, Judah and the desert to the south, and thus would be an account of military action against King Jeroboam of Israel and King Rehoboam of Judah, linked to what is recorded in 2 Chronicles and 1 Kings. At the site of El-Hiba (Tayu-Djayet), Shoshenq I built a temple to Amun and inscribed a list of places he had conquered in his victorious campaign to western Asia, although the list is now damaged. 

When did Shoshenq I’s campaign to western Asia, and specifically the attack of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, occur? According to evidence from Egyptian inscriptions, such as the unfinished Silsila stele, the celebration of his victorious campaign to Israel and Judah occurred in year 21 of his reign (around 924 B.C.), soon after returning to Egypt and not long before his death, which also accounts for the incomplete state of the stele. In the topographical lists, Israel and Judah are both recorded in the conquest or tribute expedition of Shoshenq I. 

Although the names Jeroboam and Rehoboam are not found in the Egyptian inscriptions, this is to be expected as the list contains only geographical names and not personal names, as is typical of ancient Egyptian campaign lists. It does, however, record several known cities in both the territories of Israel and Judah, including Ta’anach, Shunem, Beth-Shean, Rehob, Mahanaim, Gibeon, Beth-Horon, Aijalon, Megiddo, Gath-Padalla, Bethlehem, Socoh, Penuel, Tirzah, Ezion-Geber, Arad and Sharuhen. Many additional cities are listed, but often the readings are disputed. According to a statistical analysis, over 30 per cent of the place names on the list also appear in the Bible. The name Jerusalem does not appear on the list, but Yehudmelek, which can be translated “King of Judah” or “Capital of Judah,” seems to refer to the royal seat of the Kingdom of Judah, which was at Jerusalem. This situation is extremely similar to the records of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, invading Judah and capturing Jerusalem. While Nebuchadnezzar II is written Nab?-kudurri-us?ur in Akkadian and his annals mention “the city of Judah” rather than Jerusalem, no-one questions that this is the same king and event recorded in the Bible (2 Kings 24:13, 14).

Archaeological excavations found that several of the cities that appear on the Bubastite Portal list were destroyed in the tenth century B.C., at the time of Jeroboam, Rehoboam and Shoshenq I. These sites include Megiddo, Taanach, Beth-Shean, Rehob and Arad. In the southern part of the Kingdom of Judah, there are clear signs that the tenth century B.C. city of Beersheba was destroyed, which is also compatible with the campaign of Shoshenq I. The clearest evidence of this campaign against Israel and Judah is supported both by a late tenth century B.C. destruction layer and a fragmentary victory stele at Megiddo containing the cartouche of Shoshenq I. 

The military force of Shoshenq I is recorded as consisting of chariots, horsemen and infantry, including soldiers from Libya, the people of Suk (unknown, but perhaps the Libyan tribe Tjek) and Nubia (2 Chronicles 12:3). By the Twentieth Dynasty in the late New Kingdom period, the Egyptian military was increasingly using mercenaries from other countries, perhaps because of a declining Egyptian population or a movement toward using non-Egyptians in military service. Additionally, during the Twenty-First Dynasty, Egypt saw a vast increase in the number of Libyans, culminating in the emergence of the Libyan pharaoh, Osorkon the Elder, and eventually S

counter arguments

While the chronology and military campaigns of Shoshenq I from Egyptian records appear to line up with those of the “Shishak” of the Bible, some scholars have argued that they are different pharaohs. Reasons range from revisionist chronologies requiring another pharaoh in another period, to objections about the linguistic equation of Egyptian Shoshenq with Hebrew Shishak. 

One alternative chronology claims that Shishak of the Bible must be a writing error from the nickname “sysa” or “sesu” that was used for Rameses II, among other pharaohs (probably derived from the ending of the name Rameses). This name modification is necessary for a change in chronological scheme, but the nickname “sesu” simply does not match renderings of Shoshenq, while the accounts of Shoshenq I in Egyptian sources and the Bible do match. In later Greek language sources, such as the third century B.C. Aegyptiaca by Egyptian historian Manetho, only Shoshenq I, rendered Sesonchis, is linguistically similar to Shishak. A chronological revision is not only unnecessary, but claims that the names are linguistically incompatible, however, must be addressed.

Although the Hebrew spelling appears to be different from the conventional Egyptian spelling (the initial vowel included in the name, unlike the Egyptian spelling which did not write the vowels; use of a “K” instead of a “Q”; and the exclusion of the “N”), Shishak in Hebrew is actually spelled with the equivalent “Q,” and Shoshenq is attested in some Egyptian inscriptions without the “N” included in his name (see Karnak Priestly’s Annals from Thebes). The vowel difference between Shoshenq and Shishak is also easily explained. In a Hebrew reading of 1 Kings 14:25, the name is spelled shwshaq, or with an initial “O” vowel (in the other passages there may have been a vowel shift or a copying error from “waw” to “yod”). In Akkadian texts, also a Semitic language, the name is spelled shwsanq—very similar, but with the “N” included. As some Egyptian inscriptions attest the absence of “N” and Akkadian texts attest the initial vowel as a long “O,” the spelling in 1 Kings 14 may be considered perfectly correct and acceptable for the name of Shoshenq I and should not be attributed to another pharaoh. Therefore, the alleged linguistic incompatibility of the names of this pharaoh in the Bible and in Egyptian sources is inaccurate. Rather, the names are a perfect match in certain records and slightly variant in others.

The Egyptian campaign list for Israel and Judah, the chronology, several archaeological sites, the financial situation in Egypt and the pharaoh name all coincide with the accounts of the conquest of Shoshenq I/Shishak recorded in the biblical books of Kings and Chronicles. The data from archaeological excavations and ancient texts establishes that correct parallel historical accounts from the late tenth century B.C. time of Shoshenq I, Jeroboam and Rehoboam exist, albeit from the different perspectives of Egypt and Judah. This material demonstrates that Pharaoh Shishak of the Bible is the same as Pharaoh Shoshenq I and serves as both a key chronological anchor and an example of historical corroboration between Egyptian sources, archaeology and the Bible during the time of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.