Shishak

Biblical Account

Shishak is a king of Egypt who appears in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Scripture calls him "Shishak king of Egypt." He is commonly described as the first Egyptian king in the Bible to be referred to by a personal name rather than by the title Pharaoh.

• Jeroboam's exile: When Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, Jeroboam fled to Shishak king of Egypt and remained there until Solomon's death (1 Kings 11:40).
• The attack on Jerusalem: In the fifth year of Rehoboam, Shishak came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house, and he also carried off all the shields of gold that Solomon had made. In their place Rehoboam made shields of brass and committed them to the guard who kept the door of the king's house (1 Kings 14:25–28).
• The fuller account in 2 Chronicles: 2 Chronicles 12:1–12 states that this happened because Rehoboam and the people had forsaken the law of the LORD. It records that Shishak came with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, accompanied by the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians, and that he took the fortified cities of Judah. When the prophet Shemaiah delivered the word of God, the king and the princes humbled themselves. God declared that He would not destroy them completely, yet said that they would become Shishak's servants, "that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries" (2 Chronicles 12:8).

Significance Within Scripture

Shishak's invasion is recorded as the first foreign invasion Judah suffered after the division of the kingdom. The loss of the golden shields, symbols of the wealth accumulated under Solomon, and their replacement with shields of brass illustrate the kingdom's decline. Chronicles presents the episode as an example linking faithfulness to the covenant with the destiny of the nation: humility averts destruction, yet the consequences of sin remain. Shishak is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debate

• Identification with a historical figure: Most scholars identify Shishak with Shoshenq I, founder of Egypt's Twenty-second Dynasty. A relief at the temple of Karnak bears a list of place names from Shoshenq I's campaign in Canaan, and it is frequently cited as extrabiblical evidence for this campaign. However, Jerusalem cannot be clearly identified in that list, and scholars differ over the precise dates. A minority view reconstructs the entire Egyptian chronology and identifies Shishak with a different king, but this view has not gained wide acceptance.
• Distinguishing the text from later additions: The Pharaoh who gave his daughter to Solomon (1 Kings 3:1) is not named in Scripture, and the text does not identify him as Shishak. In addition, some texts of the Septuagint are known to contain additional material stating that Jeroboam, during his stay in Egypt, married into Shishak's royal family. This material is absent from the Hebrew text on which translations such as the New Korean Revised Version are based.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, Shishak is treated mainly within the story of Rehoboam. The scene in which the golden shields are lost and replaced with shields of brass is often used as an illustration of losing the substance of faith while maintaining only its outward appearance. 2 Chronicles 12 is read as a passage that sets forth both the consequences of departing from God and the mercy granted to those who humble themselves.