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There is evidence supporting why Heqakheperre Sheshonk IIa was the biblical Shishak and why Sheshonk I was not the biblical Shishak. The evidence makes the most historical sense in accordance to my new high chronology,1 and so I will provide the necessary background information. I maintain that Joshua retook the country of Goshen2 in 1451-1444 BC during the reign of Rameses II (1480-1414 BC), and that the weak pharaohs of the 19 th, 20th, and early 21st dynasties did nothing about it, except for Merenptah (1414-1394 BC) who retook a few cities from the new owners called Israel. Judge Deborah (1339-1299 BC) described a major volcanic eruption3 which occurred in the eighth year of Rameses III (1310 BC) when he allowed homeless Sea People to live among the Philistines.
1 2 3 4
For a free .pdf of my chronology, go to www.PharaohsoftheBible.com Genesis 47:27 in which pharaoh gave Goshen to Jacob's family, and Joshua 10:41; 11:16 where Joshua took it back. Judges 5:4-11b in which the earth trembled and the mountains melted. This queen has a city named after herself spelled Tahpanhes in Jer. 43:7-9; 46:14, Tahapanes in Jer. 2:16, and Tehaphnehes in Ezekiel 30:18. It is now Tel Dafneh 18 miles SE of Tanis near Lake Ballah.
Patareshnes has the syllables /pa/, /ta/, /resh/, and /nes/. Tahpanes has the syllables /ta/, /pa/, and /nes/; three out of four. Patareshnes was married to Sheshonk, whose name sounds like Shishak. The glyph for 'n' was sometimes dropped. Thus Sheshonk I was more likely to have lived during the reign of king David. King David died in fall of 1015 BC, which was during the reign of Osorkon I when Hadad likely asked to return to Edom and was given leave. Unless the Bible actually names the pharaoh, you can not assume that only one pharaoh dealt with a particular Hebrew person in the text. And even when the Bible does name a pharaoh, several pharaohs used the same name. I think Manetho's three other kings after Osorkon I were all sons named Sheshonk from Hedjkheperre Sheshonk I and three different wifes: Heqakheperre Sheshonk IIa to Karoama, Tutkheperre Sheshonk IIb to Patareshnes, and Maakheperre Sheshonk IIc to an unknown consort. Ussher placed Jeroboam fleeing to Shishak in 978 BC based upon his knowledge of Egyptian chronology at the time; the date may be correct, but Ussher's Egyptian chronology was not. Many more artefacts have been discovered in Egypt and Israel since the seventeenth century. In the 19 th century, better parameters were established for digging a site and for dating objects by the pottery types. In the 20th century the Egyptian chronology became the standard by which all other chronologies were based, but by the 21st century, archaeologists outside of Egypt realised Egypt's chronology was 200 years off. My chronology resolves those issues by basing all chronologies on the standard of the Holy Bible.
Twelve years later I suggest Sheshonk I aided general David in killing the Amalekites . . . as you go to Shur (I Samuel 27:8) at the Wall of the Ruler north of the Bitter Lakes. Sheshonk's badly broken stela at Karnak recorded his victory over the Sinai bedouin: [Iuput] the First [Prophet] of Amon-Re, . . . victory in the . . . lands of Asia, Lord of the Two Lands, Hej[kheper]re . . . Now [My Majesty] discovered [that . . .] [. . . they ] killed [. . . my soldiers and?] my leaders. Then His majesty pondered concerning them . . . Then His Majesty said to his entourage [that was in the following]: ['Behold . . .] these wretched deeds that they have done.' Then they said [before His Majesty . . .] [Then His Majesty went forth . . .], his chariotry following him, without their knowing. Now [] Among them His Majesty made a great slaughter [] and he [slew] them ashore on the bank of the Bitter Lakes. . . .6 The discovery which Sheshonk I made during his first year as pharaoh may have been from reading Siamun's journals of how he repaid the bedouin who robbed his caravans and slew his soldiers, or it may have been a new and similar report. Or Siamun's journal may have boasted of how he took credit for Saul's slaughter at the wall/shur, and so Sheshonk I took credit for David's slaughter at the wall. Neither Saul nor David mentioned engaging Egyptian troops at their wall border. Seeing the military might with which David dispatched the Amalekites may have caused Sheshonk I to avoid attacking Israel. Instead, Sheshonk I may have taken boats with troops to Byblos in the lands of Asia to restore Egypt's trade (and share of taxes) there.
6 Ritner, Robert K., The Libyan Anarchy, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2009, pp. 216-218
7 8 9 10 11 12
Kitchen, K.A., The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1973, p. 292 James, Peter, http://www.centuries.co.uk/faq.htm#q5 class=, accessed 3/8/11. Shipitbaal (son of Elibaal) Josephus, Antiquities 8:144-460 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahiram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_I Barguet, Temple d'Amon-re a Karnak, 1962, pp.122-3; block D, a, line 6 (Muller, Egyptol, Researches, II, 147, fig. 52 top) 13 Kitchen, K.A., The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1973, p. 300 14 Ritner, Robert. K., The Libyan Anarchy, Society of Biblical Literature, 2009, pp. 218-219
In this inscription instead of two rivers (Nhrn), Sheshonk I referred to the Asiatic back-country (phw.w St.[t]) which was another 100-200 miles northeast of Hamath. The statue given to Abi-Baal is evidence that Sheshonk I subdued Byblos whose ancient name was Gubla which may be #11 in his list with Megiddo #12 and rbyt (Beth-Rehob?) finishing the row at #13. But I conclude the rest of the cities on the victory wall were conquered by someone else who actually led a campaign against Israel.
The Gebel es-Silsilah quarry was located 40 miles north of Elephantine and 90 miles south of Thebes. To transport 6,000 tons of sandstone to the work site would have taken at least a year, and to dress and to place the blocks may have taken another year. Seven scenes of Sheshonk I and his son Iuput were completed at Karnak along with over ninety lines of hieroglyphs (not counting the 130+ captured city names) possibly taking another year. 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7 year minimum, not accounting for losses of time due to accidents, weather, war, etc.. Since the stela recorded Re-Horachty, as Sheshonk's residence, calling his reliefs the Bubastite Portal is a misnomer. Sheshonk's delta residence moved from Pi-Rameses on the eastern delta to Pi-Ese (estate of Isis) in the central delta at Sebennytos (now Samannud),29 not Bubastis (near Zagazig) thirty miles southeast. At Karnak on Sheshonk's eastern pilaster is inscribed, First occasion (of) repeating the jubilee . . .; 30 thus, Sheshonk I reached his 33 rd regnal year. This completed and moderately decorated jubilee court and gate attest to the long life of Sheshonk I, and not a sudden death during construction.
Though the first nine names were traditional enemies of Egypt, they were actually conquered by Sheshonk I. The first row of names: Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Wawat of Upper Nubia, Libyans, S[hetiam] of the western oases, Mn[tywnwstt] Bedouin, Bow[men of feather], Seti (nome #1 often conquered by Lower Nubia), H3wnbwt (Haunebut, meaning "Behind the Islands," the Aegean)40, #10 copy of Amu (foreigners), G3[d(t?)] (possibly Gubla, the ancient name of Byblos), Megiddo, and Rbyt (Rehob-Beth). Sheshonk I's victory relief at El-Hibeh only has one row beginning The western oasis, the eastern desert,41 which are on either side of Thebes (though the west oases extend to the Fayyum). Merenptah mentioned Israel, but Sheshonk I never named it. I conclude the rest of the cities on the Karnak victory relief were conquered by someone else who actually led a campaign against Israel.
The original group of bearded soldiers (only the second man is clean shaven) were standing with recurve bows in the furthest hand and a vial of oil (?) in the closest hand and the last man holding a feather of maat. Their hands are twice as small as the scene engraved on top of them in which two more sets of seven bearded men facing left and right are standing with the opposite arm raised in praise. Thus the first group of men have three hands each. The left headbands may be Canaanite mercenaries, and the right helmets may be Cretan mercenaries. In the center of these male groups, Iuput was originally facing front with both arms crossing his chest holding objects.42 In his right hand appears to be a miniature double curved bow held closely to his chest; in his left hand is a feather of maat. (There is also a feather of maat underneath the lowest sets of men's elbows.) His left elbow makes the first male appear to be female. Iuput's head is missing. These incongruities suggest this wall was usurped by someone after Sheshonk I; like his youngest son, Sheshonk IIa.
40 Coppens, by Philip, "Egypt: origin of the Greek culture: For centuries, scholars have identified the Greek culture as the source of the western civilisation. But what if the Greek culture itself was a legacy a colony of the ancient Egyptians?" Frontier Magazine 5.3, May-June 1999 41 Ritner, Robert K., The Libyan Anarchy, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2009, p. 222 42 Digital Egypt photo at http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak/assets/media/resources/BubastitePortal/highres/100_0868.jpg
#12 Megiddo ('place of crowds'): Tell el-Mutesellim (hill of the ruler) STR. AGE BC ITEMS UNIQUE VIIb
VIIa VIb VIa Vb Va IVb IVa
LBIIB
LBII Iron I Iron I Iron I
15th Rameses II scarab 14th palace w/ griffin, TPB's; gate *by Ram. III 13th Philistine mugs and loomweights; ivory 12th area AA and K-4 11th poor walls in area K-2
*destroyed by Joshua Rameses III ivory pen case {Yadin, just preceding King David} *^destroyed by earthquake and fire <captured by Sheshonk I large TPB stables chariot city *^destroyed by Shishak rock-cut water system *destroyed by Tiglath-Pileser III
Iron IIA 11th Solomonic 6-chamber gate Iron IIA 10th large buildings, ashlars (by Jeroboam) Iron IIB 9th Iron III Omri and Ahab's stables and silos big palaces built
III
8th
P.L.O. Guy was the main excavator of Stratum VI at Megiddo in 1934. He uncovered pillared houses typical of the early Israelites.44 Guy wrote, There had obviously been a disaster of some sort in VI, of which the fire was the culmination, and that disaster may have been either a battle or an earthquake. . . . Some skeletons were found crushed under walls in postitions of obvious agony, but a number of others had been buried . . . It looked as if survivors had come back after the catastrophe and had left where they were those bodies which had been hidden by fallen walls but had hastily buried those who were visible. . . . The disaster, whatever it was, had been pretty sudden, for most of the rooms contained very large quantities of pottery in situ . . .45 Skeletons crushed under fallen walls from a sudden disaster sounds like an earthquake which 'culminated' in a fire. Neither was there evidence the site was quickly inhabited and rebuilt by a 'victor'; instead stratum Vb had walls of poor quality. The stela fragment of Sheshonk I was found in 1926 in a dump adjacent to a trench excavated by the German engineer Gottlieb Schumacher 46 in 1905. . . . dating of our [Guy's] Stratum IV . . . to Early Iron I, though not to the earliest, or Philistine part of it. Philistine suggestions were . . . at places where we penetrated to Stratum V. From somewhere in a minor trench of Schumacher's which penetrates barely below Stratum IV came the stela fragment . . .47 Guy was confident that it had come from the earliest stratum uncovered in the trench, namely Stratum VA/IVB48 which Guy dated to Iron I. Therefore, Sheshonk I placed his 20-inch thick stela at Megiddo during Iron I of the 11th century of Stratum V, and Sheshonk IIa destroyed the beautiful ashlar buildings of Stratum IVb.
Thus the question of why a pharaoh would place his stela of ownership in the midst of Megiddo's ashes is solved with two different pharaohs of the same name coming to the city at different times for different purposes. Sheshonk I sought tax revenues from the traveller's going through the poor city of Megiddo, and Sheshonk IIa sought to loot and to destroy the wealthy chariot city which Solomon had built and Jeroboam had reinforced.
44 Harrison, Timothy P., The Battleground: Who Destroyed Megiddo? Was it David or Shishak?, Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec 2003, Vol. 29, p. 60 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid., p. 62 47 Guy, P.L.O., New Light from Armageddon: Second Preliminary Report 1927-1929, OIC, p. 44 48 Harrison, Timothy P., The Battleground . . . based upon Guy's New Light . . . pp. 44-48
49 Wikipedia based upon Douglas E. Derry, Note on the Remains of Shashanq, Annales du Service des Antiquits de lgypte 39, 1939, pp. 549-551 50 Douglas E. Derry, Note on the Remains of Shashanq, Annales du Service des Antiquits de lgypte 39, 1939, pp. 549 551 51 Manning, Sturt, A Test of Time: The Volcano of Thera and the chronology and history of the Aegean and east Mediterranean in the mid second millennium B.C., Oxbow Books, 1999, p. 378 52 Ibid. 53 Pierce, Larry, "Evidentialism - The Bible and Assyrian Chronology," Answers in Genesis, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/tj/v15/n1/chronology, also see http://newtonsrevisedhistory.wordpress.com/ 54 Ritner, Robert K., The Libyan Anarchy, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2009, p. 223 55 Ibid.