Shishak's Campaign

"And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him." "In the fifth year of king Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem… With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians."

"Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak." "The LORD is righteous." "They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance… Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

Shishak takes the treasures and Solomon's gold shields; bronze ones replace them. "And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him."

Egypt's record

Shoshenq I's Karnak relief lists more than 150 places, mostly in Israel and the Negev; Jerusalem is not clearly listed. Chronicles' notice that Shishak "took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah" fits a campaign through the region. The army figures are Chronicles' own. See the Shoshenq investigation.

Lubim and Sukkiim

Libyans (Lubim) fit the Libyan origin of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty; the Sukkiim may be the Tjukten, Libyan auxiliaries known from Egyptian texts.

Humbling and restoration

Chronicles adds the pattern it repeats throughout: sin, prophetic warning, humbling, partial deliverance (7:14).