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Ancient Mysteries & Interpretations

Shoshenq I at Karnak

Shoshenq I, founder of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty, recorded a campaign into the southern Levant on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak, with more than 150 place names. A fragment of his stele was found at Megiddo. Most scholars identify him with the biblical Shishak and date the campaign c. 925 BC. Jerusalem is not clearly named in the surviving list.

Campaign: documented · Identification with Shishak: widely accepted · Jerusalem in the list: disputed

Relief of Shoshenq I's campaign list at Karnak
Authentic ancient artifactThe Bubastite Portal at Karnak, where Shoshenq I (biblical Shishak) listed places in the southern Levant, c. 925 BC.Image credit

1 What Scripture says

"In the fifth year of king Rehoboam… Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem" (1 Kings 14:25).

2 What evidence we might expect

  • An Egyptian record of a campaign in Canaan in the late 10th century BC.

3 What ancient sources survive

Bubastite Portal relief and list

Language
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Composed
c. 925 BC
Oldest surviving copy
The relief itself, Karnak
Status
Not scripture

Name-rings in rows; many damaged.

4 What discoveries exist

Names in the list include Gaza, Gezer, Aijalon, Beth-horon, Gibeon, Mahanaim, Penuel, Rehov, Beth-shean, Shunem, Taanach, Megiddo, and dozens of Negev sites. A Shoshenq stele fragment was found at Megiddo in the 1920s.

Relief of Shoshenq I's campaign list at Karnak
Authentic ancient artifactThe Bubastite Portal at Karnak, where Shoshenq I (biblical Shishak) listed places in the southern Levant, c. 925 BC.Image credit

5 How interpretations compare

Scholarly reconstruction

Jerusalem paid tribute

Rehoboam paid to avoid a siege, so Jerusalem was not listed as conquered (consistent with Kings).

Scholarly reconstruction

Jerusalem in a lost ring

The name may have been in a destroyed section.

6 The strongest supported reconstruction

Shoshenq I campaigned through Israel and the Negev around 925 BC. Kings remembers the event as costing Jerusalem its gold.

7 What remains possible or unknown

  • The campaign's route.
  • Whether Jerusalem appeared in the list.

What the evidence shows

Where this connects