SHISHAK, or Sesac, King of Egypt1; he declared War against Rehoboam King of Judah, in the fifth Year of the Reign of this Prince.2 The King of Egypt had twelve thousand Chariots of War, and sixty thousand Horse, with an innumerable Multitude of People that follow’d him out of Egypt, the Country of Lubim of Sachim, and of Cush. He enter’d into Judea, and made himself Master of the strongest Places of the Country, advancing to Jerusalem. Then the Prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and the Princes of Judah, who had shut themselves up in Jerusalem, and said to them; Thus saith the Lord, As you have forsaken me, so have I delivered you up into the Hands of King Shishak. The King of Judah and the Princes with him were in great Consternation, and only reply’d, The Lord is just. God seeing their Humiliation, said to Shemaiah; Since they have humbled themselves under my Hand, I will not destroy them, and will not let all my Fury fall upon Jerusalem by the Arms of Shishak; but they shall be subject to him, that they may know what Difference there is between being under my Discipline, and that of the Kings of the Earth.
Shishak therefore enter’d into Jerusalem, but withdrew soon after, taking with him the Treasures of the Lord’s House, and those of the King’s Palace. He carry’d away with him so much as the golden Bucklers that Solomon had made. The Rabbins are of Opinion, that the chief Motive that prevail’d with this Prince to declare War against Rehoboam, was because he had a great mind to the Ivory Throne that Solomon had made, and with which he was charm’d. This is the same Shishak3 to whom Jeroboam fled, towards the End of Solomon’s Reign; and when this King of Egypt came into Judea, he did no Harm to Jeroboam’s Territories. Perhaps Jeroboam might have persuaded him to invade Rehoboam’s Country. Till the Time of Shishak the Scripture always mentions the Kings of Egypt by the general Name of Pharaoh, which signifies King. Shishak is the first whose proper Name is mention’d. Chronologists are not agreed as to the Order that Shishak should obtain among the Egyptian Dynasties. Some will have him to be the same as Sesonchis; others4 Sesostris, or Sethosis. Usher thinks him to be Sesonchis, and places the Beginning of his Reign to be in the Year of the World 3026, before Christ 974, before the vulgar Era 978.
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Footnotes
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Translators’ note. This Shishak or Sesac, according to Sir Isaac Newton, in his Chronology of antient Kingdoms amended, was the greatest Conqueror, and the most celebrated Hero of all Antiquity, being the Son of Ammon, or the Egyptian Jupiter, and known to the Greeks by the Name of Bacchus, Osiris, and Hercules; was the Belus of the Chaldeans, the Mars or Mavors of the Thracians, &c. He made great Conquests in India, Assyria, Media, Scythia, Phœnicia, Syria, Judea, &c. His Army was at last routed in Greece by Perseus; which Disgrace, together with the Attempts of his Brother Danaus, to usurp his Kingdom in his Absence, obliged him to return into Egypt, in the ninth Year of his Expedition. From hence he drove his Brother Danaus, who took Refuge in Greece, and was there celebrated by the Name of Neptune, Japetus, Typhon, Python, &c. ↩
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2 Chron. xii. 2, 3, 4. 1 Kings xiv. 25, 26, &c. In the Year of the World 3033, before Christ 967, before the vulgar Era 971. ↩
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1 Kings xi. 40. About the Year of the World 3029, before Christ 977, before the vulgar Era 975. ↩
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Marsham. Canon. Chronolog. sæcul. 14. l. 3. ↩