FIRST SERIOUS BLOW: THE EGYPTIAN INVASION
YAHWEH spared HIS people from devastation by Egypt and yet they returned to fighting among themselves, committing political suicide.
Favoured by YAHWEH in the time of David and Solomon
David and Solomon had been specially favoured by events outside the country in their times, and for more than a century, the frontiers of the 'united kingdom' of Yahudah-Yisrael had not been threatened or attacked by the great military States on its borders to the south (Egypt) or the north (Mesopotamia). This is explained by the fact that from the end of the New Empire (about 1085) the power of the pharaohs was greatly weakened by internal struggles; in addition they had to defend the country against the continual attacks of the Libyans, east of the Delta. The formidable empires of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia had either, like the Hittites, disappeared from the field of history or else, like the Babylonians, had worn themselves out in military actions against their immediate neighbours. And Assyria had not yet appeared on the horizon.
Now in 925, seven years after Solomon's death, Egypt, after long being dormant, suddenly awoke with a firm intention of continuing the imperialist policy of the pharaohs of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. This included expansion to the north, the domination of Palestine and dreams of conquering the countries of the Euphrates. Henceforward the kingdoms of Rehoboam and Jeroboam could look forward to heavy attack since the Egyptian army had just been thoroughly reorganized.
Sheshonk I, A Grasping Soldier with energy and ambition
In about 950, shortly before Rehoboam's accession, the twenty-third Egyptian dynasty appeared. Its founder, Sheshonk I (he is called Shishak in the Scripture), was a former leader of Libyan mercenaries; he was a man of energy and ambition who had little difficulty in toppling the figurehead pharaoh in whose service he was. His capital was Bubastis in the Delta.
Sheshonk it will be remembered, had eagerly welcomed the Ephraimite Jeroboam, the agitator who had tried to raise the standard of revolt against Solomon. But as he was too weak to maintain the struggle against Solomon, Jeroboam, to save his own skin, was obliged to take refuge in the Delta. Sheshonk was pleased to make him welcome. This incident gives us a fairly accurate idea of the Egyptian monarch's attitude to the king of Yahudah.
Sheshonk's campaign against Yahudah and Yisrael
In 925 Sheshonk launched an attack against Canaan. Rehoboam had strengthened his fortresses on his southern frontiers: Lachish and Azekah (2 Divre Hayamim 11 :5-1 0), but in the face of the irresistible impact of the Egyptian armies the Judaean defenses crumbled like straw. Sheshonk's campaign soon turned into a military progress. The land of Yahudah was 'laid waste. To avoid worse consequences Rehoboam was obliged to become the vassal of Egypt, and as such had to pay a heavy tribute. The conqueror demanded the wealth that had been accumulated in the Tabernacle and in the royal palace. He also seized the famous golden shields which adorned the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon (2 Divre Hayamim 9:15-16).1
After his complete victory over Yahudah, Sheshonk immediately fell upon Yisrael despite the former friendship, of a very fragile and purely political nature, he had shown to Jeroboam when the latter took refuge in the Delta to flee from the wrath of Solomon. Under the tide of invasion the northern kingdom collapsed as rapidly as that of the south.
We are accurately informed about these two expeditions by two inscriptions in which Sheshonk relates his exploits at length.
In the first place, at Thebes, egyptologists have discovered an enormous bas-relief on one of the walls of the great tabernacle of Karnak. Pharaoh, the conqueror of the sons of Yacob, is depicted in a victorious attitude. He has seized prisoners by their hair and he is raising his sword to decapitate them. Behind him Amon-Ra, the god of this tabernacle, is leading to him a crowd of prisoners, of pronounced semitic appearance with their hands tied behind them. Above this procession an inscription in hieroglyphs informs us of the origin of these prisoners: louta malek, the king, or rather, the people of Yahudah.
On another wall of Karnak is inscribed the list of the cities which Sheshonk had just captured. There were a hundred and fifty of them, a hundred in Yahudah and fifty in Yisrael.2
This Egyptian conquest is proved historically by the discovery of a stele at Megiddo, a strategic point on the plain of Jezreel in the land of Yisrael. This stele bears the name of the victor in the great battle which took place at Megiddo. It reads, 'Sheshonk, king of Egypt'.
In addition, it is very probable that this same Sheshonk also made a special effort in the direction of Ezion-geber, the port which was established by Solomon on the shores of the Red Sea. We know that this sea had to remain an 'Egyptian lake'; that was one of the invariable points of Egyptian policy as pursued by most of the dynasties.
1 See preceding volume in this series, Solomon the Magnificent, p 86. 2 It should be noted that the Scripture says nothing of the Egyptian invasion of Yisrael. The scribes of Yerusalem had good reasons for this The Book of Kings, like the Book of Divre Hayamim, was drawn up by Judaean chroniclers who frequently showed their antipathy for the kingdom of Yisrael and its schismatic sovereign Jeroboam. Thus they account for the Egyptian invasion of Yahudah by an appeal from Jeroboam who, according to them, invited Sheshonk to undertake this armed intervention To avoid contradicting themselves they were careful not to mention the Egyptian invasion of Yisrael Obviously, they could not foresee that later historians would discover the Egyptian bas-reliefs mentioned above; these provide a complete account of events It should be added that Sheshonk did not need any suggestion from Jeroboam to return to the traditional policy of the Egyptian sovereigns for the vassalization of Canaan.
Sudden Halt Of The Egyptian Invasion
This Egyptian invasion could only be regarded as the beginning of a larger campaign. Sheshonk, a clever tactician, was almost certainly planning the conquest of Mesopotamia, at this time an easy prey by reason of its political decadence and military weakness. For the Egyptian sovereigns Palestine was never anything more than a secondary objective -a sort of corridor connecting the two great States of the Middle East.
Now, quite unexpectedly, Sheshonk halted his vast undertaking. Serious revolts had just broken out in Egypt and he was compelled to evacuate Canaan, though he was careful, nonetheless, to keep a bridgehead at Gerar on the southern frontier of Yahudah. In fact, neither he nor his immediate successor was able to carry out the ambitious plan of campaign that he had formed. By YAHWEH's intervention the Egyptian danger ceased. Yahudah and Yisrael emerged from this experience without too serious damage.
Twenty-Five Years Of Internal War; political suicide (911-886)
The Egyptian invasion ought to have served as a salutary warning to the two small Yahwist States. In fact they left entirely out of account the terrible dangers which were beginning to appear on all sides. Instead of regrouping their forces, or of uniting in order to show a common front to invaders, Yahudah and Yisrael continued to attack each other, to tear themselves to pieces and to weaken each other. It was indeed, political suicide.
In addition, at this period a turbulent Aramean people had established themselves as a kingdom in the Damascus region. For the twenty-five years following Sheshonk's invasion of Palestine an almost uninterrupted succession of skirmishes, attacks and battles broke out between these three groups. Alliances were formed and broken off, with no positive result save for the gradual erosion of the vital strength of the opposing parties.
Obviously, this was all preparing the ground for the warlike nations of the East, for Assyria in particular, whose monarchs, eager for conquest and battle, dreamt of extending their empire from the delta of the Tigris and the Euphrates to the valley of the Nile, including Phoenicia and the land of Canaan.
Yisrael and Yahudah might well expect to pay dearly for the lack of political perspicacity (acuteness of perception or understanding) on the part of their rulers.
YAHWEH spared HIS people from devastation by Egypt and yet
they returned to fighting among themselves, committing political suicide.
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