The Captor of the Ark?
Shoshenq
I, also known as Sheshonq or in the Hebrew Bible Shishak, is a familiar name
among those interested in what exactly happened to the Ark of the Covenant. It
helps that he was name dropped in Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the scene where Indiana Jones and Marcus Brody talk to
army intelligence in a university lecture hall, the word “Tanis” comes up in an
intercepted Nazi message. This instantly raises the interest of Indiana Jones,
who says it’s one of the final resting places of the Ark. The scene has a
couple inaccuracies. For one thing, the characters take like the Nazis just
unearthed Tanis, when in fact its ruins, situated in northeastern Egypt, were
obvious for centuries. In 1798 Napoleon’s Army had already begun serious
archaeological studies of the city. More obvious is Brody’s incorrect dating,
where he has the Egyptians seizing the ark in 980 instead of 925 BC.
It’s
a masterclass in delivering tons of exposition, with bits of humor and an
ominous image of the Ark shooting out rays making for an intriguing five
minutes scene where four guys just talk. For Ark and archaeology enthusiasts
the scene resonates, as Shoshenq is a main suspect. The questions is, what was
the context for Shoshenq’s attack on Judah, and was the pharaoh known for
anything else?
A Dynasty Made
Through Marriage and Family
Shoshenq I was the first pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty, in the latter half of the 10th Century BC. Often the creation of a new dynasty portended revolt, a coup, or a disaster that necessitated a new family to take the pharaonic throne. The 21st Dynasty, however, did not end because of any power struggle or disaster. Rather the last pharaoh, Psussennes II, had no male heir. Despite the Egyptian allowances for harems among royalty, along with many fertile wives, it could be hard for children in those days to grow to adulthood. Or perhaps Psussennes II simply had difficulty performing. Whatever the case, he needed to find a solution before he died. Shoshenq was the commander of his army and often had glory alongside him on monuments, had the power and obviously political connections to marry Psussennes’ daughter Maatkare. In 945 he naturally became the next pharaoh and kick started his own dynasty.
Egypt
in the 10th Century was a shadow of its former glory. Around 1177
the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds suffered a Bronze Age
collapse. The causes of the collapse have been widely discussed, but that is
not the point of this post. What is important was that Egypt, suffering
internal issues and invasions from various migrating peoples such as the
Philistines, had lost its sphere of influence beyond the home kingdom itself
and possibly Libya, which was definitely linked to Egypt by the time of the 22nd
Dynasty.
Egyptians,
clinging heavily to tradition, at least survived as a kingdom and gradually
built itself back up. Still, there was disunity in the nation. There was
practically an entire separate nation within its borders. Based in Thebes, this
second Egypt was ruled by the High Priests of Amun, and like kings they passed
rulership from son to son.
When
he assumed the throne, Shoshenq asserted himself as the unifier of Egypt, and
strongly associated himself with Horus, particularly the god’s epithet “Strong
Bull.” He would unify Egypt via his own family. In addition to Maatkare,
Shoshenq was married to Karomama, the mother of future pharaoh Osorkon I. Of
his many mistresses, the only named one is Penreshnes. His known sons include
Osorkon, Nimlot, and Input, and his known daughters are Nesikhonsepakhered and
Tashepenbast.
A sketch recreation of Shoshenq and Input (right) giving an offering to the god Amun.
Like
all pharaohs of the time, Shoshenq ruled from Tanis, but he understood the
importance of Thebes and its priests. To end their independence, he named his
own son Input as High Priest of Amun. This ended the hereditary lineage of the
high priests and asserted the pharaoh as the true power of Egypt. From now on
the high priests would be sons of the pharaohs. Though he was not destined to
be Shoshenq’s successor, Input was regularly named and pictured on his father’s
monuments and would continue to serve as high priest under his brother Osorkon.
Additionally Input gained the titles of commander of the army (though his father
would conduct the major campaigns) and Governor of Upper Egypt. Shoshenq filled
the remaining important posts with other sons, relatives, and political allies,
further centralizing power under his hand. He married off his sons to daughters
of Theban nobility, strengthening the Tanis-Theban connection. Under Shoshenq,
or at least the guidance of a trusted family member, Ancient Egyptian rituals
that had been neglected were restored, such as the daily sacrifice of bulls at
Heracleopolis.
Dreams of Empire
As
said earlier, Egypt had lost its status as a major world power. But as it
rebuilt within, its rulers began to dream of restoring this status. Shoshenq I
had been a military leader and believed he had what it took to realize this
dream. While he prepared for war, he did not neglect diplomacy when needed.
Among his targets was the Levant. Today the countries in this region are
Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. In the Bronze Age, Egypt had effectively
had power over the many Canaanite cities and kingdoms. But in the midst of the
Bronze Age Collapse, the Israelites conquered the region. Probably when Shoshenq
was young, Israel was enjoying the glorious and peaceful reign of King Solomon,
only its third monarch. He was well-respected and was among the only two known
foreigners to have been allowed to marry a daughter of the pharaoh.
Now Solomon had died, and his kingdom was already facing
severe internal divisions. His successor, Rehoboam, ignored the advice of the
old and experienced advisers and officials, instead opting to burden his people
with more work and taxes. Chafing under Rehoboam’s hard-handed methods, the ten
northern tribes of Israel began to think of secession. One potential leader of
his movement was Jeroboam. Jeroboam had been serving Solomon as a
superintendent in the north when the prophet Ahijah notified him that he would
become a king himself.
Hearing word of this, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but
Jeroboam fled to Egypt and gained sanctuary under Shoshenq. Shoshenq probably
knew why this Israelite had sought refuge with him and saw an opportunity. If
Israel divided, the strength that Solomon had built up would become undone.
Jeroboam had stayed in Egypt until Solomon’s death, and now with Rehoboam’s
unpopularity, he fulfilled Ahijah’s prophecy and became king of a separate nation
known as Israel, the Judah and Benjamin assuming the name of the former tribe.
Shoshenq
would have to wait to strike. He had other neighbors to concern himself with. Like
so many powers at the time, Egypt courted the merchant sea-faring peoples known
as the Phoenicians. Shoshenq sent a statue of himself to King Abibaal of
Byblos. Connections with Byblos, the hub of the Lebanese cedar trade, had been
weakened and the pharaoh was eager to restore them.
Less
certain is how Shoshenq reopened southern trades routes through Kush (Sudan,
also known in ancient times as Nubia or Ethiopia). Kush used to be dominated by
Egypt, but had grown independent. A highly incomplete text mentions the mass
importation of goods from this region, but is unclear whether Shoshenq achieved
this through diplomacy or his army. He did have Kushites present in his army
when he invaded Judah, which suggests that he did indeed conquer or at least
turn Kush into a vassal state.
Now
he just needed some justification, however slim, to invade the Levant.
The Levantine
Campaign
With
Israel splitting apart, Shoshenq now sought a pretense for war. The likely
excuse was the violent border crossings of Semitic people in the Bitter Lakes
region in 925 BC. Shoshenq was quick to blame this on Judah. “Now My Majesty
found that…they were killing [soldiers or people] my army –leaders. His Majesty
was troubled about them and acted as they desired. Then said His majesty to his
courtiers…See these vile deeds that they have committed...” Shoshenq set out
with “his chariotry accompanying him.” The Biblical passage of II Chronicles: 3
puts his strength at “twelve hundred
chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him
out of Egypt--the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians” (Libyans,
Egyptians, and Kushites).
Shoshenq crushed the intruders at Bitter Lakes, but he didn’t stop there.
The
Bubastite Portal, the most well-known archaeological find from Shoshenq’s
reign, holds a long list of names of cities that the pharaoh captured or
destroyed in the Levant, including several in Israel. . Among the cities that
Shoshenq took were Beersheba, Arad, Hebron, Gibeon, Tirzah, Jezreel, Megiddo,
Ashdod, and Ascalon. These are only the names more well-known from the Bible.
There were much more. In 1926, James Henry Breasted translated the non-ruined
hieroglyphs. Among the deciphered words was the tantalizing phrase “Solomon’s
Stables,” the only known extra-biblical mention of the king from the period.
The
Bubastite Portal also shows how far Shoshenq’s campaign extended beyond
punishing a few troublesome Semites on the border. This campaign against Judah
had turned into a campaign through the entire Levant. At certain points
Shoshenq’s army separated, with smaller forces penetrating further east and
south while the main army went north to Megiddo and came back down the
Mediterranean coast. The famed Jewish historian Josephus claims that many of
these cities did not even bother to mount a defense. The host of Shoshenq’s
army was so immense that they simply surrendered on sight.
A portion of the Bubastite Portal
“In the fifth year of King Rehoboam,” the
Bible says, “Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the
treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He
took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to
replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the
entrance to the royal palace.”
This
strike on Judah was portrayed in the Bible and later on as judgment from God
for the people’s backslide into pagan idolatry. In his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus accused Rehoboam of leaving “the
right way, unto unrighteous and irreligious practices, and he despised the
worship of God, till the people themselves imitated his wicked actions…”
Josephus took his view from a contemporary figure. Shemaiah the prophet had
communicated that Egypt would punish Israel for its moral decline. Now seeing
his prophecy in action, the Judeans wanted him to ask God for deliverance. They
did not get the news they wanted. Shemaiah said that God would spare their city
from destruction, but they must submit to Shoshenq.
As
II Chronicles: 7 puts it: Now
when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to
Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not
destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be
poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.” Shoshenq did not harm the
people, but he did sack the Temple of God, stealing all the great treasures
that David and especially Solomon had built up. This signaled the death of
Judah’s short period of international glory, if it had not already been lost
from Israel’s secession. From her on out, both Judah and Israel would be
constantly under threat by powerful neighbors. Shoshenq did not harm the
people, but he did sack the Temple of God, stealing all the great treasures
that David and especially Solomon had built up. This signaled the death of
Judah’s short period of international glory, if it had not already been lost
from Israel’s secession. From here on out, both Judah and Israel would be
constantly under threat by powerful neighbors.
As
for the city of Jerusalem itself, there are several theories as to why it
doesn’t appear on Shoshenq’s list. One is that there were two major campaigns
and the second campaign was the one where the Egyptians struck Jerusalem
itself. The second is simply that the Bible is incorrect. The third is Shoshenq
plagiarized the list of a previous pharaoh who invaded the Levant. The fourth
is that instead of Shoshenq looting the Temple, Rehoboam actually used its
treasures to pay him off and have his army move on without entering the city.
To have the great treasures of Solomon and to an extent David would have been a
great boost to Shoshenq’s prestige and a worthy trade-off for not taking
Jerusalem itself.
Shoshenq
was not content with Judah. He sought to score more victories among Judah’s
neighbors. Despite the lack of concrete evidence outside the Bible, Shoshenq’s drive
on Jerusalem was garnered the most attention. But after this he moved on to
Israel, led by jeroboam, the very man he had sheltered years earlier. A few
scholars theorize that Shoshenq was actually helping Jeroboam fight off Judeans
or some other foe, but the more likely answer is that Shoshenq had gotten what
he wanted out of him, the division of Israel, and now he was coming after him
as well. In Israel Shoshenq briefly split his force, with the separate army
crossing east of the Jordan. The army reunited for the drive on Megiddo. The
taking of Megiddo appears to have been one of Shoshenq’s primary objectives,
for after the erection of a celebratory stela, he turned his force south.
From there he moved down the Mediterranean Coast, striking such locations as Ashdod and Ascalon. Shoshenq had accomplished his goal. He had reasserted Egyptian power in Kush and the Levant, and with the latter gained more trade connections with the Phoenicians. It’s not clear how much power he exerted over the Levant. A scarab with the pharaoh’s name was found at Wadi Faynan, which has historically held copper mines. This indicates that the Egyptians began to extract resources.
 |
| The Scarab with the name of Shoshenq I |
Shoshenq Passes
into History
Shoshenq
put his conquered wealth to use in a familiar hallmark of the pharaohs: massive
building projects. In particular he started projects in Memphis and Thebes. It
was the largest output of building since Ramses the Great. The most well-known
product of this building is the aforementioned Bubastite Portal in Karnak (a
massive complex of temples and other religious sites). The discovery of the Rosetta
Stone would enable its translation in the early 19th Century and
catch the attention of scholars thanks to possible links with Biblical history.
The gate in Karnak where the Bubastis Portal is found
Upon
his death in 923, Shoshenq was buried at Tanis and Osorkon I became his
successor. His reign symbolized the return of Egypt as a world power. However,
it still failed to reach the heights of times long past. Egypt hardly kept the
peace in the Levant, indicating that it was unable to make much of its
conquests. Egypt would itself finally face multiple invasions. The Kushites
were the first, although they had always been closely tied culturally. Worse
was the Assyrian invasion, the first of many far-flung intrusions from great
empires.
As
for Israel and Judah, they never could recreate the heyday of King Solomon.
They would be battered by great internal strife and foreign invasions. The
divide among the tribes following Solomon’s death was the major cause of this,
but Shoshenq, by harboring Jeroboam and then invading at a time of crisis, had
played a critical role.
As
for whether Shoshenq took the Ark, the books of Kings and Chronicles do not
mention this while going out of their way to describe the taking of other
treasures. In fact, if one takes the Biblical histories as factual accounts,
then there is no way the Ark ended up at Tanis or any other Ancient Egyptian
site. Though it’s presence in the Biblical narrative falls off, it does pop up
in II Kings when Judah faced possible conquest by Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, Raiders of the Los Ark gets the Ark’s
disappearance from the record off by almost 350 years.
This
heavily suggests that Shoshenq did not take the Ark. One explanation is that
the Judeans were keen to hide it, as it was their closest physical link to God.
Another is that Shoshenq, willing to pilfer the rest of the Temple, drew the
line at taking the Ark out of reverence or fear. Or perhaps the Judeans threatened
to fight to the death if he took it, much like how the Asante People in
present-day Ghana were willing to surrender to the British provided that the
Golden Stool was not taken or touched.
Though Shoshenq I’s link to the Ark of
the Covenant is likely a false lead, the pharaoh did have a major role in both
Egyptian and Jewish history and is one of the rare Egyptian rulers to actually
be named in the Bible.
Sources
“Bubastite
Portal.” https://digitalkarnak.ucsc.edu/bubastite-portal/
Cline,
Eric H. After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of
Civilizations. Princeton University Press, 2024.
“Did Pharaoh Shoshenq
Attack Jerusalem?” https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/hebrew-bible/did-pharaoh-Shoshenq-attack-jerusalem/
Dodson, Aidan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt.
London: Thames & Hudson, 2010.
Holy Bible, New King James Version
Kitchen,
K.A. The Third Intermediate Period in
Egypt. Aris & Phillips, 1973.
Whiston,
William (translator). The Works of
Flavius Josephus. Associated Publishers, ?
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