Shishak

Shishak (identified with the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonk I, first ruler of the Twenty-second or Bubastite Dynasty, reigned c. 945–924 BC) is the first Egyptian monarch whose name and actions can be directly correlated between the biblical text and Egyptian archaeological records, providing one of the earliest confirmed synchronisms of Egyptian and Israelite chronology. At the beginning of his reign Shishak gave asylum to the fugitive Jeroboam when Solomon sought to kill him (1 Kings 11:40), positioning himself to influence the succession crisis in Israel.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign (c. 925 BC), Shishak invaded Judah, captured the fortified cities, and advanced on Jerusalem. Rehoboam surrendered the treasures of the temple and the palace, including the gold shields Solomon had made, which Rehoboam replaced with bronze (1 Kings 14:25–26; 2 Chronicles 12:2–9). The Egyptian record of this campaign survives on the walls of the temple of Amun at Karnak, where Sheshonk I listed more than 150 cities he claimed to have conquered in Canaan — including sites in both Judah and the northern kingdom — independently corroborating the biblical account and establishing Shishak as a significant synchronism between biblical and Egyptian history.