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A contemporary record of Shoshenq's campaign into Israel was engraved on the south wall of the Temple of Amon at Karnak by Shoshenq himself. Not only is the expedition recorded, but there is a list of districts and towns which were also mentioned in the [[Book of Joshua]]; among the names of the list are Rabbath, Taanach, Gibeon, Mahanaim, Beth-horon and other towns both of Israel and Judah. That names of places in the Northem Kingdom are mentioned in the list does not imply that Shoshenq had directed his armies against Jeroboam and plundered his territories. It was the custom in antiquity for a victorious monarch to include among conquered cities any place that paid tribute or was under subjection, whether captured in war or not; and it was sufficient reason for Shoshenq to include these Israelite places that Jeroboam, as seems probable, had invited him to come to his aid. Among the names in the list was ''Jud-hamalek'' - Yudhmalk on the monuments - which was at first believed to represent the king of Judah, with a figure which passed for Rehoboam. Being, however, a place-name, it is now recognized to be the town Yehudah, belonging to the king. On the death of Shoshenq his successor assumed a nominal [[suzerain]]ty over the land of Canaan.

A contemporary record of Shoshenq's campaign into Israel was engraved on the south wall of the Temple of Amon at Karnak by Shoshenq himself. Not only is the expedition recorded, but there is a list of districts and towns which were also mentioned in the [[Book of Joshua]]; among the names of the list are Rabbath, Taanach, Gibeon, Mahanaim, Beth-horon and other towns both of Israel and Judah. That names of places in the Northem Kingdom are mentioned in the list does not imply that Shoshenq had directed his armies against Jeroboam and plundered his territories. It was the custom in antiquity for a victorious monarch to include among conquered cities any place that paid tribute or was under subjection, whether captured in war or not; and it was sufficient reason for Shoshenq to include these Israelite places that Jeroboam, as seems probable, had invited him to come to his aid. Among the names in the list was ''Jud-hamalek'' - Yudhmalk on the monuments - which was at first believed to represent the king of Judah, with a figure which passed for Rehoboam. Being, however, a place-name, it is now recognized to be the town Yehudah, belonging to the king. On the death of Shoshenq his successor assumed a nominal [[suzerain]]ty over the land of Canaan.

==Identity as Rameses II==

==Identity as Ramses II==

Egyptologist and historian David Rohl created a stir when he published a revision of the traditional Egyptian and Near Eastern chronologies, and claimed the great 19th Dynasty pharaoh Rameses II as Shishak.  He based his theory on several key elements:

Egyptologist and historian David Rohl created a stir when he published a revision of the traditional Egyptian and Near Eastern chronologies, and claimed the great 19th Dynasty pharaoh Ramses II as Shishak.  He based his theory on several key elements:

*The identity of Shoshenq I as Shishak was based solely on a reading of the text of the Bubasite Portal at the Temple of Karnak near Thebes by [[Jean-François Champollion]] on his only trip to Egypt in the mid-1800s after he successfully deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphic language.  On the Portal is a list of cities Shoshenq I had conquered in his campaign, and the 29th city Champollion read it as ''y-w-d-h-m-r-k,'' surmising that it meant “Judah Kingdom” (Hebrew ''Yhuda Malkhut'': יְהוּדָה מַלְכוּת).  But it is not the word “Jerusalem,” which is not only not where it should be on the portal, it in fact it is not there at all. A highly important city such as Jerusalem, the capitol of a nation, should have merited mention in Shoshenq’s campaign; indeed, the Biblical reference in 2 Chronicles 12:9 states that Shishak ''"...came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house. He took all. And he carried away the shields of gold which Solomon had made."''.

*The identity of Shoshenq I as Shishak was based solely on a reading of the text of the Bubasite Portal at the Temple of Karnak near Thebes by [[Jean-François Champollion]] on his only trip to Egypt in the mid-1800s after he successfully deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphic language.  On the Portal is a list of cities Shoshenq I had conquered in his campaign, and the 29th city Champollion read it as ''y-w-d-h-m-r-k,'' surmising that it meant “Judah Kingdom” (Hebrew ''Yhuda Malkhut'': יְהוּדָה מַלְכוּת).  But it is not the word “Jerusalem,” which is not only not where it should be on the portal, it in fact it is not there at all. A highly important city such as Jerusalem, the capitol of a nation, should have merited mention in Shoshenq’s campaign; indeed, the Biblical reference in 2 Chronicles 12:9 states that Shishak ''"...came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house. He took all. And he carried away the shields of gold which Solomon had made."''.

*The only inscription from Egyptian sources directly identified as mentioning a conquest of Jerusalem is on the north tower of the pylon of the first court at the Ramesseum near Karnak, which was built by Ramses II: ''"The town in which the king plundered in Year 8 – Shalem"''.  The name ''Jerusalem'' was a later word made up of ''yeru'', meaning "foundation" or "city" (possibly bestowed by the patriarch Abraham as "yireh" for Mt. Moriah) and ''Shalem'', either an early local deity from pagan times or a byname for [[Melchizidek]], hence “city of Shalem” (Hebrew: ''Yerushaláyim'' יְרוּשָׁלַיִם).  

*The only inscription from Egyptian sources directly identified as mentioning a conquest of Jerusalem is on the north tower of the pylon of the first court at the Ramesseum near Karnak, which was built by Ramses II: ''"The town in which the king plundered in Year 8 – Shalem"''.  The name ''Jerusalem'' was a later word made up of ''yeru'', meaning "foundation" or "city" (possibly bestowed by the patriarch Abraham as "yireh" for Mt. Moriah) and ''Shalem'', either an early local deity from pagan times or a byname for [[Melchizidek]], hence “city of Shalem” (Hebrew: ''Yerushaláyim'' יְרוּשָׁלַיִם).  

*Rohl also argued that a nickname found for Ramses III, read as “se-se” from the hieroglyphic, may have been corrupted by the Hebrews with an added “K” sound at the end to signify contempt, becoming “se-sek.”  In Hebrew it would have been written as שישק  “sysq”, or “sha-shek”.

*Rohl also argued that a nickname found for Ramses II and Ramses III, read as “se-se” from the hieroglyphic, may have been corrupted by the Hebrews with an added “K” sound at the end to signify contempt, becoming “se-sek.”  In Hebrew it would have been written as שישק  “sysq”, or “sha-shek”. Van der Veen argues this equation recently(2015).[http://www.academia.edu/13445926/The_Name_Shishaq_Shoshenq_or_Shyshu_q_Responding_to_the_Critics_and_Assessing_the_Evidence_in_P._James_and_P._van_der_Veen_eds._Solomon_and_Shishak_BAR_International_Series_2732_Archaeopress_Oxford_2015]. Troy Leiland Sagrillo argues the traditional view that the biblical Shishaq is Sheshonk I.[https://www.academia.edu/13269463/Shoshenq_I_and_biblical_%C5%A0%C3%AE%C5%A1aq_A_philological_defense_of_their_traditional_equation]

The weakening of Israel at the time of Shishak’s invasion, assuming he was indeed Ramses II, would fit well with the inscription on the [[Mereneptah Stele]] by that later pharaoh (Rameses’ son and successor), which stated “Israel is desolate; his seed is no more.”

The weakening of Israel at the time of Shishak’s invasion, assuming he was indeed Ramses II, would fit well with the inscription on the [[Mereneptah Stele]] by that later pharaoh (Ramses’ son and successor), which stated “Israel is desolate; his seed is no more.”

==Identity as Rameses III==

==Identity as Rameses III==