“Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.”“Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.”“And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir.”
“Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.”
“Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.”
“And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir.”
Verse twenty begins the list of the previous inhabitants of Seir, who are called the Horites. These people are listed in Genesis 14:6 as among the races that were smitten by Chedorlaomer in the days of Abraham in the notable Battle of the Kings. It seems evident, then, that Esau was powerful enough to overcome the Horites and to impose his dominion upon them. The two companies intermarried and became the Edomites of the later record.
The next important point in their development is introduced in the twentieth chapter of Numbers. As the children of Israel weremaking their notable journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan, Moses sent a courteous request to the king of Edom asking permission to make a peaceful passage across that land. The salutation of Moses was brotherly and affectionate. He reminded the king of Edom that Israel and the Edomites were brethren. He asserted his peaceful purpose, and gave a pledge not to harm the fields or the crops with the passage of his flocks.
The king of Edom summarily refused this courteous request in the most graceless manner. He threatened the company of Israel and forbade them to pass over his domain. The answer of Moses was a renewal of the request for peaceful passage. This time, Moses stated that they would stay to the high and rocky way where no harm could come to the land from their herds. He even covenanted to pay for such water as the flocks might drink. The result was a renewal of the threat to oppose the passage with the edge of the sword. Consequently the people of Israel were forced to make a circuit of Edom, and they passed around its border by way of mount Hor.
From this time on, there was implacable enmity between the two great branches of these Semitic people. The subsequent history is a constant record of battle and hatred on both sides.
Saul fought against them in the days of hismight, and records with delight his various successes against them.
When David occupied the throne warfare was renewed. So great a nuisance did the Edomites prove to the people of Israel in David’s day, that this great warrior king finally directed a complete campaign against them. In the notable battle that was fought in the salt valley, he slew eighteen thousand of the Edomite army and pressed on to capture their cities. In their conquered strongholds, he placed capable garrisons. Under Joab these garrisons patrolled the land for more than six months. At this time Benhadad, to whom we shall again refer, escaped to Egypt to become a later source of distress to Israel.
In all of their history, the Edomites were consistently allied against Israel. They never missed a chance to vex their kinsmen. No matter who the enemy of Israel might be, the Edomites hastened to form an alliance with that foe and gladly accepted the occasion to battle against Israel. This bad blood that existed between these races, who should have been allied by the ties of consanguinity, resulted in the prophecies that foretold the final overthrow of Edom and the destruction of the people. Such a prophecy is written in Jeremiah 49, verses seventeen and twenty:
“Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shallhiss at all the plagues thereof.”“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.”
“Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shallhiss at all the plagues thereof.”
“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.”
When Nebuchadnezzar finally took the people of Israel away into their great captivity, the Edomites rejoiced without restraint. Their happiness was utterly unbounded and they celebrated with every means at their disposal. They overran the southern regions of Judah and took much of that land for themselves during the days of the captivity.
Jeremiah, in the Book of Lamentations, reproves their unnatural jubilation and warns Edom that the same fate that overtook Israel will come upon them.
So also the prophet Ezekiel speaks from his refuge and warns Edom. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Ezekiel, we read in verses twelve to fourteen, this following warning:
“Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;“Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I willmake it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.“And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.”
“Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I willmake it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
“And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.”
Joel adds his voice in a characteristic reference such as we find in the third chapter and nineteenth verse of his prophecy:
“Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.”
“Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.”
So also Amos, in chapter one and verse eleven utters this fateful sentence:
“Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.”
“Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.”
Thus the prophet is moved of God to list the continued transgressions of Edom, and the consequent and subsequent judgment.
So literally were these words of the prophets fulfilled that Edom was not only overthrown and its people vanquished, but for a great deal more than a thousand years the very name of their city and people dropped out of the memory of men. Here is onemore case where a great people catastrophically disappeared from the stage of history, leaving no secular record of the part that they had played in the drama of human life.
Needless to say, this was the critics’greatoccasion! With a vociferous unanimity they argued and wrote that there had been no city called Edom, and no people called Edomites. Since the word “Edom” literally means “red,” the critics erected a fanciful demonstration purporting to show that the Edomites would be any people with a red complexion. According to their fanciful theory, any race or group of people whose skin or hair was red would be poetically called Edomites.
When the defenders of the text pointed to the denunciations in the prophets, the critics laughed them out of the picture. These utterances were listed as pure, poetic fancy and figurative diatribes. The critics pointed out that all such outbursts were foundin the prophecies! As a stated principle of higher criticism, all prophecies are repudiated. They are held to be purely fanciful, and any fulfillment is entirely coincidental. This attitude is the proper one for criticism to assume. The supernatural fulfillment of prophecy is one of the strongest evidences of the Divine origin of the Scriptures. Such demonstrations cannot be reconciled with the critical basis of humanism. Therefore, it is only logicalthat it be ignored or denied in a critical approach to the text.
The enemies of orthodoxy had one strong argument that in the early day seemed to be unanswerable. Their constant cry was “Where is Edom?” Admittedly, this was a question that the orthodox believer could not answer. The city had disappeared, the people were forgotten, and no relic nor remnant of this race remained. It was not until the nineteenth century of the Christian era that the resurrection of Edom began.
The first and earliest archeological reference to Edom which was discovered, was a statement from the record of Ramses the Third, who proudly boasted that in his great campaign he smote the people of Seir. The next discovery came when the record of Tiglath-pileser was read. In his story he told of the campaign against Rezin, king of Syria. He recounted that among other vassals who yielded to his yoke, he received homage from Quaus-Malaka of Edom. This Rezin, with whom we shall later deal in Tiglath-pileser’s voluminous records, is the king of Syria who is warned in the seventh chapter of Isaiah as allied with Israel against Judah.
Following this, we have the monument of Esar-haddon. He also tells how among his Assyrian conquests he overthrew the Edomites and forced their king to render homageand allegiance to his power. Again, the records of Nebuchadnezzar tell us that in his final battle with Judah, the Edomites were among his allied forces.
Gradually, as this people began to rise from the silence and obscurity of forgotten antiquity, something of their customs and beliefs began to be recovered. At least three of their deities are known today. These are Hadad, Quaus and Kozé. About 300 B. C., Edom fell into the hands of a people who were called the Nabataeans. Their inscription claims that they captured Edom, exterminated its then numerous population and occupied its capital,which was Petra.
Here, then, is the final vindication of the text of Scripture. This city, Petra, is variously mentioned in the Old Testament text as the center of Edomite dominion. It is sometimes called “Sela” in the historical and prophetical references, and twice is referred to by the name of “Rock.” Obadiah calls the city “the rock,” the Greek form of which would be “he Petra.” It is thus evident that it was known peculiarly for its structure. This fact appeared to be of no significance until archeology had brought it to the prominence of our present comprehension. The issue of the National Geographic Magazine for May, 1907, made Petra so well known to the English speaking world that there remains little to be said of an historical natureto establish the actuality and certainty of this great discovery.
With the collapse of the Roman empire, Petra disappeared from the knowledge of mankind and became shrouded in mystery and darkness. It began to emerge into the light again when a young Swiss traveler first visited its site in 1812. The record of his discovery was not published, however, until ten years later.
The next notice of the site of Petra was taken when two British naval officers visited the splendid remains in 1818, and published their observations seven years later. After this it became the custom for adventurous travelers to take a brief look at the stupendous beauty of this forgotten city and make some passing mention. The real exploration of Petra, however, began some thirty years ago when certain German scholars made a scientific investigation of the site. The results of their labors were printed only in German, and filled a surprising number of lengthy volumes. A large literature on Petra is now in the possession of the English speaking world, but surprisingly little of a definite nature is known about its earlier inhabitants.
The monuments of Petra, which we here illustrate in plates numberedPlate 22andPlate 23, were not built by the later inhabitants, who were called Nabataeans. These monumental structures were carved out of the living rock.Some of them were temples, and others were tombs. To illustrate the extent of these works, we may note that the great open-air theatre at Petra would comfortably seat a crowd of three thousand spectators.
Just a word of explanation is necessary before we proceed to the application of this discovery. Petra, the capital of Edom and the principal city of the Edomites, is found in the most rugged region of that part of the earth. The land is thrown up into abrupt ranges, which are deeply incised with canyons and gorges until they form one of the wildest and most entrancing geographical spectacles to be seen in the Eastern world. In some regions the underlying structure is limestone. The walls of the canyon, however, are largely porphyry and sandstone. The sandstone is brilliantly colored with hues which run from brown through red, to a definite purple. Some of the strata, grotesquely twisted and torn and laid bare by erosion, are among the loveliest and most entrancing geological studies in that region.
In approaching the site of Petra, it is necessary to journey up a narrow canyon called in the Arabic, a siq. This approach is so narrow that almost all of the way it is scarcely possible for two horsemen to ride abreast. This might have been an important factor in deciding the site of the city in antiquity. A dozen men could have successfullydefended the approaches to Petra against an entire army of invaders.
Plate 24will give some conception of the ruggedness of the country and the difficulty of approach. In place of a truck, such as would have been used in flat country, we have the familiar donkey carrying the camera and supplies. This resting place is in one of the wider sections of the canyon.Plate 25is the first glimpse of one of the amazing monuments of Petra. This great structure bears the Arabic name of El Khazne. A full view of this temple is given inplate 26.
Petra was not built after the fashion in which cities are constructed today. Every structure was hewn out of the living sandstone. The city has been called “The Rose Red City, half as old as time,” and this description is perfect. When the sunlight strikes the ruins of Petra, it is as red as blood. Edom, indeed, and Edomites, might well be applied by the ancients to the color and beauty of this old site, as well as to its inhabitants! Inplate 27we have illustrated this manner of carving a dwelling from the living stone in the great structure which the Arabians call El Deir. (SeePlate 28.) Observing this photograph, you will note that the rock wall has been hewn away into the shape of columns, pillars, and decorated facade in the similitude of a buildingthat has been put together by the orthodox style of masonry. Such, however, is not the case.Plate 29shows some of the detail of one of these notable monuments. It will be observed that the workers began from the top and carved their way down. In the upper left corner of the picture a series of holes will be seen. These were chiseled for the foothold of the workers who started the process.
Their manner of labor was unique. The architect laid out the size, shape, and site of the building, and the workmen began to cut away the stone about the top of their designated area until they had a recessed trough some ten feet deep into the face of the cliff, on the top and both sides. Then, beginning with the top of the structure, they carved that slab in the similitude of a building. As they worked their way down, they shaped the pillars, carved these brilliant decorations and recessed the cliff on both sides to make their monuments stand forth.Plate 28shows the result of this type of labor, looking from the bottom upward. Reaching the bottom of their carved columns, these artisans would then chisel away between and behind the posts that they had formed of the face of the cliff until they had a great square entry way. The face of this entry way would be further beautified by carving the semblance of a doorway. A short tunnel would then be run back into the cliff to serve as a hall, and rooms hollowed out on the inside into a series of apartments or caves. “Cave-dwellers,” indeed, is the proper name for these people!
The rough approach to Petra (Photo by Matson)
The rough approach to Petra (Photo by Matson)
Approaching Petra by way of the main siq the first sight of the ruins
Approaching Petra by way of the main siq the first sight of the ruins
The extent of their operations may be dimly understood from plates numberedplate 22andplate 23. Some of these tombs that are here depicted, were never finished. A few of them have suffered from the ravages of time, but the general state of preservation of these priceless monuments of Petra is fascinating. Inplate 30we have depicted the approach to the garden tomb. By the side of this tomb there is the ascent to the “high place” for the sacrifices of their idolatrous religion. Inplate 31we have shown the altar and the “high place.”
These high places of antiquity should be the subject for a volume in themselves. They are mentioned one hundred two times in the Old Testament. Being the altars of heathen sacrifices, they were the subject of constant denunciation on the part of the Lord God and were a source of trouble and distress to Israel during all her periods of apostasy. Thegrovesto which the prophets refer and which the godly kings cut down, were the places where Ashtoreth was worshipped. Very few systems of degenerate religion in antiquity were more lecherous and vile than the cult of this unclean goddess. The high places,however, were the altars where sacrifice was made to the gods of the heathen nations. As these sacrifices were very often human, and as it was not uncommon for the ancients to dedicate their children to the fierce and abominable worship of their false religion, the people of Israel were sternly forbidden to have any contact with such idolatrous practices. So when godly kings occupied the throne, they destroyed the “high places.” In a time of apostasy the high places were builded and dedicated again. Some of the most stirring denunciations of the prophetic sections of the Old Testament are in the words that God directs against the high places of Israel and in the announcing of His final and complete victory over them.
This high place shown inplate 31is characteristic, then, of the ancient custom. It shows that the Hittites had forsaken whatever knowledge they may have derived from their earlier Hebrew origin and were wholly dedicated to the practices of idolatry. Incidentally, the worship of God is still practiced by Israel, but the “high places” of Edom and all other heathen centers are merely curiosities today!
As far as artistry and ability are concerned, antiquity knew no greater or more capable people. The monument that they have left to mark their mysterious disappearanceis a lasting testimony to their culture and power.
But more than that, it is a living, resurrected testimony to the truth and credibility of the Word of God!
There is no scene of desolation and ruin that amazes the spirit of man as much as the desolation of Edom. Forsaken of human occupants, the wonderful Rose Red City is today a curiosity to be viewed by the hardy adventurer who would study the antiquities of the Eastern world.
Just what hands constructed these noble temples and tombs it is not at this time possible to say. The Nabataeans were incapable of producing this kind of work, nor would they have invested the time. The bodies of the departed were spread upon the field as fertilizer or buried in the most indescribably filthy pits of their day and time. The Semitic peoples who preceded them, however, have left this record in stone as a testimony to their reverence for the dead. What the future will yield in the hoped-for excavations of Petra, no one is able to say. If, however, a spade is never sunk into soil and no more appears to the gaze of man than is seen by the casual traveler today, we have sufficient to call forth a doxology from the hearts of those who love and reverence the Word of God. We cannot refrain from commenting again and again upon the marvelousmanner in which the Author of this Great Book has cared for His own case.
The consternation and defeat of the critics have been complete in this instance. What a quaint conceit it is in our generation to note that God is so firm in His promised defense of His Book, that He will move to crush the enemies of the Word even if it is necessary to smite their fallacious fancy with a carved mountain of stone!
In the logical presentation of this subject, we now come to that period of history in which the pharaohs, who are named by name in the Scriptures and are thus identified beyond question, make their contribution to the evidence which sustains the record of the Bible.
Laying aside controversial discussions as to the identity of the various pharaohs who preceded, we note that the first of Egypt’s many monarchs to appear under his personal name in the Word of God is Shishak the 1st. His name appears on the monuments of Egypt as Shashanq the 1st, but his own records identify him as the “Shishak” of I Kings 14, and II Chronicles 12. The outstanding accomplishments of his entire reign seem to have been the invasion of Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem. In the account which this monarch left in the priceless writings at Karnak, the most noteworthy is the story told on the second pylon of the main temple, where the conqueror has given a list of all the towns and villages which he overthrew in Palestine. To this he added a record ofthe gold and silver ornaments that he carried away from Jerusalem. He specifically noted the bucklers and shields of Solomon and also the golden quivers which Solomon’s father had captured from the king of Zobah.
Once again we listen to some collateral gossip from far antiquity to see the background of this strange invasion of Jerusalem. Weaving together records of forgotten campaigns, homely events of family affairs, the conduct of pragmatic generations, the history preserved in the books of the Old Testament, together with the voices of monuments and ruins, we gradually achieve a basis of understanding. The Pharaoh Siamen, whose capital was at Zoan, appears to have been an ally of Edom. In the days when secular historical records begin to coincide with the record of the text, Edom was ruled by a regent. King Hadad was a lad of tender years, and though he nominally was vested with the crown, his able and powerful mother ruled in his name. The queen regent, incidentally, was an aunt of Solomon. Holding that thought in temporary abeyance, we will continue to investigate this quaint family alliance. David and Jonathan made a successful assault upon Edom, which resulted in the capture of the city. Such rights and powers as a conquering monarch has always abrogated to himself, then devolved upon David in respect to Edom. When it became apparent that the city would fall, the queen regent took her young son and fled to Egypt for safety. In view of the fact that Edom and Egypt were at that time allies, the royal party was well received and, with the prodigal hospitality of that day, became guests at the court for the balance of their lives.
“El Kahzne” (The Temple of the Urn)
“El Kahzne” (The Temple of the Urn)
Showing the manner in which these buildings are carved from the living stone
Showing the manner in which these buildings are carved from the living stone
In the course of the passing years, Siamen was gathered to his fathers, and Psabekhanu the 2nd reigned in his stead. The wise mother of Hadad, knowing that alliances do not always outlast the persons who made them and, desiring to protect Hadad’s interests in the country that they had lost by force of arms, entered into a typical and common intrigue. She brought about the marriage of her son, Hadad, with a sister of Psabekhanu. Thus, Hadad became the brother-in-law of the reigning monarch of Egypt and, presumably, strengthened the ties that bound the Egyptian power to the interests of his small country.
In the meantime, Solomon, who had succeeded his father, moved to protect his inherited claim on Edom. This he did by marrying the daughter of Psabekhanu. It is presumed that the relationship of a son-in-law might be a stronger claim for alliance than that of a brother-in-law. Some short while later the second daughter of Psabekhanu married the Prince Shishak. Thus Solomon and the heir-apparent of the throneof Egypt, Shishak, became brothers-in-law. By marriage, however, the queen of Edom was their aunt. At a glance the student can see that affairs were a bit messy, to say the very least. Hadad maintained his rights to Edom and conducted at the Egyptian court an intrigue for his restoration. The desires of Pharaoh were divided between his natural wish to keep the peace and his interest in the importunities of his brother-in-law, as weighed against the desires of his son-in-law. Through this tangled scheme of alliances it came about that Solomon’s son would have some legal rights of succession in Egypt. But Shishak’s son would have the same claim to succession in Palestine. Solomon, being much older than Shishak, died first. The story which now follows is recorded in the Word of God, and on the pillars of antiquity, for, shortly after the death of Solomon, Shishak invaded Judah.
The “why” of the matter is easily understood. The first reason was loot. The brief account that is given in I Kings 14:25-28 is here appended to introduce our consideration of this event:
“And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
“And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
“And King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.“And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.”
“And King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
“And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.”
In that record it is noted that among the treasures of the house of the Lord which Shishak carried away, were the shields of gold which Solomon had made. For a description of these shields and some conception of their value, we turn to the tenth chapter of I Kings, verses fourteen to seventeen:
“Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,“Besides that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.“And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.“And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.”
“Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
“Besides that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
“And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
“And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.”
The wealth of Solomon has never been adequately computed. It is stated that from the tomb of Tutanhkamen, in the most famous excavation of our generation, treasureto the value of $14,000,000 was recovered. The splendor and wealth of that pharaoh were insignificant compared to that of Solomon, the Magnificent. We see, for instance, in this fourteenth verse that Solomon’s income in gold bullion alone was almost the exact equivalent of $20,000,000 in our day and time. We must understand, however, that there was a vast difference between the values of the money standards of that time and of our own. The ratio would be about 15 to 1. For instance, a silver shekel would buy a cow; a half-shekel would buy an ass. If we evaluate their currency by purchasing power, it would take fifteen of our dollars to equal one of theirs. So the sum of gold, which is the equivalent of $20,000,000 by our former gold standard measurement, gives a conception of the annual income of Solomon, only if it is transmuted to our present ratio of purchasing power. This figure does not include all the tariff and income from taxes, the profit on his merchandising and the tribute in gifts of vassal nations. He was in the fortunate circumstance of paying income tax to himself so that his income remained undiminished! The gold of Solomon was hoarded for a unique and peculiar purpose.
When David desired to build a house for the worship of God, his offer was rejected on the ground that he was a man of blood. However, the Lord said that his son shouldbuild the house of prayer, and David began the hoarding of gold for the erection and beautification of that temple. The estimates of the amount of gold that went into that temple go as high as two and one-half billions of dollars. It is not too much to say that no building ever erected by the hands of man could excel the beauty, the artistic perfection, the splendor, and the intrinsic value of the temple that Solomon built.
In the Scriptural citation in I Kings, we have just read of the two hundred targets or bucklers of beaten gold. Also, there are catalogued the three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went into the construction of each shield. At the present rate of gold values, that would mean that each of these shields was worth $1680.00. There was considerably over a half million dollars of pure gold hammered into those shields. This glittering and entrancing treasure intrigued the greed of every conqueror of antiquity, but no man was able to take it from the House of God while His protection and care were upon it. It is not to be wondered that Shishak considered the capture of that treasure as the highest achievement of his reign.
The second reason for Shishak’s invasion, however, was mainly political. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided. Rehoboam, possessing the Southern kingdom,was a weakling who was, moreover, under the influence of vicious, untrustworthy counselors. Perhaps his tendency towards idolatry may be traced to his mother who was an Ammonite and whose influence, undoubtedly, turned him away from monotheism. At any rate, Bel, Ashtoreth, Moloch and Baal were worshipped throughout the land on every high hill and under many green trees. The most unclean practices were indulged in by the people until the judgment of God necessarily descended upon them. Shishak’s chief concern was not over the idolatry of the people, however, but over the effect of their dereliction upon the development of the kingdom. In order to protect his possible rights of succession in Palestine, he moved to make Rehoboam a vassal, and brought him under the yoke of bondage, making him a governor for Egypt.
A more comprehensive account of this invasion is given in the twelfth chapter of II Chronicles. A great many people have raised the question as to why we have the duplication of the record in the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Scripture. It has been argued that the same stories told again in Chronicles are a senseless and useless repetition of the record already written in Kings. This specific instance is perhaps as fine an answer to that objection as can be found. It might be said that the Books ofKings recount thedeedsof men and the Books of Chronicles deal largely with theirmotives. The Books of the Kings record history as enacted by man, while the records of Chronicles give God’s side of the story and tell the “why” of things that would otherwise be mysterious.
For instance, the twelfth chapter of II Chronicles begins, “And it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.” Here is a bleak, unvarnished record of apostasy. The price of a man in his own position and standing has led him to debauch a nation spiritually and morally. Therefore, the second verse follows as a natural consequence: “And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem,because they had transgressed against the Lord.” Here is an illuminating comment upon the motives and principles that underlie this record. It is a foreshadowing of the first chapter of Romans. When men give up God and deny Him a place in their culture and practices, it is inevitable that God will give them up to the consequences of their vile conduct. In this case it was Shishak who brought judgment upon Jerusalem. His twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalrymen were supported by so many infantry that the number wasnever totaled. They are called “innumerable,” which is a simple way of saying that the number was too vast to take time counting them.
We are then told that when Shishak had captured all the outlying cities of Judah and was on his way to Jerusalem, the prophet Shemaiah frankly told King Rehoboam that his trouble had come upon him because of his apostasy. In blunt words he delivered this graphic warning: “Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.” When this message was so courageously delivered, the princes of Israel and the godless counselors of the apostate king together prostrated themselves before the Lord and acknowledged that His judgment was just and His decision was righteous. The record continues with the fact that when the Lord saw that they had repented, He promised to save the humbled court and the threatened city. But with the promise of deliverance from destruction there came also the grim edict that in order that they might learn the difference between serving God and being under the bondage of a heathen culture, they should be subject to Shishak and serve him.
Thus in Chronicles we do have the account repeated that was given to us in the record of the Kings, but with additional details that illumine and clarify the record. Shishak swept the land bare of precious metals and took away the treasures of the temple as well. Not only did he leave the king and the court destitute of their priceless ornaments, but he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
Note how top of building seems to erupt from the hill
Note how top of building seems to erupt from the hill
Compare size of men in the doorway of “El Deir”
Compare size of men in the doorway of “El Deir”
We now enter into a consideration of one of the most tragic and humiliating spectacles in all antiquity. When the penitent and restored king saw the effects of his apostasy, he called the people back to the practice of their earlier faith and himself came daily to the house of the Lord for the exercise of prayer. But as the humbled monarch knelt in prayer, he could not keep his eyes off the vacant walls. Where the five hundred golden objects had once hung, testifying to the wealth of that house and the greatness of his father, there was nothing but the bare wall. It must be remembered that those golden ornaments had not belonged to him. They had been hung in their places to praise and glorify God by his greater ancestor. Therefore, when an enemy came and stole them away, it was a constant and mute reproach to him because of his own failure to live up to the standards and greatness of a preceding generation.
The troubled king gave orders that the targets and shields should be replaced with copies of what had been lost. There was, however, neither gold nor silver in the land,for Shishak had made a clean sweep of all that was valuable. Thus, having lost the reality of their treasure, the best they could do was to make a cheap similitude in brass.
Needless to say, brass is a pitiful substitute for the precious metal which we call gold. If it is kept in a shining condition, at first glance brass may have some resemblance to the nobler metal, but it quickly tarnishes and its glitter fades. For this reason, the targets and shields of brass were stored in the house of the guard. At the hour when the king came to the temple to pray, the guard polished these ridiculous substitutes and hung them in their places so that the king might delude himself by the glitter and shine, and thus have some balm for his troubled spirit. There is, of course, an element of humour in this tragic record!
The moral lessons are almost innumerable and would provide a minister with sermon material for days on end. We are faced with a somewhat similar situation in Christendom today. Upon the walls of the House of Faith, our believing fathers hung the golden shields that constitute the doctrines of Christianity. The brilliant glory of those foundational treasures was never threatened as long as the church was true to God. But we in our generation, alas, have allowed an enemy to come in and rob us of many of those golden shields.
We cannot over-emphasize the fact that it is always an enemy who seeks thus to despoil the House of our Faith. Though he may come in the guise of a friend, or even of a relative, as in the case of Shishak, the man who robs us of our golden shields is an enemy at heart and in purpose.
May we illustrate this suggestion by saying, for instance, that our fathers believed in the golden fact of the deity of Jesus Christ. They held as a basic fact of Christianity that in the person of our Saviour, Almighty God was incarnated to be the Redeemer of mankind. Satan, in the person of many of his charming and well-mannered cohorts, has stolen that shield from many a temple of prayer. Men speak now of the “divinity” of Jesus instead of the “deity.” Having established this premise, they then continue with the statement that we arealldivine and have this same spark of divinity within our spirits, to a greater or lesser extent. When the golden shield of the deity of Christ disappeared from the walls of many churches that had once been Christian, the worshippers made a beautiful substitute with the brazen replica of Unitarianism. The tarnished brass of that un-Christian doctrine is a miserable substitute indeed for the blessed assurance that is resident in the fact of the deity of the Saviour.
Our fathers believed also in the virginbirth of the Son of God. They accepted literally the record that Almighty God himself had given of the incarnation of His Son. Our fathers believed that the body of Jesus was formed in the womb of a virgin woman because of the direct visitation of the Holy Ghost. Thus, the birth of Jesus Christ was a biological miracle, and He owed even His earth origin to HisheavenlyFather alone! This foundational fact of the Christian revelation has disappeared from the walls and the worship of many a once-Christian gathering. In the place of that golden fact there is the ghastly and brazen substitute of an illegitimate child, who was probably the fruit of a woman’s sin! And then men wonder that the old-time power and greatness of the Christian faith seem lacking in much of our land today!
In like manner, the golden shield of redemption through the shed blood of Calvary has been exchanged for the brazen substitute of a “Perfect Example.” The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ has been bartered for a misty idea of some sort of a spiritual resurrection that has no bearing upon the facts of the record that God has given to man. Shield by shield, and buckler by buckler, the things that were given to us for our defense, gleaming with the intrinsic value of a supernatural revelation, have been stolen away by the enemy. The humanistic substitutes thathave replaced them have left us at the mercy of the enemy who would destroy our souls.
But great as are the moral lessons involved in this record, its apologetical value is incalculably greater. It has been the custom in our day to question the historical accuracy of much of the record of the Scripture. So it is with considerable interest that we turn back to ancient Egypt to see what can be learned from the external sources of pure archeology concerning these sections of the Old Testament.
The visitor to the British Museum may come away well acquainted with this man Shishak. In the fourth Egyptian Room, in Table Case “O”, there is a pair of gold bracelets, the exhibits being numbered 134 and 135. These beautiful ornaments are overlaid with lapis lazuli, and a blue substance which is similar to faience. The inside of each is inscribed with a text written in hieroglyphics stating that the bracelets were “Made for the Princess,” the daughter of the chief of all the bowmen, Nemareth, whose mother was the daughter of the Prince of the land of Reshnes. This Nemareth was the descendant in the fifth generation of Buiu-auau, a Libyan prince who was the father of Shishak the First.
In this same case, exhibit number 217 is a heavy gold ring set with a scarab carved from soapstone, which is inscribed with aclearly cut cartouche containing both the prenomen and nomen of Shishak the First.
Looking further in this case, exhibit number 392 is a silver ring inscribed with the titles of an official who held many important positions under two monarchs. He was president of the granaries, also a prophet of the fourth order, served as a scribe and at one time was libationer in the reigns of Psammetichus and Shishak.
The most important of all the records of Shishak, of course, is the voluminous account that he caused to be engraved at the Temple of Karnak. A detail is added in Shishak’s record that is not contained in the Scriptures. According to the conqueror, to strengthen the ties of vassalage, he gave Jeroboam one of his daughters in marriage. This complete record of Shishak’s we photographed, studied carefully, and found eminently satisfactory, with the single exception that the king of Judah is not named by name in Shishak’s account of this conquest. But he does tell of the capture of Judah, the rape of Jerusalem, and gives a categorical list of cities and villages overthrown. He specifically mentions the bucklers and shields of gold that he took from the temple.
In a word, this science of archeology, upon the authority of men long dead, but who have since been raised to testify, stamps an emphaticO. K. upon this section of the Sacred Record.[1]
The next king who parades these pages under the designation of his proper name is the Pharaoh Zera, who has also been identified with Osarkon. Shishak’s first-born son, named both Usarkon and Osarkon the First, succeeded his father to the throne as the last of the Tanite kings of the twenty-first dynasty. This son, in turn, was called Shishak and became the high priest of Amon. Osarkon the First was succeeded by Takeloth the First, who, in turn, was followed by Osarkon the Second. Since both of these Osarkons figure in the Scriptural account, we briefly cover their record as it occurs in antiquity.
Being emperor of Ethiopia, as well as of Egypt, the first Osarkon, or Zera, had a vast horde of Ethiopian allies who fought with him in his important conquests. This entire line was of Libyan extraction. A portion of Africa that is now temporarily possessed by the crown of Italy seems to have given rise to this family of conquering rulers. Undoubtedly the designation “Ethiopian” was suggested by this African ancestry.