The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 150

Ver. 9.-Tliefirst sacking of Jerusalem. I. ITS msTORI0 CERTAINTY. That Shisbak gradually drew bis lines closer round the capital, and in the end stormed its citadel, has received confirmation from the monuments. 1. In the temple of Ka.rnak, at Thebes, on the walls of which Seti I. and Rameses II. had by means of pictorial representations and hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved a record of their victories, Sheshonq, on returning from Palestine, caused a bas-relief to be executed in commemo- ration of his expedition. 2. On the south wall, behind the picture of the victories of Rameses II., to the east of the hall of the Bubastids, appears a colossal imaf:!;e of the Egyptian sovereign, arrayed in warlike costume and dealing heavy blows with a club or iron mace upon his captives, who are Jews or, at least, Asiatics, whom he grasps by the hair of their heads. 3. In another representation he is depicted as leading captive a hundred and thirty-three cities or tribes, each one of which is personated by the figure of a chief whose name is written on an embattled shield, and whose physiognomy bas been supposed (Lenormant) to declare them Jews, though this is probably imagina- tion. 4. In the lists of names occur those of (1) cities of Judah proper, as e.g. Adoraim (Adurma), .Aijalon (Ajulon), Shoco (Shauke), Gibeon (Qebeana), etc; (2) Levitical cities of Israel, as e.g. Taanach (Ta'ankau), Rehob (Rehabau), Mahanaim (Mahanema~, etc.; and (3) Canaanitish cities, as e.g. Bethshan (Beithshanlan), Megiddo (Makethu , 5. Among the names is one styled ,Judah-Malek; not" the King of Judah" (Stanley , but "the kingly Judah" (Ebers), or "Judah a kingdom" (Rawlinson), which is supposed to point to Jerusalem. 6. The conquered nations are designated as the " •.Am of a distant land," and the Fenekh or the Phcenicians. The' former expression, "'.Am," answers exactly to the Hebrew word for" people," and may have been intended to denote the Jews (Brugsch, 'Egypt under the Pharaohs,' ii. 215-219; Rawlinson, 'Egypt and Babylon,' 334-339; Ebers, in Riehm, art. "Sisak '?· . II. ITS ACTUAL EXTENT. Whether Shishak ravaged the city ts doubtful. The plundering reported suggests that he did (Bertheau, Keil), but, "like Hezekiah on the occasion of Sennacherib's invasion (2 Kings xviii. 13-16), Rehoboam may have surrendered bis treasures (1 Kings xiv. 26) "to save his city from the horrors of capture" (Rawlinson). In any case, Shisbak carried off valuable spoil. 1. The treaswres of the temple, or house of the Lord, the sacred utensils employed in worship, which were then material, and the loss of which greatly hindered the observance of religion--a calamity which cannot now befall the Church of God in gospel times, since in Christian worship the outward ritual is nothing, but the inward spirit everything. 2. Tlie treasures of the palace, or king's house in the city of David, i.e. the regalia or crown jewels, which are always more or less an object of desire to victorious geuerala on. xn. 1-16.] 'l'HE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 151