Em setembro de 2004, o Professor de Estudos Bíblicos do Lithuania Christian College, Klaipeda, Lituânia, Kevin A. Wilson, publicou ensaio na revista online Bible and Interpretation sobre a tão debatida campanha do Faraó Shoshenq I (também grafado como Shishaq I) na Palestina no século X a.C. – supostamente após a morte de Salomão e a divisão de um “reino unido” em Israel e Judá – sob o título: The Campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I in Palestine. E, concluía assim seu texto:
“The beginning of this paper discussed the current debate over the dating of 10th century archaeological strata and the reliance on destruction levels left by Shoshenq. Although the current study does not decide the issue one way or the other, it does show that both sides are mistaken in searching for destruction layers left by the Egyptian campaign. As has been shown above, Shoshenq’s campaign was not as widespread as previously thought. Instead, it focused only on Jerusalem, and Jerusalem itself was not destroyed. This means that archaeologists will need to find another method for determining the date of 10th century strata. It also means that they will need to find other suspects for the destruction layers previously assigned to Shoshenq. This should not be difficult, however, since the 10th and early 9th centuries saw a great deal of fighting in Palestine, both between Judah and Israel, as well as between Israel and neighboring states. And, of course, the Israelites kingship changed hands several times through military coups during that period, so the causes of these destruction may have been internal. In any event, it is clear that the campaign of Shoshenq can play little role in the dating of 10th century archaeological strata”.
Agora, em 2005, acaba de sair pela editora Mohr Siebeck, de Tübingen, Alemanha, o seu livro sobre o assunto:
WILSON, Kevin A. The Campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I into Palestine. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005, VIII + 159 p.
Assim a editora apresenta o livro:
The thesis of this book is that the campaign by Pharaoh Shoshenq I into Palestine in 926 B.C.E. was aimed solely at the kingdom of Judah with the purpose of supporting Jeroboam in his bid to rule Israel as a separate nation. The evidence for this campaign comes from the Hebrew Bible (1 Kgs 14:25-28; 2 Chr 12:1-12), a triumphal relief of Shoshenq at Karnak, and a fragment of a stele at Megiddo. Prior studies have attempted to reconstruct the route of the Egyptian army’s march through studies of the topographical list that accompanies the triumphal relief of Shoshenq. By contrast, Kevin Wilson examines several major examples of triumphal reliefs erected by pharaohs of the New Kingdom in order to understand the genre as a whole. After a survey of other Egyptian texts considered pertinent to the campaign, the rest of this study is devoted to an analysis of the biblical texts that record the attack. The data gleaned from these analyses are then used to reconstruct the aim and purpose of the campaign. The reconstruction offered suggests that Shoshenq made his attack as part of a concerted effort to bring disunity to the region through the support of Jeroboam, whom he had harbored as a political refugee from Solomon. This foreign policy led to Egypt’s position vis-a-vis the southern Levant being greatly improved. It removed a powerful kingdom that could have been a threat to Egypt, left the nations of Palestine fighting among themselves, and provided Shoshenq with a vassal state in the region.
Uma interessante discussão sobre a rota de Shoshenq I e as soluções oferecidas por Kevin A. Wilson começou na lista de discussão biblical-studies, com participações de Yigal Levin, Philip Davies, Niels Peter Lemche… apesar do clima de fim de ano… Confira o arquivo da lista a partir desta mensagem!
