0 ? 
whom no less than twelve of that name were recognized as 
legitimate Pharaohs— the first two belonging to Manetho's 
nineteenth Dynasty , while the twentieth Dynasty was occupied 
in uninterrupted succession by the remaining ten. Lenormant* 
states, on the authority of the illustrious French astronomer 
M. Biot, that the commencement of the reign of Rameses III. 
is fixed by astronomical science to B.C. 1311, which very well 
accords with the date we obtain from Manetho for the begin- 
ning of that Dynasty. Palmer has called attention in his 
“ Egyptian Chronicles” to a very remarkable confirmation of 
this chronology, which deserves a few minutes' attentive con- 
sideration, for it throws light on another important synchronism 
between the histories of Israel and Egypt. 
50. Between the time of Moses and the reign of David all 
intercourse, as far as we gather from Scripture, had ceased. 
Indeed, it is not until the time of David’s grandson that we 
have signs of intercourse between the two countries. Hence 
Bunsen considers that the reign of Shishak I., the first king of 
the twenty-second Dynasty, offers the “ first certain synchro- 
nistic point in Egyptian and Asiatic history,” of which we have 
the following proof.. Scripture declares that “ in the fifth year 
of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jeru- 
salem, and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord 
and of the king's house, and all the shields of gold which 
Solomon had made ” (1 Kings xiv. 25, 26). According to the 
Hebrew chronology, the fifth year of Rehoboam = B.C. 971 ; 
and as Shishak began to reign B.C. 980, the ninth year of his 
reign, when he marched against Jerusalem, synchronizes with 
the fifth of Rehoboam. It is well known that Champollion 
discovered on the outside of the great Temple of Karnac, at 
Thebes, a lengthy record of the conquests of Pharaoli Shishak. 
Amongst them we find certain names which are to be met with 
in Scripture; such, e.g., as land of Mahanaim, mentioned in 
Genesis xxxii. 2 ; the two Bethorons, which Solomon fortified, 
according to 2 Chronicles viii. 5; Megiddo, spoken of in 
2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; but the most interesting of all is undoubt- 
edly that which is read as the kingdom of Judah, the conquest 
of which Shishak records exactly as related in Scripture. 
* Speaking of an instance of the Vague year of 3G5 days agreeing with 
the Solar year of 365^ days, Lenormant says, “ Les calculs de l’illustre 
Biot ont etabli que cette coincidence rare et solennelle s’etait produite en 
l’annc 1300 av. J. C. Par consequent nous pouvons inscrire avec une 
certitude mathematique et absolue l’avdnement de Rhamses III. a lan 
1311 .”— Manuel d’Histoire Ancienne dc V Orient, vol. i. p. 800. 
P 2 
