Shishak had no need of Israelitish alliances. On the contrary, Solomon
was connected by marriage with the dethroned dynasty, and the power of
Israel, if unchecked, was a menace to his own kingdom. But while Solomon
lived he was afraid to move. He kept at his court, however, an
Israelitish rebel, who might prove useful when the time came. Hardly was
Solomon dead when Jeroboam returned to his native country, and the
kingdom of David was sundered in twain. Shishak seized the opportunity
of striking a blow at what remained of it. With contemptuous
impartiality he overran the territories of both Judah and the revolted
tribes, but it was Judah which suffered the most. The unfinished
fortifications of Jerusalem were stormed, the treasures accumulated by
Solomon carried to the Nile, and the King of Judah compelled to
acknowledge himself the vassal of Shishak. Judah never recovered from
the blow: had it not been for the Egyptian invasion, and the consequent
loss of its hoarded wealth, it might have been able to suppress the
rebellion of Jeroboam, and to reduce all the tribes of Israel once more
under one sceptre. The names of the captured cities of Palestine are
still to be read on the walls of the temple of Karnak.

Shishak's successors of the Twenty-second dynasty did not inherit his
military vigour and skill. The central authority grew gradually weaker,
and Egypt again fell back into the condition from which he had rescued
it. The tribes of the Sûdan could no longer be hindered from attacking
the enfeebled land, and Ethiopian princes made their way to Memphis,
carrying back with them to their capital of Napata the spoil and tribute
of a defeated and disunited people. At last the Ethiopian raids changed
into permanent conquest, and a negro dynasty--the Twenty-fifth--sat on
the throne of Menes.

But the kings who belonged to it, Shabaka and Taharka, were vigorous,