• Shishak
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • stele found at Megiddo mentions Sheshonk (Shishak), suggesting that the stele was erected there to commemorate his victory. Also, a relief on a temple wall at Karnak (the N part of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes) lists over 150 cities or villages that Shishak conquered. A considerable number of the places that can be identified with Biblical sites were located in the territory of the ten-tribe kingdom. This would indicate that the purpose of Shishak’s campaign was, not to assist the ten-tribe kingdom, but to extend Egypt’s power and influence.

  • Shittim
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SHITTIM

      (Shitʹtim) [acacia trees].

      1. A location on the desert plains of Moab to which the encampment of the Israelites extended from Beth-jeshimoth. (Num. 25:1; 33:49; Josh. 2:1) Evidently “Shittim” is a shortened form of the name “Abel-shittim” (meadow of the acacia trees). It is commonly identified with Tell el-Kefrein, a low hill about five miles (8 kilometers) NE of Beth-jeshimoth (Tell el-ʽAzeimeh, near the NE corner of the Dead Sea). However, some prefer Tell el-Hammam, a larger site occupying a very strategic position and lying about one and a half miles (2.5 kilometers) E of Tell el-Kefrein.

      By means of his prophet Micah, Jehovah reminded the Israelites of what he had done in their behalf: “O my people, remember, please, what Balak the king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. From Shittim it was, all the way to Gilgal, to the intent that the righteous acts of Jehovah might be known.” (Mic. 6:5) While Israel was encamped on the plains of Moab, including Shittim, Jehovah frustrated Balak’s attempt to have Balaam curse the Israelites; he blocked the Moabite effort from bringing ruin to his people. He enabled them to defeat the Midianites, who, along with the Moabites, had shared in getting many Israelites to become involved in immorality and idolatry. Jehovah brought Israel across the Jordan by a miracle, and at Gilgal “rolled away the reproach of Egypt.”—Num. 22:4–25:8; 31:3-11, 48-50; Josh. 3:1, 14-17; 5:9.

      2. The “torrent valley of the Acacia Trees” (Shittim), if designating a particular torrent valley, may be the lower course of the torrent valley of Kidron.—Joel 3:18.

  • Shoa
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SHOA

      (Shoʹa).

      A people or an area named along with Pekod and Koa as providing military forces that Jehovah would bring against unfaithful Jerusalem. (Ezek. 23:4, 22, 23) Though uncertain, “Shoa” perhaps designates the ancient Sutu (or Su), a people mentioned in inscriptions along with the Kutu (Koa?) as fighting the Assyrians. The Tell el-Amarna tablets indicate that the Sutu lived as nomads in the Syrian desert E of Palestine. Later they apparently settled E of the Tigris River.

  • Shobi
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SHOBI

      (Shoʹbi).

      A loyal subject of King David. Shobi and two others brought much-needed supplies to David, when Absalom’s rebellion caused the king and his party to flee Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 17:27-29) Shobi was “the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon.”—See NAHASH No. 3.

  • Shomer
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • SHOMER

      (Shoʹmer) [keeper, watchman].

      1. A descendant of Asher whose four sons were chieftains and family heads. His name is also spelled Shemer.—1 Chron. 7:30, 32, 34, 40.

      2. Jehozabad, a co-assassin of Judah’s King Jehoash, is identified as a son of both Shomer and “Shimrith the Moabitess.” (2 Ki. 12:21; 2 Chron. 24:26) Shomer is a masculine word in Hebrew; Shimrith is feminine. Some view Shomer as the father of Jehozabad and Shimrith as his mother. However, Shomer may have been the father of Shimrith. If this is the case, Jehozabad was the grandson of Shomer, the term “son” often meaning descendant.