waited till Jeroboam had, to a certain extent, established his kingdom, had set up a new worship blending Hebrew with Egyptian notions, and had sufficiently tested the affection or disaffection towards his rule of the various classes of his subjects.  He then marched out to his assistance.  Levying a force of twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horse (? six thousand), and footmen “without number” (2 Chron, xii. 3), chiefly from the Libyan and Ethiopian mercenaries which now formed the strength of the Egyptian armies, he proceeded into the Holy Land, entering it “in three columns,” and so spreading his troops far and wide over the southern country.  Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor, had made such preparation as was possible against the attack.  He had anticipated it from the moment of Jeroboam’s return, and he had carefully guarded the main routes whereby his country could be approached from the south, fortifying, among other cities, Shoco, Adullam, Azekah, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Tekoa, and Hebron (2 Chron. xi. 6-10).  But the host of Sheshonk was irresistible.  Never before had the Hebrews met in battle the forces of their powerful southern neighbour—­never before had they been confronted with huge masses of disciplined troops, armed and trained alike, and soldiers by profession.  The Jewish levies were a rude and untaught militia, little accustomed to warfare, or even to the use of arms, after forty years of peace, during which “every man had dwelt safely under the shade of his own vine and his own fig-tree” (1 Kings iv. 25).  They must have trembled before the chariots, and cavalry, and trained footmen of Egypt.  Accordingly, there seems to have been no battle, and no regularly organized resistance.  As the host of Sheshonk advanced along the chief roads that led to the Jewish capital, the cities, fortified with so much care by Rehoboam, either opened their gates to him, or fell after brief sieges (2 Chron. xii. 4).  Sheshonk’s march was a triumphal progress, and in an incredibly short space of time he appeared before Jerusalem, where Rehoboam and “the princes of Judah” were tremblingly awaiting his arrival.  The son of Solomon surrendered at discretion; and the Egyptian conqueror entered the Holy City, stripped the Temple of its most valuable treasures, including the shields of gold which Solomon had made for his body-guard, and plundered the royal palace (2 Chron, xii. 9).  The city generally does not appear to have been sacked:  nor was there any massacre.  Rehoboam’s submission was accepted; he was maintained in his kingdom; but he had to become Sheshonk’s “servant” (2 Chron. xii. 8), i.e., he had to accept the position of a tributary prince, owing fealty and obedience to the Egyptian monarch.