Bible Dictionary
So
So was the king of Egypt to whom Hoshea appealed for help against Assyria. His assistance did not prevent the fall of Samaria, and he is commonly identified with Shabaka of the Ethiopian dynasty.
Definition
So was the Egyptian king to whom Hoshea, king of Israel, appealed for help against the Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser. He is probably to be identified with Shabaka, the Ethiopian ruler associated with Egypt’s Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
Biblical Usage
Hoshea appealed to So in an attempt to throw off Assyrian control. The appeal brought no advantage, and Shalmaneser proceeded against the land and besieged Samaria.
Historical Background
The sources identify So in probability with the Sabaeo or Shabaka of other records. After Samaria fell, he later undertook an eastern campaign and was defeated by Sargon at Raphia.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Nubian, Sabako), an Ethiopian king who brought Egypt under his sway. He was bribed by Hoshea to help him against the Assyrian monarch Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:4). This was a return to the policy that had been successful in the reign of Jeroboam I.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
“So, king of Egypt,” is once mentioned in the Bible— (2 Kings 17:4) So has been identified by different writers with the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty, called by Manetho, Sabakon (Shebek) and Sebichos (Shebetek).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>so (co', although the Hebrew might be pointed cewe'; Assyrian Sib'u; Septuagint Segor, Soa; Manetho, Seuechos; Latin Sevechus; Herodotus (ii. 137 ff), Sabakon): In all probability the "Sabaeo" of Herodotus, the Shabaka, who founded the Ethiopian dynasty, the XXVth of Egyptian kings. His date is given as 715-707 BC (Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 281 ff), but we may suppose that before his accession to the throne he was entitled to be designated king, as being actually regent. To this So, Hoshea, king of Israel, made an appeal for assistance to enable him to throw off the yoke of the Assyrian Shalmaneser IV (2Ki 17:3). But Hoshea's submission to So brought him no advantage, for Shalmaneser came up throughout all the land and laid siege to Samaria. Not long after the fall of Samaria, So ventured upon an eastern campaign, and was defeated by Sargon, the successor of Shalmaneser, in the battle of Raphia in 720 BC.</p><p>LITERATURE.</p><p>Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 281 ff; McCurdy, HPM, I, 422; Schrader, COT, I, 261.</p><p>T. Nicol.</p>