So סוֹא
Egyptian pharaoh to whom King Hoshea sent messengers.
Biography
So, mentioned in 2Ki.17.4, was an Egyptian pharaoh during the reign of King Hoshea of Israel (732-722 BC). Hoshea, the last king of Israel before the Assyrian conquest, sought to establish an alliance with Egypt to counter the growing threat of Assyria. The biblical text states that Hoshea sent messengers to So, indicating an attempt at diplomatic relations. However, this action was seen as a rebellion against Assyria, to whom Israel was paying tribute. As a result, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser attacked Israel, captured Hoshea, and besieged the capital city of Samaria for three years. The city eventually fell, and the people of Israel were deported to Assyria, marking the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. The identity of So is not certain, but some scholars suggest that he may have been Osorkon IV, a pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled from Tanis in the Nile Delta region.
In Scripture
1 biblical book2 Kings 1 verse
- 2 Kings 17:4
"The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria seized him, and bound him in prison."
Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Strong's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named | Hebrew | סוֹא | H5471 |
Encyclopedia Article
ISBE 1915 (Public Domain) So
o 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.
Literature
Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 281 ff; McCurdy, HPM, I, 422; Schrader, COT, I, 261.
T. Nicol.
sop (borith; the King James Version sope): Borith is a derivative of bor, "purity," hence, something which cleanses or makes pure. Soap in the modern sense, as referring to a salt of a fatty acid, for example, that produ