Chushan-rishathaim: Cush of double wickedness, or governor of two presidencies, the king
of Mesopotamia who oppressed Israel in the generation immediately
following Joshua
(Judges 3:8) We learn from the Tell-el-Amarna tablets
that Palestine had been invaded by the forces of Aram-naharaim (A.V.,
"Mesopotamia") more than once, long before the Exodus, and that at
the time they were written the king of Aram-naharaim was still
intriguing in Canaan. It is mentioned among the countries which took
part in the attack upon Egypt in the reign of Rameses III. (of the
Twentieth Dynasty), but as its king is not one of the princes stated
to have been conquered by the Pharaoh, it would seem that he did not
actually enter Egypt. As the reign of Rameses III. corresponds with
the Israelitish occupation of Canaan, it is probable that the
Egyptian monuments refer to the oppression of the Israelites by
Chushan-rishathaim. Canaan was still regarded as a province of Egypt,
so that, in attacking it Chushan-rishathaim would have been
considered to be attacking Egypt.
