World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 11
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Then all Israel gathered themselves to to , saying, "Behold, we are your bone and your . In times past, even when was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. your said to you, 'You shall be of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.'" So all the came to the king to ; and made a with them in before . They king over Israel, according to word by . and all Israel went to (also called ); and the , the inhabitants of the land, were there. The inhabitants of said to , "You will not come in here!" Nevertheless took the of . The same is city. had said, "Whoever strikes the first shall be chief and captain." the son of went up first, and was made chief. lived in the ; therefore they called it city. He built the city all around, from even around; and repaired the rest of the city. grew greater and greater, for of Armies was with him. Now these are the chief of the whom had, who showed themselves strong with him in , together with all Israel, to make him king, according to word concerning Israel. This is the number of the whom had: , the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of ; he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them at one time. After him was the son of , the , who was one of the three . He was with at Pasdammim, and there the were gathered together to battle, where there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the . They stood in the middle of the plot, defended it, and killed the ; and them by a great victory. Three of chief men went down to to , into the cave of ; and the army of the were encamped in the valley of . was then in the , and the garrison of the was in at that time. longed, and said, "Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of , which is by the !" The three broke through the army of the , and drew water out of the well of that was by the , took it, and brought it to ; but would not drink any of it, but poured it out to , and said, "My forbid me, that I should do this! Shall I drink of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?" For they risked their lives to bring it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three did these things. , the brother of , was chief of the three; for he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. Of the three, he was more honorable than the two, and was made their captain; however he wasn't included in the three. the son of , the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of of . He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. He killed an , a man of great stature, five high. In the hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a , plucked the spear out of the hand, and killed him with his own spear. 24 the son of did these things and had a name among the three . Behold, he was more honorable than , but he didn't attain to the three; and set him over his guard. The of the armies also include the brother of , the son of of , the Harorite, the , the son of the , the , the , Ilai the , the , the son of the , the son of Ribai of of the children of , the , of the brooks of Gaash, the , 33 the Baharumite, the , the sons of the , the son of Shagee the , the son of Sacar the , Eliphal the son of , 36 the Mecherathite, the , the , the son of Ezbai, the brother of , Mibhar the son of Hagri, 39 the , the (the armor bearer of the son of ), the , the , the , the son of , 42 the son of Shiza the (a chief of the ), and thirty with him, 43 the son of , the , 44 the , and the sons of Hotham the , 45 the son of Shimri, and his brother, the , 46 the , and , and , the sons of Elnaam, and the , 47, , and the .
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The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.