World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 13
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consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. said to all of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is of our , let's send word everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and are in their cities that have pasture lands, that they may gather themselves to us. Also, let's bring the ark of our back to us again, for we didn't seek it in the days of ." All said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So assembled all Israel together, from the River of even to the entrance of , to bring ark from . went up with all Israel to , that is, to , which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there ark that sits above the , that is called by the Name. They carried ark on a new cart, and brought it out of house; and and drove the cart. and all Israel played before with all their might, even with songs, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with cymbals, and with . When they came to Chidon's , put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. burned against , and he struck him because he put his hand on the ark; and he there before . was displeased, because had broken out against . He called that place , to this day. was afraid of that day, saying, "How can I bring ark home to me?" So didn't move the ark with him into city, but carried it aside into the house. ark remained with the family of in his house three months; and house and all that he had.
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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.