King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 13
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And consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And said unto all of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of our , let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us: And let us bring again the ark of our to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of . And all said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So gathered all Israel together, from of even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the from Kirjath–jearim. And went up, and all Israel, to , that is, to Kirjath–jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the , that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. And they carried the in a new cart out of the house of : and and drave the cart. And and all Israel played before with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with . And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the of was kindled against , and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he before . And was displeased, because had made a breach upon : wherefore that place is called –uzza to this day. And was afraid of that day, saying, How shall I bring the home to me? So brought not the ark home to himself to , but carried it aside into the house of the . And the remained with the family of in his house three months. And the house of , and all that he had.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
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.