King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 14
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Now king of sent to , and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him an house. And perceived that had confirmed him king over Israel, for was lifted up on high, because of his people Israel. And took more wives at : and begat more sons and daughters. Now these are the names of his children which he had in ; , and , , and , And Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpalet, 6And Nogah, and , and Japhia, And , and Beeliada, and Eliphalet. And when the heard that was king over all Israel, all the went up to seek . And heard of it, and went out against them. And the came and spread themselves in the valley of . And enquired of , saying, Shall I go up against the ? and wilt thou them into mine hand? And said unto him, Go up; for I will them into thine hand. So they came up to –perazim; and smote them there. Then said, hath broken in upon mine by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters: therefore they called the name of that place –perazim. And when they had left their gods there, gave a , and they were burned with . And the yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. Therefore enquired again of ; and said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the . therefore did as commanded him: and they smote the host of the from even to Gazer. And the fame of went out into all lands; and brought the fear of him upon all nations.
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.