World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 15
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made himself houses in city; and he prepared a place for ark, and pitched a tent for it. Then said, "No one ought to carry ark but the . For has chosen them to carry ark, and to minister to him ." assembled all Israel at , to bring up ark to its place, which he had prepared for it. gathered together the sons of and the : of the sons of , the chief, and his brothers one hundred twenty; of the sons of , Asaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred twenty; of the sons of , the chief, and his brothers one hundred thirty; of the sons of , the chief, and his brothers two hundred; of the sons of , the chief, and his brothers eighty; of the sons of , the chief, and his brothers one hundred twelve. called for and the priests, and for the : for , Asaiah, , , , and , and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' households of the . yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring the , the of Israel, up to the place that I have prepared for it. For because you didn't carry it at first, our broke out in against us, because we didn't seek him according to the ." So the priests and the themselves to bring up the , the of Israel. The children of the bore ark on their shoulders with its poles, as commanded according to word. spoke to the chief of the to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with joy. So the appointed the son of ; and of his brothers, the son of ; and of the sons of their brothers, the son of Kushaiah; and with them their brothers of the second rank: , Ben, , , , Unni, Eliab, , , , Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, , and , the doorkeepers. So the singers, , , and , were given cymbals of bronze to sound aloud; and , Aziel, , , Unni, Eliab, , and , with stringed instruments set to ; and , Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, , , and , with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre, to lead. Chenaniah, chief of the , was over the singing. He taught the singers, because he was skillful. and were doorkeepers for the ark. , , , , , , and , the priests, blew the before ark; and and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. So , the , and the captains over thousands went to bring the up out of the house of with joy. When helped the who bore the , they seven bulls and seven rams. was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the choir master with the singers; and had an of linen on him. Thus all Israel brought the up with shouting, with sound of the cornet, with , and with cymbals, sounding aloud with stringed instruments and harps. As the came to city, the daughter of looked out at the window, and saw king dancing and playing; and she despised him in her .
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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.