World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Chronicles 23
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Now was old and full of days; and he made his son king over Israel. He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the . The were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of house, six thousand were officers and judges, four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised with the instruments which I made for giving ." divided them into divisions according to the : , , and . Of the : and . The sons of : the chief, Zetham, and , three. 9The sons of : , Haziel, and , three. These were the heads of the fathers' households of . 10The sons of : Jahath, Zina, , and . These four were the sons of . 11Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but and didn't have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning. The sons of : , , , and , four. The sons of : and ; and was separated that he should the most things, he and his sons , to before , to minister to him, and to in his name . But as for the , his sons were named among the tribe of . The sons of : and . The sons of : Shebuel the chief. The son of was the chief; and had no other sons, but the sons of were very many. The son of : Shelomith the chief. The sons of : Jeriah the chief, the second, the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20The sons of : Micah the chief, and the second. The sons of : and . The sons of : and . , and had no sons, but daughters only; and their relatives, the sons of , took them as wives. The sons of : , , and , three. These were the after their fathers' houses, even the heads of the fathers' houses of those who were counted individually, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the of house, from twenty years old and upward. For said, ", the of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in . Also the will no longer need to carry the and all its vessels for its ." For by the last words of the were counted, from twenty years old and upward. For their duty was to wait on the sons of for the of house—in the courts, in the rooms, and in the purifying of all things, even the work of the of house; for the show bread also, and for the for a , whether of wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size; and to stand every morning to thank and , and likewise in the evening; and to offer all burnt offerings to on the , on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the concerning them, continually before ; and that they should keep the duty of the , the duty of the place, and the duty of the sons of their brothers for the of house.
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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.