World English Bible · The divided kingdom
1 Kings 19
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told all that had done, and how he had killed all with . Then sent a to , saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!" When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and came to , which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into , and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might , and said, "It is enough. Now, O , take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat!" He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 came again the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to , Mountain. He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, word came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, ?" He said, "I have been very , the of Armies; for the have forsaken your , thrown down your , and killed your with . I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before ." Behold, passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before ; but was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a passed; but was not in the . After the , there was a still small voice. When heard it, he wrapped in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here, ?" He said, "I have been very , the of Armies; for the have forsaken your , thrown down your , and killed your with . I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." said to him, "Go, return on your way to of . When you arrive, anoint to be king over . Anoint the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint the son of Shaphat of to be in your place. He who escapes from of , will kill; and he who escapes from of , will kill. Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to , and every which has not kissed him." So he departed from there and found the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. went over to him and put his mantle on him. left the oxen and ran after , and said, "Let me please kiss and my mother, and then I will follow you." He said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?" He returned from following him, and took the of oxen, killed them, and boiled their meat with the oxen's equipment, and gave to the people; and they ate. Then he arose, and went after , and him.
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The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.