World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Kings 2
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Now the days of came near that he should ; and he commanded his son, saying, "I am going of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the of your , to walk in his ways, to keep his , his , his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in of , that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself. Then may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their and with all their , there shall not fail you,' he said, 'a man on of Israel.' "Moreover you know also what the son of did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of and to the son of , whom he killed, and shed of war in peace, and put of war on his sash that was around his waist and in his that were on his feet. Do therefore according to your , and don't let his gray head go down to in peace. But show kindness to the sons of the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from your brother. "Behold, there is with you the son of , the of Bahurim, who me with a grievous in the day when I went to ; but he came down to meet me at , and I to him by , saying, 'I will not put you to with .' Now therefore don't hold him guiltless, for you are a man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to with ." slept with his fathers, and was buried in city. The days that reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in , and he reigned thirty-three years in . sat on his ; and was firmly established. Then the son of Haggith came to the mother of . She said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably. He said moreover, I have something to tell you." She said, "Say on." He said, "You know that was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However, is turned around, and has become my brother's; for it was his from . Now I ask one petition of you. Don't deny me." She said to him, "Say on." He said, "Please speak to the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me the Shunammite as wife." said, "All right. I will speak for you to the king." therefore went to King , to speak to him for . The king rose up to meet her and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his and caused a to be set for the king's mother; and she sat hand. Then she said, "I ask one small petition of you; don't deny me." The king said to her, "Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny you." She said, "Let the Shunammite be given to your brother as wife." King answered his mother, "Why do you ask the Shunammite for ? Ask for him also, for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for the priest, and for the son of ." Then King by , saying, " do so to me, and more also, if has not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore as lives, who has established me and set me on , and who has made me a house as he promised, surely shall be put to today." King sent the son of ; and he fell on him, so that he . To the priest the king said, "Go to , to your own fields, for you are worthy of . But I will not at this time put you to , because you bore ark before , and because you were afflicted in all in which was afflicted." So thrust out from being priest to , that he might fulfill word which he spoke concerning the house of in . This news came to ; for had followed , although he didn't follow . fled to Tent, and held onto the of the . King was told, " has fled to Tent; and behold, he is by the ." Then sent the son of , saying, "Go, fall on him." 30 came to Tent, and said to him, "The king says, 'Come out!'" He said, "No; but I will here." brought the king word again, saying, "This is what said, and this is how he answered me." The king said to him, "Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him, that you may take away , which shed without cause, from me and from house. will return his on his own head, because he fell on two men more and better than he, and killed them with , and didn't know it: Abner the son of , captain of the army of Israel, and the son of , captain of the army of Judah. So their will return on the head of and on the head of his . But for , for his , for his house, and for his , there will be peace from ." Then the son of went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in . The king put the son of in his place over the army; and the king put the priest in the place of . The king sent and called for , and said to him, "Build yourself a house in , and live there, and don't go anywhere else. For on the day you go out and pass over the brook , know for certain that you will surely . Your will be on your own head." said to the king, "What you say is good. As my the king has said, so will do." lived in many days. At the end of three years, two of ran away to , son of , king of . They told , saying, "Behold, your are in ." arose, saddled his donkey, and went to to to seek his ; and went and brought his from . 41 was told that had gone from to , and had come again. The king sent and called for , and said to him, "Didn't I adjure you by and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on the day you go out and walk anywhere else, you shall surely '? You said to me, 'The saying that I have heard is good.' Why then have you not kept the of and the that I have instructed you with?" The king said moreover to , "You know in all the wickedness that you did to . Therefore will return your wickedness on your own head. But King will be , and will be established before ." So the king commanded the son of ; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he . was established in the hand of .
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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.