World English Bible · The divided kingdom
1 Kings 21
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After these things, the Jezreelite had a which was in , next to the palace of king of . spoke to , saying, "Give me your , that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money." said to , "May forbid me, that I should give the of my fathers to you!" came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said, "I will not give you the of my fathers." He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away , and would eat . But his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your so sad that you eat ?" He said to her, "Because I spoke to the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another for it.' He answered, 'I will not give you my .'" his wife said to him, "Do you now govern of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let be merry. I will give you the of the Jezreelite." So she wrote letters in name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with . She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a , and set on high among the people. Set two men, fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You and the king!' Then carry him out, and stone him to ." The men of his city, even the and the nobles who lived in his city, did as had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. They proclaimed a , and set on high among the people. The two men, fellows, came in and sat before him. fellows testified against him, even against , in the of the people, saying, " and the king!" Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to with stones. Then they sent to , saying, " has been stoned and is ." When heard that had been stoned and was , said to , "Arise, take possession of the of the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for is not alive, but ." When heard that was , rose up to go down to the of the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. word came to the Tishbite, saying, "Arise, go down to meet king of Israel, who dwells in . Behold, he is in the of , where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, ' says, "Have you killed and also taken possession?"' You shall speak to him, saying, ' says, "In the place where dogs licked of , dogs will lick your , even yours."'" said to , "Have you found me, my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in sight. Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. I will make your house like the house of the son of , and like the house of the son of , for the provocation with which you have provoked me to , and have made Israel to ." also spoke of , saying, "The dogs will eat by the rampart of . The dogs will eat he who dies of in the city; and the birds of will eat he who dies in the field." But there was no one like , who sold himself to do that which was evil in sight, whom his wife stirred up. He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the did, whom cast out before the . When heard those words, he tore his clothes, put on his body, , lay in , and went about despondently. 28 word came to the Tishbite, saying, "See how humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son's day."
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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.