King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 13
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reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with in and in mount Beth–el, and a thousand were with in of : and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. And smote the garrison of the that was in , and the heard of it. And blew the throughout all the land, saying, Let the hear. And all Israel heard say that had smitten a garrison of the , and that Israel also was had in with the . And the people were called together after to . And the gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in , eastward from Beth–aven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in , and in pits. And some of the went over Jordan to the land of Gad and . As for , he was yet in , and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days, according to the that had appointed: but came not to ; and the people were scattered from him. And said, Bring hither a to me, and . And he offered the . And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of the , behold, came; and went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And said, What hast thou done? And said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the gathered themselves together at ; Therefore said I, The will come down now upon me to , and I have not made unto : I forced myself therefore, and offered a . And said to , Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the of thy , which he commanded thee: for now would have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: hath sought him a man after his own , and hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which commanded thee. And arose, and gat him up from unto of . And numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men. And , and his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in of : but the encamped in . And the spoilers came out of the camp of the in three companies: one company turned unto that leadeth to , unto the land of : And another company turned to : and another company turned to of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward . Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the said, Lest the make them or spears: 20But all the went down to the , to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. 21Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with and : but with and with his son was there found. And the garrison of the went out to the passage of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
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.