King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 16
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
And said unto , How long wilt thou mourn for , seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine with oil, and go, I will send thee to the Beth–lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. And said, How can I go? if hear it, he will kill me. And said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to to . And call to the , and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. And did that which spake, and came to Beth–lehem. And the of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably: I am come to unto : yourselves, and come with me to the . And he and his sons, and called them to the . And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on , and said, Surely ’s is before him. But said unto , Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but looketh on . Then called , and made him pass before . And he said, Neither hath chosen this. Then made to pass by. And he said, Neither hath chosen this. Again, made seven of his sons to pass before . And said unto , hath not chosen these. And said unto , Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And said unto , Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then took of oil, and him in the midst of his brethren: and of came upon from that day forward. So rose up, and went to . But of departed from , and an from troubled him. 15And ’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an from troubleth thee. Let our now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the from is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17And said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of the Beth–lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and is with him. Wherefore sent unto , and said, Send me thy son, which is with the sheep. And took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of , and a kid, and sent them by his son unto . And came to , and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22And sent to , saying, Let , I thee, stand before me; for he hath found in my sight. And it came to pass, when the from was upon , that took an harp, and played with his hand: so was refreshed, and was well, and the departed from him.
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.