King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 18
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And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto , that the of was knit with the of , and loved him as his own . And took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his ’s house. Then and made a , because he loved him as his own . And stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to , and his garments, even to his , and to his bow, and to his girdle. And went out whithersoever sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of ’s servants. And it came to pass as they came, when was returned from the slaughter of the , that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king , with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, hath slain his thousands, and his ten thousands. And was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but ? And eyed from that day and forward. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the from came upon , and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in ’s hand. And cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite even to the wall with it. And avoided out of his twice. And was afraid of , because was with him, and was departed from . Therefore removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. And behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and was with him. Wherefore when saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved , because he went out and came in before them. And said to , Behold my elder daughter , her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight ’s battles. For said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the be upon him. And said unto , Who am I? and what is my life, or ’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king? But it came to pass at the time when ’s daughter should have been given to , that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife. And ’s daughter loved : and they told , and the thing pleased him. And said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the may be against him. Wherefore said to , Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain. And commanded his servants, saying, Commune with secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king’s son in law. And ’s servants spake those words in the ears of . And said, Seemeth it to you a thing to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I am a man, and lightly esteemed? 24And the servants of told him, saying, On this manner spake . And said, Thus shall ye say to , The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the , to be of the king’s . But thought to make fall by the hand of the . And when his servants told these words, it pleased well to be the king’s son in law: and the days were not expired. Wherefore arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the two hundred men; and brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And gave him his daughter to wife. And saw and knew that was with , and that ’s daughter loved him. And was yet the more afraid of ; and became ’s enemy continually. Then the princes of the went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of ; so that his name was much set by.
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.