World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 19
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spoke to his son and to all his servants, that they should kill . But , son, greatly delighted in . told , saying, " seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, live in a secret place, and hide yourself. I will go out and stand beside in the field where you are, and I will talk with about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you." spoke good of to his , and said to him, "Don't let the king against his servant, against ; because he has not against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; for he put his life in his hand and struck the , and worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you against innocent , to kill without a cause?" listened to the voice of ; and , "As lives, he shall not be put to ." called , and showed him all those things. Then brought to , and he was in his as before. There was war again. went out and fought with the , and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. An from was on as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and was playing music with his hand. sought to pin to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of ; and he stuck the spear into the wall. fled and escaped that night. sent to house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. , wife, told him, saying, "If you don't your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." So let down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped. took the teraphim and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with clothes. When sent to take , she said, "He is sick." sent the to see , saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him." 16When the came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. said to , "Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?" answered , "He said to me, 'Let me go! Why should I kill you?'" Now fled and escaped, and came to at , and told him all that had done to him. He and went and lived in . was told, saying, "Behold, is at in ." sent to seize ; and when they saw the company of prophesying, and standing as head over them, came on , and they also prophesied. When was told, he sent other , and they also prophesied. sent again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then he also went to , and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, "Where are and ?" One said, "Behold, they are at in ." He went there to in . Then came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to in . He also stripped off his clothes. He also prophesied before and lay down all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is also among ?"
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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.