World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 27
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said in , "I will now one day by the hand of . There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the ; and will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So I will escape out of his hand." arose and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to the son of Maoch, king of . lived with at , he and his men, every man with his household, even with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and the Carmelitess, wife. was told that had fled to , so he stopped looking for him. said to , "If now I have in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may there. For why should in the royal city with you?" Then gave him that day: therefore belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. The number of the days that lived in the country of the was a full year and four months. and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and ; for those were the inhabitants of the land who were of old, on to , even to the land of . struck the land, and no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to . said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" said, "Against the South of Judah, against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the ." neither man nor woman alive to bring them to , saying, "Lest they should tell about us, saying, ' did this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the .'" , saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant ."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.