World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 30
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When and his men had come to on the third day, had made a raid on the South and on , and had struck and burned it with , and had taken the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They didn't kill any, but carried them off and went their way. When and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with ; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters were taken . Then and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more to weep. two wives were taken , Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and the wife of the . was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but strengthened himself in his . said to the priest, the son of , "Please bring the here to me." brought the to . inquired of , saying, "If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?" He answered him, "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all." So went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook , where those who were left behind stayed. But pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn't go over the brook . They found an in the field, and brought him to , and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. They gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his came again to him; for he had eaten , and drank no water for three days and three nights. asked him, "To whom do you belong? Where are you from?" He said, "I am a young man of , servant to an ; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick. We made a raid on the South of the , and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned with ." said to him, "Will you bring me down to this troop?" He said, " to me by that you will not kill me and not me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop." When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great plunder that they had taken out of the land of the , and out of the land of Judah. struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. recovered all that had taken, and rescued his two wives. There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken. brought them all back. took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, "This is plunder." came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow , whom also they had made to stay at the brook ; and they went out to meet , and to meet the people who were with him. When came near to the people, he greeted them. Then all men and worthless fellows of those who went with answered and said, "Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the plunder that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away and depart." Then said, "Do not do so, my brothers, with that which has given to us, who has preserved us, and the troop that came against us into our hand. Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays with the baggage. They shall share alike." 25It was so from that day forward that he made it a and an for Israel to this day. When came to , he sent some of the plunder to the of Judah, even to his friends, saying, "Behold, a present for you from the plunder of ." He sent it to those who were in , to those who were in of the South, to those who were in , to those who were in , to those who were in Siphmoth, to those who were in , to those who were in Racal, to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, to those who were in the cities of the , to those who were in , to those who were in Borashan, to those who were in Athach, to those who were in , and to all the places where himself and his men used to stay.
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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.