World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 4
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The word of came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the to battle, and encamped beside ; and the encamped in . The put themselves in array against Israel. When they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the , who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. When the people had come into the camp, the said, "Why has defeated us today before the ? Let's get the out of and bring it to us, that it may come among us and us out of the hand of our ." So the people sent to , and they brought from there the of of Armies, who sits above the ; and the two sons of , Hophni and , were there with the of . When the came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. When the heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the mean?" They understood that ark had come into the camp. The were afraid, for they said, " has come into the camp." They said, "Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. Woe to us! Who shall us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the with all kinds of plagues in . Be strong and behave like men, O you , that you not be servants to the , as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!" The fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell. ark was taken; and the two sons of , Hophni and , were slain. A man of ran out of the army and came to the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. When he came, behold, was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for trembled for ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out. 14When heard the noise of the crying, he said, "What does the noise of this tumult mean?" The man hurried, and came and told . Now was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see. The man said to , "I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army." He said, "How did the matter go, my son?" He who brought the news answered, "Israel has fled before the , and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and , are , and ark has been captured." When he made mention of ark, fell from off his seat backward by the side of the ; and his neck broke, and he , for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years. 19His daughter-in-law, ' wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that ark was taken and that her -in-law and her husband were , she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. About the time of her the women who stood by her said to her, "Don't be afraid, for you have given birth to a son." But she didn't answer, neither did she regard it. She named the child Ichabod, saying, "The has departed from Israel!" because ark was taken, and because of her -in-law and her husband. She said, "The has departed from Israel; for ark has been taken."
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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.