World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 5
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Now the had taken ark, and they brought it from to . The took ark, and brought it into the house of and set it by . When the people of arose early on the next day, behold, had fallen on to the ground before ark. They took and set him in his place again. When they arose early on the following morning, behold, had fallen on to the ground before ark; and the head of and both the palms of his hands were on the threshold. Only torso was intact. Therefore neither the priests of nor any who come into house step on the threshold of in to this day. But hand was heavy on the people of , and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even and its borders. When the men of saw that it was so, they said, "The ark of the of Israel shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on our ." They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the , and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the of Israel?" They answered, "Let the ark of the of Israel be carried over to ." They carried the ark of the of Israel there. It was so, that after they had carried it there, hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent ark to . As ark came to , the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought the ark of the of Israel here to us, to kill us and our people." They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the , and they said, "Send the ark of the of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people." For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of was very heavy there. The men who didn't were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to .
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.