World English Bible · The united kingdom
2 Samuel 10
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After this, the king of , and Hanun his son reigned in his place. said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of , as his showed kindness to me." So sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his . servants came into the land of . But the princes of said to Hanun their , "Do you think that honors your , in that he has sent comforters to you? Hasn't sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?" So Hanun took servants, shaved off one half of their beards, and their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. When they told this, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly . The king said, "Wait at until your beards have grown, and then return." When saw that they had become odious to , sent and hired of Beth and of , twenty thousand footmen, and the king of with one thousand men, and the men of twelve thousand men. When heard of it, he sent and of the . came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the . of and of and the men of and were by themselves in the field. Now when saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against . 10The rest of the people he committed into the hand of his brother; and he put them in array against . He said, "If are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. Be courageous, and let's be strong for our people and for the cities of our ; and may do what seems good to him." So and the people who were with him came near to the battle against , and they fled before him. 14When saw that had fled, they likewise fled before , and entered into the city. Then returned from and came to . When saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. sent and brought out who were beyond ; and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of at their head. was told that; and he gathered all Israel together, passed over , and came to Helam. set themselves in array against and fought with him. fled before Israel; and killed seven hundred charioteers of and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he there. When all the kings who were servants to saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and them. So were afraid to help any more.
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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.