World English Bible · The united kingdom
2 Samuel 17
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Moreover said to , "Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after tonight. I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only, and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace." The saying pleased well, and all the . Then said, "Now call the also, and let's hear likewise what he says." 6When had come to , spoke to him, saying, " has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up." said to , "The that has given this time is not good." said moreover, "You know your and his men, that they are , and they are fierce in their , like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, 'There is a slaughter among the people who follow !' Even he who is valiant, whose is as of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. But I that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to , as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. So we will come on him in some place where he will be found, and we will on him as the falls on the ground, then we will not leave so much as one of him and of all the men who are with him. Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn't one small stone found there." and all the men of Israel said, "The of the is better than the of ." For had ordained to defeat the good of , to the intent that might bring evil on . Then said to and to the priests, " counseled and the that way; and I have counseled this way. Now therefore send quickly, and tell , saying, 'Don't lodge tonight at the fords of , but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.'" Now and were staying by ; and a female servant used to go and report to them, and they went and told King ; for they couldn't risk being seen coming into the city. But a boy saw them, and told . Then they both went away quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. The woman took and spread the covering over the well's , and spread out crushed grain on it; and nothing was known. servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, "Where are and ?" The woman said to them, "They have gone over the brook of water." When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to . After they had departed, they came up out of the well and went and told King ; and they said to , "Arise and pass quickly over the water; for thus has counseled against you." Then arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over . By the morning there lacked not one of them who had not gone over . When saw that his was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home to his city, set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he , and was buried in the of his . Then came to . passed over , he and all the men of Israel with him. set over the army instead of . Now was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the , who went in to the daughter of , sister to , mother. Israel and encamped in the land of . When had come to , Shobi the son of of of , and the son of of Lodebar, and the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, basins, earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grain, beans, lentils, roasted grain, honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for and for the people who were with him to eat; for they said, "The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in ."
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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.