King James Version · The united kingdom
2 Samuel 24
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And again the of was kindled against Israel, and he moved against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer–sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. And said unto the king, Now thy add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my the king may see it: but why doth my the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against , and against the captains of the host. And and the captains of the host went out from the of the king, to number the people of Israel. And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in , on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward : Then they came to , and to the land of Tahtim–hodshi; and they came to Dan–jaan, and about to Zidon, And came to the strong hold of , and to all the cities of the , and of : and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer–sheba. 8So when they had gone through all the land, they came to at the end of nine months and twenty days. And gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew ; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. And ’s smote him after that he had numbered the people. And said unto , I have greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O , take away the of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. For when was up in the morning, unto the Gad, ’s , saying, Go and say unto , Thus saith , I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to , and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine , while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of ; for his are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there of the people from Dan even to Beer–sheba seventy thousand men. And when stretched out his hand upon to destroy it, him of the evil, and said to that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And was by the threshingplace of the . And spake unto when he saw that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have , and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I thee, be against me, and against ’s house. And Gad came that day to , and said unto him, Go up, rear an unto in the threshingfloor of the . And , according to the saying of Gad, went up as commanded. And looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and went out, and bowed himself before the king on upon the ground. And said, Wherefore is my the king come to his servant? And said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an unto , that the plague may be stayed from the people. And said unto , Let my the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt , and instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did , as a king, give unto the king. And said unto the king, thy accept thee. And the king said unto , Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer unto my of that which doth cost me nothing. So bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty of silver. And built there an unto , and offered and . So was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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.