World English Bible · The united kingdom
2 Samuel 8
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After this, struck the and subdued them; and took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the . He defeated , and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to , and one full line to keep alive. The became servants to , and brought tribute. also struck the son of , king of , as he went to recover his at . took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. hamstrung the chariot horses, but reserved enough of them for one hundred chariots. When of came to help king of , struck twenty two thousand men of . Then put garrisons in of ; and became servants to , and brought tribute. gave victory to wherever he went. took the shields of gold that were on the servants of , and brought them to . From Betah and from Berothai, cities of , King took a great quantity of bronze. When king of heard that had struck of , then sent his son to King to greet him and to him, because he had fought against and struck him; for had wars with . brought with him vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. King also dedicated these to , with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued— of , of , of , of the , of , and of the plunder of , son of , king of . earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of in the Valley of Salt. He put garrisons in . Throughout all , he put garrisons, and all the became servants to . gave victory to wherever he went. reigned over all Israel; and executed justice and for all his people. the son of was over the army, the son of was recorder, the son of and the son of were priests, was , the son of was over the and the ; and sons were chief ministers.
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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.