World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 2
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I said in , "Come now, I will you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was . I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" I searched in how to cheer my with , yet guiding me with , and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under all the days of their lives. I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown. I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in . I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in . My also remained with me. Whatever my eyes , I didn't keep from them. I didn't withhold from any joy, for rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my from all my labor. Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun. I turned myself to consider , madness, and folly; for what can the king's successor do? that which has been done long ago. Then I saw that excels folly, as far as excels . man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks —and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. Then I said in , "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more ?" Then I said in that this also is . For of man, even as of the fool, there is no memory , since in the all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, man must like the fool! So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is and a chasing after wind. I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. Who knows whether he will be a man or a fool? Yet he will have all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself under the sun. This also is . Therefore I began to cause to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with , with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his to a man who has not labored for it. This also is and a great evil. For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of , in which he labors under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night takes no rest. This also is . There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of . For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For to the man who pleases him, gives , knowledge, and joy; but to the he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases . This also is and a chasing after wind.
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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.