World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 4
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Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was ; but they had no comforter. Therefore I praised who have been long more than the living who are yet alive. Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man's neighbor. This also is and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind. Then I returned and saw under the sun. There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. "For whom then do I labor and deprive of enjoyment?" This also is . Yes, it is a miserable business. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn't have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone? If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better is a and youth than an old and foolish king who doesn't know how to receive admonition any more. For out of prison he came out to be king; yes, even in he was born . I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him. There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was—yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely 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.