World English Bible · The united kingdom
Psalms 108
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A Song. A Psalm by . is steadfast, . I will sing and I will make music with . Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. I will to you, , among the nations. I will sing to you among the peoples. For your is great above . Your reaches to the skies. Be exalted, , above ! Let your be over all the earth. That your beloved may be , with your , and answer us. has spoken from his sanctuary: "In triumph, I will divide , and measure out the valley of . is mine. is mine. also is my helmet. Judah is my . is my wash pot. I will toss my on . I will shout over ." Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to ? Haven't you rejected us, ? You don't go out, , with our armies. Give us help against , for the help of man is . Through , we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.
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