World English Bible · The united kingdom

Psalms 62

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. To . A Psalm by . rests in alone. My is from him. He alone is , my , and my . I will never be greatly shaken. How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They with their , but they inwardly. . , wait in silence for alone, for my is from him. He alone is and my , my . I will not be shaken. My and my is with . of my strength, and my refuge, is in . in him at all times, you people. Pour out before him. is a refuge for us. . Surely men of low degree are a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Don't in . Don't become in robbery. If riches increase, don't set on them. has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that belongs to . Also to you, , belongs , for you reward every man according to his work.

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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.
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