Did King David and King Solomon of ancient Israel ever reach the same level of power militarily as the Pharaohs of Egypt or the kings of Babylon and Persia?

"Did King David and King Solomon of ancient Israel ever reach the same level of power militarily as the Pharaohs of Egypt or the kings of Babylon and Persia?"

The history of most ancient nations was to conquer distant nations and be conquered.

The great ancient empires in order were:

Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Each one conquered outside their lands and eventually were conquered.

Egypt was the Bank of those times because of its vast wealth and plenteous cash crops. Each nation needed to conquer Egypt first (or soon) to build up their war chest to fund more far flung wars.

Israel didn't operate in the same manner.

There was a time when King David conquered lands inside his prescribed eretz (land of) Israel boundaries and created a dynasty, based on the geographic region as stated by Moses. King Solomon ruled over a dynasty in that region too, but he married into relative shalom (peace). Their wars were more like uprisings within their lands.

Other than conquering and keeping territory that was their natural boundaries, ancient Israel wasn’t interested in invading other nations. They formed alliances via marriages and trade deals with many warring nations. There were wars between Judah, the two and a half tribes in the south and Israel, the ten tribes of the north, but that was confined to the land of Israel. It was a Civil War.

I would say that King David and King Solomon were prominent because of the Bible, and not because they conquered most of the known world, as all of the other empires did.  David and Solomon knew they weren’t supposed to live like the other nations, in lifestyle or wars, so their prominence was diminished in ancient non-biblical accounts.

It’s my feeling that ancient Israel lived in peace when they would love God, keep the Torah and not inter-marry. When ancient Israel sinned, God sent the other nations to war against Israel to cause their repentance.

The other nations had their own gods and lived without Torah, so their military exploits were more prolific. The nations you listed conquered most of the known world during their glory days. Ancient Israel had a higher calling.

Shalom!

https://www.quora.com/Did-King-David-and-King-Solomon-of-ancient-Israel-ever-reach-the-same-level-of-power-militarily-as-the-Pharaohs-of-Egypt-or-the-kings-of-Babylon-and-Persia/answer/Joel-Blackford?prompt_topic_bio=1