The tribal system was broken; the effective basis of social obligation was no longer Yahweh’s covenant, but the state. And this meant inevitably that in daily affairs covenant law lost much of its relevance. More than that, the framework of tribal society had been sprung. Onto Israel’s traditionally agrarian and pastoral society an imposing commercial and industrial superstructure had been grafted. She was no longer merely a nation of small farmers. Solomon’s projects drew hundreds from the country