“Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom. For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, after he had killed every male in Edom (because for six months Joab remained there with all Israel, until he had cut down every male in Edom), that Hadad fled to go to Egypt, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him. Hadad was still a little child. Then they arose from Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, apportioned food for him, and gave him land. And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, that is, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. Then the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh. So when Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that suddenly you seek to go to your own country?” So he answered, “Nothing, but do let me go anyway.””
I Kings 11:14-22 NKJV
a. Now the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: Solomon’s reign was glorious, but God did not allow it to be completely without problems. He raised up adversaries like Hadad against Solomon.
i. “When he sent to Hiram to assist him in the building of the temple of the Lord, he could say, There was no Satan[1 Kings 5:4]… but now that he had turned away from God three satans rise up against him at once, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam.” (Clarke)
b. He was a descendant of the king in Edom: Hadad sought to avenge his conquered people. He found refuge and support in Egypt.
c. Let me depart, that I may go to my own country: We are not told specifically how Hadad troubled or was an adversary to Solomon, only that he returned to bother Solomon with the permission of Pharaoh. (Guzik)
Adversary!
Solomon turned from God to other gods so the Lord “raised up adversaries like Hadad against Solomon”. But if you ever studied the Book of Job, God said to Satan on how upright a man Job was, but Satan said it was only because the Lord protected and blessed him. So God gave Satan permission to become Job’s adversary and to test him.
If we are good or bad we can have adversaries raised up against us.
The question is will we be steadfast in our faith during bad times like Job was?
Blessings
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