1 Kings 11:21

_AND HADAD FOUND GREAT FAVOUR IN THE SIGHT OF PHARAOH, SO THAT HE GAVE HIM TO WIFE THE SISTER OF HIS OWN WIFE, THE SISTER OF TAHPENES THE QUEEN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

14-25 While Solomon kept close to God and to his duty, there was no enemy to give him uneasiness; but here we have an account of two. If against us, he can make us fear even the least, and the very grasshopper shall be a burden. Though they were moved by principles of ambition or revenge, God used them to correct Solomon....

That Hadad should wait for the death of Joab before requesting leave to return to Idumaea shows how terrible an impression had been made by the severe measures which that commander had carried out twenty-five or thirty years previously 1 Kings 11:16. The inability of refugees to depart from an Oriental court without the king’s leave, and his unwillingness ordinarily to grant leave, are illustrated by many passages in the history of Persia....

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S ADVERSARIES.—As the historian has collected together in 1 Kings 6:1; 1 Kings 7:1; 1 Kings 8:1, all the information he can convey respecting the _temple, _and in 1 Kings 9:1; 1 Kings 10:1. all the scattered notices respecting Solomon's _power _and _greatness, _so here he arranges in one section the history of Solomon's _adversaries_._ _It must not be supposed that the following records stand in due chronological order. The enmities here mentioned did no

AND WHEN HADAD HEARD IN EGYPT THAT DAVID SLEPT WITH HIS FATHERS,.... Was dead and buried, as the death of princes is soon known in other countries, and especially a king of such fame as David: AND THAT JOAB THE CAPTAIN OF THE HOST WAS DEAD: whose name might be terrible to Hadad, because of the slaughter of men he had made in his country: HADAD SAID UNTO PHARAOH, LET ME DEPART, THAT I MAY GO TO MINE OWN COUNTRY; with a view and an hope to recover it, now David and Joab were dead....

7. SOLOMON'S FAILURE: JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED AND THE BEGINNING OF DISRUPTION CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Solomon's polygamy and departure from God (1 Kings 11:1)_ 2. Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) 3. Rezon the second adversary (1 Kings 11:23) 4. Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26) 5. Solomon's reign and death (1 Kings 11:41) “But--.” An ominous word with which this chapter begins. It introduces us to the sad picture of Solomon's great apostasy. “He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people

SIN OF SOLOMON, AND THE ADVERSARIES RAISED UP IN CONSEQUENCE. From various differences in the arrangement of the earlier verses in the LXX and Heb., it has been supposed that in its original form the narrative merely recorded the fact that Solomon had a number of wives, and that he built sanctuaries and offered sacrifice to their gods. In its present form the influence of a Deuteronomic editor is unmistakable. But the account of Solomon's adversaries (1 Kings 11:14 ff.) must be derived from an earlier source; and even as it stands does not necessarily mean that they were raised up in punishment of his sin. Hadad, the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) must have troubled him early in his reign (1 Kings 11:21 f.), and Rezon wa

SLEPT WITH HIS FATHERS. See note on Deuteronomy 31:16....

_when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers_ Hadad's first attempt to depart from Egypt was therefore soon after Solomon's accession. It is clear however from the history that it was only after some pressure that the Egyptian king allowed him to go. The mischief that he did (see 1 Kings 11:25) would be by stirring up his countrymen to cast off the yoke of the Israelites. We must allow a considerable time for any revolt to be organized, and we are not told that any outbreak really took place, but only that mischief was done through Hadad's agitation. _and that Joab the captain of the host was dead_ Joab's name would be one to spread terror, because of the severity he had displayed toward Edom. (See above, 1 Kings 11:15-16.) Hadad therefore waited to hear of his death al

II. SOLOMON'S TROUBLES 11:14-40 While reading the preceding Chapter s, one has the impression that Solomon enjoyed a reign of uninterrupted peace and splendor. But here at the close of the account of this king the author has gathered all the significant information concerning Solomon's adversaries. Owing to the fact that these accounts stand at the end of his history, many students have jumped to the conclusion that all Solomon's troubles arose at the end of his reign. This conclusion is, however, not justified. The hated opposition of Hadad began at an early period of Solomon's reign. So also, it would seem did the opposition of Rezon. These accounts are placed here because (1) it is the habit of the author to collect into one passage material related to a particular facet of Solomon's reign;[303] (2) it was only in his later life that these adversaries materially affected Solomon's pos...