1 Kings 11:24

_AND HE GATHERED MEN UNTO HIM, AND BECAME CAPTAIN OVER A BAND, WHEN DAVID SLEW THEM OF ZOBAH: AND THEY WENT TO DAMASCUS, AND DWELT THEREIN, AND REIGNED IN DAMASCUS._ 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....

Verse 24. _AND REIGNED IN DAMASCUS._] Rezon was one of the captains of Hadadezer, whom David defeated. It seems that at this time Rezon escaped with his men; and; having lived, as is supposed, some time by plunder, he seized on Damascus, and reigned there till David took Damascus, when he subdued Syria, and drove out Rezon. But after Solomon's defection from God, Rezon, finding that God had departed from Israel, recovered Damascus; and joining with Hadad, harassed Solomon during the remaining part of his reign. But some think that Hadad and Rezon were the same person....

AND (THEY) REIGNED - A very slight emendation gives the sense, “they made him king at Damascus.”...

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 HE GATHERED MEN UNTO HIM,.... Perhaps some of the scattered forces of his master: AND BECAME CAPTAIN OVER A BAND, WHEN DAVID SLEW THEM OF ZOBAH; some that escaped enlisted under this man, and lived by plunder the remainder of David's reign, and so in the reign of Solomon unto his old age, when his heart was turned away from God to idols, by his wives: AND THEY WENT TO DAMASCUS, AND DWELT THEREIN, AND REIGNED IN DAMASCUS; Rezon and his men went thither, not in David's time, for he put a garrison there, 2 Samuel 8:6 but towards the close of Solomon's days, and when Hadad set up in Edom, which gave him the hint to do the same at Damascus, of which he became king, and was the founder of that kingdom; after him there was a long race of kings there....

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

_and he gathered men unto him_ The LXX. (_Alex._) says -men were gathered unto him." This only indicates different vowel points to the same consonants. But the difference in the sense would point to Rezon as one whom his countrymen regarded as a leader. _and became captain over a band_ (R.V. TROOP). The word is mostly used of martial gatherings, and organized forces, and this is the sense here. Rezon gathered, and trained his followers till they were able to dislodge the troops of Israel and establish themselves in Damascus. _when David slew them_of Zobah] The two last words are necessary to complete the sense. It is clear that others beside Rezon fled away. It may have been that Hadadezer was an unpopular king. Out of the fugitives Rezon formed for himself a troop, and awaiting his time, came back and assumed the sovereignty. _and they went_to _Damascus_ i.e. When an opportunity came...

C. THE REBELLION OF REZON 11:23-25 TRANSLATION (23) And God raised up to him an adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from Hadadezer king of Zobah, his lord. (24) And he gathered around him men and became captain of a band, after David slew them (of Zobah); and they fled to Damascus, and dwelled therein, and they ruled over Damas cus. (25) And he became an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the evil which Hadad did; and he loathed Israel and ruled over Aram. COMMENTS The second adversary raised up by God against Solomon was Rezon,[308] an Aramean who established himself in Damascus. It would appear that during the reign of David, Damascus was part of the Aramean kingdom of Zobah. The city fell under Israelite control when David inflicted a crushing defeat on Hadadezer of Zobah (2 Samuel 8:3-12;...