And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he [was] of the king's seed in Edom.

Ver. 14. And the Lord stirred up an adversary to Solomon.] So that we may say of him, as Pliny a did of Metellus, qui infelix dici non debet, felix non potest, since

Ante obitum felix supremaque funera nemo.

Now God is said to have stirred up Solomon's adversaries, not by infusing this malice into them, but as using it to punish his wickedness by them; even as a workman worketh by tools that another made; and by crooked tools oft maketh straight and smooth work.

a Lib. vii. cap. 47.

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