1 Kings 11:14

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14-25) The events recorded in this section belong, at least in part, to the early years of the reign of Solomon. when the deaths of the warlike David and Joab, and the accession of a mere youth of avowedly peaceful character, may have naturally encouraged insurrection against the dominion of Israel. They are, no doubt, referred to in this place in connection with the prophecy just recorded, and the notice of Jeroboam’s earlier career which it suggests. But it is implied in the case of Hadad, as it is expressly declared in the case of Rezon, that their resistance continued through all Solomon’s reign. They were not, therefore, crushed, even in the days of his greatness, although then probably reduced to practical insignificance; they seem to have become formidable again during his declining years.

(14) Hadad the Edomite.—The name (or rather, title) Hadad (with the kindred names Hadar, Hadadezer or Hadarezer, and Benhadad) is most frequently found as a designation of the kings of Syria. Here, however, as also in Genesis 36:35, 1Chronicles 1:46; 1Chronicles 1:50, it is given to members of the royal family of Edom. According to ancient authorities, it is a Syriac title of the sun—in this respect like the more celebrated title Pharaoh—assumed by the king, either as indicating descent from the sun-god, or simply as an appellation of splendour and majesty. The Hadad here mentioned seems to have been the last scion of the royal house, escaping alone, as a child, from the slaughter of his kindred and people.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 11:14. The Lord stirred up an adversary to Solomon — All his glory, and riches, and human wisdom availed nothing to preserve his kingdom entire to his posterity, when he turned away from keeping God’s covenant, and fell into idolatry. Hadad the Edomite — A young prince of the royal family of Idumea, who fled into Egypt when David conquered that country; and, finding favour with the king, settled there.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:14-25 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The writer has reserved for this place the various troubles of Solomon's reign, not allowing them to interrupt his previous narrative. He has, consequently, not followed chronological order. Hadad's 1 Kings 11:23 and Rezon's opposition belong to the early years of Solomon's reign.

Hadad was a royal title (perhaps, the Syriac name for "the Sun") both in Syria and in Idumaea (compare Genesis 36:35; 1 Chronicles 1:51).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ki 11:14-40. Solomon's Adversaries.

14-25. the Lord stirred up an adversary—that is, permitted him, through the impulse of his own ambition, or revenge, to attack Israel. During the war of extermination, which Joab carried on in Edom (2Sa 8:13), this Hadad, of the royal family, a mere boy when rescued from the sword of the ruthless conqueror, was carried into Egypt, hospitably entertained, and became allied with the house of the Egyptian king. In after years, the thought of his native land and his lost kingdom taking possession of his mind, he, on learning the death of David and Joab, renounced the ease, possessions, and glory of his Egyptian residence, to return to Edom and attempt the recovery of his ancestral throne. The movements of this prince seem to have given much annoyance to the Hebrew government; but as he was defeated by the numerous and strong garrisons planted throughout the Edomite territory, Hadad seems to have offered his services to Rezon, another of Solomon's adversaries (1Ki 11:23-25). This man, who had been general of Hadadezer and, on the defeat of that great king, had successfully withdrawn a large force, went into the wilderness, led a predatory life, like Jephthah, David, and others, on the borders of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Then, having acquired great power, he at length became king in Damascus, threw off the yoke, and was "the adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon." He was succeeded by Hadad, whose successors took the official title of Ben-hadad from him, the illustrious founder of the powerful kingdom of Damascene-Syria. These hostile neighbors, who had been long kept in check by the traditional fame of David's victories, took courage; and breaking out towards the latter end of Solomon's reign, they must have not only disturbed his kingdom by their inroads, but greatly crippled his revenue by stopping his lucrative traffic with Tadmor and the Euphrates.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite,.... Though he did not take his kingdom from him for his sin, he chastised him with the rod of men, as he said he would; suffering one, and then another, to rise up and disturb his peace in his old age, see 2 Samuel 7:14.

he was of the king's seed in Edom; of the blood royal.

Geneva Study Bible

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

(h) Of the king of Edom's stock.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14–22. Hadad the Edomite raised up as an adversary to Solomon (Not in Chronicles)

14. And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon] In David’s time Edom had been reduced, but in the later days of Solomon, when his heart was turned away, an opportunity is offered for the representative of Edom to seek to recover his kingdom. This was not unnatural, for the conduct of Solomon may be presumed to have estranged some of his own subjects. The writer, regarding Jehovah as ruler of the world, speaks of this occurrence as brought about by Him. He raised up the adversary. The Hebrew word for ‘adversary’ is here ‘Satan,’ which the LXX. merely transliterates καὶ ἤγειρε κύριος Σατὰν τῷ Σαλωμών.

Hadad the Edomite] Hadad was apparently a common name among the Edomite royal family. We find it (Genesis 36:36) among the list of early Edomite kings, and three verses later, Hadar, is probably (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:50) a mistake of the scribe for Hadad.

he was of the king’s seed] And, from his action, apparently the heir to the throne. This perhaps accounts for the friendly reception which he found in Egypt. His father had most likely been slain when David attacked Edom.

The LXX. (Vat.) inserts in this verse a notice of Rezon, spoken of in 1 Kings 11:23-25 below. The name is given as Ἐσρὼμ, and the notice is more brief than in the Hebrew text, and 1 Kings 11:23-25 are omitted from the LXX. in consequence.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad [in ver. 17 written Adad, אֲדַד. Apparently this, like Pharaoh, was a title rather than a name. And, like Pharaoh, it is said to mean the sun. It was borne by a king of Edom in very early times, Genesis 25:15; Genesis 36:35, 39 (in the latter verse, as in Genesis 25:15, Hadar is probably a clerical error for Hadad, as the name stands in 1 Chronicles 1:30, 50, ד and ר being so very much alike. Gesenius, however, contends that Hadar is the true reading), and was also a favourite name with the kings of Syria, especially in the forms Benhadad, Hadadezer] the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom. 1 Kings 11:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Solomon's Opponents. - Although the punishment with which Solomon was threatened for his apostasy was not to be inflicted till after his death, the Lord raised up several adversaries even during his lifetime, who endangered the peace of his kingdom, and were to serve as constant reminders that he owed his throne and his peaceable rule over the whole of the kingdom inherited from his father solely to the mercy, the fidelity, and the long-suffering of God. - The rising up of Hadad and Rezon took place even before the commencement of Solomon's idolatry, but it is brought by יהוה ויּקם (1 Kings 11:14) into logical connection with the punishment with which he is threatened in consequence of that idolatry, because it was not till a later period that it produced any perceptible effect upon his government, yet it ought from the very first to have preserved him from self-security.

1 Kings 11:14-22

The first adversary was Hadad the Edomite, a man of royal birth. The name הדד (אדד in 1 Kings 11:17, according to an interchange of ה and א which is by no means rare) was also borne by a prae-Mosaic king of Edom (Genesis 36:35), from which we may see that it was not an uncommon name in the royal family of the Edomites. But the conjecture of Ewald and Thenius, that our Hadad was a grandson of Hadar, the last of the kings mentioned there, is quite a groundless one, since it rests upon the false assumption that Hadar (called Hadad in the Chronicles by mistake) reigned in the time of David (see the Comm. on Genesis 36:31.). הוּא before בּאדום stands in the place of the relative אשׁר: "of royal seed he equals who was of the royal seed in Edom" (cf. Ewald, 332, a.).