1 Kings 11:25

And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Beside the mischief that Hadad did.—The expression, as it stands, is curiously abrupt in its recurrence to Hadad. But the text is doubtful. (See Note on 1Kings 11:21-22.) If the general reading of the LXX. be taken, the substitution of Edom for Syria (Aram) (it involves but slight change in the Hebrew) must be accepted; if the explanation of Josephus is correct, then the reading of the text must stand.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 11:25. He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon — This, perhaps, is not to be understood of the whole reign of Solomon, which for the most part was peaceable, but of all the days which remained of his life, from the time that his wives publicly exercised their idolatry, unto the day of his death. Or, it may mean, that he was a secret enemy all that time, and when Solomon had forsaken God, he showed himself openly. Besides the mischief that Hadad did — This infelicity was added to the former; while Hadad molested him in the south, Rezon threatened him in the north. But what hurt could Hadad or Rezon have done to so powerful a king as Solomon, if he had not by sin made himself mean and weak? If God be on our side, we need not fear the greatest adversary; but if he be against us, he can make us fear the least; yea, the grasshopper shall be a burden. And reigned over Syria — Over all that part of Syria, enlarging his empire the more, and thereby laying a foundation for much misery to Solomon’s kingdom.

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

And (they) reigned - A very slight emendation gives the sense, "they made him king at Damascus."

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

He was a secret enemy, watching all occasions to do them mischief cunningly and privately all that time; and when Solomon had forsaken God, and was forsaken by God, he showed himself more openly and maliciously.

Beside the mischief that Hadad did; so the sense is, this infelicity was added to the former concerning Hadad, mentioned above, 1 Kings 11:14, &c. Whilst Hadad molested him in the south, Rezon threatened him in the north. But some understand this of Hadadezer, who is here called Hadad, by way of abbreviation, (which is not unusual in proper Hebrew names, as is well known,) and that for, or because of, (for the Hebrew particle eth is sometimes put for el, which oft signifies for, or because of, as Hebricians know,) the evil which befell Hadad, or Hadadezer, i.e. he bore a grudge against the Israelites from and ever since the slaughter that Joab made in Hadadezer’s army, whereof he was a member, although he also took that occasion of making a defection from his master.

Reigned over Syria; over all that part of Syria, enlarging his empire more and more, and thereby laying a foundation for much misery to Solomon’s house and kingdom.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon,.... Not all the days of his life, see 1 Kings 5:4, but all his days, from his first going into idolatry, to the end of his life:

beside the mischief that Hadad did; and which, whatever it was, was not done till this time; for either, when he got leave from Pharaoh to go into his country, he lay hid there, waiting an opportunity to seize upon it; or by means of Pharaoh he got himself to be king of it, through the permission of Solomon, paying a tribute to him; but when Solomon was grown old, he revolted and refused to pay it, and rebelled against him, and gave him much trouble:

and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria; not Hadad, but Rezon; he had an aversion to them, was a thorn in their side, and gave them much trouble, as well as had them in contempt, and bid them defiance, having made himself not only master of Damascus, but of all Syria.

Geneva Study Bible

And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. all the days of Solomon] Probably Rezon was able to establish himself in Damascus even before the death of David. For some time he would be obliged to collect his strength to be ready for future attacks on Israel, but he may well have been a source of anxiety to Solomon from the first. Damascus was near enough, and a band of men such as those who supported Rezon would make a constant thorn for Solomon’s side, even though they attempted no regular warfare.

beside the mischief that Hadad did] This sentence can only be thus translated. There is a similar rendering of the like Hebrew ואת in 1 Kings 11:1 ‘together with’ the daughter of Pharaoh (marg. R.V. ‘besides’). But it is very questionable whether this can be so rendered. The LXX. (Vat.) which omits 23, 24, and great part of the present verse renders as if, for ואת, they had read זאת = this. See the LXX. variations above, in note on 1 Kings 11:22. These make the whole passage refer not to Rezon but to Hadad, and in consequence the word Syria, ארם, i.e. Aram, is changed into אדם, Edom, and it is certain that we do expect to hear more of the mischief which Hadad wrought. All we are told is that he got permission to come back to Edom. But we hear no word of any armament or invasion by him.

and he abhorred Israel] Though he had deserted Hadadezer this was no reason why he should side with the Israelitish invaders. They had driven him and his troop into the wilderness and no harm which he could work upon them would be left undone. This is just the sort of opponent who might worry Solomon for a long time without being deemed serious, but who might before the end of Solomon’s reign, in the period of that king’s unwise yielding to his wives, become really a dangerous adversary. With Hadad in the south and Rezon on the north, each growing daily stronger, the crippling of Solomon’s power was effectually begun.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon [We are not compelled, however, to believe that his reign lasted "all the days of Solomon." This last expression is to be taken with considerable latitude. It is an Orientalism. At the time of 1 Kings 5:4, neither Hadad nor Rezon was giving Solomon any trouble], beside the mischief which Hadad did [Heb. omits did. The construction of the Hebrew (see Ewald, 277d (2), 292b, note) is difficult. Literally, and with the evil which Hadad," etc. (comp. ver. 1 of this chapter, "and with the daughter," etc., with Exodus 1:14, Hebrews) The LXX. reconstructs the text, making the following words, "and he abhorred," etc., apply to Hadad; and altering Syria (ארם) into Eden (אסם) to suit. But it is far better to understand עָשה (with our Authorized Version); i.e., beside the mischief which Hadad did (or, "beside the mischief of Hadad," Ewald). "And he (Rezon) abhorred," etc. Hadad's enmity has already been described (vers. 17-22), and the historian has passed on to the case of Rezon. It is extremely unlikely that he should now suddenly recur exclusively to Hadad. It is very natural for him, on the other hand, in his account of Rezon, to remind us that all this was in addition to the mischief wrought by Hadad]: and he abhorred [Heb. loathed] Israel, and reigned over Syria. 1 Kings 11:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A second adversary of Solomon was Rezon, the son of Eliadah (for the name see at 1 Kings 15:18), who had fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and who became the captain of a warlike troop (גּדוּד), when David smote them (אתם), i.e., the troops of his lord (2 Samuel 8:3-4). Rezon probably fled from his lord for some reason which is not assigned, when the latter was engaged in war with David, before his complete overthrow, and collected together a company from the fugitives, with which he afterwards marched to Damascus, and having taken possession of that city, made himself king over it. This probably did not take place till towards the close of David's reign, or even after his death, though it was at the very beginning of Solomon's reign; for "he became an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon (i.e., during the whole of his reign), and that with (beside) the mischief which Hadad did, and he abhorred Israel (i.e., became disgusted with the Israelitish rule), and became king over Aram." הדד אשׁר is an abbreviated expression, to which עשׂה may easily be supplied, as it has been by the lxx (vid., Ewald, 292, b., Anm.). It is impossible to gather from these few words in what the mischief done by Hadad to Solomon consisted.

(Note: What Josephus (Ant. viii. 7, 6) relates concerning an alliance between Hadad and Rezon for the purpose of making hostile attacks upon Israel, is merely an inference drawn from the text of the lxx, and utterly worthless.)

Rezon, on the other hand, really obtained possession of the rule over Damascus. Whether at the beginning or not till the end of Solomon's reign cannot be determined, since all that is clearly stated is that he was Solomon's adversary during the whole of his reign, and attempted to revolt from him from the very beginning. If, however, he made himself king of Damascus in the earliest years of his reign, he cannot have maintained his sway very long, since Solomon afterwards built or fortified Tadmor in the desert, which he could not have done if he had not been lord over Damascus, as the caravan road from Gilead to Tadmor (Palmyra) went past Damascus.

(Note: Compare Ewald, Gesch. iii. p. 276. It is true that more could be inferred from 2 Chronicles 8:3, if the conquest of the city of Hamath by Solomon were really recorded in that passage, as Bertheau supposes. But although על הזק is used to signify the conquest of tribes or countries, we cannot infer the conquest of the city of Hamath from the words, "Solomon went to Hamath Zobah עליה ויּחזק and built Tadmor," etc., since all that עליה יחזק distinctly expresses is the establishment of his power over the land of Hamath Zobah. And this Solomon could have done by placing fortifications in that province, because he was afraid of rebellion, even if Hamath Zobah had not actually fallen away from his power.)