The Lord Raises Adversaries

 1 Kings 11:9-22

 

May 24, 2021

 

 The Lord Raises Adversaries

 

And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.   Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.   Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.   However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.    For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he struck down every male in Edom (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom).   But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child.   They set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and assigned him an allowance of food and gave him land.    And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.   And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh.  But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”   But Pharaoh said to him, “What have you lacked with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country?” And he said to him, “Only let me depart.”

My dad was not as forgiving or patient as God was with King Solomon, for he warned Solomon twice before bringing a judgment on the nation of Israel.  Dad only gave you one notice, and the next time was punishment for your bad choices.  And as a dad, I can tell you the last thing a dad should want is for his action to harm his children.  But Solomon did and we will see that he did not have the integrity of his dad David.  Solomon left his sons and the Nation under the judgment of a Holy God, and all the good that he did earlier was lost by his lust for women.

 

The Lord raised up two adversaries against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, and Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.  We will explore how both were used by God to bring judgment.

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice