1 Kings 11:9-43--The LORD Raises Adversaries

1 Kings 11:9-43
English Standard Version

The LORD Raises Adversaries
9 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 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. 11 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. 12 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. 13 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.”

14 And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom. 15 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 16 (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom). 17 But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 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.” 22 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.”

23 God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 And he gathered men about him and became leader of a marauding band, after the killing by David. And they went to Damascus and lived there and made him king in Damascus. 25 He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loathed Israel and reigned over Syria.

26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. 27 And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. 28 The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. 29 And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. 30 Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes 32 (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33 because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. 34 Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. 36 Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name. 37 And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. 38 And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” 40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
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41 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

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The LORD is angry with Solomon that he turned to other gods in violation of the Law and the special warnings that the LORD had given him both times He had appeared to Solomon to speak to him and renew the Davidic covenant with him.  The LORD says that Solomon has made this his habit and proven that the kingdom needs to be taken away from him, but for the sake of King David, the LORD will instead do this to Solomon's son and will not do it while Solomon is on the throne.  However, the LORD says that he surely will divide the kingdom and make most of the tribes follow after someone else--only one tribe is guaranteed to stay allied with the kings that come from David's and Solomon's line (it will be the tribe of Benjamin that will be a part of the southern kingdom of Judah along with the tribe of Judah and the faithful Levites that do not turn to be ministers to the false gods).

The the LORD raided up the Edomites (the descendants of Esau) as an adversary to Israel, for Joab had struck down every male in Edom while he and David were there for six months, but this man, Hadad, who was the ruler of Edom escaped with his life for the LORD had more for him to do.  Part of that plan was for him to judge Solomon for his wickedness.  This animosity between Israel and Edom is not going to go away and Edom will continue to try to give Israel over to its enemies and celebrate their defeats and will even help capture Israelites and for the opposing nations and will catch any Israelites who would have escaped from them and turn them back over (sometimes for a profit).

We see that when David and Joab attacked Edom that Hadad and those entrusted to take care of him (for he was a little child at the time) escaped to Egypt, and now Pharaoh had made Hadad to be a puppet-king and had made Edom to be an extension of the Egyptian empire, loyal to Pharaoh.

And the LORD also raised up a band of marauders to be adversaries to King Solomon as well.  Their leader was Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah (See 2 Samuel 8).  They went to Damascus to live and he was made king of Damascus.  That may not sound important to you right away, but Damascus was formerly under the control of the Hiram, who was a close ally with Solomon.  This had given Solomon peace to his north, but now there is an enemy living on his southeast (Edom) and another enemy to his north.  It's also probably fair to say since Egypt and Edom were allies that he likely also has an enemy in Egypt to his south and that his supply of chariots and horses has likely been cut off.

The LORD did not take long to fulfill his words of judgement to Solomon.  Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king.  He will be the one who will lead the ten northern tribes into rebellion and idolatry and be the first of a line of evil kings that have no right to the throne of Israel (they will not be descended from David).  All the northern tribes will fight one another for power and they will follow the principle of "might makes right."  We see more specifically from the text that the LORD was going to give 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel to Jeroboam when he ripped the kingdom away from Solomon and his heirs.

The LORD even promised to be with Jeroboam and give him the same kinds of blessings that would have come from the Abrahamic and Davidic covenant if he would obey the Law (essentially the same offer was made to him that was made to Solomon).  However the LORD was clear that He would not afflict the household of David forever and that He still had a plan for them (Messiah was still to come from the house of David).  Because of this, Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam and Jeroboam fled to Egypt for safety.  So we see that Egypt who we thought had once been eliminated as an empire after the plagues is now back with the king of Egypt acting as a king-maker and having influence and control over Edom and now possibly over the northern 10 tribes of Israel.

The book of Kings is now going to shift from focusing on Solomon to focusing on Rehoboam (Solomon's Son).  Apparently there was a separate book (non-Scriptural) that the author of the book of Kings tells the readers that if they want to continue to read more about the end of Solomon's reign and how he went from bad to worse, they can read all about it in "The Book of the Acts of Solomon."  However, the time to tell his story has clearly come to an end.  There is a final statement that Solomon reigned over all of Israel for 40 years (just like King Saul and King David did) and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father David.  Then Solomon's son Rehoboam reigned in his place, though he did not have the wisdom that the LORD had given to Solomon and he did not have the example of a good father like Solomon had with David.  Rehoboam will have some wise advisors that will try to steer him in the right direction, but Rehoboam will prefer instead to listen to the foolish counsel of his peers and will reject the wisdom of the elders.  We'll read more about that next time.