But Hadad fled to Egypt, together with certain Edomites of his father's servants, Hadad still being a little child.
A boy from Edom's royal family escapes a slaughter and grows up safe in Egypt. Scripture tells us this only now, when Solomon's heart has turned away — and that timing says something about how God deals with His own.
A Child Kept in Reserve
Hadad's escape looks like an accident of war. One writer sees God's hand in it, and finds a strange comfort there.
William KellyGod is wise, and He kept that young prince to be a sting to king Solomon. But this gives us a little comfort. In fact, I may say it is almost the only comfort we have in the record of king Solomon: God chastised him. He did not merely let the fruit of his evil, the results of his folly, show in his family. He chastised Solomon himself during his own lifetime. This is His way with His own people. In some cases it is almost the only hope you have that a person is a child of God: God does not let the evil pass. He deals with it now, in this world. Those God passes over despite their evil are clearly waiting to be condemned with the world. But when God deals with the guilty now, they are the objects of His fatherly care.
Silent Until the Fall
Hadad escaped years before this chapter. Why does his story appear only now?
William KellyGod made him a source of trouble to Solomon. When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had died, he came forward. But God does not say a word about that until Solomon's failure. Then Hadad appears in a clear and definite way to be a scourge for the guilty king.
Trouble from the Place of the Sin
Solomon had looked outside Israel for his pleasures. The trouble now comes from the same place.
Frederick W. GrantSolomon kept company with foreigners. His heart went astray. Enemies now rise from the very places he had used to please himself (1 Kings 11). A man's own plans and stubborn choices always come back to him with a harvest of results. If only he would hear the Voice speaking in them, that harvest would bring him down before God, owning his own helplessness and sin. There he would receive the lifting up that God always gives to those who humble themselves under His mighty hand.
Egypt's Welcome
The boy grew up in Pharaoh's house and married into the royal family. One thing still pulled harder.
H. L. RossierHadad had fled to Egypt. Pharaoh's court welcomed him, he became Pharaoh's brother-in-law, and his son grew up among the heirs to the throne. Where do the sympathies and favours of the world go? Not to David, but to David's enemy. One feeling in Hadad's heart speaks louder than all the honours and pleasures of Egypt's court: hatred, hatred against Solomon. He gives up all his advantages to satisfy this hatred… Underneath it all, the world always hates the Lord's anointed. The behaviour of believers, better or worse, only gives that hatred an excuse.
Two Pictures: Edom and Egypt
The two nations in this verse also carry a picture.
Leslie M. GrantEdom pictures the flesh while Egypt symbolizes the world. The world will always be friendly with the flesh, and Hadad was well off in Egypt.
Peace Lost
Peace was the mark of Solomon's reign. The discipline strikes that very thing.
H. L. RossierPeace was the fruit that marked this reign, and it is destroyed. Solomon goes through a time full of troubles, revolts, and plots against his throne. Nations such as Egypt once counted an alliance with him an honour. Now they feed his worst enemies, raise them to honour, and support them.
What to Do When an Enemy Rises
What should a believer do when opposition comes? Solomon shows the wrong answer.
W. W. FeredayWhen enemies rise up against us, our first appeal should be to God, asking why He has permitted it. The enemies themselves may have no thought of God. Even so, they may be His instruments to discipline His people… Hadad and Rezon seem to have caused trouble for many years. Solomon could have crushed them, but in his greatness and majesty he seems to have despised them.
Summary
- Kept — a wise God preserved the little child who slipped away to Egypt, holding him in reserve as a sting for a king who had not yet sinned.
- Timed — Scripture holds Hadad's story back until Solomon's heart turns. God brings the trouble forward at the hour of failure, not before.
- Matched — the enemy rises from the very place Solomon had used to please himself. Our own choices come back to us as a harvest.
- Sheltered — Egypt honoured David's enemy, not David's son. The world hates the Lord's anointed, and a believer's faults only give that hatred its excuse.
- Fatherly — discipline now is not condemnation but proof that you are God's child. Ask Him why He has allowed it, instead of brushing the trouble aside as Solomon did.