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.
Hadad was an Edomite prince who fled to Egypt as a child, and Pharaoh treated him like family. Two questions press: why does Egypt welcome an enemy of David's house, and why do we hear of it only now?
Who Hadad Was
He was royalty in exile, kept alive far from home:
Morrish Bible DictionaryAn Edomite of the royal family. As a child he was taken to Egypt. Pharaoh later gave him his sister-in-law as his wife. When David died, he returned to his own country. God stirred him up, and he became an enemy who did harm to Solomon.
Where the World's Favour Goes
Egypt does for the king's enemy what it never does for the king's house. And under all that comfort, something stayed alive:
H. L. RossierHadad had fled to Egypt. Pharaoh's court had welcomed him, he had become Pharaoh's brother-in-law, and his son had grown 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 delights 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, and the conduct of believers, whether more or less blameworthy, only serves as an excuse for this hatred.
Edom, Egypt, and God's Purpose
The verse names an Edomite and the house of Pharaoh. One writer reads both as pictures, and says why God let such a man rise:
Leslie M. GrantTo speak to Solomon's conscience the Lord raised up adversaries against him. They could not dethrone Solomon, but were thorns in his side to cause unrest among the people... Hadad gained favour with Pharaoh king of Egypt, so much so that Pharaoh gave him his own wife's sister in marriage. Edom pictures the flesh while Egypt symbolises the world. The world will always be friendly with the flesh, and Hadad was well off in Egypt.
The Alliance That Turned
Now Egypt arranges a marriage for the king's adversary. The nations that once counted Solomon's friendship an honour have changed sides:
H. L. RossierThe king's unfaithfulness would also bring the Lord's discipline down on himself during the last years of his reign. Peace, the fruit that marked this reign, is destroyed. Solomon goes through a period full of troubles, rebellions, and plots against his throne. Nations such as Egypt, who in earlier times had counted an alliance with him an honour, now feed his worst enemies, raise them to honour, and support them.
God's Timing, and God's Discipline
Nothing here is accident. God kept that boy alive for a purpose, and the story of him waits until Solomon's fall:
William KellyGod is wise, and He kept that young prince to be a sting to king Solomon. There is a little comfort for us in that. In fact I may say it is almost the only comfort in the whole story of king Solomon — that God chastised him. He did not simply let the fruit of his evil, the results of his folly, show up in his family. He chastised Solomon himself, in his own lifetime. This is His way with His own people... Those whom God passes over despite their evil are plainly waiting to be condemned with the world. But those who are guilty and whom He deals with now are the objects of His fatherly care.
The Warning for Us
The same pattern shows up in anyone who courts the world's goodwill:
H. L. RossierThe world is like Hadad and Rezon. As long as we keep the place toward it that the cross of Christ gives us the right to take — the cross by which the world is crucified to us and we to the world (Galatians 6:14) — as long as we treat the world as a defeated enemy (John 16:33), it does not make a move. But make an alliance with it, and it cannot forget its defeat. It may keep up an appearance of indifference, but it hates us just as much.
Summary
- Cause. Solomon's heart turned away, so God raised up adversaries to speak to his conscience.
- Shelter. Hadad came from Edom's royal family. Egypt took him in as a child, because the world gives its sympathies to David's enemy, not to David.
- Favour. Marriage into Pharaoh's family gave him wealth and standing. One thing in his heart outweighed it all: hatred of Solomon.
- Timing. Scripture tells the story only at the point of Solomon's fall. God kept that young prince to be a sting, and chastised the king in his own lifetime.
- Result. Chastening is the mark of God's fatherly care, not condemnation. And the world stays quiet only while we treat it as a defeated enemy; ally with it, and it never forgets its defeat.