1 Kings 11:14-25

Living Bible

¹⁴ So the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to grow in power. And Solomon became apprehensive, for Hadad was a member of the royal family of Edom. ¹⁵ Years before, when David had been in Edom with Joab to arrange for the burial of some Israeli soldiers who had died in battle, the Israeli army had killed nearly every male in the entire country. ^16-18 It took six months to accomplish this, but they finally killed all except Hadad and a few royal officials who took him to Egypt (he was a very small child at the time). They slipped out of Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them and accompanied them to Egypt, and Pharaoh had given them homes and food.

¹⁹ Hadad became one of Pharaoh’s closest friends, and he gave him a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ She presented him with a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons. ²¹ When Hadad, there in Egypt, heard that David and Joab were both dead, he asked Pharaoh for permission to return to Edom.

²² “Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you?”

“Everything is wonderful,” he replied, “but even so, I’d like to go back home.”

²³ Another of Solomon’s enemies whom God raised to power was Rezon, one of the officials of King Hadadezer of Zobah who had deserted his post and fled the country. ²⁴ He had become the leader of a gang of bandits—men who fled with him to Damascus (where he later became king) when David destroyed Zobah. ²⁵ During Solomon’s entire lifetime, Rezon and Hadad were his enemies, for they hated Israel intensely.