Solomon and Hadad

¹⁴ So the Lord raised up an opponent for Solomon: Hadad the Edomite from the royal line of Edom. ¹⁵ When David was fighting against Edom, Joab the general had gone up to bury the Israelite dead, and he had killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed there six months, until he had finished off every male in Edom. ¹⁷ While still a youth, Hadad escaped to Egypt along with his father’s Edomite officials. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt and to Pharaoh its king. Pharaoh assigned him a home, food, and land. ¹⁹ Pharaoh was so delighted with Hadad that he gave him one of his wife’s sisters for marriage, a sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ This sister of Tahpenes bore Hadad a son, Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s house. So it was that Genubath was raised in Pharaoh’s house, among Pharaoh’s children. ²¹ While in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had lain down with his ancestors and that Joab the general was also dead. Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go to my homeland.”

²² Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack here with me that would make you want to go back to your homeland?”

Hadad said, “Nothing, but please let me go!”

Solomon and Rezon

²³ God raised up another opponent for Solomon: Rezon, Eliada’s son, who had escaped from Zobah’s King Hadadezer. ²⁴ Rezon recruited men and became leader of a band when David was killing them. They went to Damascus, stayed there, and ruled it. ²⁵ Throughout Solomon’s lifetime, Rezon was Israel’s opponent and added to the problems caused by Hadad. Rezon hated Israel while he ruled as king of Aram.