1 Kings 11:14-25

International Children’s Bible

Solomon’s Enemies

¹⁴ Now Hadad was a member of the family of the king of Edom. And the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to become Solomon’s enemy. ¹⁵ Earlier, David had defeated Edom. Joab, the commander of David’s army, went into Edom to bury the dead. While he was there, he killed all the males. ¹⁶ Joab and all the Israelites stayed in Edom for six months. During that time they killed every male in Edom. ¹⁷ But at that time Hadad was only a young boy. So he ran away to Egypt with some of his father’s officers. ¹⁸ They left Midian and went to Paran. In Paran other men joined them. Then they all went to Egypt to see the king. He gave Hadad a house, some land and food to eat.

¹⁹ The king liked Hadad so much he gave Hadad a wife. She was the sister of Tahpenes, the king’s wife. ²⁰ They had a son named Genubath. Queen Tahpenes allowed him to grow up in the royal palace. So he grew up with the king’s own children.

²¹ While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had died. He also heard that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad said to the king, “Let me go home. Let me return to my own country.”

²² But the king said, “Why do you want to go back to your own country? What haven’t I given you here?”

Hadad answered, “Nothing. But please, let me go.”

²³ God also caused another man to be an enemy to Solomon. This man was Rezon son of Eliada. Rezon had run away from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴ After David defeated the army of Zobah, Rezon gathered some men. He became the leader of a small army. They went to Damascus and settled there. And Rezon became king of Damascus. ²⁵ Rezon ruled Aram, and he hated Israel. So he was an enemy of Israel all the time Solomon was alive. Rezon and Hadad caused some trouble for Israel.