“Then Adonai raised up an adversary against Shlomo,
Hadad the Edomi, of the royal line of Edom.”
-1 Kings 11:14
Alrighty, lemme remind you what 1st Kings 11 is really all about.
The theme here is God weakens Israel because of Solomon’s idolatry.
That’s really what it boils down to.
Verse 14 details one of the moves God took to get the ball rolling.
He sent an irritating gentile enemy to provoke and then attack Solomon.
This enemy was “Hadad the Edomite.”
He was a fugitive from the land of Edom.
During a war against Edom, David and his military commander Joab soundly trounced the Edomite homies.
And when I say “soundly trounced,” I ain’t kidding.
Go to 2nd Samuel Chapter 8 to read about the destruction David caused.
Bottom line, the Edomite male population was devastated beyond belief.
So, I think you can imagine the long-lasting seeds of bitterness that were sown.
One of those seeds would turn out to be Hadad.
The lad was just a young boy when he and his father fled the chaos.
Their original plans were to escape to Egypt for safety.
But they ended up spending a few years in the Paran wilderness in Midian.
This proved to be advantageous.
It allowed them to build up a small army before heading down to Egypt.
We’ll continue talking about this Hadad homie the next time we meet.
But for now, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
It goes back to what I said earlier about how a nation’s corrupt leadership can and will negatively affect its citizens, no matter how righteous those citizens may be.
Solomon’s idolatry cost him valuable pieces of God-given real estate.
And his citizens lost confidence in him.
Not only that, but this was also the beginning of what would eventually cause the kingdom to split in two.
Remember, disaster, when it finally strikes, may seem like a sudden, cataclysmic event.
But that’s just the surface manifestation.
Behind it lies a series of mishaps that paved the way for the destruction that followed.
So what’s the conclusion of the matter?
Stay away from idolatry, folks!
Ya feel me?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols.“
-1 John 5:21
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