¹⁴Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary. ¹⁵Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom. ¹⁶Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.

¹⁷But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.) ¹⁸They set out from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land. ¹⁹Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him his wife’s sister in marriage—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰She bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons.

²¹When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my own country.”

²²“Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.”

²³God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as Solomon’s adversary. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, ²⁴and had become the leader of a gang of rebels. After David conquered Hadadezer, Rezon and his men fled to Damascus, where he became king. ²⁵Rezon was Israel’s bitter adversary for the rest of Solomon’s reign, and he made trouble, just as Hadad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and continued to reign in Aram.

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