Scripture Daily

Context No. 4283 of 4322 · 1 Kings

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 11:14-21: in context

14The LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite. He was one of the king’s offspring in Edom. 15For when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom 16(for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom), 17Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt, when Hadad was still a little child. 18They arose out of Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him food, and gave him land. 19Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. 21When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”

After Solomon's heart had turned away from the LORD to other gods, the narrative notes something sobering: the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon. Where once his reign had been peaceful, now enemies arise, stirred up by God himself as a consequence of Solomon's unfaithfulness. The troubles were not random; they were connected to his drift from God.

What stands out is the link between Solomon's spiritual drift and the adversaries that now appear. God, who had blessed and prospered Solomon, now allows and even raises up opposition, not out of caprice, but as discipline meant to arrest his wandering. The loss of peace was tied to the loss of wholehearted devotion; the adversaries were, in part, a summons to return.

Not every trouble is a punishment, but sometimes the difficulties and adversaries that arise in our lives are connected to our own drift from God, and are meant, in his mercy, to draw us back. When new troubles appear after a season of spiritual coldness, it is worth asking whether God is using them to call us home. His discipline is not rejection but the summons of a Father who will not let us drift away unchecked.

When new troubles or adversaries arise after a season of spiritual coldness, do I consider whether God may be using them to call me back from my drift, receiving them not as mere misfortune but as the summons of a Father who will not let me wander away unchecked?

Sources