The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 230

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XI. 14---43. was in Edom. According to 1 Chron. xviii. 12, Abishai slew 18,000 Edomites while SOLOMON'S ADVEBSARIES.- As the his- Pea. Ix. (title) represents Joab as 'having torian he.a collected together in ohs. vi., slain 12,000 at the same time and place. vii., viii. e.ll the in.formation he ce.n con- The t~o b~otherswere both in high command, or Ab1sha1 may have been detailed by J oab to vey respecting the temple, e.nd in ohs. ix., this service], and Joab the captain of the x. all the sce.ttered notices respecting Solo- host was gone up to bury the slam [The mon's power e.nd greatness, so here he commentators generally a.re agreed that arranges in one section the history of these a.re the !ere.elites slain by the Edomitee Solomon's adversaries. It must not be sup- during an invasion of Israel, and not either the Edomitee or Israelites slain in the valley posed the.t the following records stand in of Se.It], after he b.a.d smitten [rather, that due chronological order. The enmities here he smote. This is the apodosis] every male 1D mentioned did not date from the deli- Edom. [This is, of course, hyperbolical (cf. very of the message of which we he.ve just "all Israel" below). It is clear that the heard ; on the contrary, the hatred e.nd oppo- whole Edomite nation did not perish. The words point to a. terrible slaughter (of. 1 sition of He.dad e.nd Rezon began at e.n ee.rly Chron. xviii. 13) among the men of we.r. period, though not the earliest (eh. v. 4), of Possibly the cruelties of the Edomites (com- Solomon's reign. It we.s only in his later ps.re Psa. cxxxvii. 7; Obad. 10-14) had pro- life, however, the.t they me.terie.lly affected voked this a.et of retribution, as to which see his position e.nd rule ; hence it is the.t they Deut. xx. 13.] Ver. 16.-For six months did Joab remain a.re brought before us at this stage of the there with all Israel [i.e., the entire anny, history, e.nd e.lso bees.use they a.re manifestly ae in eh. xvi. 16, 17] , until he had cut off regarded e.s chastisements for Solomon's every male 1n Edom. sin. Ver. 17.-That H::.dad fled [This word Ver. 14.-And the Lord stirred up an excludes the idea that he we.s carried off in adversary unto Solomon, Hadad [In ver. 17 infancy by servants, something like J cash, written Ada.d, 1J~. Apparently this, like 2 Kings xi. 2] , he and certain Edom.ites of Phare.oh, was o. title rather the.n e. name. his father's servants with him, to go into And, like Phare.oh, it is so.id to mee.n the sun. Egypt [cf. Mo.tt. ii. 13] ; Hadad being yet It we.s borne by a king of Edom in very a little child. [The words used of Solomon early times, Gen. xxv. 15; xxxvi. 35, 39 (in eh. iii. 7.] the latter verse, o.s in eh. xxv. 15, He.do.r is Ver. 1B.-And they arose out of Midian probably a clerical error for Hadad, o.s the [e. no.me of wide e.nd somewho.t varied sig- ne.me stands in 1 Chron. i. 30, 60, i o.nd nificance. Midie.n embraces the eastern por- i being so very much alike. Gesenius, tion of the peninsula of Sinai (Exotl. ii. 15, however, contends the.t Ho.de.r is the true 21 ; iii. 1), and stretches a.long the eastern reo.ding), and we.s e.lso e. favourite no.me bortler of Pal~stine. The term bas been com- with the kings of Syria., especially in the pared with our" Arabia." And the in,lefinitc- forms Benhadad, Hade.dezer] the Edomite: ness a.rises in both insta.nces from the same he was of the king's seed 1n Edom. cause, viz., that the country was a.lmost en- Ver. 15.-For lt came to pass, when David tirely desert. Midian would thusextentl a.long was 1n Edom [2 So.m. viii. 14. But the text the back or ee.st of Edom. There is no ueetl, is peculiar. Instead of "in Edom" we ho.ve consequently (with Thenius), to read !illr.;> " with Edom," c,~-n~. unless we take n~ i.e., their dwelling. It iii noticea.ble, how- to bethemo.rkof the accusative, which how- ever, that the LXX. reads Ire r,k 1roX,w!.' ever, there is no verb to govern. Keil.inter- Mafoiµ, o.nd somo of the geographers do prets, "When David had to do with Edom." mention a cit.y of that name on the eastern Biihr refers to 1 Chron. xx. 5, o.nd Gen. xix. shore of tho Elanitic gulf] , and came to 4, but they are not strictly paro.llcl, and it is Paran [Elsewhere Mount P,mm, Hab. i,i. 3; possible the.t the text is slightly corrupt, e.s Deut. xxx.i.ii. 2; a desert and mountainous the LXX., Syr., and Ara.b. must have he.d tract lying between Ara.bill Pctnca., P,iles- nl:li1J instead of nl'i1J beforo them" when tinc, and Idumma (see Nmu. x. 12; xiii. David smote Edom.'' The LXX., e.g., reo.ds 3, 27; 1 Sam. xxv. 1; Dent. i. 1), and iv rt;, lI;o>.o0pEvacu. re. r. >.. It was only vica- . comprehending the desert of Et Tih. It is riously, ht'wever, tho.t David smote Edom, or difficult to identiiy it with greater precision,  284 THE FIRST BOOR OF KINGS. [os. XI, 14-48-