Verse 23
GOD RAISED UP REZON ANOTHER ADVERSARY TO SOLOMON
"And God raised up another adversary unto him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a troop, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria."
The two adversaries of Solomon mentioned in these two paragraphs were external enemies; but the fact of God's "raising them up," means that God would aid them in their designs against the kingdom of Israel. Not only did God raise up and strengthen powerful external enemies, he also raised up and blessed internal enemies also. In God's anger against Solomon, that monarch should have been able to discern that his glory days had vanished.
Ahijah was the prophet who informed Solomon of God's anger and of his intention of rending the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon's son, and the next section explains how that word came to Jeroboam.
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