Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (36): The Lord Rebukes Solomon (I Kings 11:11-25) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. In His Anger
II. Through Hadad in Edom
III. Through Rezon in Damascus
Psalm singing: 99:1-7; 31:1-6; 38:1-7; 39:4-11 (see below for the words to the Psalms)
Scripture reading: I Kings 11:9-25

Philip Ryken: “Why does the Bible take the trouble to tell us this story [in I Kings 11:14-22], which at first may seem somewhat tangential to the story of King Solomon? To be sure, Hadad’s revenge is one of the tragic consequences of Solomon’s sin. From this time forward, the opposition of the Edomites would cause trouble for Israel. The story also shows how futile it was for Israel to make an alliance with Egypt. During the same time period that Pharaoh was selling chariots to Solomon and offering the hand of his daughter in marriage, he was harboring Israel’s enemies. All this is true. But why does the Bible tell this story in so much detail? To answer this question, it is important to notice how similar Hadad’s story sounds to the story of Israel in Egypt. A nation sojourns in Egypt, where it is given bread to eat and a place to live, and where some of its sons become princes. At the end of this sojourn, the leader of that nation asks Pharaoh to let his people go—a request that he refuses at first but eventually grants. Does any of this sound familiar? The story of Hadad follows the main plot line of the exodus, in which Moses and the children of Israel escaped from Egypt and returned to the Promised Land. Except that everything in Hadad’s story is backwards. The nation coming out of Egypt is not Israel but Edom. This turnabout is God’s doing—not for Israel’s benefit but to Israel’s detriment. The Bible plainly states that the Lord raised up Hadad as an adversary against Solomon (v. 14). The broader point is that this is what happens when our hearts turn away from the Lord: his hand goes against us, and we suffer the consequences for our sin” (King Solomon: The Temptations of Money, Sex, and Power, pp. 194-195).

Psalm 99:1-7
1 TH’ eternal Lord doth reign as king,
let all the people quake;
He sits between the cherubims,
let th’ earth be mov’d and shake
2 The Lord in Sion great and high
above all people is;
3 Thy great and dreadful name (for it
is holy) let them bless.
4 The king’s strength also judgment loves
thou settlest equity:
Just judgment thou dost execute
in Jacob righteously.
5 The Lord our God exalt on high,
and rev’rently do ye
Before his footstool worship him :
the Holy One is he.
6 Moses and Aaron ’mong his priests,
Samuel, with them that call
Upon his name: these call’d on God,
and he them answer’d all.
7 Within the pillar of the cloud
he unto them did speak :
The testimonies he them taught,
and laws, they did not break.

Psalm 31:1-6
1 IN thee, 0 Lord, I put my trust,
sham’d let me never be;
According to thy righteousness
do thou deliver me.
2 Bow down thine ear to me, with speed
send me deliverance:
To save me, my strong rock be thou,
and my house of defence.
3 Because thou art my rock, and thee
I for my fortress take;
Therefore do thou me lead and guide,
ev’n for thine own name’s sake.
4 And sith thou art my strength, therefore
pull me out of the net,
Which they in subtilty for me
so privily have set.
5 Into thine hands I do commit
my sp’rit: for thou art he,
0 thou, JEHOVAH, God of truth,
that hast redeemed me.
6 Those that do lying vanities
regard, I have abhorr’d :
But as for me, my confidence
is fixed on the Lord.

Psalm 38:1-7
1 IN thy great indignation,
O Lord, rebuke me not;
Nor on me lay thy chast’ning hand,
in thy displeasure hot.
2 For in me fast thine arrows stick,
thine hand doth press me sore:
3 And in my flesh there is no health,
nor soundness any more.
This grief I have, because thy wrath
is forth against me gone;
And in my bones there is no rest,
for sin that I have done.
4 Because gone up above mine head
my great transgressions be;
And, as a weighty burden, they
too heavy are for me.
5 My wounds do stink, and are corrupt;
my folly makes it so.
6 I troubled am, and much bow’d down;
all day I mourning go.
7 For a disease that loathsome is
so fills my loins with pain,
That in my weak and weary flesh
no soundness doth remain.

Psalm 39:4-11
4 Mine end, and measure of my days,
O Lord, unto me show
What is the same; that I thereby
my frailty well may know.
5 Lo, thou my days an handbreadth mad’st,
mine age is in thine eye
As nothing: sure each man at best
is wholly vanity.
6 Sure each man walks in a vain show;
they vex themselves in vain:
He heaps up wealth, and doth not know
to whom it shall pertain.
7 And now, 0 Lord, what wait I for?
my hope is fix’d on thee.
8 Free me from all my trespasses,
the fool’s scorn make not me.
9 Dumb was I, op’ning not my mouth,
because this work was thine.
10 Thy stroke take from me ; by the blow
of thine hand I do pine.
11 When with rebukes thou dost correct
man for iniquity,
Thou wastes his beauty like a moth :
sure each man’s vanity.