1 Kings 11:21

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. ¹⁵Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. ¹⁶For Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom. ¹⁷But Hadad, still just a young boy, had fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites who were servants of his father. ¹⁸Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men from Paran with them and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food. ¹⁹There Hadad found such great favor in the sight of Pharaoh that he gave to him in marriage the sister of Queen Tahpenes, his own wife. ²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore Hadad a son named Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh's palace, and Genubath lived there among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, so I may return to my own country."²²But Pharaoh asked him, "What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?" "Nothing," Hadad replied, "but please let me go." ²³And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hadad: 1 Kings 2:10, 1 Kings 2:34, Exodus 4:19, Matthew 2:20

Let me depart: Heb. Send me away, Genesis 45:24, Joshua 2:21, 1 Samuel 9:26, 2 Samuel 3:21

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:40 - slept

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers,.... Was dead and buried, as the death of princes is soon known in other countries, and especially a king of such fame as David:

and that Joab the captain of the host was dead: whose name might be terrible to Hadad, because of the slaughter of men he had made in his country:

Hadad said unto Pharaoh, let me depart, that I may go to mine own country; with a view and an hope to recover it, now David and Joab were dead.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That Hadad should wait for the death of Joab before requesting leave to return to Idumaea shows how terrible an impression had been made by the severe measures which that commander had carried out twenty-five or thirty years previously 1 Kings 11:16. The inability of refugees to depart from an Oriental court without the king’s leave, and his unwillingness ordinarily to grant leave, are illustrated by many passages in the history of Persia.