What Does 1 Kings 11:23 Mean in the King James?

And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:

1 Kings 11:23 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Hebrew says God “raised” an adversary to stand against the ruler, placing opposition within divine agency.

THE MEANING

This verse places a hard claim before you now: opposition can be real and personal, yet still within God’s agency. Rezon has fled his lord, and God raises him as an adversary against that lord. The line names this agency without explaining the purpose of the opposition.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that the presence of an adversary means God has lost control; here, God is named as the one who raises him.

THE ROOT

שָׂטָן

satan

GROWS FROM

שׂטן

To oppose or act as an adversary.

“adversary” in this verse is satan. Here satan names Rezon’s role: one who stands against, not a supernatural being. A related form, sitnah, means accusation or hostility, showing that this opposition carries active resistance rather than mere irritation.

ALSO GROWS

satan: An adversary or accuser.

שָׂטָן

The word identifies Rezon as a human opponent.

sitnah: Accusation or hostility.

שִׂטְנָה

This branch shows the root’s sense of opposition extending into active hostility.

וַיָּקֶם

wayyaqem

GROWS FROM

קום

To rise or stand; in a causative form, to raise or establish.

The verb rendered “stirred up” comes from qum, “rise” or “stand.” Hebrew pictures God making an adversary stand against the ruler; the English can sound like inner agitation, while the root highlights a force set in opposition.

ALSO GROWS

qum: To rise or stand.

קוּם

The adversary’s role is made concrete as one who stands against another.

heqim: To raise or establish; to make stand.

הֵקִים

This causative form makes clear that the verse presents God as raising the adversary into that role.

THE PATTERN

Human opposition remains within divine agency, sometimes raised as a counterforce and sometimes bounded in its reach.

Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:

2 Chronicles 21:16 · KJVAs here, the LORD is named as the one who stirs a hostile force against a ruler.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 1:12 · KJVThe adversary acts within a boundary the LORD sets, so opposition does not become an independent power.

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Acts 2:23 · KJVThe verse holds wicked human action together with God’s foreknown purpose without making the actors innocent.

THE THREAD

And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom.

1 Kings 11:14 · KJV

The same root ⁨קום⁩ (qum, “rise or stand”) and the same noun ⁨שָׂטָן⁩ (satan, “adversary”) describe Hadad just before this verse. “Another” now lands as a second counterforce raised against Solomon.

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