And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he [was] of the king's seed in Edom.
Ver. 14. And the Lord stirred up an adversary to Solomon.] So that we may say of him, as Pliny a did of Metellus, qui infelix dici non debet, felix non potest, since
“ Ante obitum felix supremaque funera nemo. ”
Now God is said to have stirred up Solomon's adversaries, not by infusing this malice into them, but as using it to punish his wickedness by them; even as a workman worketh by tools that another made; and by crooked tools oft maketh straight and smooth work.
a Lib. vii. cap. 47.