And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land.
They arose out of Midian. [Thenius, in his 'Commentary,' suggests that instead of Midyaan (H4080) there should be substituted Maa`own, in the Negeb of Palestine, which he supposes might he the temporary residence of the Edomite royal family; and the Septuagint has: ek tees poleoos Madiam.] But there is no reason to suspect the genuineness of the Hebrew text, which gives an intelligible account of the young prince's flight, first among some of the nomadic tribes of that Midian which lay east of Edom (Numbers 22:4; Numbers 22:7; Numbers 25:15-18), its capital, Midian, being situated on the Arnon, or more probably of the Sinaitic Midian (see the notes at Exodus 2:15), whence, finding a safe opportunity, he was conveyed, under the care of a friendly escort, westward to the town of Pharan, in the wilderness of that name (et-Tih), and sought a permanent asylum in Egypt. The reigning monarch belonged to the dynasty of the military pontiffs, and was predecessor of Solomon's father-in-law (Uhelmann 'AEgypt. Alt.,' b. 3:, ch. 2:, sec. 9; Lepsius, 'Kritik der Quellen,' p. 499; Browne's 'Ordo Saeclorum,' sec. 513; Nolan's 'Egyptian Chronology Analyzed'). In later years the thought of his native land and of his lost kingdom taking a strong hold of his mind, Hadad, on learning the death of David and Joab, renounced the ease, possessions, and glory of his Egyptian residence, to return to Edom, and attempt the recovery of his ancestral throne.