Hadad the Edomite

"Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"


---------------------/ Hadad the Edomite: A Promise Never Forgotten – The Thoughts Of Hadad The Edomite Before Requesting A Return to Israel (Formerly Edom)


A vow is a vow
even
when a coterie of highly respected trembling men
(friends of my father) kick sand in my eye, stinging
overcome with fear as blood stains portend paths we
should avoid
and run for their lives
with a caravan of whimpering and emotionally damaged Edomites
frenetically yanking my arms
flanked by horses, oxen and wailing women
that punctuated the restlessness that pervaded
six months of sporadic slaughter, and a night siege
unannounced, and us all: betrayed by the moon
(for keeping her silence)
a pathos of a boy fated to come and reclaim his sanity
seeking peace, seeking a semblance of justice
and put to rest the psychosis that haunts
the doppelganger that harrows
persistently reminding me of duties I am obliged to
the memories of a childhood lost to incompleteness
and an ethos of self avowed rage
fueled by malcontent and disaffection
that precluded me from completely opening up to my wife
or being gregarious and affable with my children
or allowing myself to get too attached to feelings
due to paranoia of loss
of a night of hell replicated
and a wellspring of tears run dry only after 35 years
and a hatred of politics, despotic kings and insipid
passionless, conviction-less soldiers mindlessly following
mandates, their field chiefs blinded and inebriated with too much hubris
to know the difference between mercy and duty
obligation and honor
respect for the hallowed ground and tombs of the dead
and so I will never forget you Paran, and the security and protection
you provided me in my youth
Tahpenes, for teaching my heart the form and principles of love
compassion
forgiveness, and the gentleness of the human spirit
Genubath you are the one who will rule righteously on foundations
of truth once wickedness is razed
Pharaoh thank you for strengthening me and allowing me to
succor at Egypt's breast, her culture, her wiles and wit
but my soul is in Israel....in Edom
and truthfully never left, once it saw my father fall lifeless
his blood splattered in the melee
his last words forcefully binding me to an oath
to never forget that evening
to come back


1 Kings 11:14-22Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food. Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children. While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return to my own country." "What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?" Pharaoh asked. "Nothing," Hadad replied, "but do let me go!"