CHAPTER 11

(984 B.C.)

SOLOMONS WIVES AND IDOLATRY

¹But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites (we have already heard of the multiplication of silver and gold [10:14-25], in defiance of Deuteronomy 17:17, and of the multiplication of horses [10:27-29], in disregard of Deuteronomy 17:16; we now read how the ruin of this great prince was completed by the multiplication of wives, and heathen wives at that);

²Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the Children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love (to disobey the Word of God is to invite disaster).

³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. (Why? Past Blessings from God, even though of tremendous import at the time, will not suffice for todays journey. There must ever be fresh revelations. Due to Solomons backsliding, there were no fresh revelations.

The great gift of wisdom did not deter Solomons transgression. Such cannot take the place of a constant day-by-day walk of holiness and humility before the Lord.

As well, pride played its part, and probably the biggest part.

All of this shows us that Believers do not fare too very well in a life of blessings only. These tend to take their eyes off of God, and onto themselves.)

⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. (Self-righteousness could never understand this statement, especially due to the fact of the horrid sin of David with Bath-sheba and then the murder of her husband, Uriah. David failed in many other areas, as well; however, his heart was perfect toward God, because he always took these terrible sins to God [Ps. 51]; moreover, David suffered terribly for these sins, which is always the case with sin.)

⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (The words and served them should be added. There is no sadder picture in the Bible than that of Solomons fall. His extraordinary gift of wisdom did not save him from disobedience to the Law of God. His neglect of that Law, and his loss of the fellowship of God which gives power to it, opened the door wide to the entrance of every form of evil. Had he clung to the Sacred Scriptures, how bright would have been his life! He was probably about 50 years of age when he apostatized.)

⁶And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. (David was always held up as the example, because, as stated, he always turned to the Lord. The ironical thing was, Solomon continued to worship the Lord, at least after a fashion, while at the same time worshipping idols. How so indicative of the modern Church!)

⁷Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem (the Mount of Olivet), and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon (with some of these, human sacrifice was offered up, most of the time that of little children; however, we have no record of Jewish children being sacrificed to idols before the time of Ahaz, which was a little over 200 years after Solomon).

⁸And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

GODS JUDGMENT ON SOLOMON

⁹And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, (there is a special Hebrew verb used in the Bible for to be angry; it is only used of Divine anger; it occurs fourteen times; here, and in five other passages, a form of the verb is used expressing the forcing of oneself to be angry with a person who is loved; in other words, the Lord, because of His Nature, and despite Solomons spiritual declension, had to force Himself to be angry with Solomon; He loved him that much!)

¹⁰And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded (the idea is: the Lord dealt with him over and over again about this matter).

¹¹Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of you, and you have not kept My Covenant and My Statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. (This message was probably delivered by the Prophet Ahijah. Even though the Lord appeared in a dream to Solomon twice, there is no record that there was a third appearance.)

¹²Notwithstanding in your days I will not do it for David your fathers sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. (The threatening had two gracious and merciful limitations: 1. The blow would not fall until after his death [I Ki. 21:29]; and, 2. The disruption should be but partial.)

¹³Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one Tribe to your son for David My servants sake, and for Jerusalems sake which I have chosen. (This was probably one Tribe other than Judah, which was Benjamin. As well, the Tribe of Simeon, which was within the boundaries of the Tribe of Judah, also would be in this small group. It could be said that the Tribe of Levi was a part of the group, as well, although they had no certain boundaries, but was rather scattered over Israel. This would take place under Rehoboam, Solomons son.)

SOLOMONS ADVERSARIES

¹⁴And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the kings seed in Edom (functioning outside of the Will of God pulls down the hedge that is around every Believer; in some rare cases, as with Job, it can be pulled down by the Lord through no fault of the individual; however, that is rare [Job, Chpts. 1-2]).

¹⁵For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the dead, after he had smitten every male in Edom;

¹⁶(For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom [possibly the cruelties of the Edomites had provoked this act of retribution (Ps. 137:7; Obad., Vss. 10-14)]:)

¹⁷That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his fathers servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child.

¹⁸And 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; who gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land (his relations with the royal family of Egypt were so extremely intimate, it is believed, that he may have been fed from the royal table).

¹⁹And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, and sister of Tahpenes the queen (this was probably during the time of David).

²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaohs house: and Genubath was in Pharaohs household among the sons of Pharaoh.

²¹And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.

²²Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what have you lacked with me, that, behold, you seek to go to your own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise.

ANOTHER ADVERSARY

²³And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:

²⁴And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David killed them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus.

²⁵And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria. (David subdued Syria [II Sam., Chpt. 8]. Solomon, weakened by sin, lost it.

It is to be understood that Hadad joined Rezon, and, on the death or disappearance of that chieftain, became king of Syria and founder of the Dynasty afterward known as Ben-hadad, and which brought such suffering upon Israel. The sin of today ensures the suffering of tomorrow, for Solomons conduct originated Ben-hadad.)

JEROBOAM

²⁶And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomons servant, whose mothers name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king. (All of this was permitted by the Lord, because of Solomons sin. Had the Word of God been obeyed, all of this would have been avoided.)

²⁷And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.

²⁸And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. (Spence says concerning this: The Tribe of Ephraim, with its constant envy of Judah, must have been mortified to find themselves employed though it was but in the modified service of Israelites on the fortifications of Jerusalem. Their murmurings revealed to Jeroboam the unpopularity of Solomon, and perhaps suggested thoughts of overt rebellion to his mind.)

²⁹And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the Prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field (Ahijah the Prophet; the Prophet Nathan was no doubt by now dead):

³⁰And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:

³¹And he said to Jeroboam, Take you ten pieces: for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten Tribes to you:

³²(But he shall have one Tribe for my servant Davids sake [one Tribe other than Judah, which would be Benjamin], and for Jerusalems sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the Tribes of Israel [the Tribe of Benjamin incorporated Jerusalem on the northern side, while the Tribe of Judah incorporated Jerusalem on the southern side]:)

³³Because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My Ways, to do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My Statutes and My Judgments, as did David his father. (More than likely, this same Prophet had delivered this same message to Solomon some time earlier, but evidently to no avail!)

³⁴Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servants sake, whom I chose, because he kept My Commandments and My Statutes (this doesnt mean that David was perfect in his life, for, as is overly obvious, he wasnt; it does mean that whatever the problem, sin or otherwise, David ultimately took it to the Lord; as well, David was untouched by idolatry):

³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his sons hand, and will give it unto you, even ten Tribes.

³⁶And unto his son will I give one Tribe (one Tribe other than Judah, which was Benjamin), that David My servant may have a light alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen Me to put My Name there (the idea is not so much that of a home, but rather a family issue Davids family, through whom the Messiah would come).

³⁷And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel.

³⁸And it shall be, if you will hearken unto all that I command you, and will walk in My Ways, and do that is right in My sight, to keep My Statutes and My Commandments, as David My servant did; that I will be with you, and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto you. (Observe, however, there was no promise to Jeroboam, as there was to David, of an enduring kingdom. It was not Gods design to take away the kingdom from David in perpetuity.)

³⁹And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever (it will be brought back in the coming Kingdom Age [Acts 15:16]).

⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. (It has been assumed that Solomon did this because of this Prophecy; however, there is no record that Solomon ever heard of the Prophecy. It is believed that Jeroboam, not willing to wait for the Lord to work out the situation, sought to bring about an insurrection almost immediately; consequently, he incurred the wrath of Solomon. His rebellion is the more inexcusable because Ahijah had expressly stated that Solomon was to retain the kingdom during his lifetime.)

THE DEATH OF SOLOMON

⁴¹And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? (The sources of this history are mentioned more specifically in II Chronicles 9:29 Pulpit.)

⁴²And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. (The first three kings of Israel, Saul, David, and now Solomon, each reigned forty years.)

⁴³And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. (So far as appears, his only son. Verse 42 presents the last statement made by the Holy Spirit about Solomon personally. The next fact records his death. Did he repent at the end? The Scripture doesnt say. We can only hope that the writer of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon definitely did make his way back to God. There is some small evidence that he did, which we will address in II Chronicles.)