TEXT [Commentary]

E. Solomon’s Improper Priorities and Their Aftermath (1 Kgs 11:1-43)

1. Solomon’s many wives (11:1-13)

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD.

4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech,[*] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done.

7 On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem,[*] he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

9 The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the LORD’s command. 11 So now the LORD said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”

NOTES

11:1 Pharaoh’s daughter. See the first note on 3:1.

11:2 Intermarriage with foreigners was strictly forbidden (Deut 7:1-4), for they would lead the Israelites away from the exclusive worship of Yahweh that the Torah insists upon (Exod 20:3; Deut 5:7; 6:4-9). Even more to the point here, in the “law of the king” (see Deut 17:17a), there is a clear limitation placed on the size of the king’s harem for the same reason.

11:3 700 wives . . . 300 concubines. Presumably round numbers; obviously very large in size (and perhaps grandiose or even grotesque), but certainly not meant to be understood as totally beyond the realm of possibility (cf. Montgomery 1951:234-235 and Wiseman 1993:135 for Egyptian and Persian parallels).

11:5 Ashtoreth . . . Molech. Ashtoreth (Astarte, Babylonian Ishtar) was one of the consorts of Baal, the Canaanite storm god, possibly vocalized here to rhyme with the Hebrew word for “shame” (bosheth [TH1322, ZH1425]); “Molech” here is literally “Milcom” (cf. NLT mg), but the name Molech does appear in 11:7, where it probably stands for “Milcom,” the Ammonite deity. Cogan and Tadmor (1988:287-288), however, argue that the term “Molech” in 2 Kgs 23:10 is to be distinguished from the Ammonite deity Milcom (1 Kgs 11:33). “Molech” (= “king” [Semitic root, m-l-k]?) would then be understood in more general terms as the deity to whom child sacrifice was to be offered.

11:7 Chemosh. This was the chief god of the Moabites, attested on the ninth-century Mesha Inscription (also known as the Moabite Stone).

11:9 who had appeared to him twice. See the first note on 9:2.

11:13 for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city. This softens the punishment somewhat, despite Solomon’s reprehensible promotion of the cults of these false gods. As noted in the “Major Themes” section of the Introduction, there is repeated, positive emphasis throughout 1–2 Kings both on the “one place of worship” and on the “lamp of David” as eternal aspects of God’s covenant with Israel and Judah. Even Solomon’s sins did not entirely void that covenant (cf. 2 Sam 7:12-16).

COMMENTARY [Text]

First horses, then wives and concubines (a concubine is basically a secondary wife, often a slave-wife). Thousands of each! (I exaggerate, but apparently only modestly, concerning the quantity of the wives and concubines.) Solomon did everything to excess, and that certainly was the case for the number of his wives. In the commentary on 7:13-51, I argue that at times extravagant excess may be appropriate for the people of God, but Solomon’s huge harem does not fit into that category. Egyptian and Persian kings also had large harems, but surely Solomon tried to outdo them all.

Paul reminds us that we are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14), and that is very often and very rightly applied to our choice of marriage partners. Solomon, ironically, had less freedom in this regard than we do today, since his wives often represented the result of ongoing diplomatic alliances (especially the daughter of the pharaoh); but still, his clear choices and priorities in this area, while understandable to ancient Near Eastern culture, were far from what the Torah had commanded. And that, above all else, led to Solomon’s downfall, and nearly to the downfall of the entire land of Israel. This was not necessarily outright apostasy (a conscious forsaking of the faith), but still it was syncretism or religious compromise. In 11:4 he is designated as not being “completely faithful to the LORD his God,” and in 11:6, he is described as refusing “to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done.” Modern readers of these ancient texts will surely recognize that many formerly strong believers have walked down this path: a little compromise here, a little there, satisfying cultural expectations, glorying in God-given wealth and privilege, but ending up dooming themselves, and, alas, dooming many others as well. Even the wise King Solomon was not exempt from this sad fate; how much less any of us today?