Here we see Solomon’s continued downfall – he loved many foreign women (v1). He already had a wife in the daughter of Pharaoh but now went for women of the nations who were prohibited to the Israelites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.”
This was not being racial, but for a vitally important reason, “Surely, they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” It proved to be true, “Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.” (v2,3)
We have two problems here, firstly, these women worshiped foreign gods, and secondly, he disobeyed God’s instructions of one man, one woman. Solomon had great wisdom, but he lacked wisdom in his relationships. He was not perfect, he had wisdom to make choices, but God expected him to exercise the right choices. Maybe he thought it was not so important, or he was an exception. Maybe he thought that love would overcome anything.
In my lifetime I’ve known friends who thought that they could win over their girlfriend or even wives, but sadly it rarely works that way. It didn’t with Solomon, he was led astray, away from worshiping the One True God. Romance became more important than his love for the LORD – ‘He clung to them in love’. How important it is for us to get our priorities right.
It is almost impossible to believe that he had seven hundred wives, princesses and three hundred concubines. His wives were classed as princesses. His concubines did not have the same standing as wives, they were mistresses. How could he have coped with so many? He certainly couldn’t give them all his full attention or love. This wasn’t love but lust. Little wonder that God’s plan is for one man, one woman.
Many of his predecessors had a concubine (legal mistress) – Abraham, Jacob, Caleb, Saul, David, but I was clear that such did not receive God’s blessing. Solomon followed his father David’s example, who had many wives and concubines (2 Samuel 5:13-16).
Solomon’s many wives and concubines exemplified his lust for power and status. Some were daughters of foreign rulers, and this was to appease them, and make peace, and a large harem was a status symbol.
The inevitable happened – “His wives turned away his heart”. He disobeyed God’s command to kings in Israel even though they didn’t have one at the time, in Deuteronomy 17:17 “Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away.” Whilst he was a powerful king and could have wiped out any idols. He could have controlled his wives, but he was careless and allowed them to sway him away from God. Maybe it seemed harmless at first, sin often does, his heart was turned away. Maybe he was strong at first and then he dabbled, pandering to his wives, perhaps in the guise of love, but eventually things changed. “For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.” (v4)
One might have expected that age would make Solomon wiser, but it seemed to be the opposite.
We then have some specifics laid out for us – He went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Milcom , described as the abomination of the Ammonites, he built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and Molech the abomination of Ammon, and all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. (v5-8).
David had 15 wives according to 1 Chronicles 3:1-9, not quite so many as his son had but his heart was loyal to the LORD unlike Solomon.
We need to be careful of dabbling in sin of any kind. We might be able to remain loyal to God but maybe lethal to someone else thus our sin could lead another to stumble (Romans14 and 1 Corinthians 8:9-13).
It may seem strange that a man of Solomon’s standing should stoop to these levels, but he did and even to the most evil gods of the pagans. These are referred to elsewhere, particularly Molech to whom children were sacrificed (see Leviticus 18:21) in Leviticus 20:1-5 we read, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.’” Molech was also often referred to as Baal, who is probably the best-known idol, and we shall come across him later.
Solomon was privileged, the LORD appeared to him twice, but he disdained his privilege and didn’t remain loyal the LORD. Accordingly, the LORD became angry with Solomon (v9). He disobeyed the LORD’S command that he should not go after foreign gods (v10). God judges those who disobey, and Solomon was no exception. His punishment was far reaching – “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.” (v11-13)
Shortly before his death, David had reminded Solomon of God’s promise to give the whole kingdom forever if they were obedient (ch 2:4). So, it didn’t take very long for Solomon to disobey. Despite his great wealth, power and wisdom, all given to him by God, Israel was dependent upon God and obedience and loyalty to God was required.
God was gracious and merciful in that He told him that the kingdom would not be overcome in his lifetime but in the lifetime of his son and even then, he would allow him to retain one tribe, and that was for the sake of David, his father, and Jerusalem. The southern kingdom was made up of two tribes, Benjamin and Judah, but God referred to it as one tribe.
God raised up adversaries against Solomon, one was Hadad the Edomite, a descendant of the king of Edom (v14). You may recall that these were descendants of Esau.
In 2 Samuel 8:13,14 we read that David’s fame spread from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt and he put garrisons throughout Edom and all the Edomites became David’s servants. We are told that he killed every male in Edom. Hadad and some of his father’s servants had to flee for their lives and went to Egypt (v14-22). Hadad was still a child at that time and Pharaoh accepted them, gave Hadad a house and provided food and land for them.
Hadad obviously grew up there and he found favour with Pharaoh who gave him a wife, his own sister-in-law. We are not told her name apart from she was the sister of Queen Tahpenes. His wife bore a son Genubath, and Tahpenes weaned him in her own house. Genubath was counted among Pharaoh’s sons. Hadad heard that David had died and Joab who was responsible for the slaughter in Edom, he wanted revenge and asked Pharaoh’s permission to go to his own country. Pharaoh was somewhat sad that Hadad asked to leave and wanted to know the reason. Hadad assured Pharaoh that wasn’t anything which he had or had not done, he simply wanted to go home.
We are not told what Hadad did against Solomon, simply that he was an adversary.
The second adversary was Rezon, son of Eliadah, who had fled from Hadadezar king of Zobah when David had killed those of Zobah. He became captain over a band of raiders and went and ruled over Damascus. He hated Israel and reigned over Syria. He too was an adversary of Solomon (v23-25). Rezon was from the north and Hadad from the south. However, Solomon had another adversary, this one from inside (v26-28). A rebellion came from Jeroboam, his servant, a fellow Israelite, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, his mother’s name was Zeruah who was a widow.
We are told the reason for his rebellion – Solomon building the Millo and repairing the damages to the City of David (see chapter 9). He was industrious and Solomon had made him the officer over the forced labour, and also a mighty man which made him more dangerous. We are not told why this really caused Jeroboam to rebel, but traditions say it was because he objected to the oppressive forced labour.
Jeroboam left Jerusalem and the way was met by the prophet Ahijah. One of them was wearing a new garment and Ahijah tore it into twelve pieces when they alone in a field. He spoke a prophecy to Jeroboam, which was that ten pieces would be his in fulfilment of the LORD’S word that He would tear the kingdom from Solomon and Jeroboam would have ten tribes, leaving one tribe (see v11-13). The one tribe was retained because of David and Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, in faithfulness to His promise to David. (v29-36)
The ten tribes were punished because they had turned to foreign gods and failed to follow the True God as did Solomon’s father David. But God had made the promise,” However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you; ten tribes. And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.” (v34-36)
This was God’s judgment upon Solomon because he followed other gods. Consequently, God made this promise to Jeroboam, giving him a great privilege to reign over Israel and give him his heart’s desires. Jeroboam was to be king over the ten tribes as prophesied by Ahijah (v30,31,35) after the death of Solomon, and give the one tribe to his son. However, Jeroboam (v37-40) was told that if he walked in God’s ways and did right in God’s sight, keeping His commandments as David had done, God would build for him an enduring house (v38). This was an amazing offer by God. God had kept His promise to David and He would keep His promise to Jeroboam if he followed the LORD, but sadly he went his own way. Solomon sought to kill him, so he went to Egypt to King Shishak and stayed until the death of Solomon.
Solomon thought he could defeat God’s will and promised by killing Jeroboam, but he couldn’t. God had told him what would happen if he continued his idolatry and disobedience, and his choice was straight forward, but he had departed so far from God, he resorted to murder to try to remove the apparent threat.
Solomon’s end was a far cry from his early days when he was close to God. He reigned over Israel for forty years (v41-43) and on his death he was buried in the City of David his father. We read that the rest of his acts are written in his book which is considered to be Ecclesiastes and which some believe he wrote at the end of his life, possibly acknowledging his decline. There is, however, no evidence that he repented.
He did not have a particularly long life as some believe he was twenty years old when he became king. He had been promised a lengthening of days if he obeyed God and walked in His ways (1 Kings 3:14). He certainly packed a lot into those forty years, but it was certainly not all good.
We are simply told that he died, was buried, and his son Rehoboam, reigned in his place.
