1 Kings 11:1

1 Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. 1

1 Kings 11:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 11:1

But King Solomon loved many strange women
His love was a lustful and not a lawful one, and of women who were not only of foreign countries, but not his lawful wives, and these many:

together with the daughter of Pharaoh;
besides her, or as he loved her, and perhaps more; his sin was not that he loved her who was his lawful wife, but others with her; it is very probable she was a proselytess, and had no hand in turning him to idolatry, since we read not of any high place built for an Egyptian idol:

women of the Moabites, Anmonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
all of the neighbouring nations. Some think he did this with political views, to get intelligence of the state of those countries, or to abate and extinguish their enmity; but it rather seems to be the fruit of lust or pride.

1 Kings 11:1 In-Context

1 Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon.
2 He married them even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods.
3 Solomon married seven hundred princesses and also had three hundred concubines. They made him turn away from God,
4 and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.
5 He worshiped Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 11.1Deuteronomy 17.17.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.