Nehemiah 13:26

26 I said, "Wasn't it because of marriages like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? There wasn't a king like him among all nations. God loved him, and God made him king of all Israel. But his non-Israelite wives led him to sin.

Nehemiah 13:26 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:26

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
&c.] By marrying strange wives, by whom he was drawn into idolatry, ( 1 Kings 11:3 1 Kings 11:4 ) ,

yet among many nations was there no king like him;
as not for grandeur and riches, so not for wisdom, and yet was ensnared by his idolatrous wives:

who was beloved of God;
alluding to his name Jedidiah, which signifies beloved of the Lord, ( 2 Samuel 12:24 2 Samuel 12:25 )

and God made him king over all Israel;
which was a proof of his love to him, and so he was under the greater obligation to serve him, and him only, and yet his heart, through his wives, was turned after other gods:

even him did outlandish women cause to sin;
and if so great and wise a man was enticed by them to idolatry, much more may you, and therefore it was very dangerous to marry with them.

Nehemiah 13:26 In-Context

24 Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or one of the other languages, but they couldn't understand the language of Judah well enough to speak it.

25 So I reprimanded those Jews, cursed them, beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: "We won't allow our daughters to marry their sons, and we won't allow their daughters to marry us or our sons."

26 I said, "Wasn't it because of marriages like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? There wasn't a king like him among all nations. God loved him, and God made him king of all Israel. But his non-Israelite wives led him to sin.

27 Should we follow your example, commit such a serious crime against our God, and be unfaithful to him by marrying non-Israelite women?"

28 Even one of Joiada's sons was a son-in-law of Sanballat from Beth Horon. (Joiada was the son of the chief priest Eliashib.) I chased Joiada's son away from me.