1 Kings 11:5

5 Solomon took up with Ashtoreth, the whore goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites.

1 Kings 11:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 11:5

And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,
&c.] Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, ( 1 Kings 11:1 ) . According to the Phoenician histories ^F9, Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre and Zidon; so Clemens of Alexandria says ^F11, that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon; Ashtoreth is Astarte, the same with the Venus of the Greeks, so Suidas ^F12; and Lucian ^F13 expressly says, the Sidonians had a temple, said by them to belong to Astarte, which he takes to be the moon; and both Venus and Juno signify the same planet; (See Gill on Judges 2:13)

and after Milcom the abomination of the Amnonites;
the same with Molech, ( 1 Kings 11:7 ) . (See Gill on Leviticus 18:21). (See Gill on Amos 1:13). After this he was drawn by his Ammonitish wife, or wives, ( 1 Kings 11:1 ) , though the Jewish writers think he did not worship these idols, but suffered his wives to do it, and connived at it, which was his sin; so Ben Gersom and Abarbinel.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Apud Tatian. contr. Graecos, p. 171.
F11 Stromat. l. 1. p. 325.
F12 In voce (Astarth) .
F13 De Dea Syria.

1 Kings 11:5 In-Context

3 He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines - a thousand women in all! And they did seduce him away from God.

4 As Solomon grew older, his wives beguiled him with their alien gods and he became unfaithful - he didn't stay true to his God as his father David had done.

5 Solomon took up with Ashtoreth, the whore goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites.

6 Solomon openly defied God; he did not follow in his father David's footsteps.

7 He went on to build a sacred shrine to Chemosh, the horrible god of Moab, and to Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites, on a hill just east of Jerusalem.