1 Kings 11:1-22

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
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. 2
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.
6 He sinned against the Lord and was not true to him as his father David had been.
7 On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon.
8 He also built places of worship where all his foreign wives could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.
9 Even though the Lord, the God of Israel, had appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to worship foreign gods, Solomon did not obey the Lord but turned away from him. So the Lord was angry with Solomon
11 and said to him, "Because you have deliberately broken your covenant with me and disobeyed my commands, I promise that I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your officials.
12 However, for the sake of your father David I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the reign of your son.
13 And I will not take the whole kingdom away from him; instead, I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have made my own."
14 So the Lord caused Hadad, of the royal family of Edom, to turn against Solomon.
15 Long before this, when David had conquered Edom, Joab the commander of his army had gone there to bury the dead. He and his men remained in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every male in Edom
17 except Hadad and some of his father's Edomite servants, who escaped to Egypt. (At that time Hadad was just a child.)
18 They left Midian and went to Paran, where some other men joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to the king, who gave Hadad some land and a house and provided him with food.
19 Hadad won the friendship of the king, and the king gave his sister-in-law, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, to Hadad in marriage.
20 She bore him a son, Genubath, who was raised by the queen in the palace, where he lived with the king's sons.
21 When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David had died and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to the king, "Let me go back to my own country."
22 "Why?" the king asked. "Have I failed to give you something? Is that why you want to go back home?" "Just let me go," Hadad answered the king. And he went back to his country. As king of Edom, Hadad was an evil, bitter enemy of Israel.

1 Kings 11:1-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 11

This chapter relates the false steps Solomon took, notwithstanding all his wisdom, in marrying strange wives, and worshipping other gods, 1Ki 11:1-8 upon which the Lord threatens him to rend the kingdom in his son's time, 1Ki 11:9-13 and he raised up adversaries against him, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam, 1Ki 11:14-26 of which last an account is given, and of his being assured by Ahijah the prophet of his having ten of the tribes of Israel given to him; which Solomon having notice of sought to slay him, 1Ki 11:27-40 and the chapter is concluded with an account of Solomon's death and burial, 1Ki 11:41-43.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 11.1Deuteronomy 17.17.
  • 2. 11.2Exodus 34.16;Deuteronomy 7.3, 4.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [One ancient translation] And he went back to his country; [Hebrew does not have these words.]
  • [b]. [One ancient translation] As king . . . Israel; [in Hebrew this sentence, with some differences, comes at the end of verse 25.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.