1 Kings 11:1-10

1 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh's daughter. He loved Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon.
2 They came from the nations about which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "Never intermarry with them. They will surely tempt you to follow their gods." But Solomon was obsessed with their love.
3 He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 wives who were concubines.
4 In his old age, his wives tempted him to follow other gods. He was no longer committed to the LORD his God as his father David had been.
5 Solomon followed Astarte (the goddess of the Sidonians) and Milcom (the disgusting idol of the Ammonites).
6 So Solomon did what the LORD considered evil. He did not wholeheartedly follow the LORD as his father David had done.
7 Then Solomon built an illegal worship site on the hill east of Jerusalem for Chemosh (the disgusting idol of Moab) and for Molech (the disgusting idol of the Ammonites).
8 He did these things for each of his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9 So the LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10 God had given him commands about this. [He told him] not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey God's command.

1 Kings 11:1-10 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.

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