1 Kings 11:1-8

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

2 These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.

4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom ^[a] the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely.

7 At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

1 Kings 11:1-8 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Milcom is a variant of Molech; also in verse 33; see verse 7 and Leviticus 18:21.