Nehemiah 13:26

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women turned him aside.

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 and their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and did not know how to speak in the Jewish language.

25 And I strove with them and cursed them; and I smote some of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, and ye shall not take of their daughters to your sons.

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin thus? though there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet strange women turned him aside.

27 So we will not hearken to you to do all this evil, to break covenant with our God, —to marry strange wives.

28 and Elisub the high priest, of the sons of Joada, son-in-law of Sanaballat the Uranite, I chased him away from me.