1 Kings 11:1-6

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.

1 Kings 11:1-6 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

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