1 Kings 11

Going back to Egypt may have been Solomon’s first step in turning away from the Lord. He secured a bride from Egypt (v. 1; 3:1; 9:24), and he purchased horses and chariots there (4:26–28; 10:26–29). Both of these actions revealed Solomon’s unbelief. He married the Egyptian princess in order to establish a peace treaty with her father, and he wanted horses and chariots because he didn’t really believe that Jehovah could protect the land. What his father David had written was not in Solomon’s creed: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20: nkjv). His marriages and his procuring of horses and chariots were in direct disobedience to the Lord’s clear commands (Deut. 17:16; 7:1–6; Ex., 23:31–34; 34:15–16; Josh. 23:12–13). Solomon’s bad example in choosing wives from pagan nations created problems for Ezra and Nehemiah over four centuries later (Ezra 9:2; 10:2–3; Neh. 13:23–27).

In terms of “biblical geography,” Egypt represents the bondage of the world. The wilderness pictures the unbelief of God’s people today as, like Israel, they wander and fail to lay hold of their inheritance in Christ. The Promised Land represents the rest God gives to those who trust Christ, submit to Him, and go forth to conquer by faith. All believers have been delivered from the world system that is contrary to God (Gal. 1:4), and all believers are exhorted to claim their inheritance in Christ now and not to wander aimlessly through life. No Christian believer has to trust the world for anything, because we have received in Christ every blessing that we need (Eph. 1:3; 2 Peter 1:1–4). We are in the world physically but not of the world spiritually (John 17:14:19), and all our needs come to us from the Father in heaven (Matt. 6:11; Phil. 4:19).

The danger of marrying pagan unbelievers is spelled out in v. 2 nkjv, which is a quotation from Deuteronomy 7:4: “they will turn away your heart after their gods.” That’s exactly what happened to Solomon (vv. 3, 4, 9). The Ammonites and Moabites were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen. 19:30ff.). The Ammonites worshipped the hideous god Molech and sacrificed their infants on his altars (Lev. 18:21; 20:1–5; and see Jer. 7:29–34; Ezek. 16:20–22). Chemosh was the chief god of the Moabites, and Ashtereth (Astarte) was the goddess of the people of Tyre and Sidon. As the goddess of fertility, her worship included “legalized prostitution” involving both male and female temple prostitutes, and that worship was unspeakably filthy. (See Deut. 23:1–8; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46.) The Babylonians also worshipped this goddess and called her Ishtar.

Solomon had exhorted the people to have hearts that were “perfect with the Lord” (8: kjv), that is, undivided and totally yielded to Him alone; yet his own heart wasn’t perfect with God (v. 4). Solomon didn’t totally abandon Jehovah but made Him one of the many gods that he worshipped (9:25). This was a direct violation of the first two commandments given at Sinai (Ex. 20:1–6). The Lord Jehovah is the only God, the true and living God, and He will not be put on the same level as the false idols of the nations. “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me” (Isa. 46: nkjv).

Solomon’s compromise wasn’t a sudden thing, for he gradually descended into his idolatry (Ps. 1:1). First he permitted his wives to worship their own gods; then he tolerated their idolatry and even built shrines for them. Eventually he began to participate in pagan practices with his wives. His sensual love for his many wives was more compelling than his spiritual love for the Lord, the God of Israel. He was a man with a divided and disobedient heart, and people who are doubleminded and unstable are dangerous (James 1:8). How could Israel be a light to the Gentile nations when their king was openly worshipping and supporting the idols of those nations? He used to offer sacrifices and burn incense only to the Lord Jehovah, but when he got older, he started to include the false gods his wives worshipped (8:25; 11:8).

When you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you discover that when Solomon’s heart began to turn from the Lord, he went through a period of cynicism and despair. He even questioned whether his life was worth living. Without a close walk with the Lord, his heart was empty, so he pursued pleasure, became involved in commercial ventures with many foreign nations, and engaged in vast building programs. However, he still found no enjoyment in life. At least thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote, “Vanity of vanities.”

His love for spiritual values was replaced by a love for physical pleasures and material wealth, and gradually his heart turned from the Lord. First he was friendly with the world (James 4:4), then spotted by the world (James 1:27), and then he came to love the world (1 John 2:15–17) and be conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2). Unfortunately, the result of this decline can lead to being condemned with the world and losing everything (1 Cor. 11:32). That’s what happened to Lot (Gen. 13:10–13; 14:11–12; 19:1ff.), and it can happen to believers today.

Scripture never blinks the defects of its heroes,”

wrote the gifted British expositor Alexander Maclaren. “Its portraits do not smooth out wrinkles, but, with absolute fidelity, give all faults.” This inspired biblical honesty is seen in the record of the life of King Solomon. God gave Solomon unusual wisdom, incredible wealth, and great opportunities, but in his older years, he turned from the Lord, made foolish decisions, and didn’t end well. “A man’s own folly ruins his life” (Prov. 19: niv). Solomon wrote those words and probably believed them, but he didn’t heed them.

It isn’t difficult to trace the steps in Solomon’s downward path.

The Lord wasn’t impressed with Solomon’s royal splendor, for the Lord looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7) and searches the heart (1 Chron. 28:9; Jer. 17:10; Rev. 2:23). It was Solomon who wrote, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4: nkjv), yet in his old age, his own heart was far from the Lord. Since the discovery of the circulation of the blood by William Harvey in the 17th century, everybody knows that the center of human physical life is the heart. But what’s true physically is also true morally and spiritually. We’re to love God with all our heart (Deut. 6:5) and receive His Word into our hearts (Prov. 7:1–3). God wants us to do His will from our hearts (Eph. 6:6). If our heart is wrong toward God, our entire life will be wrong, no matter how successful we may appear to others.

When Solomon was born, he was greatly loved by the Lord and given the special name “Jedidiah” which means “beloved of the Lord” (2 Sam. 12:24–25). But now we read that God was angry with Solomon because the king’s heart had turned from the Lord. Solomon was turning his back on a wealth of blessing God had given to him and sinning against a flood of light. To begin with, the Lord had given Solomon a father who, though he wasn’t perfect (and who is?), was devoted to the Lord with a single heart. David had prayed for Solomon and encouraged him to do the will of God and build the temple. Twice the Lord had appeared to Solomon (3:5; 9:2) and reminded him of the terms of the covenant He had made with his father (2 Sam. 7). Solomon certainly knew the terms of the covenant in Deuteronomy 28—30, for he referred to them in his prayer when he dedicated the temple.

We don’t know how God delivered this warning to Solomon; perhaps it was through a prophet. But God warned Solomon that, after his death, the kingdom would be divided and his son would reign over only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The other ten tribes would become the northern kingdom of Israel. The verb “tear” in verse 11 is picked up in the “action sermon” of Ahijah the prophet when he tore Jeroboam’s new robe into twelve parts (vv. 29ff.). This division of the kingdom wouldn’t be the peaceful work of a diplomat but the painful work of an angry Lord.

Were it not for God’s covenant with David and His love for Jerusalem, the city where His temple stood, He would have taken the entire kingdom away from Solomon’s descendants. God promised David a dynasty that would not end, and therefore He kept one of David’s descendants on the throne in Jerusalem until the city was taken by the Babylonians and destroyed. Of course, the ultimate fulfillment of that covenant promise is in Jesus Christ (Luke 1:32–33, 69; Acts 2:29–36; Ps. 89:34–37). God’s name was upon the temple (1 Kings 8:43), so He preserved Jerusalem, and God’s covenant was with David, so He preserved David’s dynasty. Such is the grace of God.

There is no evidence that Solomon took this warning to heart. Had he remembered his own dedication prayer, he could have looked toward the temple and confessed his sins to the Lord.

Solomon’s many marriages had been his guarantees of peace with the neighboring rulers, and Solomon’s reign had been a peaceful one. But now his system would start to fall apart, for the Lord raised up “adversaries” against Solomon (vv. 14, 23, 25) and used them to discipline the rebellious king. That God would discipline David’s disobedient heirs was a part of the covenant (2 Sam. 7:14–15) and was reaffirmed to Solomon when God spoke to him at Gibeon (3:14). It was repeated while Solomon was building the temple (6:11–13) and after the temple was dedicated (9:3–9). See also 1 Chronicles 22: and Psalm 89:30–37. The king certainly could not have been ignorant of the dangers of disobeying the Lord. Three of Solomon’s opponents are mentioned specifically.

Hadad the Edomite (vv. 14–22). Solomon had women from Edom in his harem (v. 1), but this didn’t stop Hadad from making trouble for Israel. David and Joab had won a great victory over Edom and wiped out the male population (2 Sam. 8:13–14; 1 Chron. 18:11–13; see Ps. 60 title), but Hadad, one of the princes, had fled with some of his father’s leaders and found asylum with Pharaoh in Egypt. This must have been a new Pharaoh who didn’t find it necessary to recognize Solomon’s marriage treaty with the Egyptian princess. Even more, he not only gave Hadad food and a place to live, but he also gave him his own sister-inlaw as his wife, and Hadad had a son by her. This meant that Egypt and Edom were now in league against Israel.

The death of King David and his general Joab meant that it was safe for Hadad and his band to return to Edom. There Hadad planned to strengthen the nation and direct a series of attacks against the Israelites. Hadad knew he couldn’t take over Solomon’s kingdom, but the Lord used him to harass Solomon and his troops in a series of border attacks. This constant irritation from the south should have reminded Solomon that God was disciplining him and calling him back to a life of obedience.

Rezon of Damascus (vv. 23–25). When David defeated the Syrians at Zobah (2 Sam. 8:5–8), a young man named Rezon fled to Damascus with his band of soldiers and set himself up as king. David apparently recognized him as king, and Rezon must have been a capable man because the power of Syria increased under his leadership. But Rezon allied himself with Hadad, leader of Edom, and began to harass Solomon from the north. Rezon established a dynasty of strong rulers in the area (known as Aram), all of whom gave trouble to the kings of Judah (15:18–20; 20:1ff.; 2 Kings 8—13 and 15—16 passim.) Rezin was king of Aram (Syria) during the time of Isaiah the prophet (Isa. 7:1–8; 8:6; 9:11).

Solomon opposed God’s servant (11:26–43; 2 Chron. 9:29–31) Hadad attacked Solomon from the south and Rezon from the north, but Jeroboam was one of Solomon’s own leaders who threatened the king from within the official ranks. He was an Ephraimite who displayed excellent management qualities and caught the eye of the king. Since Jeroboam was from the tribe of Ephraim, Solomon put him in charge of the Jewish labor force from the house of Joseph, namely the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. By now, the nation had grown weary of Solomon’s building projects and especially of the way he conscripted Jews to do the work (5:13–18), and young Jeroboam had his introduction to the undercurrents of opposition against the king. This knowledge, plus the fact that Solomon had put him over northern tribes, would assist him when the time came to establish the ten northern tribes in their own kingdom.

One day in the course of his own work, Jeroboam was stopped by Ahijah the prophet from Shiloh who had a message for him from God. During Solomon’s reign, prophets didn’t play a prominent role, but prophets will be very important from now until the end of the kingdom of Judah. Whenever the kings or the priests defied the Word of God, the Lord often sent a prophet to warn them. Prophets were “forth-tellers” more than “fore-tellers.” They came with a message from God for that present day, and if they revealed anything about the future, it was to help them call people back to obedience to God’s will.

Ahijah dramatized his message by tearing Jeroboam’s new garment into twelve parts and giving him ten of them. This was God’s way of saying that Jeroboam would become king of the ten northern tribes of Israel. Ahijah explained why two tribes were still reserved for the house of David and also why Solomon’s son was being given only those two tribes. Solomon had sinned greatly by introducing idolatry into the land, a sin that would eventually destroy the nation and lead them into captivity.

It was for David’s sake that God protected Judah and Jerusalem. Solomon hadn’t kept the terms of the covenant God made with his father (2 Sam. 7), but God would be faithful to His Word (2 Sam. 7:11–13). The lamp would burn for David until the end of the Jewish monarchy with the fall of Zedekiah (2 Kings 25; see 1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19; 21:7; Ps. 132:17).

Ahijah closed his message by warning Jeroboam that what happened to him was wholly of God’s grace. He had better take his calling seriously and obey the Word of the Lord, or God would discipline him just as He had to discipline Solomon. God would give Jeroboam an enduring dynasty if he obeyed the law of God. However, that dynasty would not replace the dynasty of David in Judah, for from David’s dynasty the Messiah would come and fulfill the covenant promises. God humbled David’s successors by giving them only two tribes, but He wouldn’t humble them forever. There would be a healing of the division of the nation when Messiah came (Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23; 37:15–28; Hos. 3:5; Amos 9:11–12), and then the king would reign over the whole nation.

Since Ahijah and Jeroboam were alone in the field when the message was delivered (v. 29), we don’t know how the word of Jeroboam’s special call reached Solomon’s ears. Jeroboam may have told some of his close associates who were distressed by the way the king was treating the people, or perhaps God gave Ahijah permission to send the message to Solomon. This message was God’s last word of discipline and rebuke for the wayward king, for what more could He do to awaken the king than to take most of the kingdom away from his successor? Solomon should have fallen on his face in repentance and contrition and sought the face of the Lord, but instead he tried to kill his rival. Jeroboam fled to Egypt for safety. The new Pharaoh was Shishak, a man who had no obligations to the house of David.

Solomon had forsaken the Lord (v. 33; see 9:9), and this would be the recurring sin of many kings of Israel and Judah (18:18; 19:10, 14; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:22; 22:17). The sin of idolatry cut at the very heart of Israel’s faith, Jehovah was the only true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Solomon reigned from 971 to 931. Did he return to the Lord before he died? Bible students don’t agree in their interpretations and answers. Certainly his admonition in Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 points in the direction of repentance and restoration, and we trust this was so. The accomplishments of his very full life were recorded not only in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, but also in some books that we don’t possess, including the Acts of Solomon (possibly an official register), a book by Nathan the prophet, as well as records by Ahijah and Iddo. Solomon is the first Jewish king whose death was recorded in the “official words” of verses 41–43 and 2 Chron. 9:29–31. See also 2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15; 26:22; and 32:32.

Like King Saul, Solomon was handed great opportunities but didn’t make the most of them. He knew a great deal about animals, plants, bringing wealth to the nation, and constructing buildings, but he was defective in sharing the knowledge of the Lord with the Gentiles who came to his throne room. Like his father, David, Solomon had a gift for enjoying women, but when Solomon sinned, he didn’t have David’s sincere heart and broken spirit of repentance. The grandeur of the kingdom and not the glory of the Lord was what motivated Solomon’s life.

He left behind the temple of God, his royal palace, a nation in bondage, an economy in trouble, as well as the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The nation was united during his reign, but there was a hairline split in the nation that eventually revealed itself in open rebellion and division. Solomon’s hunger for wealth and achievement put a heavy financial burden on the nation, and after his death, the people revolted.

But the people did worse than that: they followed Solomon’s bad example and began to worship the gods of their neighbors. It was this sin more than any other that brought about the downfall of the Jewish nation. “Solomon imported the wives,” wrote William Sanford LaSor, “the wives imported the gods; Solomon tolerated it, encouraged it, built places of worship for these idolaters. What can you expect the people to do but follow along?”

May our allegiance always be sincere and loyal to Jesus Christ, the one “greater than Solomon,” who died for us, who lives for us, and one day will come for us!