Tag Archives: 1 Kings 11-12

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April 23, 2024 Bible Study — Solomon Married Many Wives and Turned From God to Their Gods

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

Solomon took many wives, and many of them were from nations from whom God had warned the Israelites against taking wives.  God’s specific warning was that wives from those nations would turn the hearts of the men who married them away from God to the gods of those nations.  So, despite the fact that God had appeared to Solomon twice, he married women who worshiped other gods, and joined them in their worship.  Not only did he worship those gods, he built shrines to them just outside of Jerusalem.  The writer tells us that as a result of this, God raised up Hadad the Edomite to be a thorn in Solomon’s side in Edom.  David had conquered Edom and had all of the men of Edom destroyed, but Hadad, the son of Edom’s king, had escaped to Egypt with some of his father’s officials. The Pharaoh had arranged for his sister-in-law to marry Hadad and provided shelter for Hadad.  Later, Pharaoh provided support to Hadad when he wanted to return to Edom to cause problems for Solomon.  Pharaoh did this despite Solomon being his son-in-law.  Or, perhaps the writer is suggesting that Pharaoh supported Hadad because Solomon had so many wives in addition to his daughter.  I suspect that the writer was partially saying this second interpretation as a way to further condemn Solomon taking multiple wives.

The writer goes on to tell us the story of Jeroboam.  While Solomon was still king a prophet came to Jeroboam and told him that God would take 10 tribes of Israel from Solomon’s son and give them to Jeroboam.  Further the prophet told Jeroboam that if he did what was right in God’s eyes by obeying his commands, God would establish his dynasty.  Yet almost his first act after becoming king of the Northern Tribes was to set up a shrine to an idol in two separate locations in his new kingdom.  In addition, he set up shrines throughout his kingdom and appointed priests who were not Levites.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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April 23, 2023 Bible Study — King Solomon Did Not Go From Worship Of God To Human Sacrifice All At Once

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

The writer tells us that King Solomon had 700 wives and an additional 300 concubines.  He does not record if Solomon acquired these wives and concubines out of lust, or out of political expedience, but the numbers suggest the former rather than the latter.  In addition, these women were from peoples whom God had instructed the Israelites not to intermarry because , if they did, the Israelites who married women from these peoples would begin to worship their gods.  So, we have King Solomon marrying many wives, which God had told the Israelites that their kings must not do, for the very reason we see hear: “He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. ”  In fact, if we read that passage in Deuteronomy, the taking of many wives is just the “straw that broke the camels back” of Solomon failing to follow God’s instruction for kings of Israel.  Previously, we had read about the many horses which Solomon acquired (it is worth noting that David had destroyed many of the horses   when he conquered an enemy with a large number of horses).  Not only did Solomon acquire a large number of horses, he sent to Egypt to acquire them.  So, we see that King Solomon did not depart from God all at once.  He did so little by little.  The same thing can happen to us.  It may start with a harmless lie, told to save someone’s feelings.  Or, perhaps, we do something else we know that we should not, but it is just easier to go along than to resist.  The problem comes in when we no longer struggle with telling the lie, or doing something else, when we tell ourselves that it is not really wrong because we are doing it for good reasons.  When we stop recognizing that our sins are wrong, we will begin to escalate them, until we end up where Solomon was, worshiping other gods and serving them.  I want to note that the passage tells us that Solomon sponsored worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molek.  The worship of Ashtoreth involved exploitive sexual practices, while the worship of Chemosh and Molek involved human sacrifice.  In the case of of Molek that human sacrifice involved children.  Solomon did not go from devoted worship of God to human sacrifice all at once.  He slipped away from God little by little.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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April 23, 2022 Bible Study — Idolatry Leads To Division

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

Often when I read the books of Samuel and Kings I connect the dots between King David’s affair with Bathsheba and the division of the Kingdom of Israel under Rehoboam.  And while there is a connection there, today’s passage shows us that King Solomon’s idolatry was really what led to that division.  And since Solomon’s idolatry stemmed from his marriages to foreign women one might say that the division of Israel resulted from Solomon’s polygamy.  Early in his reign, King Solomon united his kingdom by drawing the people of Israel to worship God in the Temple which he built.  However, as time went by and King Solomon became wealthy and powerful, he married many women from many different lands.  In order to keep his many wives happy, King Solomon built altars to the gods they had worshiped before he married them.  Then in addition to the regular sacrifices which King Solomon offered to God in the Temple, he offered sacrifices to these other gods, and otherwise took part in their worship.  As a result God allowed opposition to rise against Solomon among people whom David had thoroughly subjugated (and my reading of the relevant parts of the Old Testament suggest had begun integrating into Israel itself).

Having written that first paragraph I want to make another point.  God had sent a prophet to tell Jeroboam that He was going to take part of Israel away from the House of David and give it to him, Jeroboam.  The prophet told Jeroboam that this would happen because of Solomon’s idolatry.  The prophet went on to tell Jeroboam that if Jeroboam faithfully served and worshiped God, God would make his dynasty as lasting as King David’s.  Yet, despite this when Jeroboam became king, he feared that if the people continued to worship God at the Temple in Jerusalem their loyalty would revert to David’s House.  As a result, Jeroboam established the worship of idols to replace the worship of God.  So, the point I want to make: the writers of the Old Testament disapproved of a man having more than one wife, but did not consider it to be, in and of itself, a sin.  I believe that their view reflects that of God.  So, while it was King Solomon’s polygamy which led him into idolatry, it was his idolatry which caused the division of his kingdom, not his polygamy.  King Solomon’s polygamy was a mistake which exposed him to the temptation to commit idolatry, but it was not a sin.  Not all of our mistakes are sins, but our mistakes often lead us into sin.  Jeroboam’s kingdom suffered its own divisions and problems because of his idolatry.  In the same way, the idolatry which our nation, and our world, is practicing is leading to divisions and disasters today.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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April 23, 2021 Bible Study King Solomon Does Evil In The Sight Of The Lord

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

The passage tells us that King Solomon had many wives from nations which God had told the Israelites they were not to intermarry.  The passage also tells us that they turned his heart to other gods, in particular, Ashtoreth, Molek, and Chemosh. Worship of the latter two gods involved human sacrifice.  While the worship of Ashtoreth involved sexual actsWhich tells us that when the passage tells us that Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, it was not just referring to the fact that he worshiped other gods.  It is referring to what actions Solomon took as part of that worship.   The result of this behavior was that God allowed opposition to rise against King Solomon, both foreign and domestic.  I am not sure what to make of the fact that Egypt’s Pharaoh supported at least two of Solomon’s opponents even though Solomon was married to Pharaoh’s daughter (although it is likely that the Pharaoh who supported Solomon’s opponents was not the one who was Solomon’s father-in-law).

I find it interesting that the heading the translators gave this section was “Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon”.  Yet, all the passage tells us is that a prophet told Jeroboam that God would give him ten of the tribes to be ruler over and that because of this Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam.  In addition, before this, King Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of the labor he levied from the tribes of Joseph (technically, this would mean the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, but I suspect it means all of the tribes other than Judah and Benjamin).  This fact about Jeroboam being charge of Solomon’s labor force becomes significant when Jeroboam leads the tribes which ask Rehoboam to reduce the burden which Solomon had placed upon them.  This suggests that Jeroboam was genuinely interested in reaching a deal with Rehoboam, even though he had the message from the prophet telling him that God would take the ten tribes from Solomon’s son.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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April 23, 2020 Bible Study — King Solomon the Skirt Chaser

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.y

A short while back I came across a site which, when discussing King Solomon, said that this passage’s reference to him having 1,000 wives (well, wives and concubines) was surely an exaggeration because no man could sleep with that many women.  While I agree that 1,000 wives sounds excessive, when you think of some modern professional athletes (and other celebrities and wealthy men) you start to think that a man as rich and powerful as King Solomon could surely have done so if he desired.  Wilt Chamberlain claimed to have slept with 20,000 women, and several people who knew him said it was not out of the question.  Or to use someone more comparable to King Solomon: 8% of the people living today are descended from Genghis Khan.

One result of King Solomon being such a womanizer was that he started to take part in worshiping the gods of some of his foreign wives  Again, if we look ate men who are promiscuous on the kind of scale that King Solomon was we see that many times they also get involved in strange and “exotic” rituals.  Which would explain King Solomon’s involvement with these other gods.  Whatever the reason, it led to the dissolution of his kingdom.  It is really two-fold.  God took the kingdom away from his son, or part of it at least.  But, the revolt of the northern tribes was also a natural human reaction to King Solomon’s giving his attention to his wives and their gods rather than to the needs and wants of the people he ruled.

 

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April 23, 2019 Bible Study — Solomon Sins and the Northern Tribes Rebel

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

King Solomon took many wives. When I was growing up I was told that many of these were marriages designed to cement alliances. However, I think now that Solomon used his wealth and power to satisfy his lusts by taking as a wife or concubine any woman he desired. In his old age, he began to take part in the worship practices of some of those women. I suspect that he did so seeking new thrills. He began to worship Ashtoreth, whose worship likely included sexual acts, and Molech, whose worship included child sacrifice. In any case, King Solomon became so involved in these activities that he failed to put down the rebellions which rose up in foreign lands which King David had conquered. King Solomon’s idolatry even led to a rebellion among the tribes of Israel, but this rebellion Solomon was able to put down.

Upon King Solomon’s death, the leaders of the tribes of Israel summoned Jeroboam back from his exile in Egypt to present their demands to Rehoboam. By looking at the demands which Jeroboam presented to Rehoboam and the role he held under Solomon, we get a pretty clear picture of the cause of the rebellion. Under Solomon, Jeroboam was in charge of the labor force from the descendants of Joseph until he was forced into exile. In addition to his other building projects, Solomon had ordered the building of temples to various foreign gods. Whether the discontent resulted from the fact that they were building idolatrous temples, or just from the workload, Solomon’s building projects stressed the loyalty of the people of Israel to King David’s dynasty. As we read Rehoboam’s response to the people’s demands we see that he had never understood the political balancing that his father and grandfather had done. Rehoboam thought being king was just about exercising power. When Solomon had taken the throne he had done so with the aid and advice of some of David’s closest advisers. However, Solomon was mostly secure on the throne his entire reign, so Rehoboam did not see the need for carefully listening to experienced advisers. It was only when a prophet of God warned him against making war against his fellow Israelites that Rehoboam began to realize the limits of his power. Even then I wonder if Rehoboam chose to listen to the prophet or if his army refused to go to war after hearing the prophet.

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April 23, 2018 Bible Study — Is the Worship of Ashthoreth and Molech really dead?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

    After completing the building of the Temple, or perhaps even before, Solomon began marrying many women. Certainly some of those marriages were political, but just a little thought suggests that many of those women were merely women he desired. Despite the fact that God had appeared to Solomon on two occasions he chose to partake in the idolatrous worship practices of some of the women he married. The passage tells us that Solomon Ashtoreth and Molech and built shrines for the gods worshiped by the women he slept with. It is noteworthy that in at least some of the societies of the Ancient Middle East, Ashtoreth was the consort of Molech. There is actually a connection between the two which is relevant to our society today. Ashtoreth worship involved promiscuous sex and orgies, while Molech worship involved child sacrifice. This is much like elements of today’s society which behave as if promiscuous sex and abortion are sacraments.

    When Solomon took over from David, a couple of foreign adversaries were able to set themselves up in opposition to him in ways that would not have been possible when David reigned. The writer clearly wants us to connect their rise and success to Solomon’s worship of other gods. Even one of Solomon’s officials, Jeroboam, raised rebellion against Solomon. We do not have much detail on Jeroboam’s rebellion against Solomon except that a prophet told Jeroboam that he would lead 10 of the tribes to independence from Solomon’s son. We also know that Solomon forced Jeroboam to flee to Egypt. Which brings us to the interesting fact that the Pharaoh of Egypt supported at least two enemies of Solomon despite the fact that his daughter was married to Solomon.
    All of this sets up what happened when Solomon died and his son Rehoboam succeeded him. We find that Jeroboam has returned from Egypt and is leading those who request concessions from Rehoboam in return for supporting his coronation. This suggests that perhaps Jeroboam’s rebellion against Solomon was not an attempt to overthrow Solomon, but was instead a series of protest attempting to get the tax burden reduced (with the understanding that in that time tax included forced labor). Rehoboam had seen how his father ruled while satisfying his many desires and instead of listening to his older, wiser advisers took the advice of the friends he had been partying with while those older, wiser men had been doing the work of running the country.

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April 23, 2017 Bible Study — A True Leader Serves His Followers

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

    Solomon had many wives and many of them were from peoples whom God had commanded the Israelites not to take wives. This was in contravention of God’s commands to the people of Israel in two ways. First, the one I already mentioned and second in Deuteronomy 17:17 God commanded that the future kings of Israel not take many wives. No matter how you interpret it, seven hundred counts as “many”. Solomon married some of his many wives to maintain control over the territories his father, David, had conquered and avoid wars. Except it did not work out that way as the next part of the passage shows us. We see that even the Pharaoh, whose daughter was Solomon’s first wife, supported those who mounted rebellion against Solomon. One can debate whether it was the many wives he took which undermined Solomon’s diplomatic efforts or his worshiping their gods. However, in either case, it was Solomon’s failure to faithfully follow God’s commands which led to the rebellions against his rule.

    Despite the prophecies which predicted that the northern tribes would secede from the kingdom because of Solomon’s sins, Rehoboam had an opportunity to prevent that from happening. When Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned Jeroboam led the people to demand that Rehoboam reduce the tax and other demands Solomon’s government had placed upon the people. Rehoboam first asked the advice of his father’s advisers, men who had advised Solomon while he imposed the burdens the people were now asking to be lifted. Solomon’s advisers told Rehoboam something he did not want to hear, a true leader is the servant of those he leads. When a leader demonstrates that his actions are intended to serve the best interests of those who follow him, they will follow him anywhere. Rehoboam did not like their answer, so he asked his contemporaries, the friends he had grown up with, their advice was that he should tell the people that he was king and they were to serve his interests not the other way around. Rehoboam took the advice of his friends rather than that of his father’s advisers.
    Rehoboam made two mistakes here. First, he failed to recognize that the true role of a leader is to serve the interests of his followers. This resulted from the second mistake, he listened to the advice of those who told him what he wanted to hear instead of what he needed to hear. How can we tell the difference? It is not always this easy, but in this case the older, more experienced advisers told him why he should follow the course they were recommending while the younger advisers just told him to just do as he pleased. There are other clues about whose advice was better. The advice he rejected came from the older, more experienced advisers. The advice he took came from advisers who owed their position to him liking them, from being fun to be around, not from making good decisions.

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April 23, 2016 Bible Study — We Must Choose Whom We Will Serve

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

    Despite his great wisdom, Solomon chose to take wives from among those who worshiped other gods. Further, he built shrines and erected altars for the worship of their gods. He even joined them in that worship. The writer tells us that this sin on Solomon’s part led God to raise up adversaries against him. There is a direct connection between Solomon worshiping other gods, and encouraging others to worship them by building shrines to them, and the collapse of the kingdom which his father David had built.
    As I read this I was reminded of a discussion I had recently about the fact that God is a rational God and His actions are therefore rational. We can understand how the punishment He metes out follows from the sin which it punishes. So, how did Solomon’s sin lead to the dissolution of his kingdom? By encouraging the worship of other gods, Solomon divided the people of his kingdom. They no longer had a unified moral code. Some followed the moral code as given by God. Others followed one of the moral codes connected to the worship of one of the other gods whose worship Solomon encouraged. What happened under Solomon is the reverse of what happened under Joshua. Joshua told the people of Israel to choose whom they would serve, declaring his own loyalty to God. Solomon told the people that they did not have to choose, and attempted to live accordingly.