1 Kings 11:1

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh-women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.²These 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. ³He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines-and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴For 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. ⁵Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD-and unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely. ⁷At 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. ⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 3020-3029, bc 984-975

loved: 1 Kings 11:8, Genesis 6:2-5, Deuteronomy 17:17, Nehemiah 13:23-27, Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 5:8-20, Proverbs 6:24, Proverbs 7:5, Proverbs 22:14, Proverbs 23:33

together with: or, beside, 1 Kings 3:1, Leviticus 18:18

Reciprocal: Numbers 25:2 - they called Judges 2:3 - their gods Judges 3:6 - General Judges 16:4 - he loved Ruth 1:4 - wives 2 Samuel 13:1 - loved her 1 Kings 16:31 - the Zidonians 1 Kings 21:25 - whom Jezebel 2 Kings 8:18 - his wife 1 Chronicles 22:12 - that thou mayest 2 Chronicles 9:28 - brought 2 Chronicles 12:13 - an Ammonitess Ezra 9:1 - Ammonites Nehemiah 13:26 - Did not Solomon Proverbs 5:20 - with Proverbs 7:26 - General Ecclesiastes 7:23 - I said Ecclesiastes 7:28 - but Song of Solomon 6:8 - General Isaiah 2:6 - and they Malachi 2:11 - and hath

Cross-References

Isaiah 19:18
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

Zephaniah 3:9
For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

Acts 2:6
And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But King Solomon loved many strange women,.... His love was a lustful and not a lawful one, and of women who were not only of foreign countries, but not his lawful wives, and these many:

together with the daughter of Pharaoh; besides her, or as he loved her, and perhaps more; his sin was not that he loved her who was his lawful wife, but others with her; it is very probable she was a proselytess, and had no hand in turning him to idolatry, since we read not of any high place built for an Egyptian idol:

women of the Moabites, Anmonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; all of the neighbouring nations. Some think he did this with political views, to get intelligence of the state of those countries, or to abate and extinguish their enmity; but it rather seems to be the fruit of lust or pride.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In noticing successively Solomon’s excessive accumulation of silver and gold 1 Kings 10:14-25, his multiplication of horses 1 Kings 10:26-29, and his multiplication of wives, the writer has in mind the warning of Moses against these three forms of princely ostentation, all alike forbidden to an Israelite monarch (marginal reference).

Zidonians - i. e., Phoenician women. A tradition states that Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XI

Solomon's attachment to strange women, and consequent idolatry,

1, 2.

Number of his wives and concubines, 3.

In his old age they turn away his heart from God, 4.

He builds temples to idols, burns incense and sacrifices to

them, 5-8.

The Lord is angry with him, and threatens to deprive him of the

kingdom, but will leave one tribe for David's sake, 9-13.

The Lord stirs up Hadad, the Edomite, to be his enemy; the

history of this man, 14-22.

He stirs another adversary against him, Rezon the son of

Eliadah. He and Hadad plague Israel, 23-25.

Jeroboam also becomes his enemy, and the reason why, 26-28.

Ahijah the prophet meets Jeroboam, and promises, in the name of

the Lord, that God will rend Israel from the family of Solomon,

and give him ten tribes, 29-39.

Solomon, hearing of this, seeks to put Jeroboam to death, who

escapes to Egypt, where he continues till the death of Solomon,

40.

Solomon dies, after having reigned over Israel forty years; and

his son Rehoboam reigns in his stead, 41-43.

NOTES ON CHAP. XI

Verse 1 Kings 11:1. Many strange women — That is, idolaters; together with the daughter of Pharaoh: she was also one of those strange women and an idolater. But many think she became a proselyte to the Jewish religion; of this there is no evidence.