Dusk from the slope of the Mount of Olives: across the dark Kidron valley the long stone temple catches the last red light, while on the near hillside two small stone altars on low platforms send up thin threads of smoke beside plain wooden poles.

The Book of

1 Kings 11

The wisest king in the world, and a heart that slowly turned away.

43 verses≈ 9 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2Solomon's throneThe kingdom made secure
3–4WisdomA discerning heart
5–8The templeA house for the LORD's Name
9–11Glory and fallSolomon's heart turnsChapter 11
12–16Two kingdomsThe kingdom torn
17–19ElijahThe LORD, He is God
20–22AhabNaboth and Micaiah

Solomon’s Foreign Wives

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

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These 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.

He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.

1 Kings 11:4

Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely.

At 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. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

God’s Anger against Solomon

Now the LORD grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had warned Solomon explicitly not to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command.

Then the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen

1 Kings 11:12–13

Reflect

Guard your heart

Solomon did not turn in a day. It happened “when Solomon grew old,” one loyalty at a time, until “he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God.” What small loves are pulling at your heart, and what would it take to give them back to God?

Solomon’s turn

Whiteboard

Solomon began by loving the LORD and asking for wisdom. He built the house for His Name and heard God’s warning twice. But he gathered gold, horses and many wives, and “his wives turned his heart away.” So the kingdom would be torn, yet not wholly: one tribe was kept “for the sake of My servant David.”

Hadad’s Return

The red sandstone mountains of Edom glowing deep red at sunset across the wide Arabah valley, a faint shepherd's track in the foreground.

Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom. Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

Hadad the Edomite

When Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.”

Pharaoh

But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?”

Hadad the Edomite

“Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”

Rezon’s Hostility

And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah, and had gathered men to himself. When David killed the Zobaites, Rezon captained a band of raiders and went to Damascus, where they settled and gained control.

Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout the days of Solomon, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled over Aram with hostility toward Israel.

Question

Quick question

Hadad fled from Edom as a boy and grew up far from home.

Where did Hadad the Edomite grow up after he fled as a boy?

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

Now Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon, but he rebelled against the king, and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

Morning on the steep east slope of the City of David: crews of workmen haul and set big stones into stepped terraces below the wall, directed by a strong young overseer with a staff, while high above on a terrace King Solomon watches with officials.

Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as he was going out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes.

But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.

Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and statutes. But I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from the hand of his son and give them to you.

Night over Jerusalem: on a stone window ledge in the foreground a single small clay oil lamp burns with a steady flame, while beyond it the city lies dark on its ridge under the stars, the long roof of the temple faintly visible.

I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.

But as for you, I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your heart desires, and you will be king over Israel.

If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

but not forever

1 Kings 11:39

Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he remained until the death of Solomon.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Solomon’s adversaries

Hadad, a boy of Edom’s royal line, fled by way of Midian and Paran to Egypt, and came back to trouble Solomon from the south. Rezon left “Hadadezer king of Zobah” (Zobah’s site is uncertain, probably north of Damascus), seized Damascus and “ruled over Aram” in the north. Jeroboam, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, fled “to Shishak king of Egypt” until Solomon died.

The Death of Solomon

As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

Evening in the City of David: the rock-cut doorway of the royal tombs in a pale limestone face, closed with a great square stone, a few mourners in dark cloaks standing quietly before it and small clay lamps burning on the rock.

Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

And Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

To the end

Ask God for a heart wholly devoted to Him to the end, not only at the start. Thank Him that He kept His word to David through every failure, so that David would “always have a lamp” before Him, and that the Son of David reigns forever.

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1 Kings 11

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A verse to carry with you

For 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.

1 Kings 11:4

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