Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 11:1-8
Solomon Throws Himself Wholeheartedly Into Idolatry Because Of His Wives (1 Kings 11:1).
Solomon's obsession with his own glory inevitably resulted in his beginning to feel that he was so great that he could do what he liked, for it is one of the sad traits of mankind that the more they prosper because of God's goodness, the less concern they have for God. That was recognised by the writer of Proverbs in Proverbs 30:8, when he wrote, ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, --- lest I be full and deny you, and say, Who is YHWH? or lest I be poor and steal and use profanely the name of my God'. And that was what happened to Solomon.
He had already portrayed the traits of the false king with his chariots and horsemen, and servants and bond-slaves (see 1 Samuel 8:11). Now he would do the same with his multiplicity of wives (Deuteronomy 17:16). It will be noted that in Deuteronomy 17:16 the multiplication of wives is linked with fetching horses from Egypt, which is again linked with a warning of in any way returning to Egypt, and Solomon had done all three. He had married Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 9:24; 1 Kings 11:1), he had multiplied horses from Egypt (1 Kings 10:28), and now we are to see that he multiplied wives for himself. In other words he had specifically and deliberately ignored YHWH's commandment, and was a judgment waiting to happen. This indeed is what the author has been building up to.
Analysis.
a Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which YHWH said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clave to these in love. (1 Kings 11:1).
b And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart, for it came about that, when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his God, as was the heart of David his father (1 Kings 11:3).
c For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:5).
b And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of YHWH, and went not fully after YHWH, as did David his father (1 Kings 11:6).
a Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon, and so did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods (1 Kings 11:7).
Note that in ‘a' Solomon loved the women against whom Israel had been warned because they would turn away their hearts after false gods, and in the parallel Solomon was turned away after false gods because of those very wives. In ‘b' Solomon's heart was turned away by his wives so that he was not perfect in his heart like David his father, and in the parallel he did what was evil in YHWH's sight and went not fully after YHWH like David his father. Centrally in ‘c' he ‘went after' Ashtoreth and Molech, the very gods against which Israel had been constantly warned.
‘ Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which YHWH said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clave to these in love.'
The first ‘foreign woman' to be mentioned is the daughter of Pharaoh. The author has demonstrated his unease about this relationship from the beginning by never mentioning her name (1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 7:8; 1 Kings 9:16; 1 Kings 9:24; 1 Kings 11:1). She was not to be seen as welcome within the fold. While she would undoubtedly have brought her family gods with her, there is no suggestion that she actually had any part in leading Solomon astray, and in fact Solomon appears to have kept her waiting in her own private house in ‘the city of David' until the palace no longer held the Ark (1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 7:8; 1 Kings 9:24), probably in order not to defile the Ark. Furthermore no specific gods of Egypt are mentioned (although it is always possible that she favoured Semite gods like many Egyptians did).
Along with her are mentioned the princesses of the three local Transjordanian states, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites; the Phoenician Sidonians, and the Syrian Hittites (see 1 Kings 10:29 above). These would be treaty wives, royal princesses married in order to seal treaty arrangements. They were worshippers of, among others, Chemosh, Molech (Melech), Baal and Asherah (Ashtoreth/Astarte). The Moabite women had led Israel astray after Baal-peor at Shittim on the final part of the journey towards Canaan (Numbers 25:1), but the main Moabite god was Chemosh. Molech was a god of the Ammonites, whose influence extended over much of Canaan. It required child sacrifices, and was regularly condemned in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 20:2), and by later prophets. Baal and Asherah were ‘Canaanite' deities (Judges 2:11; Judges 2:13; Judges 3:7; Judges 8:33; Judges 10:6; etc.), with an influence that spread widely, both into Egypt (Exodus 14:2), among the Moabites (Numbers 22:41; Numbers 25:1) and among the Phoenicians (who were ‘Canaanites'). We know a good deal about Baal through the discoveries at Ugarit.
“YHWH said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” This to some extent follows the ideas in Deuteronomy 7:2, but it is clearly not a direct citation, and differs quite considerably in detail, which would duggest that it comes from another tradition known to Solomon.
We know in fact that Solomon's first wife was an Ammonite princess, and she bore him Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21).
It is quite possible that the original state record from which this information was extracted merely explained Solomon's propensity for women as a compliment, and that ‘foreign' has been introduced by the author in order to bring out his point, because as a prophet he recognised how the king had disobeyed God's commandment and had suffered the consequences. There can, however, be no doubt that a good number of his wives would be foreign princesses.
‘ And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.'
The extent of the empire is revealed by the number of royal wives Solomon had. ‘Seven hundred' is probably not to be taken as exact but as signifying the ‘divine perfect' (seven) nature of his harem. However, clearly a large number are indicated by the figure, and they were all seen as ‘princesses', being women of good standing. And as if this were insufficient he had three hundred concubines, that is, common wives selected mainly for their beauty and ability to satisfy the king's desires. They would include Abishag. Three is the number of completeness. The idea is of total sufficiency. One royal house in Egypt was claimed as having three thousand wives and concubines, probably on a similar basis.
‘ For it came about, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his God, as was the heart of David his father.'
We are probably not to take ‘old' here too literally, but rather as ‘mature' (agewise). Solomon did not in fact live to be too old. He reigned for forty years (1 Kings 11:42), and if he was twenty at his accession, he barely reached sixty years old. Furthermore the activities described would take some time to develop. Thus the point is that in the later part of his life he went astray after these gods and goddesses, although it was clearly some time after his two dreams (1 Kings 11:9; compare 1 Kings 3:5; 1 Kings 9:2).
‘ For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.'
Two especial deities are initially mentioned. For the first we must assume a Sidonian princess. The latter (Milcom = Molech = Melech) may have been through the influence of his first wife, Naamah the Ammonitess (1 Kings 14:31). Ashtoreth/Asherah/Astarte, the consort of Baal, was widely worshipped, but different areas would have different approaches to worship. Thus here it was after the manner of the Sidonians (compare how Jezebel would later introduce the Tyrian Baal into a land where Baal was well known). There was no word for ‘goddess' in Hebrew, and therefore the male term elohe is used. Molech was seen as particularly heinous because it constantly sought child sacrifice, which is why the writer describes it as an ‘abomination'.
‘ And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of YHWH, and went not fully after YHWH, as did David his father.'
So Solomon failed to live up to his original promises to YHWH, and ‘did what was evil in the sight of YHWH'. In Kings this was the verdict on the worst kings (fifteen times in 2 Kings). And like some later kings, and unlike others, he did not go ‘fully after YHWH as David his father did' (compare 1 Kings 15:3; 1Ki 15:11; 2 Kings 14:3; 2 Kings 16:2; 2 Kings 18:3; 2 Kings 22:2). Thus the final verdict on Solomon was that he was one of the worst kings, even though he seemed to begin so well!
For following ‘fully after YHWH' see Numbers 14:24; Numbers 32:11; Deuteronomy 1:36. It is thus a Mosaic idiom.
‘ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.'
But Solomon did even worse. He built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab (see 2 Kings 3:27), who is mentioned in the in the Moabite Stone, and in Numbers 21:29; Judges 11:24, and also for Molech the abomination of Ammon. And this was within the environs of greater Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. This was a further step on from his previous worship at syncretistic high places (1 Kings 3:3), for 1 Kings 11:5 makes clear that he not only built them for his wife but was participating himself. ‘Abomination' was a word regularly applied to idolatry. It was seen as the most heinous of sins.
‘ And so did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.'
Nor did he stop there, but revelled in idolatry with all his ‘foreign wives', burning incense and sacrificing to their gods. Solomon had always been a compromiser. Now he was letting himself go all the way into evil practises, and revealing himself for what he really was. He was sacrificing to devils (Deuteronomy 32:16).
The word for ‘burning incense' could be rendered ‘offered a fire offering' but as incense altars were regularly found at pagan high places the burning of incense was probably intended.