1 Kings 11:1-43

God’s lessons from history

1 Kings

Philip Smith

Chapter 11

Solomon *worships false gods

v1 Solomon, however, loved many foreign women. He married the daughter of the king of Egypt. He also married *Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom and Sidon. v2 The *Lord had told the *Israelites not to marry anyone from those nations. They would make the *Israelites turn to other gods. But Solomon chose to love these women. v3 Solomon had 700 wives who had royal rank. And he had 300 mistresses. These wives turned him away from God. v4 As Solomon grew old, his wives caused him to *worship other gods. He was not loyal to the *Lord his God as his father David had been. v5 He gave honour to Ashtoreth, who was the female god of the people in Sidon. He also gave honour to Milcom, who was the disgusting god of the people in Ammon. v6 So Solomon *sinned against the *Lord. He did not follow the *Lord completely as his father David had done.

v7 Solomon built a place to give honour to Chemosh, who was the disgusting god of Moab. He did this on a hill east of Jerusalem. He also built a place for Molech, who was the disgusting god of the people in Ammon. v8 He did the same for all his foreign wives. Then they could burn *incense and offer *sacrifices to their own gods.

v9 The *Lord became angry with Solomon because Solomon had not been loyal to him. The *Lord, who is *Israel’s God, had appeared to Solomon twice. v10 He had told Solomon not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey the *Lord’s command. v11 Then the *Lord said to Solomon, ‘You have not obeyed my *covenant and you have not obeyed my commands. Because of your attitudes, I promise that I will take the *kingdom away from you. I will give it to one of your officials. v12 But because of your father David, I will not do this while you are alive. I will do it during the rule of your son. v13 But I will not take the whole *kingdom away from him. I will give him one *tribe. This is because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen.’

Solomon married women from foreign countries. These marriages often took place for political purposes. He wanted to make friends with these countries. But such marriages were against God’s law (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). And God told the kings of *Israel not to marry many wives (Deuteronomy 17:17). Such wives would make the *Israelites turn away from God.

Solomon built places for the wives to *worship their own gods and he often joined in with them. And Solomon was *worshipping very wicked gods. For example, Ashtoreth was a sex god. And Milcom (also called Molech) demanded human *sacrifice.

God was angry because Solomon had not obeyed him. As a result, God said that Solomon’s family would lose control of the *kingdom. But because of God’s promise to David, it would not happen while Solomon was alive. Even then, there would be one *tribe, *Judah, which Solomon’s son would still control.

It is sad that an old and wise king made such a big mistake. He had warned people about what can tempt them in Proverbs 5:1-14; Proverbs 5:22-23. That can happen to people who feel very comfortable. It also attacks people when they are Christian leaders. ‘A person may think that he is standing firm. However, he must be careful. Otherwise he may fall’ (1 Corinthians 10:12). We must depend on God’s *grace right until the end.

Solomon’s enemies

v14 The *Lord caused Hadad, a man from Edom, to oppose Solomon. Hadad belonged to Edom’s royal family. v15-16 Earlier, David was fighting with Edom. Joab, the leader of the army, had gone there in order to bury dead soldiers. He stayed there with the *Israelite army for 6 months until they had killed all the men in Edom. v17 Hadad was only a boy then. He escaped to Egypt with some of his father’s servants from Edom. v18 They left Midian and they went to Paran. Then they took men from Paran and they went to the king of Egypt. The king gave some land and a house to Hadad. And he provided Hadad’s food.

v19 The king of Egypt was very friendly with Hadad. He allowed him to marry the sister of his wife, who was Queen Tahpenes. v20 Queen Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to a son, Genubath. Queen Tahpenes brought him up in the palace. There he lived with the king’s children.

v21 There in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had died. He heard that Joab, the leader of the army, was also dead. So he said to the king of Egypt, ‘Let me go, so that I may return to my own country.’

v22 The king asked, ‘What is wrong with my country? Why do you want to go back to your own country?’

‘Nothing is wrong’, replied Hadad. ‘Just let me go.’

v23 God also caused Rezon son of Eliada to oppose Solomon. He had run away from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. v24 He became leader of a group of *rebels. When David defeated the armies of Zobah, the *rebels went to Damascus. There they lived and they took control. v25 Rezon was an enemy of *Israel as long as Solomon lived. He added to the trouble that Hadad caused. So Rezon ruled in Syria. He was an enemy of *Israel.

Hadad had escaped from Edom when he was young. He went to stay in Egypt. There he married the sister of the king of Egypt’s wife. The king supported him. He did not want *Israel to become too powerful. However, when Hadad wanted to return home, the king did not want to let him go. The king had good relations with Solomon because Solomon had married his daughter. But Hadad went back and he began to attack Solomon from the south.

Rezon attacked Solomon from the north after his men had *captured Damascus.

All this happened because Solomon turned away from God. God does not allow such troubles merely to hurt someone. Rather, he wants that person to turn back to him. Solomon’s father, David, suffered because of his *sin in 2 Samuel chapter 24. David confessed his *sin and he turned back to God. But Solomon did not do the same.

Jeroboam

v26 Also Jeroboam the son of Nebat *rebelled against Solomon. He was one of Solomon’s officials from Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow called Zeruah.

v27 This is the account of what he did. Solomon had built the defences of the city of David his father. He had also filled in the gap in the walls. v28 Jeroboam was a young man and he was impressive and strong. Solomon saw how well he worked. So he gave him authority over all the workers from the *tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

v29 One day, as Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, Ahijah the *prophet from Shiloh met him. Ahijah was wearing a new coat. The two of them were alone in the country. v30 Ahijah took off his new coat and he tore it into 12 pieces. v31 Then he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take 10 pieces for yourself. This is what the *Lord the God of *Israel says. “I will take the *kingdom away from Solomon and I will give you 10 *tribes. v32 But Solomon will keep one *tribe. This is because of my servant David and Jerusalem city. I have chosen it out of all the *tribes of *Israel. v33 I will do this because Solomon has *rejected me. He has *worshipped Ashtoreth the female god of Sidon. He has also *worshipped Chemosh the god of the people in Moab and Milcom the god of the people in Ammon. He has not obeyed me. He has done wrong things. He has not obeyed my laws as David his father did.

v34 But I will not take away the whole *kingdom from Solomon. I have made him ruler for as long as he lives. I have done this because of my servant David whom I chose. He obeyed my laws and commands. v35 I will take the *kingdom away from Solomon’s son. I will give you 10 *tribes. v36 I will give one *tribe to his son. So I will always have a *descendant of David as king in Jerusalem. I have chosen this city. People will *worship me here. v37 However, this is my plan for you, Jeroboam. You will rule over *Israel. You will rule over all the territory that you want. v38 You must obey my commands. You must do what is right. Obey me completely as my servant David did. If you do, I will be with you. I will give *Israel to you. And I will establish your *kingdom. I will make sure that your *descendants rule after you. This is what I did for David. v39 I will punish the *descendants of David but not for always.” ’

v40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam but he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt. Jeroboam stayed there until Solomon died.

Jeroboam’s story begins 20 years after the beginning of Solomon’s rule. He was an impressive man and a hard worker. Solomon put him in command of the people from the *tribes of Joseph. Those people had to work for the king. Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s sons. Their families formed 2 of the largest *tribes in *Israel.

The *prophet told Jeroboam that he would rule the 10 northern *tribes of *Israel. This was because Solomon had not obeyed God. This would only happen after Solomon’s death. The two southern *tribes (*Judah and Benjamin) would continue to belong to the family of David. However, Jeroboam’s family would only continue to rule over the north if they obeyed God.

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. This shows us how wicked Solomon had become. He even tried to murder Jeroboam because he (Solomon) did not want to lose his *kingdom. But nobody can successfully oppose God’s plans. So Jeroboam went into Egypt. King Shishak was the first king of the 22nd group of rulers. He ruled from 945-924 *B.C.

So God punished Solomon but he *kept his promise to David.

v41 You can read about everything else that Solomon did in ‘The History of the acts of Solomon’. It also tells us about his wisdom.

v42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all *Israel for 40 years. v43 Then he died. People buried him in the city of David his father. Solomon’s son, called Rehoboam, became king after him.

The author of the Books of Kings used a book called ‘The History of the acts of Solomon’. That book does not still exist. It contained information about Solomon’s life. Solomon ruled as long as his father did. But he did not live as long. His life was shorter because of his *sin. He ruled from 971-931 *B.C. Solomon’s life warns us about our own lives. It is good to begin well, but we must also end well.

worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God; to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Hittite ~ one of a group of people who had lived in Canaan before the Jews lived there.
Jew ~ a person who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; an Israelite.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
Lord ~ the name of God. It can translate either of two words in Hebrew, which is the original language of this book. The word ‘Yahweh’ is God’s most holy name, and means ‘God always’. The word ‘Adonai’ means ‘master’.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.'sin/sinful ~ an action that is wrong or wicked. It is against a religious or moral law.
religious ~ about religion.
incense ~ a substance that people use in religious celebrations. It has a pleasant smell.
religious ~ about religion.

celebrate/celebration ~ to praise a person and to give honour to that person. Or, to show great happiness at a special event.
sacrifice ~ something valuable that people offered to a god.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
covenant ~ an agreement between two people or groups. Or, especially, the agreement between God and his people. The ‘Covenant Box’ was the most sacred object in the temple.
temple ~ the central place of worship that Solomon built in Jerusalem; or, a place where people worship a false god.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God; to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
kingdom ~ a country or nation that a king or a queen rules.
tribe ~ a group of people; a family or people that have the same ancestors; family from one man. Israel came from the 12 sons of Jacob. These 12 families formed the 12 tribes of Israel.
ancestor ~ any person from the past from whom the families of your father or mother have come.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
Judah ~ one of the tribes of Israel. The southern part of the *Jewish kingdom after it divided.
tribe ~ a group of people; a family or people that have the same ancestors; family from one man. Israel came from the 12 sons of Jacob. These 12 families formed the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
kingdom ~ a country or nation that a king or a queen rules.
ancestor ~ any person from the past from whom the families of your father or mother have come.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
grace ~ God’s mercy and kindness which are free gifts to us.
mercy ~ kindness or forgiveness instead of punishment.
forgiveness ~ when somebody decides to forgive a person who has done something wrong. The person who forgives is not still angry with that other person.

'rebellion/rebel ~ fight against authority; someone who does this.
captured ~ a description of someone who becomes a prisoner during a battle.
prophet ~ a person who prophesies.
prophesy ~ to speak God’s word; or, to say what will happen in the future.
reject ~ to refuse to accept someone or something.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.