1 Kings 11

Chap. XI. Ver. 1—13. Solomon seduced into idolatry by strange women.—We have seen in the preceding chapter the king’s increase of Solomon in fame and riches; and the sad consequences of these, unless guarded by divine grace, are pride, luxury, and licentiousness. Many a man, by increasing in riches, “lays up wrath against the day of wrath,” ((Romans 2:5).) and not only so, but, by indulging in luxury and licentiousness, delivers himself into the “hands of the tormentors (disease and a guilty conscience) before his time.” We have already noticed that Solomon had “multiplied to himself” wives and concubines from all the nations round him; each the daughters of Tarshish, horses from Egypt, of which was strongly expressly forbidden to a king of Israel by the divine law, and beautiful virgins from all the nations round to furnish his seraglio, in which no regard appears to have been paid, even to

the fundamental principle of not intermarrying with the Canaanites, for the Zidonians were certainly of that accursed race. That Solomon loved many women cannot be denied; but to say that he loved a thousand would be perfectly ridiculous; nor is it to be inferred from the number in his harem (or seraglio), since it appears that where there were “threescore queens and fourscore concubines,” there were also “virgins without number.” The fact is, that in the East, women are kept in the harems of sovereigns for state, as well as voluptuousness. (See note on ver. 3.) The distinction between wives and concubines is well known; the former are generally from families of some rank, and their marriage makes them all princesses though not queens.

The concubines and slaves are generally selected for their beauty, or sent by way of present to the sovereign. Such is the condition of women in the East! The Mosaic code did much to restrain their tyrants; but Christianity sets them free, for in “Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, male nor female;” both sexes are alike interested in its blessings. ((Galatians 3:28).) But to return to Solomon, he seems to have been unhappily partial to “strange,” that is, to foreign women, who were generally, if not universally, idolaters; and one reason may have been, that they excelled in certain accomplishments which were acquired in the service of their idol deities. It is probable also that he was deceived, as Christians are to the present day.

At first, they might promise to renounce their idols and worship the God of Israel: afterwards, they would plead for their own idolatries as the religion of their fathers, in which they had been brought up, and so procure a toleration. The next step might be to entice him to be present, and to join in their seducing rites; and thus, though it does not appear he ever renounced the God of Israel, he united with his worship that of Moloch and others. Nor is this much to be wondered at, when we consider that in the present day we can hardly go to any public dinner among Christians, and even for Christian objects, but our ears are greeted with the praises of “Jolly Bacchus,” the lewd Venus (the Ashtoreth of the Zidonians), or the “Glorious Apollo.” It may be said, these are allegorical personages, and so were all the Pagan deities; but the disposition toward, and the enjoyment of, these follies, prove, as clearly as the idolatry of Solomon, a “heart turned from the Lord,”

and must provoke him to anger, as that did. This is an evil to which the professors of religion need to be awakened; and to another also, in which this seems partly to originate; namely, the excessive admiration of the Pagan writers, and their extensive use in education, by which means

Ver. 14—43. Solomon reaps the consequences of his rebellion.—The Lord, on this occasion, denounces on Solomon very heavy judgments for his disobedience. They are expressed, however, very differently from those denounced on Saul and other characters utterly rejected by him. Here is no personal destruction, not even deprivation during his life, nor even a total deprivation in the succeeding reign. Trials and difficulties in his government are announced, calculated to make him deeply sensible of his iniquities, yet not to sink him into despair.

“I will afflict the seed of David,” said he to Jeroboam, “but not for ever.” (Ver. 39.) But who were the adversaries raised up to punish Solomon? 1. Hadad, a prince of Idumea, who fled from Edom when Joab ravaged that country, but had since formed an alliance with the king of Egypt, whose daughter Solomon had married. 2. Rezon, one of the generals of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, who seized upon Damascus, where he reigned, and distressed Solomon in his declining years. And chiefly, 3. Jeroboam, a bold and enterprising man, of the tribe of Ephraim, who had been employed by Solomon in a confidential office, and having gained great influence with the people, had now begun to excite a disposition to revolt.

Solomon hearing of this fact, sought Jeroboam’s life, which occasioned him to flee to Egypt till after his death: then the folly of Rehoboam brought back Jeroboam, and raised him to the throne of Israel, though not of Judah, and fulfilled the threatened judgment. Of the last years of Solomon we have little account; we are told that they were recorded, but these records were probably lost with many others of great value during the captivity. The wonder is, and it calls for great thankfulness, that so many were preserved. The repentance of Solomon, and the evidence he gave of it, must be deferred till we come to the book of Ecclesiastes, which, if genuine, (and that we shall endeavour to prove,) will establish the fact in the same manner as the fifty-first Psalm proves the penitence of David, after “the matter of Uriah.”

We must not wholly omit here to mention an incident in this chapter which is necessary to introduce the chapters following. Jeroboam having been officially employed, that his appearance might correspond with his office, clothed himself in a new, and probably a splendid garment; and thus arrayed, he meets in a field the prophet Ahijah, of Shiloh, who tears his garment into twelve pieces; thus intimating, by tearing his garment, that the kingdom of Israel should be rent; ((1 Samuel 15:28).) and by giving to Jeroboam (who doubtless well knew him) ten of these pieces, ten tribes were submitted to his government. This meeting, on the part of Jeroboam, was apparently accidental; but there are no accidents in the providence of God.

The prophet was doubtless directed where to meet with him, and how to act towards him; and at the same time, as he announced to him a kingdom, he was given to understand that the perpetuity of his kingdom would depend upon his obedience to the divine law, and especially his adhering to the worship of Jehovah only, as David had always done.

Notes on the verses

The great Moz, the 5th emperor of the Turks, had 3000 virgins and concubines. The way mentions that emperor of Persia collected all the i.e. among the gods, like Jupiter. A. Ver. 7. Chemosh.—The swift, or the hot god; i.e. the sun.—In the hill.—(i.e. the Mount of Olives, which lay east of Jerusalem; and that Hebrews would consider before it, while the west would be behind it; for the former means before, while rôn behind, sometimes signifies the west.)—Bagster. Ver. 17. A little child.—(Rather, “a little boy;” one who was apprehensive of his danger, and could, with his father’s servants, make his escape.)—B. Ver. 18. Midian.—(Probably not the Midian east of the Red sea, to which Moses fled, ((Exodus 2:15), &c.) but the Midian east of the Dead sea, and south of Moab. These Midianites, whose daughters seduced the Israelites to commit idolatry, ((Numbers 22:4, 7).; xxv. 15.; xxxi. 2, &c.) were descendants of Midian, son of Abraham, ((Genesis 25:2).) Their capital city was called Midian, and its remains were to be seen in the time of Eusebius and Jerome: it was situated on the Arnon, south of the city Ar, or Areopolis.—Paran.—Probably the city of Paran, or the district around it, situated in the south of Idumea, and according to Eusebius, three days’ journey east from Elah or Elath, at the head of the eastern branch, or Elanitic gulf of the Red sea.—Bagster. Ver. 22. He answered, Nothing.—i.e.

to Pharaoh’s question, not being willing to acquaint him with his reason; only he said, “Howbeit let me go.” Ver. 24. Damascus.—[Damascus, called also Damesk, but generally Et Sham, by the Arabs, is situated in a delightful plain, well watered by the Barrada, at the eastern foot of Antilibanus, being surrounded by the hills in the form of a triumphal arch, 136 miles north of Jerusalem, 195 south of Antioch, and 276 8.8. W. of Diarbekir. It is a city of the highest antiquity, being at least as ancient as the time of Abraham; it has been often captured, and several times demolished, but has always risen to splendour and dignity. The modern town is described by Maundrell as of a long, straight figure, its ends pointing per N.

E. and S. W. It is very slender in the middle, but swells bigger at each end especially at that to the N. E. According to Niebuhr, the 3 are something less than a league and a half in circumference, and the population is estimated at from 100,000 to 150,000.]—Bagster. Ver. 40. Shishak.—(This is the first time we meet with the proper name of an Egyptian king in Scripture; Pharaoh being the general appellation for all the sovereigns of that country. Some are of opinion that Shishak is the same with the celebrated Sesostris of the Greek historians; but it is probable that this king lived long before Solomon’s time. Usher thinks him to be Sesonchis, and places the beginning of his reign A. M.

3026. B. C. 973.)—Bagster. Ver. 41. Acts of Solomon.—See Margin. It appears from (2 Chronicles 9:29). that the original records of this reign were written by the prophets Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo, the substance of which is preserved to us in these books of Kings and Chronicles; except only as to his repentance, on which these books are silent. Ver. 42. Forty years.—(Calmet supposes him to have been 18 years old when he came to the throne, and 58 when he died.)—Bagster. Chap. XII. Ver. 2. And it came to pass &c.—Something seems wanting after the parenthesis, and it is supplied by the parallel passage, (2 Chronicles 10:2). “Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.” F. Ver. 10. My little finger, &c.—(A proverbial mode of expression: “My little finger is thicker than father’s thigh.”

As much as the thigh surpasses the little finger in thickness, so much does my power exceed that of my father; and the use I shall make of it to oppress and tax you shall be in proportion.)—Bagster. But we do not find Rehoboam adopted it. Ver. 11. Scorpions.—(Should you rebel, or become disaffected; my father’s whip shall be a scorpion in my hand. His was chastisement, mine shall be punishment. Celsius and Hiller conjecture that akrabbim denotes a sort of thorny shrub, whose prickles are of a venomous nature, called by the Arabs scorpion thorns, from the exquisite pain which they inflict. But the Chaldee renders it margenin, and the Syriac moragyai, i.e. scourges; and in the parallel place of Chronicles, the Arabic has sawt, a scourge.

Isidore, and after him Calmet and others, assert, that the scorpion was a sort of severe whip, the lashes of which were armed with knots or points, that sunk into and tore the flesh.)— Ver. 15. Cause was from the Lord.—(The cause of all this confusion and anarchy, was Rehoboam’s folly, cruelty, and despotic tyranny, and this was certainly not “from the Lord,” nor does the original text speak this doctrine. It says, sibbah, (from savav, to turn, change,) “the change or revolution was from the Lord;” which is consistent with all the preceding declarations. God stirred up the people to revolt from a man who had neither skill nor humanity to govern them.)—Bagster. Ver. 24. Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for *this thing

is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord. 25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence and built Penuel. The temper of one man, and the ambitious disposition of another, inspire to fulfil the divine purpose, “for the cause was from the Lord.” Jeroboam was, however, no better than his master. No sooner is he settled in his kingdom, than he adopts a wicked policy to prevent the tribes from going to the temple service. He does not indeed set up Moloch, or Ashtoreth; but forms images, probably in some measure resembling the cherubic figures, which the sacred writer in derision characterizes as calves—made priests of any of the people—established a feast in imitation of the feast of tabernacles—and offered sacrifices on altars of his own erecting.

(See note ver. 28.) Confined as our room is, we must beg leave to indulge in two or three practical remarks. 1. How does one sin lead on to another! Jeroboam makes gods, and to render them popular they are made of gold. But gods require priests, priests an altar, an altar a high place, and thus does one sin and folly lead on to others. 2. How great the folly of attempting to make religion serve our own private ends! Jeroboam will be religious; but it is to serve his political views, lest Israel should go to Jerusalem. 3. How ridiculous to set up any thing in the place of God! Call it what you will, it is still a calf: make it of gold, it is but “a golden calf.” Lastly, how fit a type is this calf of “the mammon of unrighteousness!”

the great idol which not only the heathen but the Christians worship. But let us remember who hath said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24).