1 Kings 11

1 Kings 11:1-8

This chapter begins with as melancholy a but as almself any we find in all the Bible: Hitherto we have read nothing of Solomon but what was great and good; but his fun for under a cloud. 1. By multiplying strange waves, he turned after strange gods, ver. 4—8. 2. God’s anger signified to him thereupon, ver. 9—13. 3. Enemies foreign and densific raised up against him, ver. 14—40. 4. His death and burial, ver. 41—43.

1. BUT king Solomon ’loved’ many strange women (together with the daughter of Pharaoh) women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidomans, and Hittites: 2. Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, ‘Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely’ they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 3. And he had seven hundred wives, princefies, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. 4. For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5. For Solomon went after Abhoreth the goddefe of the Zidomans, and after ‘Milदान the abomination of the Ammonites. 6. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. 7. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemofh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem: and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense, and sacrificed unto their gods.

Lord, what is man! Is this Solomon the wise? Is this Jedediah, the beloved of the Lord? Is this the man of prayer, the builder of God’s temple? How art thou fallen, Son of the Morning!

1. The cause of Solomon’s sad departure from God is here mentioned. The love of women stole away his heart; infuriate lust led him to multiply his wives and concubines; and when the women of Israel no longer pleased his vitiated taste, or piquily refused to minister to his guilty pleasures, he fought for others, left scrupulous, from the forbidden nations around him, v. 2. On these his heart doasted; and as he grew old, grew fender still, and could refuse them nothing. Nate, (1.) No passion so dangerous to the soul, as the love of women. (2.) Every indulgence given to lewd desire, only makes those desires more infuriate.

2. The sad effects produced by his inordinate affections. His heart was drawn aside to idolatry; to which David in his most lamented days never inclined. His wives taking advantage of his fondness and age, seduced him first to grant them the worship of their own gods, and then engaged him to join with them in the abominable service. To such a pitch of impiety it grew at lust, that the high place of Chemofh confronted the very temple of God, v. 8. Nate, (1.) They who give way to one wilful sin, never know when or where they shall stop. (2.) The indulgence of fleshly lusts makes the heart brutally, and stupifies the conscience. (3.) Outward prosperity is a dangerous state: they who fare sumptuously every day, often find

their table a fours, and pampered appetite their ruin: (4.) The greatest attainments, without continued watchfulness and joy, may be quickly lost; and, like Solomon, the highest in profession of godliness, become the foulest in their falls. (5.) Solomon’s fin should be our warning: a bufy devil, and a body of flesh will never cease tempting. Let us enter turn into an argument to embolden us, what is left on record as an admonition, to deter us from the like fins.

9. ¶ And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because the heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. 10. And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded. 11. Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. 12. Notwithstanding, in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 13. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom: but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, which I have chosen.

1 Kings 11:9-13

Juftly provoked at such safe ingratitude and wilful disobedience, after such repeated instances of his kindness, God sends a terrible message to awaken him from his shameful backfinding. Since he had revolted from God, the kingdom shall revolt from him, that is, from his potterity in the next reign; and though for the sake of the promise made to David, he would leave him one tribe, that is Judah, with which Benjamin, a adjacent, was reckoned: the other ten tribes should be given to his servant. In mercy God deferred the execution of his footnote till his son’s reign, but left him to honour the reproaching desolations, when all the glory he hoped to transmit to his potterity, would he so eclipsed. God had given him fair warning before; he hath now only his own wickedness to blame. What effect this message had, we are not told; yet have reason to hope it was, like Nathan’s, the means of bringing him to repentance; and that the book of Ecclesiastes contains his repentance, and acknowledgment of his sin and folly. Note. (1.) When God’s people sin against him, they may expect severe rebukes. (2.) Every sin receives peculiar aggravations from the light and mercies against which it is committed. (3.) Though God does not disinherit his chosen, they will tarnish greatly the luffice of their crown by their backfinding. (4.) It is for Jesus’ sake, and the covenant established in him, that we are not utterly confirmed: if any man sin, we have yet an advocate with the Father.

14. ¶ And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the king’s seed in Edom. 15. For it came to pass when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the hoft was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom: 16. (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom) 17. That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child. 18. And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran, and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land. 19. And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 20. And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh’s household, among the sons of Pharaoh. 21. And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David dept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the hoft was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country. 22. Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hath thou lacked with me, that behold, thou festerest to go to mine own country? And he answered, Nothing: Howbeit let me go in any wife. 23. ¶ And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezaon, the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24. And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a hand, when David flew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt there-

in, and reigned in Damascus. 25. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

1 Kings 11:24-25

Peace and plenty had for a time, with uninterrupted firearm, flowed in upon the pious Solomon: but when he exchanged his wisdom for folly, and his piety for profaneness, then the current of his mercies was stayed, and God began to afflict him. Sin and suffering go usually linked together.

God stirred up adversaries against him, foreign and domestic, to avenge his quarrel, and to be a scourge for his sins. Note. The instruments God also, often mean only their own ambition, but he directs them to fulfil his purposes, and makes them subservient to his glory.

1. Hadad, an Edomite. He was of the seed royal, and had escaped from the general extirpation of Moab; which Joab, under David’s reign, had attempted; v. 15, 16. Hadad was then a child, and a few of his servants rescued him by flight; and with guides, or baglives, like thenshines, from Paran, took refuge in Egypt; where, being kindly entertained by Pharaoh, he was in process of time, married to his wife’s sister, greatly careful, v. 20. and nobly provided for. At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, he longed to return to his native country, which Pharaoh, though with great reluctance, granted; there he seems to have continued in secret, engaging the people in his favour, till now Solomon’s sin gave him an opportunity to declare himself; and though the mischief he did is not mentioned, he became, it is clear, a very troublesome neighbour, v. 25. Note. (1.) The weakest instruments in God’s hands can soon grow strong enough to be our bitter scourge. (2.) Like Hadad, the believer, though enjoying every thing on earth his heart can with, yet sighs for home, and faith, O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away to my eternal rest, in the bosom of Jesus.

2. Reason was another enemy; he escaped from the ruins of Zobah, when Hadadezer fell by the sword of David; and having collected as many as he could of the scattered forces, he became their captain; and now towards the end of Solomon’s reign, when his wickedness made him weak, feating Damascus, he fixed there the seat of his kingdom. The remembrance of his former sufferings sharpened his refinement: he abhorred Solomon and Israel, and in concert with Hadad, continued to barracks and disturb them. Note. When God resolves to chastize, he will not want a rod.

3. ¶ And Jeroboam the son of Nekat, an Ephraim, the other of Zereda, Solomon’s servant (whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow-woman) even the left up his hand against the king. 27. And this was the cause that he left up his hand against the king: Solomon built Milky, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father. 28. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon being the young man, that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. 29. And it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Abijah the Shilonite found him in the way: and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field. 30. And Abijah caught the new garment that was on him, and sent it in twelve pieces. 31. And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus faith the LORD the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: 32. (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel) 33. Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Aftoneth the godless of the Zidonians, Chemoith the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which it right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. 34. Howbeit, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: 35. But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. 36. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. 37. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireeth,

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etch, and shall be king over Israel. 38. And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that it right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did: that ‘I will be with thee, and ‘build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. 39. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever. 40. ‘Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam: and Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shithak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

1 Kings 11:26-40

We have here,

1. The word and last of Solomon’s enemies, whose name we shall often find hereafter stamped with infamy, Jeroboam the son of Nebat; an Ephraimite by birth, his mother a widow, advanced by Solomon, for his diligence and industry, to the presidence over the whole house of Joseph: his advancement had shed his ambition, and Ahijah’s prophecy railed his expectations to injure even to the crown. Nate, (1.) Diligence is the way to advancement. (2.) Domestic foes are more dangerous than foreign enemies. (3.) Ambition is never satisfied; one summit of honour attained presents a greater height, to which the aspiring wishes climb.

2. The appointment of Jeroboam to the crown of Israel. Ahijah met him on his return from court, and taking him aside into a field for privacy, by a significant sign, intimated his message, feizing Jeroboam’s new garment, or his own, the words bearing either sense, he rent it in twelve pieces, and bid him take up ten, assuring him from God, that the tribes of Israel should be given him as a punishment on Solomon and his people, for their foul idolatry, (and a greater curse could not be laid on them, than such a king as he afterwards proved) yet he is not put into immediate possession, but limited to Solomon’s demise; and then also he must not aspire to the universal dominion, but leave the tribe of Judah, which, with Benjamin, were continued to David’s seed, undisturbed, that the lamp of David, his royal house, be not quite extinguished. On condition of his fidelity to walk in God’s ways, Ahijah promises him the sure possession of the kingdom to his posterity; but if he apolitaned from God, he must be assured, from what he saw in Solomon’s case, that he would not be unpunished. Nate, (1.) Others suffering should warn us against their sins. (2.) Amidst all our provocations God still remembers his promises to his people, for the son of David’s sake, and though he will not let us go unpunished, in his wrath he still remembers mercy.

3. Solomon having information of what had passed, by Ahijah’s public declaration of it, or Jeroboam’s vanity, foolishly and wickedly attempts to disappoint God’s word by the death of his rival; on which Jeroboam flies into Egypt, as an asylum, to wait ’till the death of Solomon should open his way to the throne. Nate, We must, as strangers in a strange land, be content for a while to wait till death shall open a way for us to our kingdom in glory.

4. ¶ And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in ’the book of the acts of Solomon? 42. And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel, was forty years. 43. And Solomon ‘dept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

1 Kings 11:41-43

Solomon’s reign now draws to an end: we have heard some of the most material of his deeds, but a greater part are left in oblivion, though written in a book of annals, extant when this history was compiled. Forty years he reigned; at last death, that pays no respect to crowned heads, took him from the throne to the tomb. He slept in his father’s sepulchre, and left his kingdom to his son Rehoboam, whose inauspicious reign we next enter upon.