Solomon’s Sin and God’s Judgment
11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You must not enter into marriage with them, and they must not enter into marriage with you, or they will turn your hearts after other gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who held the rank of princess and three hundred concubines. So they turned his heart away.
4 When Solomon became old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of his father David had been. 5 Then Solomon followed Ashtarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not devote himself to the Lord as his father David had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem and for Molek,[a] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and making sacrifices to their gods.
9 So the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 The Lord had given him the command not to follow other gods, but Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.
11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because this is your attitude, and because you did not keep my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely rip the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David. I will rip it from your son’s hand. 13 But I will not rip away the whole kingdom. One tribe I will give to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
God Raises Foreign Enemies to Oppose Solomon
14 Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom, as an adversary for Solomon. 15 Earlier, while David was at war with Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he struck down every male in Edom. 16 For six months Joab and all Israel stayed there until he exterminated every male in Edom. 17 But while Hadad was a young boy, he had fled with some Edomites from among his father’s servants to go to Egypt. 18 So they set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took some men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave Hadad a house and decreed an allowance of food for him and gave him land.
19 Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so Pharaoh gave him the sister of his own wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, as his wife. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in the house of Pharaoh, so Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh with Pharaoh’s own sons.
21 Later Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me back to my own country.”
22 Pharaoh said to him, “What are you lacking here with me, so that you want to go back to your own country?”
He said, “Nothing, but please let me go.”
23 God also raised up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 After David had destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered men around himself and was the commander of a band of raiders. They went to Damascus and lived there and ruled Damascus. 25 He was Israel’s adversary during all the days of Solomon, in addition to all the difficulties which Hadad caused. He was hostile to Israel, and he ruled over Aram.
God Chooses Jeroboam to Be King of Israel
26 Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother’s name was Zeruah. She was a widow. Jeroboam was Solomon’s official, but he rebelled against the king. 27 This is the account of how he rebelled against the king.
When Solomon was rebuilding the Millo and repairing the gap in the wall in the city of his father David, 28 Jeroboam showed that he was a very capable man. When Solomon saw that the young man was a capable worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.[b] 29 At that time, when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road.[c] Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in the field. 30 Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
31 He told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, because this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.”
The Lord’s Message to Jeroboam
Look, I am tearing the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand, and I will give you ten tribes. 32 But one tribe will remain with him for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. 33 This is because they have abandoned me and worshipped Ashtarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways by doing what is upright in my eyes and keeping my commands and judgments as his father David did. 34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand because I appointed him leader for all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and statutes. 35 However, I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand, and I will give ten tribes to you. 36 To his son I will give one tribe in order that there may be a lamp for my servant David before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.
37 But I will take you, and you will be king over all that your soul desires. You will be king over Israel. 38 If you listen to all that I command you, and if you walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes, keeping my decrees and my statutes, just as my servant David did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you, just as I built for David. I will give Israel to you. 39 Now I will humble the seed of David because of this, but not forever.
40 As a result Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Shishak king of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.
The Death of King Solomon
41 As for the rest of Solomon’s acts, everything he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42 Solomon was king over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.
43 Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, his father. His son Rehoboam ruled as king in his place.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 11:7 The Hebrew text switches from Milcom in verse 5 to Molek in verse 7.
- 1 Kings 11:28 That is, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh
- 1 Kings 11:29 The Greek Old Testament has the additional words marked by the half-brackets: Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road ⎣and caused him to turn aside out of the road⎦. The additional words are found between two occcurrences of the road.