1 Kings 11
11
Solomon's unfaithfulness, enemies, and death
Solomon disobeys the LORD
1-2The LORD did not want the Israelites to worship foreign gods, so he had warned them not to marry anyone who was not from Israel.#Dt 17.17.#Ex 34.16; Dt 7.3-4.
Solomon loved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt. But he also loved some women from Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and others from Sidon and the land of the Hittites. 3-4Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married three hundred other women.#11.3,4 other women: This translates a Hebrew word for a woman who was legally bound to a man, but without the full privileges of a wife.
As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn't like his father David, who had worshipped only the LORD God. 5Solomon also worshipped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon. 6Solomon's father had obeyed the LORD with all his heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the LORD hated.
7Solomon built shrines on a hill east of Jerusalem to worship Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. 8In fact, he built a shrine for each of his foreign wives, so all of them could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.
9-10The LORD God of Israel had appeared to Solomon twice and warned him not to worship foreign gods. But Solomon disobeyed and did it anyway. This made the LORD very angry, 11and he said to Solomon:
You did what you wanted and not what I told you to do. Now I'm going to take your kingdom from you and give it to one of your officials. 12But because David was your father, you will remain king as long as you live. I will wait until your son becomes king, then I will take the kingdom from him. 13When I do, I will still let him rule one tribe, because I have not forgotten that David was my servant and Jerusalem is my city.
Hadad becomes an enemy of Solomon
14Hadad was from the royal family of Edom, and here is how the LORD made him Solomon's enemy:
15-16Some time earlier, when David conquered the nation of Edom,#11.15,16 Edom: See 2 Samuel 8.13,14. Joab his army commander went there to bury those who had died in battle. Joab and his soldiers stayed in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every man and boy who lived there.
17-19Hadad was a boy at the time, but he escaped to Midian with some of his father's officials. At Paran some other men joined them, and they went to the king of Egypt. The king liked Hadad and gave him food, some land, and a house, and even let him marry the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20Hadad and his wife had a son named Genubath, and the queen let the boy grow up in the palace with her own children.
21When Hadad heard that David and Joab were dead, he said to the king, “Your Majesty, please let me go back to my own country.”
22“Why?” asked the king. “Do you want something I haven't given you?”
“No, I just want to go home.”
Rezon becomes an enemy of Solomon
23Here is how God made Rezon son of Eliada an enemy of Solomon:
Rezon had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. 24-25He formed his own small army and became its leader after David had defeated Hadadezer's troops.#11.24,25 troops: See 2 Samuel 8.3-6. Then Rezon and his army went to Damascus, where he became the ruler of Syria and an enemy of Israel.
Both Hadad and Rezon were enemies of Israel while Solomon was king, and they caused him a lot of trouble.
The LORD makes a promise to Jeroboam
26Jeroboam was from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim. His father Nebat had died, but his mother Zeruah was still alive. Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officials, but even he rebelled against Solomon. 27Here is how it happened:
While Solomon's workers were filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem#11.27 filling…Jerusalem: See the note at 9.15. and repairing the city walls, 28Solomon noticed that Jeroboam was a hard worker. So he put Jeroboam in charge of the work force from Manasseh and Ephraim.
29-30One day when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, he met Ahijah, a prophet from Shiloh. No one else was anywhere around. Suddenly, Ahijah took off his new coat and ripped it into twelve pieces. 31Then he said:
Jeroboam, take ten pieces of this coat and listen to what the LORD God of Israel says to you. “Jeroboam, I am the LORD God, and I am about to take Solomon's kingdom from him and give you ten tribes to rule. 32But Solomon will still rule one tribe,#11.31,32 ten tribes…one tribe: By this time the tribe of Simeon had become part of the tribe of Judah. “One tribe” refers to Judah. Instead of “one tribe”, one ancient translation has “two tribes”. since he is the son of David my servant, and Jerusalem is my chosen city.
33“Solomon and the Israelites are not like their ancestor David. They will not listen to me, obey me, or do what is right. They have turned from me to worship Astarte the goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of Ammon.
34“Solomon is David's son, and David was my chosen leader, who did what I commanded. So I will let Solomon be king until he dies. 35Then I will give you ten tribes to rule, 36but Solomon's son will still rule one tribe. This way, my servant David will always have a descendant ruling in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to be worshipped.
37“You will be king of Israel and will rule every nation you want. 38I'll help you if you obey me. And if you do what I say, as my servant David did, I will always let someone from your family rule in Israel, just as someone from David's family will always rule in Judah. The nation of Israel will be yours.
39“I will punish the descendants of David, but not for ever.”
40When Solomon learnt what the LORD had told Jeroboam, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.
Solomon dies
(2 Chronicles 9.29-31)
41Everything else Solomon did while he was king is written in the book about him and his wisdom. 42After he had ruled forty years from Jerusalem, 43he died and was buried there in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam then became king.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Kings 11
11
Solomon’s Many Wives
1But King Solomon loved many women who were not from Israel. He loved the daughter of the king of Egypt. He also loved women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2The Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not marry people of other nations. If you do, they will cause you to follow their gods.” But Solomon fell in love with these women. 3He had 700 wives who were from royal families. He also had 300 slave women who gave birth to his children. His wives caused him to turn away from God. 4As Solomon grew old, his wives caused him to follow other gods. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done. 5Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon. And he worshiped Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did what the Lord said was wrong. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David had done.
7On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built two places for worship. He built a place to worship Chemosh, the hated god of the Moabites. And he built a place to worship Molech, the hated god of the Ammonites. 8Solomon did the same thing for all of his foreign wives. So they burned incense and gave sacrifices to their gods.
9The Lord had appeared to Solomon twice. But Solomon turned away from following the Lord, the God of Israel. So the Lord was angry with him. 10The Lord had commanded Solomon not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not obey the Lord’s command. 11So the Lord said to Solomon, “You have chosen to break your agreement with me. You have not obeyed my commands. So I promise I will tear your kingdom away from you. I will give it to one of your officers. 12But I will not take it away while you are alive. This is because of my love for your father David. I will tear it away from your son when he becomes king. 13But I will not tear away all the kingdom from him. I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this because of David, my servant. And I will do it because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”
Solomon’s Enemies
14Now Hadad was a member of the family of the king of Edom. And the Lord caused Hadad the Edomite to become Solomon’s enemy. 15Earlier, David had defeated Edom. Joab, the commander of David’s army, went into Edom to bury the dead. While he was there, he killed all the males. 16Joab and all the Israelites stayed in Edom for six months. During that time they killed every male in Edom. 17But at that time Hadad was only a young boy. So he ran away to Egypt with some of his father’s officers. 18They left Midian and went to Paran. In Paran other men joined them. Then they all went to Egypt to see the king. He gave Hadad a house, some land and food to eat.
19The king liked Hadad so much he gave Hadad a wife. She was the sister of Tahpenes, the king’s wife. 20They had a son named Genubath. Queen Tahpenes allowed him to grow up in the royal palace. So he grew up with the king’s own children.
21While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had died. He also heard that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad said to the king, “Let me go home. Let me return to my own country.”
22But the king said, “Why do you want to go back to your own country? What haven’t I given you here?”
Hadad answered, “Nothing. But please, let me go.”
23God also caused another man to be an enemy to Solomon. This man was Rezon son of Eliada. Rezon had run away from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24After David defeated the army of Zobah, Rezon gathered some men. He became the leader of a small army. They went to Damascus and settled there. And Rezon became king of Damascus. 25Rezon ruled Aram, and he hated Israel. So he was an enemy of Israel all the time Solomon was alive. Rezon and Hadad caused some trouble for Israel.
26Jeroboam son of Nebat was one of Solomon’s officers. Jeroboam was one of the Ephraimite people. He was from the town of Zeredah. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. He turned against the king.
27This is the story of how Jeroboam turned against the king. Solomon was filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem. He was also repairing the wall of Jerusalem. It was the city of David, his ancestor. 28Jeroboam was a capable man. Solomon saw that this young man was a good worker. So Solomon put him over all the workers from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.
29One day Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem. Ahijah, the prophet from Shiloh, met him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new coat. The two men were alone out in the country. 30Ahijah took his new coat and tore it into 12 pieces. 31Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take 10 pieces of this coat for yourself. The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear the kingdom away from Solomon. Then I will give you 10 tribes. 32But I will allow the family of David to control 1 tribe. I will do this for my servant David and for Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel. 33I will do this because Solomon has stopped following me. He worships the Sidonian god Ashtoreth and the Moabite god Chemosh. He also worships Molech, the Ammonite god. Solomon has not obeyed me. He has not done what I said is right. He has not obeyed my laws and commands. He is not living the way his father David lived.
34“‘But I will not take all the kingdom away from Solomon. I will let him rule all his life. I will do this because of my servant David. I chose David, and he obeyed all my commands and laws. 35But I will take the kingdom away from his son. Jeroboam, I will allow you to rule over the 10 tribes. 36I will allow Solomon’s son to continue to rule over 1 tribe. I will do this so that David, my servant, will always have a king before me in Jerusalem. It is the city where I chose to be worshiped. 37But I will make you rule over everything you want. You will rule over all of Israel. 38I will always be with you if you do what I say is right. You must obey all my commands. If you obey my laws and commands as David did, I will be with you. I will make your family a family of kings, as I did for David. I will give Israel to you. 39I will punish David’s children because of this. But I will not punish them forever.’”
Solomon’s Death
40Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam ran away to Egypt. He went to Shishak king of Egypt. And Jeroboam stayed there until Solomon died.
41Everything else Solomon did is written down. He showed much wisdom. It is written in the book of the history of Solomon. 42Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years. 43Then he died and was buried in Jerusalem, the city of David, his father. And his son Rehoboam became king after him.
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