Context No. 2430 of 4322 · 1 Kings

1 Kings 11:1-13: in context

1Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, 2of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love. 3He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away. 4When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father was. 5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6Solomon did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and didn’t go fully after the LORD, as David his father did. 7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. 8So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he didn’t keep that which the LORD commanded. 11Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. 12Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”

The reign that began with a request for wisdom ends in slow ruin. Solomon, for all his wisdom, loved many foreign wives from the nations God had warned against, and over years they turned his heart. When he was old, he followed after their gods, built high places for Chemosh and Molech on the hill facing Jerusalem, and his heart was no longer wholly the LORD's. God, who had appeared to him twice, tells him the kingdom will be torn away.

The fall is not a single scandal but a gradual drift. No one moment turned Solomon; his affections were bent by degrees, a compromise here, an accommodation there, until the man who built the temple was building shrines to idols. Wisdom did not immunize him, because the erosion came through what he loved, not what he knew. That is the sobering part. A heart can be argued into nothing and still be quietly turned by its attachments, one small yielding at a time, until it faces the wrong way entirely.

What affection is slowly bending my heart by degrees, so gently that I have not yet noticed which way I am now facing?

Sources

1 Kings 11:4: When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God.
1 Kings 11:9: The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel.
1 Kings 11:2: Solomon joined to these in love.