Text -- 1 Kings 11:1-25 (NET)

The Lord Punishes Solomon for Idolatry

11:1 King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. 11:3 He had 700 royal wives and 300 concubines; his wives had a powerful influence over him. 11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 11:5 Solomon worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 11:6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not remain loyal to the Lord, like his father David had. 11:7 Furthermore, on the hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a high place for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 11:8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. 11:9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions 11:10 and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. But he did not obey the Lord’s command. 11:11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 11:12 However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead. 11:13 But I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.” 11:14 The Lord brought against Solomon an enemy, Hadad the Edomite, a descendant of the Edomite king. 11:15 During David’s campaign against Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, while on a mission to bury the dead, killed every male in Edom. 11:16 For six months Joab and the entire Israelite army stayed there until they had exterminated every male in Edom. 11:17 Hadad, who was only a small boy at the time, escaped with some of his father’s Edomite servants and headed for Egypt. 11:18 They went from Midian to Paran; they took some men from Paran and went to Egypt. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, supplied him with a house and food and even assigned him some land. 11:19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so well he gave him his sister-in-law (Queen Tahpenes’ sister) as a wife. 11:20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace; Genubath grew up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s sons. 11:21 While in Egypt Hadad heard that David had passed away and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, “Give me permission to leave so I can return to my homeland.” 11:22 Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack here that makes you want to go to your homeland?” Hadad replied, “Nothing, but please give me permission to leave.” 11:23 God also brought against Solomon another enemy, Rezon son of Eliada who had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. 11:24 He gathered some men and organized a raiding band. When David tried to kill them, they went to Damascus, where they settled down and gained control of the city. 11:25 He was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign and, like Hadad, caused trouble. He loathed Israel and ruled over Syria.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:2

¹ tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

² tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:3

¹ tn Heb “wives, princesses.”

² sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. The usage in the present passage suggests that after the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (cf. also 2 Sam 21:10-14).

³ tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:4

¹ tn Heb “bent his heart after.”

² tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:5

¹ tn Heb “walked after.”

² tn Heb “Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:6

¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

² tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:7

¹ tn Heb “then.”

² sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.

map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

³ sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).

⁴ tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”

⁵ tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:8

¹ tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:9

¹ tn Heb “bent his heart.”

² sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:10

¹ tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”

² tn Or “keep.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:11

¹ tn Heb “Because this is with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my rules which I commanded you.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:13

¹ tn Heb “give.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:14

¹ tn Or “raised up.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:15

¹ tn Heb “when David was [fighting (?)] with Edom.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:16

¹ tn Heb “and all Israel.”

² tn Heb “until he had cut off every male in Edom.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:17

¹ tn The MT reads “Adad,” an alternate form of the name Hadad.

² tn Heb “and Adad fled, he and Edomite men from the servants of his father, to go to Egypt, and Hadad was a small boy.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:18

¹ tn Heb “and they arose from Midian and went to Paran and they took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and he gave to him a house and food and he said to him, and a land he gave to him.” Something seems to be accidentally omitted after “and he said to him.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:19

¹ tn Heb “and Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh.”

² tn Heb “and he gave to him a wife, the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:20

¹ tn Heb “bore him Genubath his son.”

² tc The Hebrew text reads וַתִּגְמְלֵהוּ (vattigmÿlehu, “weaned him”) but a slight alteration of the consonantal text yields וַתִּגְדְלֵהוּ (vattigdÿlehu, “raised him”), which seems to make better sense.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:21

¹ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

² tn Heb “send me away.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:22

¹ tn Heb “Indeed what do you lack with me, that now you are seeking to go to your land?”

² tn Heb “and he said.”

³ sn So Hadad asked Pharaoh… This lengthy description of Hadad’s exile in Egypt explains why Hadad wanted to oppose Solomon and supports the author’s thesis that his hostility to Solomon found its ultimate source in divine providence. Though Hadad enjoyed a comfortable life in Egypt, when the Lord raised him up (apparently stirring up his desire for vengeance) he decided to leave the comforts of Egypt and return to Edom.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:23

¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Solomon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:24

¹ tn Heb “and he was the officer of a raiding band.”

² tn The Hebrew text reads “when David killed them.” This phrase is traditionally joined with what precedes. The ancient Greek version does not reflect the phrase and some suggest that it has been misplaced from the end of v. 23.

NET Notes: 1Ki 11:25

¹ tn The construction (Qal of קוּץ + בְּ [quts + bet] preposition) is rare, but not without parallel (see Lev 20:23).