Discovery Box1 Kings 11:1-37
Context11:1 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! 1 If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” 2 But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. 3
11:3 He had 700 royal wives 4 and 300 concubines; 5 his wives had a powerful influence over him. 6 11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to 7 other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 8 11:5 Solomon worshiped 9 the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 10 11:6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; 11 he did not remain loyal to 12 the Lord, like his father David had. 11:7 Furthermore, 13 on the hill east of Jerusalem 14 Solomon built a high place 15 for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh 16 and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 17 11:8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. 18
11:9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance 19 away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions 20 11:10 and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. 21 But he did not obey 22 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, 23 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 24 your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”
11:14 The Lord brought 25 against Solomon an enemy, Hadad the Edomite, a descendant of the Edomite king. 11:15 During David’s campaign against Edom, 26 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 27 stayed there until they had exterminated every male in Edom. 28 11:17 Hadad, 29 who was only a small boy at the time, escaped with some of his father’s Edomite servants and headed for Egypt. 30 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. 31 11:19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so well 32 he gave him his sister-in-law (Queen Tahpenes’ sister) as a wife. 33 11:20 Tahpenes’ sister gave birth to his son, 34 named Genubath. Tahpenes raised 35 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 36 and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad asked Pharaoh, “Give me permission to leave 37 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?” 38 Hadad replied, 39 “Nothing, but please give me permission to leave.” 40
11:23 God also brought against Solomon 41 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. 42 When David tried to kill them, 43 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 44 Israel and ruled over Syria.
11:26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against 45 the king. He was an Ephraimite 46 from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. 11:27 This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: 47 Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. 48 11:28 Jeroboam was a talented man; 49 when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe 50 of Joseph. 11:29 At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah 51 was wearing a brand new robe, 11:30 and he grabbed the robe 52 and tore it into twelve pieces. 11:31 Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give ten tribes to you. 11:32 He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 11:33 I am taking the kingdom from him 53 because they have 54 abandoned me and worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They have not followed my instructions 55 by doing what I approve and obeying my rules and regulations, like Solomon’s father David did. 56 11:34 I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules. 11:35 I will take the kingdom from the hand of his son and give ten tribes to you. 57 11:36 I will leave 58 his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me 59 in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home. 60 11:37 I will select 61 you; you will rule over all you desire to have and you will be king over Israel.
[11:2] 1 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
[11:2] 2 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[11:2] 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.
[11:3] 4 tn Heb “wives, princesses.”
[11:3] 5 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).
[11:3] 6 tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”
[11:4] 7 tn Heb “bent his heart after.”
[11:4] 8 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the
[11:5] 9 tn Heb “walked after.”
[11:5] 10 tn Heb “Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.”
[11:6] 11 tn Heb “in the eyes of the
[11:6] 12 tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”
[11:7] 14 sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.
[11:7] 15 sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).
[11:7] 16 tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”
[11:7] 17 tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).
[11:8] 18 tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”
[11:9] 19 tn Heb “bent his heart.”
[11:9] 20 sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.
[11:10] 21 tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”
[11:11] 23 tn Heb “Because this is with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my rules which I commanded you.”
[11:15] 26 tn Heb “when David was [fighting (?)] with Edom.”
[11:16] 27 tn Heb “and all Israel.”
[11:16] 28 tn Heb “until he had cut off every male in Edom.”
[11:17] 29 tn The MT reads “Adad,” an alternate form of the name Hadad.
[11:17] 30 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.”
[11:18] 31 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.”
[11:19] 32 tn Heb “and Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh.”
[11:19] 33 tn Heb “and he gave to him a wife, the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.”
[11:20] 34 tn Heb “bore him Genubath his son.”
[11:20] 35 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.
[11:21] 36 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
[11:21] 37 tn Heb “send me away.”
[11:22] 38 tn Heb “Indeed what do you lack with me, that now you are seeking to go to your land?”
[11:22] 39 tn Heb “and he said.”
[11:22] 40 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
[11:23] 41 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Solomon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:24] 42 tn Heb “and he was the officer of a raiding band.”
[11:24] 43 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.
[11:25] 44 tn The construction (Qal of קוּץ + בְּ [quts + bet] preposition) is rare, but not without parallel (see Lev 20:23).
[11:26] 45 tn Heb “raised a hand against.”
[11:26] 46 tn Heb “Ephrathite,” which here refers to an Ephraimite (see HALOT 81 s.v. אֶפְרַיִם).
[11:27] 47 tn Heb “this is the matter concerning which he raised a hand against the king.”
[11:27] 48 sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
[11:28] 49 tn Heb “man of strength.”
[11:29] 51 tn The Hebrew text has simply “he,” making it a bit unclear whether Jeroboam or Ahijah is the subject, but in the Hebrew word order Ahijah is the nearer antecedent, and this is followed by the present translation.
[11:30] 52 tn Heb “and Ahijah grabbed the new robe that was on him.”
[11:33] 53 tn The words “I am taking the kingdom from him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[11:33] 54 tc This is the reading of the MT; the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he has.”
[11:33] 55 tn Heb “walked in my ways.”
[11:33] 56 tn Heb “by doing what is right in my eyes, my rules and my regulations, like David his father.”
[11:35] 57 tn Heb “and I will give it to you, ten tribes.”
[11:36] 59 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Because this imagery is unfamiliar to the modern reader, the translation “so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me” has been used.
[11:36] 60 tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”
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