Discovery Box1 Kings 11:4-10
Context11:4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to 1 other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 2 11:5 Solomon worshiped 3 the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 4 11:6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; 5 he did not remain loyal to 6 the Lord, like his father David had. 11:7 Furthermore, 7 on the hill east of Jerusalem 8 Solomon built a high place 9 for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh 10 and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 11 11:8 He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods. 12
11:9 The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance 13 away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions 14 11:10 and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. 15 But he did not obey 16 the Lord’s command.
[11:4] 1 tn Heb “bent his heart after.”
[11:4] 2 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the
[11:5] 3 tn Heb “walked after.”
[11:5] 4 tn Heb “Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.”
[11:6] 5 tn Heb “in the eyes of the
[11:6] 6 tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”
[11:7] 8 sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.
[11:7] 9 sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).
[11:7] 10 tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”
[11:7] 11 tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).
[11:8] 12 tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”
[11:9] 13 tn Heb “bent his heart.”
[11:9] 14 sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.
[11:10] 15 tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”
