Chapter Eleven

 1Ki 11:1  And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites; 

1Ki 11:2  of the nations which Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; they shall turn aside your heart after their gods; Solomon clung to these in love. 

1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 

1Ki 11:4  And it happened, at the time Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, like the heart of his father David. 

1Ki 11:5  And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites; 

1Ki 11:6  and Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and did not go fully after Jehovah like his father David. 

1Ki 11:7  Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon; 

1Ki 11:8  and so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods. 

1Ki 11:9  And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, for his heart had bent away from Jehovah, God of Israel who had appeared to him twice, 

1Ki 11:10  and had given a charge to him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; and he did not keep that which Jehovah commanded. 

1Ki 11:11  And Jehovah said to Solomon, Because this has been done by you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes that I charged on you, I shall surely tear the kingdom from you and shall give it to your servant. 

1Ki 11:12  Only, I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I shall tear it out of your son's hand. 

1Ki 11:13  Only I will not tear away all the kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for my servant David's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen. 

1Ki 11:14  And it happened, Jehovah raised an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the seed of the king in Edom. 

1Ki 11:15  And it happened when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the ones who died, after he had stricken every male in Edom; 

1Ki 11:16  Joab and all Israel remained there six months until every male in Edom was cut off. 

1Ki 11:17  And Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; and Hadad was a little child. 

1Ki 11:18  And they rose up out of Midian and came to Paran, and they took men with them out of Paran and came into Egypt, to Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And he gave him a house and commanded bread for him, and gave land to him. 

1Ki 11:19  And Hadad found much favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. 

1Ki 11:20  And the sister of Tahpenes bore him a son, Genubath, and Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons. 

1Ki 11:21  And Hadad had heard in Egypt that David had slept with his fathers, and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. And Hadad said to Pharaoh, Send me away and I will go to my land. 

1Ki 11:22  And Pharaoh said to him, But what are you lacking with me, that, lo, you are seeking to go to your land? And he said, Nothing. However, you shall certainly send me away. 

1Ki 11:23  And God raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who fled from his lord Hadadezer the king of Zobah. 

1Ki 11:24  And he gathered men to himself, and was head of a troop when David killed them. And they went to Damascus and lived in it, and reigned in Damascus. 

1Ki 11:25  And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the evil that Hadad did; and he despised Israel and reigned over Syria. 

1Ki 11:26  And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, a servant of Solomon (and his mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman) he also lifted up a hand against the king. 

1Ki 11:27  And this was the thing for which he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, repairing the breaks of the city of his father David. 

1Ki 11:28  And the man Jeroboam was a mighty warrior. And Solomon saw the young man, that he was doing work. And he appointed him to all the burden of the house of Joseph. 

1Ki 11:29  And at that time it happened that Jeroboam had gone out from Jerusalem, and Ahijah the Shilonite, the prophet, found him in the way. And he covered himself with a new garment, and both of them were by themselves in a field. 

1Ki 11:30  And Ahijah laid hold on the new garment on him and tore it into twelve pieces. 

1Ki 11:31  And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten pieces for yourself. For so says Jehovah, God of Israel, Behold, I am tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and giving to you the ten tribes. 

1Ki 11:32  And he shall have the one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 

1Ki 11:33  Because they have forsaken Me, and bow themselves to Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh the god of Moab, to Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and have not walked in My ways, to do the right in My eyes, and My statutes and My judgments, as his father David did. 

1Ki 11:34  But I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for My servant David's sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commands and My statutes. 

1Ki 11:35  But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it to you, ten tribes. 

1Ki 11:36  And I will give one tribe to his son, that there may be a lamp to My servant David before Me all the days in Jerusalem the city that I have chosen to Myself, to put My name there. 

1Ki 11:37  And I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. 

1Ki 11:38  And it shall be, if you shall hear all that I command you, and shall walk in My ways, and do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commands, as My servant David did, then I shall be with you and shall build a sure house for you, as I built for David, and shall give Israel to you. 

1Ki 11:39  And for this I will humble the seed of David; but not forever. 

1Ki 11:40  And Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, and Jeroboam rose up and fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king of Egypt; and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 

1Ki 11:41  And the rest of the matters of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 

1Ki 11:42  And the days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years; 

1Ki 11:43  and Solomon lay with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place. 

Verses 1-13 Summary: Solomon has (too) many wives. The writer attributes the influence on him by his wives as to the reason why he becomes unfaithful to Jehovah. God tells Solomon that after his death, the kingdom will be reduced to one tribe for his successor. 

5. Check Deuteronomy 17:16-17 and list all the ways that Solomon had violated God's laws for kings:

Idolatry, association with Egypt, many horses/chariots, amassing wealth, many wives. 

6. What principles might we learn for our lives today from Solomon's mistakes?

    By new testament teaching, Solomon was "unequally yoked." Simply put, he did not have influence over his wives. They had influence over him. Even with all of his wisdom Solomon did not take care of  the basics that God requires of His children. The influence of earthly matters became too great. What is most interesting is that this was a long progression. It took twenty years to build the temple and his house, all the while Solomon is amassing these things. It isn't until we see the insurgence of idolatry with Solomon that God put the clamps down. We must not lose sight of the fact that these various sins were always present. God draws a line when our actions disregard God's sovereign position.

7. Check a Bible dictionary and find out what you can about worship to:

    Ashtoreth: This goddess worship was very prevalent throughout the region. The names were changed by region but the characteristics of the god where somewhat maintained. She was a symbol of fertility and thus the "worship" would include some sexual debauchery. In some cases she was a warrioress. Or, she would bifurcate as male/female. Also, she is associated with Baal.

    Chemosh: This god may also be associated with Baal (one of multiple) or Ashtoreth. Again, names may change by region but the character attributions remain. Name might have meaning of "destroyer" or "subduer." This idol may have been represented as a fish. Human sacrifice was part of worship to this god.

    Molech (Moloch): Possibly interchangeable with Chemosh (name wise). Child sacrifice was integral to this system. 

Note: Most idol worship would eventually incorporate sexual deviancy as part of "sacrifice/worship."

Verse 14-25 Summary: Hadad of Edom was Solomon's enemy (he lived in Egypt). Rezon was an enemy of solomon in the region of Syria (Damascus).

Note: 2 Samuel 8 recounts David's conquest of enemies and some of it very brutal (common for that time). Imagine Hadad in Pharaoh's house, part of the extended family, and Solomon is married to Pharaoh's daughter! 

Verses 26-40 Summary: Jeroboam is an enemy of Solomon. Ahijah meets him and delivers the message from God that he will be king over Israel for Solomon's idolatry. Jeroboam flees to Egypt from Solomon. Strange politics.

NOTE: In verses 27-28 the writer of 1Kings displays a peculiar way of pointing out the cause for Jeroboam's rebellion. Though it is not directly stated, it is possible that Jeroboam, and the labor force of the house of Joseph were not happy spending their time building and repairing cities within Judah that did not pertain to their own tribes and territory. Jeroboam was then ripe for the encouragement given him by the prophet Ahijah.

8. Ahijah speaks of giving Jeroboam ten tribes and the house of David one tribe. Since there are twelve tribes, how do we account for the other tribe? For all intents and purposes, the tribe of Simeon was assimilated into Judah. Numbers 26 confirms that their population was down to 22K from 59k earlier in the book. Joshua 19:1 explains that their inheritance was inside of Judah's territory. 
See also chapter 12. Benjamin allies with Judah after the great split. It is likely that the counting of the "tribes" at this point was simply assigned lands. Since Manasseh had two inheritances, the numbers add up. 
Gen. 34: Jacob curses Simeon for their role in the killings in Shechem. "I will scatter them in Israel."

Verses 41-43 Summary: Solomon dies. Rehoboam succeeds his father Solomon as king. (Solomon's reign was forty years and he started very young)