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Solomon’s Foreign Wives

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites,[a] “You shall not marry them,[b] and they shall not marry you.[c] They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love. He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.

Solomon’s Apostasy

It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been. Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father. At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces[d] Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.[e] Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into them”
  3. 1 Kings 11:2 Literally “go into you”
  4. 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “was on the face of”
  5. 1 Kings 11:7 Literally “sons/children of Ammon”

Solomon’s Errors

11 King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,(A) from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.(B) Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.(C) For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.(D) So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not completely follow the Lord, as his father David had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem.(E) He did the same for all his foreign wives who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.

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