1 Kings 11: “Solomon’s Demise”
By
1.INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapters 9 and 10 and observed the
incredible pomp and glory of Solomon’s reign.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 11 and observe the
tragic demise of Solomon which occurred near the end of his life when he was
led astray to worship the many gods of his wives.
1.2.1. We will observe what the
scriptures tell us caused this demise of Solomon.
1.2.2. What separates the Bible
from all other books about religious leaders is the fact that it is very candid
and mater-of-fact about both the good and bad deeds of all of its heroes. Other books try to build a case for a leader,
stay the party line, and make a leader out to be much more than he/she is in
reality. However, the Bible’s purpose is
really not to build up or create stories about leaders who are bigger than
life. Rather, its intention is to reveal
to mankind how the Lord has gone about in revealing Himself to mankind. It details His dealings with mankind. It really is about the Lord and glorifying
the Lord, not about glorifying men or women.
1.2.3. We will see that when
Solomon turned away from the Lord in his heart and began to worship other gods
that the Lord began to chastise him.
Three adversaries against Solomon rose up at that time.
2.VS 11:1-8 - “1 Now King Solomon
loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite,
Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning
which the Lord had said to the
sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate
with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.”
Solomon held fast to these in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4
For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other
gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and
after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did
what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
and did not follow the Lord fully,
as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high
place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. 8 Thus
also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to
their gods.”
- Solomon’s many wives lead him into
idolatry in his older age
2.1.
In these verses, we see what the scriptures tell us was the root cause
of Solomon falling away from the Lord.
Solomon married many wives, most of whom were married for political
alliances, in disobedience to the Lord’s commands concerning kings of Israel
not multiplying wives to themselves (Deut. 17:17), nor making political
alliances through marriage (Deut. 7:2-3; Exod. 23:32).
2.2.
Solomon was following his father, David, in multiplying wives to
himself (see for instance 2 Sam. 5:13).
Unfortunately, instead of Solomon following the admirable
characteristics of his father David, and rejecting the dishonorable ones, he
did just the opposite.
2.2.1. Though David did commit some
horrible sins he was a man who would eventually confess and repent of those
sins. However, Solomon did not have such
a soft heart towards the Lord as his father.
2.2.2. David’s one weakness which
for most of his life he never gained victory over was for “women.” Solomon latched onto this same weakness and
had a thing for “women.”
2.3.
Solomon was raised in the palace for women and was pampered and coddled
all of his years growing up. He never
went to a battle and never experienced the incredible spirit and will breaking
trials that his father David experienced.
Thus, Solomon’s character was in need of much shaping. Plus, Solomon didn’t really want to trust the
Lord alone for his victories and protection, as his father had done, therefore when
he began to rule he must have thought to himself that he had a brilliant idea
that would keep him from having to go the same hard path of faith of his
father. Instead of trusting the Lord
alone for peace and protection he would marry the daughters of every king
around and thus make alliances of peace with the nations.
2.3.1. Have you ever schemed of
ways that you could skirt having to walk by faith and trust the Lord in your
life? When I have done these things,
like Solomon, they always backfire on me and the Lord provides me a good
chastening of trials because of it.
2.4.
No person ever had more opportunity to do well in serving the Lord than
Solomon, and yet Solomon turned out to be an utter failure. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown writes the following
about Solomon’s demise, “A fairer promise of true greatness, a more
beautiful picture of juvenile piety, never was seen than that which he
exhibited at the commencement of his reign.
No sadder, more humiliating, or awful spectacle can be imagined than the
besotted apostasy of his old age; and to
him may be applied the words of Paul (Gal. 3:3), of John (Rev. 3:17), and of
Isaiah (14:21). A love of the world, a
ceaseless round of pleasure, had insensibly corrupted his heart, and produced,
for a while at least a state of mental darkness. The grace of God deserted him; and the son of the pious David—the
religiously trained child of Bathsheba (Prov. 31:1-3), and pupil of Nathan,
instead of showing the stability of sound principle and mature experience
became at last an old and foolish king (Eccles. 4:13). His fall is traced to his “love of many
strange women.””
2.5.
Solomon took to himself an incredible 700 wives and 300 concubines,
evidently all in order to create political alliances. What was he thinking?
2.5.1. We Christians can be tempted
to make alliances with unbelievers at times but 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 exhorts
us that we are not to be bound together with unbelievers, “14 Do
not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness
and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or
what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an
unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the
2.5.2. Being bound together with
unbelievers, whether in business or marriage, naturally leads to compromises in
our lives. The tendency to compromise
obedience to the Lord is huge when we are bound together with unbelievers.
2.6.
There are several scriptures that could be being referenced here
regarding how the Israelites were not to make covenants with the people of the
land of Canaan, including:
2.6.1. Exodus 23:31-33, “31 “I
will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from
the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the
inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
32 “You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. 33
“They shall not live in your land, because they will make you sin against
Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.””
2.6.2. Exodus 34:12-16, “12 “Watch
yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which
you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 “But rather,
you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and
cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god,
for the Lord, whose name is
Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant
with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods
and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his
sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your
sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your
sons also to play the harlot with their gods.”
2.7.
There was surely a progression involved in Solomon’s turning away from
the Lord (There is always a progression when one falls into sin):
2.7.1. He first tolerated his wives
worshipping the gods of their nations.
2.7.2. Then, he built shrines for
them to worship the gods of their nations.
2.7.3. Then, he began to worship at
their shrines.
2.8.
Solomon probably thought at first that it would not be a big deal if he
just occasionally stayed for a worship service at one of his wives’ shrines, or
he thought that he should probably attend some event that his children were
involved in with those shrines. Then,
soon he was participating in the worship of the other gods.
2.9.
The high places which were built by Solomon caused the Israelites to
stumble for many years until they were finally demolished under Josiah’s rule
(2 Kings 23:13).
2.10.
Warren Wiersbe writes about the pagan worship performed by Solomon, “The
Ammonites worshiped the hideous god Molech and sacrificed their infants on
altars (Lev. 18:21; 20:1-5; and see Jer. 7:29-34; Ezek.
16:20-22). Chemosh was the chief
god of the Moabites, and Ashtereth (Astarte) was the goddess of the people of
2.11.
The book of Ecclesiastes is thought to be Solomon’s book of repentance
from pagan worship. In that book he
writes several things having to do with realizing the folly of his way:
2.11.1.
Warren Wiersbe writes the following, “When you read the Book of
Ecclesiastes, you discover that when Solomon’s heart began to turn from the
Lord, he went through a period of cynicism and despair. He even questioned whether his life was worth
living. Without a close walk with the
Lord, his heart was empty, so he pursued pleasure, became involved in
commercial ventures with many foreign nations, and engaged in vast building
programs. However, he still found no enjoyment
in life. At least thirty-eight times in
Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote, “Vanity of vanities.” His love for spiritual values was replaced by
a love for physical pleasures and material wealth, and gradually his heart
turned from the Lord.”
2.11.2.
Ecclesiastes 4:13, “13 A poor yet wise lad is better than
an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction.”
2.12.
It is our hope that when Solomon died that he had truly gotten right
with the Lord and repented of all of the sins that he had committed in
worshipping other gods. We hope to see
him in heaven, however scripture does not really tell us for sure that Solomon
died in a repentant state.
3.VS 11:9-13 - “9 Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his
heart was turned away from the Lord,
the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had
commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods;
but he did not observe what the Lord
had commanded. 11 So the Lord
said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant
and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom
from you, and will give it to your servant. 12 “Nevertheless I will
not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will
tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 “However, I will not tear
away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake
of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”” - Because Solomon began to worship pagan gods
the Lord was angry with him and promised to chastise him and tear the kingdom
away from him and give it to his servant
3.1.
Does the Lord ever get angry at His people? The scriptures reveal that it is the case
that He does this. At birth Solomon was
by the Lord given the name “Jedidiah” which means “beloved of the Lord.” Yet, now we see that the Lord is angry at
Solomon (The Lord also got angry with His servant Moses in Exodus 4:14, “14 Then
the anger of the Lord burned
against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know
that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you;
when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.”).
3.1.1. The Lord’s anger though is
not like man’s anger. First of all, the
Lord’s anger is “always” justified. It
is always “righteous anger.” When the
Lord gets angry He also continues to be loving and exercise mercy, and be all
else that He is. When we as people get
angry we usually are not justified in our anger and we become totally consumed
with our anger which turns to rage and bitterness.
3.1.2. The Lord was especially
angry at Solomon because He had twice appeared to Solomon and warned him that
he must keep all of the commandments of the Lord if he wanted to be blessed and
be in the center of God’s will and blessing.
If Solomon or his sons would keep all of God’s commandments he would
never lack a son on the throne of
3.1.2.1. 2 Samuel 7:14-15, “14 “I
will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I
will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15
but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away
from Saul, whom I removed from before you.”
3.1.2.2. 1 Kings 9:3-9, “3 The
Lord said to him, “I have heard
your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have
consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever,
and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 “As for you,
if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart
and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will
keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5 then I will establish the
throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father
David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But
if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My
commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve
other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the
land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My
name, I will cast out of My sight. So
3.1.2.3. See also 1 Kings 3:14,
6:11-13, and Psalm 89:30-37.
3.2.
The Lord tells Solomon that because of his father David that the Lord
would not tear the kingdom away from him now, but rather He would tear it away
from Solomon’s son. Plus, he would not
tear all of it away at that time. The
one tribe for Solomon’s son would be
4.VS 11:14-22 - “14 Then the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon,
Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in
4.1.
Isn’t it interesting that Solomon had peace as long as he was serving
the Lord. However, as soon as his heart
turned away from the Lord and he began to worship other gods he immediately
began to have troubles. Invincible
before, without the Lord’s protection adversaries began to arise and threaten
the kingdom from him.
4.1.1. By the way, we as Christians
lose our peace whenever we backslide.
4.1.2. Satan uses our past against
us as believers and tries to stumble us by it.
Our consciences are pricked by the memory of things that we did that we
should have left covered by the blood of Christ.
4.2.
Matthew Henry writes the following about this adversary to Solomon,
Hadad, “Hadad, an Edomite, was an adversary to Solomon. (1)
What induced him to bear Solomon a grudge. David had conquered
5.VS 11:23-25 - “23 God also raised up
another adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his
lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He gathered men to himself and
became leader of a marauding band, after David slew them of Zobah; and
they went to
5.1.
Matthew Henry writes the following about this adversary of Solomon,
Rezon, “Rezon, a Syrian, was another adversary to Solomon. When David conquered the Syrians, he headed
the remains, lived at large by spoil and rapine, till Solomon grew careless,
and then he got possession of Damascus, reigned there (v. 24) and over the
country about (v. 25), and he created troubles to Israel, probably in
conjunction with Hadad, all the days of Solomon (namely, after his apostasy).”
6.VS 11:26-36 - “26 Then Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name
was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king. 27 Now this was
the reason why he rebelled against the king: Solomon built the Millo, and closed
up the breach of the city of his father David. 28 Now the man
Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when Solomon saw that the young man was
industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.
29 It came about at that time, when Jeroboam went out of
6.1.
This man Jereboam was from the tribe of Ephraim and was in charge of
the Jewish labor from the northern tribes of Joseph, namely Ephraim and
Manasseh. He was an excellent manager
and could get things done and thus was promoted by Solomon. However, the nation had grown weary of the
many building projects of Solomon and of being made his conscripts. Jereboam surely heard an earful from the
workers every day. Plus, now that
Solomon had gotten into heavy debt to Hiram, king of
6.2.
The prophet Ahijah is sent by the Lord to Jereboam to indicate to him
that he would be given the northern tribes of
6.3.
The one tribe to be kept for Solomon’s descendants to rule over was the
tribe of Judah, however since the Levites remained with Judah and the small
tribe of Benjamin had been basically swallowed by Judah these two tribes were
included as well.
7.VS 11:37-39 - “37 ‘I will take you,
and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over
7.1.
Jereboam was promised the blessing of the Lord on his life if he were
to follow the commandments of the Lord.
7.2.
Jereboam will be a man who will lead the northern tribes of the kingdom
astray from the Lord into idolatry.
8.VS 11:40 - “40 Solomon sought
therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam arose and fled to
8.1.
When Solomon heard the prophetic word of judgment pronounced against
him he should have sought the Lord and repented of his sins in sackcloth and
ashes. However, instead he tries to
protect his kingdom by the force of his own might. He tries to kill Jereboam who is forced to
flee to
9.VS 11:41-43 - “41 Now the rest of the
acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in
the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 Thus the time that Solomon
reigned in
9.1.
Solomon’s legacy will live on in
9.1.1. Many times people think that
their own actions won’t have a significant effect on anyone but themselves,
however the actions of a backslidden Christian always causes others to stumble
in their faith. Soon, a backslider
becomes a curse to everyone in his life.
10.CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
The Lord’s blessing was so greatly upon Solomon when Solomon was
walking in all of the Lord’s ways: peace
and prosperity ruled the day for all of