HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 682
1 KIN G S 1 1
of the Forest of Lebanon. They were not made
of silver, for silver was considered worthless in
Solomon’s day!
22 The king had a fleet of trading ships of
Tarshish that sailed with Hiram’s fleet. Once
every three years the ships returned, loaded
with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.*
23 So King Solomon became richer and wiser
than any other king on earth. 24 People from
every nation came to consult him and to hear
the wisdom God had given him. 25 Year after year
everyone who visited brought him gifts of silver
and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses,
and mules.
26 Solomon built up a huge force of chariots
and horses.* He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000
horses. He stationed some of them in the chariot cities and some near him in Jerusalem. 27 The
king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as
stone. And valuable cedar timber was as common as the sycamore-fig trees that grow in the
foothills of Judah.* 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt* and from Cilicia*; the king’s
traders acquired them from Cilicia at the standard price. 29 At that time chariots from Egypt
could be purchased for 600 pieces of silver,*
and horses for 150 pieces of silver.* They were
then exported to the kings of the Hittites and
the kings of Aram.
Solomon’s Many Wives
Now King Solomon loved many foreign
women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he
married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom,
11
• Marriage
1 KING S 1 1 :2
Solomon married for the wrong reasons,
and these partnerships literally destroyed
his life and his entire nation. Solomon
married for convenience (for political and
monetary advantage) and out of lust. He
married women who he knew did not
share his faith in God. Worse yet, he
undoubtedly married women who were
actually hostile to God. If you are married
to an unbeliever, the Bible instructs you
to stay in your marriage and allow your
faithfulness to God to be an example to
your unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians
7:12-16). If you are considering marriage,
remember that one of the primary purposes of marriage is to serve the Lord
together. If you can’t honestly picture
yourself serving God with the person
you want to marry, you need to think
very seriously about what you are
getting yourself into.
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Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord
had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You
must not marry them, because they will turn
your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted
on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of
royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact,
they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart
to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped
Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and
Molech,* the detestable god of the Ammonites.
6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the
Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord
completely, as his father, David, had done.
7 On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem,*
he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh,
the detestable god of Moab, and another for
Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.
8 Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign
wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing
to their gods.
9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for
his heart had turned away from the Lord, the
God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
10 He had warned Solomon specifically about
worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not
listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the
Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my
covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will
surely tear the kingdom away from you and give
it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of
your father, David, I will not do this while you
are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from
your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away
the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one
tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for
the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
Solomon’s Adversaries
14 Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite,
a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary. 15 Years before, David had
defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had
stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who
had died in battle. While there, they killed every
male in Edom. 16 Joab and the army of Israel had
stayed there for six months, killing them.
17 But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal
officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.) 18 They set out
from Midian and went to Paran, where others
joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and
10:22 Or and baboons. 10:26 Or charioteers; also in
10:26b. 10:27 Hebrew the Shephelah. 10:28a Possibly
Muzur, a district near Cilicia; also in 10:29. 10:28b Hebrew
Kue, probably another name for Cilicia. 10:29a Hebrew
600 [shekels] of silver, about 15 pounds or 6.8 kilograms in
weight. 10:29b Hebrew 150 [shekels], about 3.8 pounds
or 1.7 kilograms in weight. 11:5 Hebrew Milcom, a variant
spelling of Molech; also in 11:33. 11:7 Hebrew On the
mountain east of Jerusalem.