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| 1 And king Solomon hath loved many strange women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, females of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zidon, [and] of the Hittites, |
Strange women – Mismarriage was a worldly-wise step with a view to a closer relationship with surrounding nations and royal families, but an unwise one, for God desired his elect people to be separate from all families of the earth. R2324:1
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| 2 of the nations of which Jehovah said unto the sons of Israel, 'Ye do not go in to them, and they do not go in to you; surely they turn aside your heart after their gods;' to them hath Solomon cleaved for love. |
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| 3 And he hath women, princesses, seven hundred, and concubines three hundred; and his wives turn aside his heart. |
700 wives – Some of these "queens" were ladies of rank and refinement from the various royal families of surrounding nations, one being Pharaoh's daughter. R2068:3
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| 4 And it cometh to pass, at the time of the old age of Solomon, his wives have turned aside his heart after other gods, and his heart hath not been perfect with Jehovah his God, like the heart of David his father. |
Solomon was old – Prematurely old, at about 50 years. R2068:3
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| 5 And Solomon goeth after Ashtoreth god[dess] of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites; |
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| 6 and Solomon doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and hath not been fully after Jehovah, like David his father. |
Went not fully after – But we are not to suppose that he ceased to believe in the only true God. R2068:3, R4297:6
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| 7 Then doth Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the hill that [is] on the front of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the sons of Ammon; |
Solomon build an high place – A notable house in the eyes of the world. R2060:1
To please his various wives. R2068:3
In a spirit of "broad-mindedness" or "public policy," which led to laxity respecting the worship of the true God. This finds its counterpart today. R2359:3,5
In the hill – Now called the Mount of Offence, opposite Siloam. R1400:6
Molech – The Valley of Hinnom (Greek, Gehenna) had erected in it a hollow brass figure of the god Moloch, a torment deity, which was heated intensely and then into its outstretched arms were occasionally placed children offered in sacrifice. R3069:1
Today we see in nominal Christendom a Moloch on a much larger scale, a worse misrepresentation of a loving God, in the doctrine of purgatory and eternal torment. R2360:1, R3464:6
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| 8 and so he hath done for all his strange women, who are perfuming and sacrificing to their gods. |
Likewise did he – When one system of idolatry had been introduced, the other foreign wives claimed similar rights, etc. R2068:3
He sought to be more broad and liberal than the Almighty in the recognition of foreign religions forbidden to Israel. R2324:1
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| 9 And Jehovah sheweth Himself angry with Solomon, for his heart hath turned aside from Jehovah, God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, |
Angry – A righteous indignation against sin. R2068:5
The Lord rebuked Solomon for his course, doubtless through the prophet Ahijah. (verses 29-37) R4297:6
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| 10 and given a charge unto him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; and he hath not kept that which Jehovah commanded, |
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| 11 and Jehovah saith to Solomon, 'Because that this hath been with thee, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes that I charged upon thee, I surely rend the kingdom from thee, and have given it to thy servant. |
Rend the kingdom – Would be rent or torn with violence. R4297:6
Complete overturning. Messiah could not be expected through the line of Solomon. E133
The penalty for Solomon's sin. R2068:5
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| 12 'Only, in thy days I do it not, for the sake of David thy father; out of the hand of thy son I rend it; |
Thy son – Rehoboam. R2068:5
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| 13 only all the kingdom I do not rend away; one tribe I give to thy son, for the sake of David My servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, that I have chosen.' |
Not rend away all – Fulfilled through Jeroboam. R2069:1, R4297:6
Thus ten of twelve parts were rent away; two retained for David's and Jerusalem's sake. R467:6*
Will give one tribe – Judah's consort Benjamin (after it was almost destroyed) was absorbed into the tribe of Judah. R2069:4; E132
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| 14 And Jehovah raiseth up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; of the seed of the king [is] he in Edom; |
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| 15 and it cometh to pass, in David's being with Edom, in the going up of Joab head of the host to bury the slain, that he smiteth every male in Edom |
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| 16 for six months did Joab abide there, and all Israel, till the cutting off of every male in Edom |
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| 17 and Hadad fleeth, he and certain Edomites, of the servants of his father, with him, to go in to Egypt, and Hadad [is] a little youth, |
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| 18 and they rise out of Midian, and come into Paran, and take men with them out of Paran, and come in to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he giveth to him a house, and bread hath commanded for him, and land hath given to him. |
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| 19 And Hadad findeth grace in the eyes of Pharaoh exceedingly, and he giveth to him a wife, the sister of his own wife, sister of Tahpenes the mistress; |
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| 20 and the sister of Tahpenes beareth to him Genubath his son, and Tahpenes weaneth him within the house of Pharaoh, and Genubath is in the house of Pharaoh in the midst of the sons of Pharaoh. |
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| 21 And Hadad hath heard in Egypt that David hath lain with his fathers, and that Joab head of the host is dead, and Hadad saith unto Pharaoh, 'Send me away, and I go unto my land.' |
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| 22 And Pharaoh saith to him, 'But, what art thou lacking with me, that lo, thou art seeking to go unto thine own land ' and he saith, 'Nay, but thou dost certainly send me away.' |
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| 23 And God raiseth to him an adversary, Rezon son of Eliadah, who hath fled from Hadadezer king of Zobah, his lord, |
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| 24 and gathereth unto himself men, and is head of a troop in David's slaying them, and they go to Damascus, and dwell in it, and reign in Damascus; |
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| 25 and he is an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, (besides the evil that Hadad [did]), and he cutteth off in Israel, and reigneth over Aram. |
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| 26 And Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda the name of whose mother [is] Zeruah, a widow woman servant to Solomon, he also lifteth up a hand against the king; |
He lifted up his hand – Contrary to the Lord's plan for the division, which was after Solomon's death. R2069:1
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| 27 and this [is] the thing [for] which he lifted up a hand against the king: Solomon built Millo he shut up the breach of the city of David his father, |
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| 28 and the man Jeroboam [is] mighty in valour, and Solomon seeth the young man that he is doing business, and appointeth him over all the burden of the house of Joseph. |
Industrious – Having a natural ability as a manager of men. R2324:4
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| 29 And it cometh to pass, at that time, that Jeroboam hath gone out from Jerusalem, and Ahijah the Shilonite, the prophet, findeth him in the way, and he is covering himself with a new garment; and both of them [are] by themselves in a field, |
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| 30 and Ahijah layeth hold on the new garment that [is] on him, and rendeth it twelve pieces, |
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| 31 and saith to Jeroboam, 'Take to thee ten pieces, for thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, lo, I am rending the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and have given to thee the ten tribes, |
Take thee ten pieces – Thus anointing him to be king over the ten tribes. R2324:4
I will rend the kingdom – With one favorable effect-that the two tribes could learn from the bad example of the ten and be more faithful. Also illustrated in the divisions within the nominal Gospel church. R2324:6
Will give ten tribes to thee – The division of the kingdom was of the Lord's foreknowledge and arrangement, for the Lord saw that it would work favorably for the development of his purpose. R2324:5
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| 32 and the one tribe he hath for My servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have fixed on, out of all the tribes of Israel. |
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| 33 'Because they have forsaken Me, and bow themselves to Ashtoreth, god[dess] of the Zidonians, to Chemosh god of Moab, and to Milcom god of the sons of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do that which [is] right in Mine eyes, and My statutes and My judgments, like David his father. |
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| 34 'And I do not take the whole of the kingdom out of his hand, for prince I make him all days of his life, for the sake of David My servant whom I chose, who kept My commands and My statutes; |
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| 35 and I have taken the kingdom out of the hand of his son, and given it to thee the ten tribes; |
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| 36 and to his son I give one tribe, for there being a lamp to David My servant all the days before Me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen to Myself to put My name there. |
Which I have chosen – As the religious and political center of the typical kingdom. R1296:6*
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| 37 'And thee I take, and thou hast reigned over all that thy soul desireth, and thou hast been king over Israel; |
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| 38 and it hath been, if thou dost hear all that I command thee, and hast walked in My ways, and done that which is right in Mine eyes, to keep My statutes and My commands, as did David My servant, that I have been with thee, and have built for thee a stedfast house, as I built for David, and have given to thee Israel, |
Walk in my ways – Solomon lost the kingdom because of leading the people toward idolatry. Jeroboam should have had this in mind and sought to banish idolatry. R4723:6
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| 39 and I humble the seed of David for this; only, not all the days.' |
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| 40 And Solomon seeketh to put Jeroboam to death, and Jeroboam riseth and fleeth to Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and he is in Egypt till the death of Solomon. |
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| 41 And the rest of the matters of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written on the book of the matters of Solomon |
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| 42 And the days that Solomon hath reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel [are] forty years, |
Was forty years – Possibly typifying the harvest of the Millennial age. R4018:2*
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| 43 and Solomon lieth with his fathers, and is buried in the city of David his father, and reign doth Rehoboam his son in his stead. |
And Solomon slept – Death is a condition of rest, of quiet, of peaceful unconsciousness. R5059:6
The condition of all the dead up to the time when the resurrection work begins. R4794:2
Rehoboam his son – His mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess and idolater, for whom Solomon built a temple to Moloch. R2324:5
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