Welcome to 1st & 2nd Kings

Understand the Context (1 Kings 1:1 - 4:34) 

Welcome to our new study in the Bible Books of 1 and 2 Kings.  These books are major parts in the category of history books in the Bible.  Some Bible versions count 1 and 2 Samuel as the first two Books of Kings, so 1 and 2 Kings would be designated as 3 and 4 Kings.  First Samuel documents the final failure of the Israeli Theocracy.  Eli knew his sons were forcing evil on some of the worshipers at God’s Tabernacle.  Eli was allowed to die because of his failure to correct his sons and both met early deaths because they did not repent of their evil (1 Sam 1-3).     

The first three chapters of 1 Samuel also introduce a righteous man named Samuel (Hence the name of these two Books).  God speaks to him in a vision and tells him how he will destroy Eli and his family (1 San 3:11-18).  Samuel grew to be the final judge of Israel and led them out of defeat and Godlessness into repentance and respect for the Lord.  Samuel judged Israel for his entire life (1 Sam 7:13-17).     

Chapter 8 shows the death of Samuel and appointment of his two sons as judges, but they did not follow God, as their father did, and the people rejected them.  The people of Israel told Nathan, the Prophet that they refused to accept another Judge and face such evil again.  They insisted that Nathan anoint a king for Israel like all the other countries they knew (1 Sam 8:4-22).  Nathan acquiesced and God allowed that Saul, a tall man standing head and shoulders above all other became Israel’s first king (1 Sam11:12-15).  The remainder of 1 Samuel tells the history of Israel’s first king and the beginning of their life after the death of their theocracy and the beginning of their life in monarchy.  Saul and his three sons died in battle with the Philistines as 1 Samuel 31 ends.  

Second Samuel begins with David’s honor toward Saul and his sons and David became the second king over Israel.  He made them great as he returned them to God.  David’s history is written in 2 Samuel and the Book ends and transitions to 1 Kings with his death and the anointing of his son, Solomon as the third king of Israel.  That is the beginning of our study.   

The study of 1 and 2 Kings has periods of greatness and periods of defeat for Israel.  Their periods of defeat come whenever they take their eyes off their God.  Their periods of greatness come when they surrender to Him, repent of their sins against Him and return to worshipping Him.  There are many more periods of defeat than greatness.  Much of these two Books will tell of how Israel left their worship of the Lord for false gods and real devils.  It shows how God’s chosen turned against Him more often than turning toward Him.  Approximately one king of even ten walked in the ways of his Lord while all the others walked not after the Lord, their God.  Those words will be found at the introduction of each of the kings.  

First Kings 2:12 documents the seating of Solomon as King over all of Israel.  The first several acts of the new king might seem bloody and inappropriate to people of our generation and more sophisticated and civilized politics, but it was standard in those days.  A new king had to sure up his reign by blessing those who blessed him and destroying those who stood against him.  Solomon’s brother by another mother was Adonijah.  He had also claimed the kingdom of David before Bathsheba got involved to ascertain that her son, Solomon was made king.  Adonijah might have lived longer had he not convinced Bathsheba to request the hand of Abishag from Solomon for his wife.  Abishag was the young Shunammite woman who was brought to King David to warm him in his dying hours.  Bathsheba did as he requested, but as soon as the request was made, Solomon had him put to death.  It was a sign of dominance for a man to take a ruler’s wife or concubine as his wife or concubine.  Therefore, the request Adonijah made of Bathsheba for Abishag was highly inappropriate and predictably resulted in Adonijah’s death.  The scripture between 1 Kings 2:12 and 1 Kings 3:1 documents several other blessings and executions Solomon had done to complete his “establishing of his kingdom.”   

But Chapter 3 starts some bad and some good signs of how Solomon would reign.  First, Solomon stabilized his reign by marrying a daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt.  This was a way of establishing a very strong peace treaty with another country or kingdom.  Solomon recognized the strength of Egypt and took steps to neutralize that threat through marrying into a family relationship with Egypt.  The bad side of that marriage was that it reveled a flaw in Solomon’s strength because he not only did hundreds of these marriages, but he also allowed his wives to keep their previous religious ties.  Solomon would be judged by God for this later.  In the same paragraph, however, Solomon completed the building of his home, the Temple in Jerusalem and the wall around Jerusalem.    

God Offers (1 Kings 3:4-5) 

So, we start our study with the documentation of Solomon’s love for the God of Israel and his walking after God’s statutes as his father, David did.  There was no Temple in those days, so people would go where alters were set up in high places to do their sacrifices to the Lord (1 Kings 3:2-3).  Solomon did the same by going to such a high place in Gibeon to do his sacrifices.  Verse 4 says he offered a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord upon that alter.   

In the sacrificial system, the size or cost of the sacrifices was a dual indication of the seriousness of the sacrifice as judged by the law and the one offering the sacrifice, and the wealth of the person offering that sacrifice.  Just as Solomon spared no expense marrying the daughter of his nearest enemy, he wanted to offer the biggest and most costly sacrifice to make his most sincere relationship with God exceedingly obvious.  Solomon was making his relationships and associations clear.  With all his sins atoned for through the sacrifices, both the known and unknown sin, Solomon could approach God as sinless after his murderous transition to the throne.  

It was in that same place that God appeared to Solomon in a dream by night.  It is not quite clear why Solomon would spend the night at Gibeon.  It was only a little more than six miles northwest of Jerusalem, so one would think he would make the trip back to Jerusalem where security was stringent.  It is possible that Solomon planned to pray right after his offerings to see what directions the Lord would have him go.  The Old Testament shows God to have frequently communicated through dreams and visions.  Recall our earlier discussions from 1 Samuel, that Samuel was contacted by God in a dream, but as He called Samuel, he thought it was Eli (1 Sam 3:1-10).  At a minimum, that means God’s voice in dreams was loud and clear.  Samuel went to Eli’s bedside twice to see what he wanted because he did not recognize God’s voice.  God spoke to Samuel about exactly how He would punish Eli’s two sons for the evil they committed in His Tabernacle.  God also told Samuel that He would cause the death of Eli as well because he tolerated the behavior of his two sons against God and took no action to stop it. 

Solomon’s sacrifices were likely accompanied by prayers of repentance and rededication, and the Lord chose to respond as Solomon slept later that evening.  As with the example with God speaking to Samuel, His response to Solomon’s prayer was just as clear and detailed.  God initiated the discussion with a simple question, “Ask what I shall give thee” (1 Kings 3:5).  It seems a little strange that Solomon would have poured out his heart to the Lord, that he would not have spoken to Him concerning what he wanted of the Lord, but here we stand.  

Solomon Answers (1 Kings 3:6-9) 

Verse 6 goes immediately to Solomon’s response to God’s question.  There is a great teaching point here for us to understand God’s expectations of us.  God is omniscient; that is, He knows everything.  He had no need to ask Solomon what he wanted from Him because He already knew.  This is simply one of the characteristics of God.  He requires that we voice our request for our benefit, not for His.  

Consider 1 John 1:9, for another example, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  God has already paid the full price for all our sin; past, present future and throughout all time.  Look at His words in John 19:30, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”  His words “It is finished” is the interpretation of a single Greek word tetelestai.  The root word for tetelestai is telos and means “the debt is discharged” or in words more familiar to us “paid in full.”  John’s use of the longer word includes the past, present, future and for all time (perfect) verb tenses of that root word.  So, when He cried tetelestai from the cross, He was saying that He had paid the full debt of all sin forever or continuously.  Why would He need to ask us to “confess our sin to remit our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness?”  It is because He wants us to voice the need or the answer in our own words, so we will recall them in the future.  We confess our sins, even though they were forgiven 2,000 years ago, to voice and acknowledge what they were and grow from voicing the facts of our failure against Him.  Here, God wants Solomon to voice and acknowledge his need rather than God voicing it for him.  That’s why God asks us to tell Him what He already knows; it is for our sake, not His sake.

Solomon began by reviewing his situation as he understood it.  Certainly, Solomon was not recounting the relationship between God and his father, David, because he thought God may have forgotten.  Solomon acknowledges God’s immense mercy (faithful love) He showed to his father, David (1 Kings 3:6).  He acknowledged that David grew into (was sanctified into) righteousness right-living.  Solomon says that God’s demonstrate grace and mercy for David continues after his death by giving him a son to take the throne of Israel in his place.  That’s how things stand today.

“And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David, my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7).  This is a confession one could only make to the Lord.  Solomon was already king, yet he is saying he does not even know how to use a door.  He continues in verse 8 concerning the size of the responsibility God has given him, “And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.”  I think Solomon is saying what we would never have expected him to say.  Solomon is admitting his own inability to do the job God has appointed him to do.  

So, this is where Solomon comes to (and we come to) for God to ask what he (what we) want(s) of Him.  Solomon says simply, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” (1 Kings 3:9).  Solomon wants wisdom of judgement to properly judge the people of the Lord.

God Provides (1 Kings 3:10-13) 

Many of us would be relegated to sitting in wait to see what the Lord would answer to a request like Solomon made to Him.  Would He think Solomon is being far too presumptuous of God?  Would He think Solomon was so far lost in his tasking that he does not even know what to ask?  Does God wish He would have chosen someone else for this tasking?  Verse 10 ends the suspense quickly, “And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”  It is a simple statement; not one put together with words of several syllables.  When I first read it, I could almost see God snacking His knee and yelling, “YES, this man has it!!!  He has learned in his early years the target learning I had intended.  He knows that when a man of God learns it is not all about him, he has learned the message of true holiness!  I am pleased!”  

God then explains why He was so pleased.  He speaks directly to Solomon, “And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgement;  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” (vss. 11-12).  God is impressed that nothing Solomon has asked for was for himself.  He lists several topics of what he may have asked for, but each item listed is in the negative; i.e., it was not in Solomon’s request.  God intensifies His level of granting Solomon’s request by saying there has not been; nor will there ever be another like Solomon.  We frequently refer to Solomon as the wisest man in history, and now we have God’s word that this is certainly the case because God has made it so!  

Understand the Context (1 Kings 5:1-8:66)

Welcome to our study in the Bible Books of 1 and 2 Kings.  First Kings 5:1 starts out with Solomon’s anointing as King of with his commitment to build the Temple of God to replace the Tabernacle carried through Israel’s 40 years in exile in the wilderness.  David certainly wished to build God’s House but was forbidden by God saying, “You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood” (1 Chron 28:2-3).  But David did much of the early preparation for the building.  

King Solomon picked up that presentation and met with King Hiram of Tyre and sent many servants to Tyre to collect cedar and cypress logs for the Temple.  Hiram loved King David and honored him by providing these materials for God’s House.  He sent the timber of cedar and cypress for the beauty of the building.  He also provided the cedar sheets for the floors and some of the bronze pillars for the Temple.  

In Chapter 6 we learn that Solomon sent more than 10,000 laborers in shifts between Israel and Lebanon to help farm, cut and move quarry stone for the Temple.  Chapter 6 also mentions that this start in the building of the Temple took place 480 years after they were freed from slavery in Egypt.  They describe some of the cedar boards in the inner sanctuary as being over 20 cubits or 30 feet tall.  Two of the cherubim near the Holy Place were constructed of olive wood inlaid with fine gold and stood above 10 cubits (15 feet) tall.  

The Temple was completed seven years after its start, according to Chapter 7.  By contrast, Solomon took 13 years to build his home.  The Ark of the Covenant was moved to the Temple and signaled its completion.  The Temple was then dedicated to service by King Solomon, and he offered hundreds more sacrifices to the Lord from there.  God finally had a house with walls and doors instead of living in a tent (the Tabernacle).

In Exile (1 Kings 8:46-48) 

Solomon starts his case for the sinner who comes to God supposing that if there are people who sin against God, and he adds, “for there is no man that sinneth not”, he recognizes that except for God, Himself, there is no one without sin, not even one (vs, 46, Rom 3:10 & 23).  So, Solomon echoes the acknowledgement that sin is universal, and the need for punishment of sin is required to draw a person back to a desire to stay holy in the eyes of the Lord.  Sin might result in God allowing the sinner to be taken captive in a foreign land, whether that land is far or near, but while there, the sinner might rethink what they have done and repent of that sin and make supplication or amends for that sin by confessing, “We have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness, and so return to thess with all their heart, and with all their soul, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:” (vss. 47-48).  The supposition is set up that the person who sinned is sent into exile because of that sin, but while he is there, he repents of that sin with all his heart and soul while he prays in the direction of the city and house God has chosen.  

Solomon does not suppose an answer for the supposition at this point but merely sets up the situation as a likely one based on the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the Lord”, and “there is none righteous, not even one.”  God’s punishment for that sin is exile in this case but it might be spiritual exile just the same.  The punishment God choses is not the important part of the supposition; only the fact of having a return path for the one who has sinned and sits in physical and/or spiritual exile because of that sin.  Sincere repentance, or turning from that sin, is experienced by that sinner, and now he prays toward God’s city and God’s house (Temple).  The purpose of these verses is to set up the fact that the sinner has demonstrated repentance and now looks in a direction of God to express it.

God Hears (1 Kings 8:49-53) 

Solomon continues his supposition that God hears the prayer of the sinner as He sits in Heaven, above (vs. 49).  Solomon says specifically, “Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their case,” or support their case, “and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and their transgression wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:” (vs. 50).  Solomon sets up the case that the sinner’s repentance in that foreign land is sufficiently obvious that even the captures see it and causes them to have compassion on them.  

Solomon continues that the captures will have the knowledge that these people are those who claim to have God as their Lord and stand as His possessions, even while in captivity (vs. 51).  The captures know that these people are the ones who came out of Egypt at God’s command and have escaped the hot furnace of harsh slavery to be where they are today.

Solomon joins in the supplication of the sinner to plead to the Lord to remember these are the people whom He has chosen and named them, “Israel” after their earlier leader, “Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.”  It is this people who now calls on the name of the Lord to forgive their sin and remember it no longer (vs. 52).  Solomon continues to support the case of the repentant by reminding God that these are those that He separated out from among all the people of the Earth as His own inheritance, just as He spoke it through Moses, His servant, when He called them out of Egypt (vs. 53).  Solomon’s case to God for those who sincerely repent of their sins is that He must hear their voices and give them compassion because they have realized their sin and sorrow because of it with all their hearts and souls.  This forgiveness Solomon prays for these sinners is the word for pardon.  It means the sin is no longer held against them.  It draws us to the memory that God does that one thing that none of us are capable of; God goes beyond forgiving even the most purposeful sin to the actual forgetting that sin.  Consider the power of that statement.  Look at Psalms 103:12 saying, “As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”  And Jeremiah 31:34, “saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Blessing Offered (1 Kings 8:54-58) 

Now, we see the end of Solomon’s prayer and supplication for the sinning people of Israel (vs. 54).  This Scripture starts with the words, “And it was so.”  Many of us have spoken the word “Amen” as we end our prayers.  The Hebrew word has exactly the same spelling and means “so be it.”  Others interpret it “let it be so, but either way, it has the impact of asking the Lord to let the words spoken be or become truth.  ”Solomon ended his prayers and supplications to the Lord and arose from his knees before the Altar of the Lord with his hands spread high toward heaven.  The Scripture tells us that he stood and spoke with a loud voice saying, “Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people, Israel, according to all that He promised: there hast not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant” (vs. 55).  

Verses 8:57 and 58 are parts of how Solomon completes his prayer.  He asks the benediction in much the same words we recall from Psalms 67:1 saying, “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; [and] cause his face to shine upon us; Selah” or Amen.  Here, Solomon wishes to stress the permanence of God’s presence, so he prays, “The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers: let Him not leave us, nor forsake us. That He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgements, which He commanded our fathers.”  In doing so, Solomon set the reference for words to live by as fixing our full hearts (i.e., center of our emotional and spiritual beings) toward Him, to focus on His ways as taught us not only through the 10 Commandments (Law of Moses) but through the teachings of Leviticus and Deuteronomy as well, because those are the teachings of Moses as documented and taught by our fathers.

Understand the Context (1 Kings 9:1-11:43) 

Studying the context of this section of Scripture is not only exciting but terrifying at the same time.  It starts with Solomon receiving a second vision from the Lord.  Last week’s study gave abundant evidence of God’s impression and dedicated overseeing of King Solomon.  We listened and studied as Solomon acknowledge his inability to properly manage and judge the great nation of Israel.  We saw him impress the Lord by offering over a thousand animal sacrifices to Him and requesting of the Lord only the wisdom to properly oversee the great nation of Israel.  The Lord granted his wish and gave him extra gifts of exceptional wealth and long years.  It looked like the greatest reign of a king on all the Earth. 

After Solomon dedicated God’s Temple, He affirmed His presence in the Temple to provide guidance for Solomon through his High Priests (1 Kings 9:1-9).  God made very promising commitments to Solomon regard the quality of his reign and blessings on all he did.  3 And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually (1 Kings 9:3).     

The conditional part of the promised followed immediately thereafter, 

"4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil."  (1 Kings 9:4-9). 

Recall that Solomon’s reign began with what might have been a wise political decision, it was a very poor religious one (3:1).  On the political side, a marriage of this type may well prevent war and they were somewhat common in the day.  The issue was that Moses warning Israel as early their approach to cross the Jordan after their completion of the 40-year trek in the wilderness (Deut 7:3-4).  There could be not misunderstanding of those words. 

An example of the greatness of Solomon’s earlier reign is found in Chapter 10 when the Queen of Sheba became impressed by his work and came for a visit (1 Kings 10).  She had nothing but praise for Solomon and the God of Israel (10:1-9).  Further, his wealth exceeded that of even the richest kingdoms (10:25-29).  But as obvious from above, God’s blessings were conditioned on Solomon’s living within God’s covenant.   

While Solomon’s blessings from the Lord made him the greatest of all times, the onset of older age and beautiful foreign women put Solomon in a bad place.  While Solomon was one of the most powerful men in the world, he did not exercise proper authority over his wives regarding their overt worship of gods other than the God of Israel.  He was believed to have worshiped Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh and Molech (11:1-8).  He built visible worship centers for the latter two within the sight of Jerusalem. 

So, a reign that was blessed of God and had promise of greatness beyond any before or after it, would end in direct confrontation against the God of Israel.  The Lord let Solomon know that he and his heirs would reap the punishment of such behavior.  While Solomon naturally believed that his sons would follow a natural succession to the throne, God promised to prevent it by forcing a divided Israel with only 2 tribes of Israel’s 12 remaining with Jeroboam (Solomon’s successor) while the much greater 10 tribes separating the serve under Rehoboam.  The southern part of Israel would be called Judah while the north 10 tribes would be called Israel.   

Warning Ignored (1 Kings 11:1-3) 

The assigned Scripture (1 Kings 11:1-13) begins with a restatement of a potential problem for Solomon going all the way back to 1 Kings 3:1.  There, the author states simply, “And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.”  Moses warned all Israel as they prepared to enter battle to acquire the Promised Land that Israel would have to attack and annihilate the inhabitants of the Promised Land as Israel came across the Jordan River (Deut 7:3-4).  He was rightfully concerned that any survivors would tempt intermarriage with Israelis and result in Israel’s worship of strange gods.  Solomon intermarried with those who worshipped strange gods and destroyed his testimony as a leader in Israel.  His marriage with daughters or Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zidon and Hatti were all marriages to women who worshipped false gods.  Moses directed the children of Israel not to intermarry with the indigents because they would turn their hearts away from the God of Israel.  As we study what happened with Solomon, the wisest man of all time, we can see the danger was real and God was correct to have Moses issue that warning.  Solomon could have properly handled the situation if he demanded that all his wives and concubines worship only the God of Israel, but there is no evidence that he attempted that kind of direction. 

Verse 3 gives us the actual numbers of women involved with Solomon: 700 wives and 300 concubines.  Its hard for us to imagine these kinds of numbers in our culture, but many of the monarchs measured wealth and power by the number of wives and concubines they had compared to other in the same or similar roles.  Often arranged marriages between the families of monarchs would serve as peace treaties between countries.  Solomon started his reign with a marriage to a daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt to stay out of war (3:1).  That was not the negative here; rather, it was that Solomon failed to keep his worship of the Lord holy.  He failed to honor the commitments he made to God nor the conditional blessings that God promised to him.  Instead of properly managing the situation, Solomon took a lassi faire management approach and did nothing to force compliance with the commitments he made.

Divided Heart (1 Kings 11:4-5) 

There is at least a hint in these words that Solomon may have managed the foreign wives issue better when he was younger. The phrase between the first set of commas in verse 4 specifically mention Solomon’s age as something that changed.  That is, it may have become a serious problem as he aged.  The energy required to constantly oppose the customs of others is much more difficult as the elderly years enter into the problem than when the energies of youth are still available for the fight.  The words assign the problem of turning his heart away to the wives.  Combining the two issue suggest that Solomon’s wives were successful in turning his heart away for God as he grew older.  The author specifically mentions the words of God’s conditional blessing of Solomon.  He says that Solomon’s heart was no longer perfect or complete with the Lord his God.  It was no longer the same as it was with Solomon’s father, King David.  God said to Solomon, “As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: 'One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel” (9:4-5).  Verse 4 says that Solomon was failing do the same as his father, David, did.

Verse 5 addresses the specifics of the charge as it mentions that “Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.”  Going after these gods is not the same as a Baptist following after the teaching of a Presbyterian or Methodist.  These faiths still worship Jesus Christ and His Father.  No, this is more like Christians practicing Satanism or Buddhism or the Islam.  It is worshipping a different God.  It not like teaching a different interpretation of Christian teachings; it is like stepping out of the Christian faith, all together.  Not only that but the worship of Ashtoreth and Milcom (Molech) include sensuality, temporal/ritual prostitution and infant sacrifice.  Ashtoreth (AKA Asherah and Astarte) is called the moon goddess and is frequently found in cohort with the sun god, Baal.  The carved Asherah pole was actually placed in the Temple by King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:7).  Milcom (AKA Molech) also included sensual worship and child sacrifices.  TV/radio preacher and teacher Charles Swindoll tells of a recent visit to Ephesus when he dug behind an ancient idol of Baal and found a human femur bone (upper leg) of a human baby.  He spoke of his tears shed as he considered the meaning of what he found.  Chemosh was another false god introduced by King Solomon’s wives (1 Kings 11:4–7).  The cult of Chemosh was eventually destroyed in Judah by King Josiah (2 Kings 23).  It was also closely related to Ashtoreth and Baal and was the god of Ammon (1 Kings 11:5).  All of these were introduced to Israel by Solomon’s wives and tolerated by the king. 

Divided Heart (1 Kings 11:6-8)

The words “The king did evil in the sight of the Lord” was a byline for at least 80 to 90 percent of all the kings we will study between now and the end of August 2022.  Here, the words are added to King Solomon’s condemnation, “and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father” (vs. 6).  Remember the conditional blessing God made to Solomon mentioning specifically the previous relationship God had with His righteous servant, David, “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Kings 9:1-9).  Solomon was promised a perpetual throne for his heirs if he followed the Lord as David did, but the removal of his throne if he did not.  Our author documents Solomon’s failure to walk as David walked, and therefore, earned a loss of the throne for himself and his heirs.    

Verse 7 documents Solomon’s building of high place (or altar) for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites and Molech, the abomination of Ammonites.  Moab and Ammon have a common founding immediately after God’s destruction of Sodom-Gamora because of the city’s grossest form of depravity and evil.  As Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his wife and two daughters left just as the city was destroyed, Lot’s wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt (Gen 19:17 & 26).  His daughters believed they would never find a husband away from Sodom-Gamora and decided to get their father (Lot) drunk and have sex with him (Gen 19:30-38).  Their offspring children were the founders of Moab and Ammon, respectively.  The nations were founded through Lot’s incest with his daughters.  This curse was perpetual for Moab and Ammon but recall God’s grace on Ruth, the Moabitess marrying Boaz, the Great Grandfather of David a prophetic ancestor of Jesus Christ (Ruth 4:13, 17, 22; 1 Chr 2:12; Matt 1:5; Luke 3:32). 

The transition between verses 7 and 8 here, show that Solomon was indiscriminately brazen in his endorsement of these false gods by erection altars in the sight of Jerusalem, burning incense and sacrificing (including children) on the hill facing the city of God’s Temple.  It is clear that Solomon not only did evil in his old age, but he was evil. 

Discipline Promised (1 Kings 11:9-10) 

It remains hard to understand what Solomon was thinking as he challenged the God of Israel by openly confronting Him with worship centers for false gods on the hillside within sight of the Temple.  1 Kings 11:9 states God’s well-earned wrath at Solomon’s behavior.  The paradox for most researchers into this time of Israel’s history is how Solomon could possibly have the God-given gift of being the wisest man who ever existed, yet he felt comfortable confronting the God of the Universe to His face with such obvious disobedience and complete disregard for the promised God and he exchanged just a few years earlier.  It was not because Solomon could have forgotten the awesome power of God; certainly, the fact of God’s two personal visits to him would never leave his memory.  Maybe Solomon’s old age made him feeble minded, and he no longer understood that he was confronting God’s specific prohibitions for him to His face.  Whatever the reason, the fact of this massive error in judgement would not be overlooked by the Creator of all that existed.

Verse 10 reminds all readers that God had specifically commanded Solomon concerning this very thing.  He said that “Solomon should not go after other gods” (1 Kings 11:10).  Solomon’s response to God’s prohibition of this atrocity was to only commit it regardless of the widespread knowledge of all Israel that God established this prohibition for Solomon, and he was challenging it.  While Israel had made a choice to have a king rather than a judge, that is, they desired a monarchy instead of a theocracy under God; they certainly did not anticipate that a king would stand against God to His face.  The wisest man on Earth was committing a colossal error in confronting God this way or at all.  The verse ends in the obvious, “But he kept not that which the Lord commanded.”