20240916

not wholeheartedly devoted

1 Kings 11:1-43 (JDV)

1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women
1 Kings 11:2 from the nations about which Yahveh had told the Israelites, “You must not marry them, and they must not marry you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women, Solomon was deeply attached in love.
1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away.
1 Kings 11:4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to Yahveh his God, as his father David had been.
1 Kings 11:5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:6 Solomon did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord.
1 Kings 11:7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.
1 Kings 11:8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.
1 Kings 11:9 Yahveh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from Yahveh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
1 Kings 11:10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what Yahveh had commanded.
1 Kings 11:11 Then Yahveh said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
1 Kings 11:12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand.
1 Kings 11:13 Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”
1 Kings 11:14 So Yahveh raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom.
1 Kings 11:15 Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.
1 Kings 11:16 For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months until he had killed every male in Edom.
1 Kings 11:17 Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy.
1 Kings 11:18 Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh King of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he be given food, and gave him land.
1 Kings 11:19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes.
1 Kings 11:20 Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.
1 Kings 11:21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”
1 Kings 11:22 But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”
1 Kings 11:23 God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah
1 Kings 11:24 and gathered men to himself. He became the leader of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus.
1 Kings 11:25 Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He reigned over Aram and loathed Israel.
1 Kings 11:26 Now Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,
1 Kings 11:27 and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David.
1 Kings 11:28 Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.
1 Kings 11:29 During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.
1 Kings 11:30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into twelve pieces,
1 Kings 11:31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what Yahveh God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes,
1 Kings 11:32 but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.
1 Kings 11:33 For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my way to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.
1 Kings 11:34 ” ‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom from him but will let him be ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and my statutes.
1 Kings 11:35 I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you.
1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.
1 Kings 11:37 I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel.
1 Kings 11:38 ” ‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.
1 Kings 11:39 I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.'”
1 Kings 11:40 Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death.
1 Kings 11:41 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events.
1 Kings 11:42 The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled forty years.
1 Kings 11:43 Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.

not wholeheartedly devoted

In spite of his great wisdom and riches, Solomon did not stay true to the Davidic covenant. He brought in foreign wives, and capitulated to their idolatry, building places of worship for such despicable deities as Chemosh and Molech. The LORD punished Solomon, but he did not take away his prosperity, his wisdom, or his life. Instead, the LORD provided adversaries who were a constant reminder to Solomon that things were not right. Three are mentioned in this chapter: Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam.

LORD, give us true wisdom to listen to you, and turn before your judgment comes upon us.