Synopsis:
Solomon loved many “strange” women. In fact He had 700 wives, and 300 concubines from all over the place. When he got old, he started worshipping other gods, like Ashtoreth (a god of the Zidonians) and Milcom (a god of the Ammonites). He even built in Jerusalem a ‘high place’ for Chemosh ( a god of the Moabites) and Molech (a god of the children of Ammon). God was obviously pretty angry with Solomon, but, out of respect for David, decides not to harm Solomon or his kingdom, but he will only give 1 tribe to Solomon’s son and the rest will go to someone else. God stirred up several people against Solomon including Hadad the Edomite, Rezon who ended up ruling over Syria, and Jeroboam who was the son of one of Solomon’s servants. A prophet found Jeroboam and tore his clothese into 12 pieces and gave Jeroboam 10 pieces, to show that he would get 10 of the tribes of Israel per God’s will. Solomon wanted to kill Jeroboam but Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there with the king Shishak of Egypt until Solomon died. Solomon reigned 40 years and was buried in the city of David, and Rehoboam, his sun reigned in his stead.In other words:
Solomon has a huge appetite for women AND other gods, which makes God unhappy.Favorite bit:
Even though Solomon had met God in person twice, he STILL went whoring after other gods. And not just a few gods, A LOT of them. (1 Kings 11:5-10)Least favorite bit:
1 Kings 11:1-4 A list of all the “strange” women that Solomon web in addition to Pharoah’s daughter. From this we are supposed to learn that – unless you marry within your faith – you are going to be led astray – because it’s always the women.It’s almost like god doesn’t exist bit:
1 Kings 11:11-13 Go tells Solomon because you’ve not kept my covenant, I’m going to rend your kingdom from you – but not until you die. Funny how people who do bad things never seem to get punished, but their kids do.What I think the main moral lesson is:
1 Kings 11:40 – Jeroboam flees to Egypt and Solomon dies, so – he wins by not fighting?Moral Lesson Learned:
Sometimes you win by not fighting. (1 Kings 11)There is no real punishment for not obeying God’s covenants. (1 Kings 11)
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