1 Kings 11:1 - Meaning and Application

This is a sad and surprising story of Solomon’s fall into sin and spiritual ruin. Scripture is honest about it, and later records still refer back to it, even in Nehemiah’s day (Nehemiah 13:26). No king was like Solomon, and he was loved by his God, yet foreign women led him into sin. That is the short summary of his rebellion: the woman deceived him and was first in the trespass.

He first went after foreign women, and many of them. This is where his decline began. He gave himself to women, even though his mother had warned him against that very danger, saying not to give his strength to women (Proverbs 31:3). That warning may point to Samson, who lost his strength after trusting a woman with his secret. Lust has destroyed many kings, and David’s own fall began with sins of the flesh, which should have warned Solomon. Love for women has brought down many wounded (Proverbs 7:26), and, as Bishop Hall said, many have had their heads broken by their own rib.

Solomon took many women, until he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, a thousand in all, and, in his own later confession, not one good woman among them (Ecclesiastes 7:28). A woman of settled virtue would not have joined such a company. God’s law had clearly forbidden kings to multiply wives, just as it forbade them to multiply horses (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). Solomon had already broken the command about horses, including horses brought from Egypt (1 Kings 10:29), and now we see the more serious breach with wives. Smaller sins, when tolerated, open the door to larger ones.

David had also multiplied wives too much, and Solomon may have thought that made it acceptable. When godly people set a bad example in anything, they may do great harm, especially to their own children. One sinful act by a good man can do more damage to others than many acts by a wicked man. Solomon may not have planned to go beyond his father’s number at first, but sin goes downhill. Once people begin, they do not easily stop. God gave one woman to one man from the beginning, and anyone who does not think one is enough will not think two or three are enough. Unchecked lust never stays small.

These women were also foreign women, Moabites, Ammonites, and others from nations God had forbidden Israel to marry (1 Kings 11:2). Some think Solomon married them for political reasons, hoping to gain information about those nations. I fear it was because the daughters of Israel seemed too modest for him, while these foreign women pleased him with their loose dress, behavior, and conversation. Or perhaps he thought it suited a great king to fill his harem with things that were hard to get, as if being his mistress were an honor for them. In truth, it would have been a disgrace for the least of his subjects, let alone the women themselves.

Worst of all, Solomon clung to them in love (1 Kings 11:2). He did not merely keep them, he set his heart on them. He spent his time with them, valued everything they said and did, and despised Pharaoh’s daughter, his lawful wife, along with the women of Israel. Solomon had great wisdom, but it was wasted because he did not rule his desires.

These women then drew him into the worship of false gods, just as the daughters of Moab led Israel to Baal of Peor. This was the sad result of multiplying wives. It likely weakened his health, sped up the effects of old age, and drained his wealth, even though it was huge. It may also have distracted him from his work, so that he lost income from abroad and had to burden his people with heavy taxes to keep up his splendor (1 Kings 12:4). But even those troubles were not as bad as this: his wives turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:3-4).

He became cold and careless in his own worship and lazy in serving the God of Israel. His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, and he did not follow him completely, as David had done (1 Kings 11:4, 1 Kings 11:6). We should not think he completely abandoned the worship of God, much less stopped the temple service, which went on as usual. But he became less regular and less serious in going to the house of the Lord and in attending at the altar. He lost his first love and his zeal for God. He did not continue to the end as he had begun, and that is why he is said not to have been perfect, since he was not constant. He did not follow God fully, because he turned away from following him and did not persevere.

David had many faults, but he never neglected the worship of God or grew careless about it, as Solomon did. His wives used every trick to draw him away, and there his rebellion began. He also tolerated their idolatry and did not hesitate to join them in it. Pharaoh’s daughter is thought to have embraced the Jewish religion, but when Solomon himself grew careless in the worship of God, he did nothing to win his other wives to the true faith. Instead, to please them, he built shrines for their gods (1 Kings 11:7-8), supported their priests, and sometimes even joined them at their altars. He seems to have treated it lightly, as if to say, “What harm is there in this? Are not all religions the same?” Bishop Patrick notes that this has often been the weakness of clever people.

When he indulged one wife in this way, the others would have resented it if he had not done the same for them. So he did this for all his wives (1 Kings 11:8). In the end, he became so impious that he built a high place for Chemosh on the hill east of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, as if to oppose the temple he had himself built. Those high places remained there, not fully destroyed, until Josiah’s day (2 Kings 23:13).

Now we should pause and grieve over Solomon’s fall, and rightly stand amazed at it. How has the gold grown dim, and the finest gold changed! Let heaven be shocked at it, and let us tremble, as Jeremiah says in a similar case (Jeremiah 2:12). It is astonishing that Solomon, in his old age, should be trapped by bodily lusts, the very sort of desires that belong to youth.

As we must never assume our own good resolutions are strong enough, we also must not assume our corrupt desires are too weak to harm us. We should never feel safe and let down our guard. It is surprising that someone as wise as Solomon, famous for sharp understanding and good judgment, could let foolish women lead him astray. It is also striking that the man who so often and so clearly warned others about the danger of loving women should be so deeply trapped by it himself. It is easier to spot danger and point it out to others than to avoid it ourselves.

It is equally painful that such a good man, so zealous for God’s worship, and so familiar with divine things, should fall into such sinful conduct. This is the same Solomon who prayed that great prayer when the temple was dedicated. Can this really be Solomon? Has all his wisdom and devotion ended here? No ship was ever more badly wrecked, and no crown was ever more dishonored.

What are we to say about all this? We do not need to ask why God allowed it. His ways are beyond us, like a path through the sea and across deep waters. He knew how to bring glory to himself even from this failure. God had already foreseen something like it when he said about the one who would build the temple, “If he commits sin, etc.” (2 Samuel 7:14).

But we should ask what good use we can make of this warning. Let anyone who thinks he stands firm take heed, so he does not fall. We see how weak we are on our own, without God’s grace, so we must live in steady dependence on that grace. We also see how dangerous prosperity can be, and how hard it is to resist its temptations. Solomon, like Jeshurun, grew fat and then kicked against God. The food that is just enough, which Agur prayed for, is safer and better than the food in abundance, which left Solomon overfilled.

We should also see how much those who have made a strong profession of faith need to keep watch. If they have shown zeal in religion, the devil will attack them all the harder, and if they fail, their shame is greater. The end of a good life is what proves the worth of the whole. So let us be careful, lest, after running well, we come up short.