1Ki 11: "How the mighty fall! With such great privileges, and
divine blessing, Solomon multiplied wealth, women, weapons and worship. In so
doing he brought misery upon himself, the throne and the kingdom. Under the
canopy of the ivory throne there was no true and lasting satisfaction (Ecc
1:2,18; 2:11,17). Wisdom was turned to folly, peace into tyranny, prosperity
into misery and ruin. The king countenanced polygamy, polytheism, despotism. It
was not merely that he had 'many wives', but that they were 'strange' (foreign)
women, securing the throne by political and marital connections with occupied
nations, but they also introduced spiritual adultery into Israel. So the story
of Solomon's sad decline is recorded, to remind us that, in spite of Solomon's
greatness and wisdom, the temptations of his position were too much. It needed a
'greater than Solomon' to hold his position without wavering. The folly of
Solomon led to the unloosing of 'Satan' (vv 14-20), and it awaited the coming of
the Lord Yahshua before there was one to defeat the counsels of the flesh. Thus
the wisdom of Solomon is to be seen in the books that flowed from his pen under
inspiration, which reveal the true nature of the king who will ultimately rule
on the throne of his father David" (GEM).
Marriage with unbelievers causes many problems: Gen 27:46; Deu
7:1-4; Exo 34:14-16; 1Ki 11:1-4; 1Co 7:39; 2Co 6:14-17. See Lesson,
Marriage "only in the Lord".
1Ki 11:7
A HILL EAST OF JERUSALEM: The mount of Olives is the
highest spot near Jerusalem, from the top of which the lands of Moab and Ammon
might be clearly seen (WEnj 143).
1Ki 11:14
"ADVERSARY: Heb "satan"; here Hadad the Edomite, the
enemy. Note: "from the royal line": see also vv 23,25.
"The folly of Solomon led to the unloosing of 'Satan' (vv
14-20)" (GEM): cp Rev 20:3.
1Ki 11:23
ADVERSARY: Heb "satan", as in vv 14,25.
1Ki 11:25
ADVERSARY: Heb "satan", as in vv 14,23.
1Ki 11:31
10 tribes (Israel) were divinely overturned by Shalmaneser of
Assyria: 2Ki 17:1-6. The 2 tribes (Judah) were taken into captivity to Babylon
by Nebuchadnezzar: 2Ki 25:1,2; 2Ch 36:17-21. Zedekiah was the last king to sit
on David's throne: Eze 21:25-27.
1Ki 11:40
AND STAYED THERE UNTIL SOLOMON'S DEATH: Deliverance
language: "Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Hos 11:1; cp Mat 2:15). But
Jeroboam failed.
1Ki 11:43
"In later years his soul had been sullied, his faith had grown
dim, his fervor cold. All was emptiness. He stood horribly alone. His one son
was not a wise man, but a fool. Gewgaws could no longer satisfy him. His wealth
exhausted, his fame tarnished, his dominions reduced to insignificance, himself
insulted by contemptible adversaries whom he could neither control nor punish,
he entered on the long course of years... The peaceful is harried by petty
raids; the magnificent is laden with debts; the builder of the Temple has
sanctioned polytheism; the favorite of the nation has become a tyrant, scourging
with whips an impatient people; the 'darling of the Lord' has built shrines for
Moloch and Astarte. The glamour of youth, of empire, of gorgeous tyranny was
dispelled, and the splendid boy-king is the weary and lonely old man. Hiram of
Tyre has turned in disgust from an ungenerous recompense. A new Pharaoh has
dispossessed his Egyptian father-in-law and shelters his rebel servant. His
shameful harem has given him neither a real home nor a true love; his commerce
has proved to be an expensive failure; his political alliances a hollow sham. In
another and direr sense than after his youthful vision, 'Solomon awoke, and
behold it was a dream' (1Ki 3:15)" (EB).