SERIES L --- THE NATION DIVIDES --- LESSON 15

SOLOMON’S SIN

SOLOMON TURNS AWAY FROM YHVH

From 1 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 9:29-31

As the years passed, King Solomon married more wives in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh. Many of these wives were from the surrounding nations, such as Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and the Hittites, where the people worshiped idols. Adonai had warned the Israelites never to marry women of these nations, for they might cause their Israelite husbands to worship foreign gods. Solomon knew this, but he married them anyway. He had in fact, seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. As Adonai had warned, these women enticed Solomon to worship the foreign gods, especially when he was old. His heart turned from Adonai and Solomon was no longer true to Him as his father David had been. It was obvious that Solomon was doing wrong by turning from Adonai. He worshiped Ashtoreth the Sidonian goddess and Milcom the evil god of the Ammonites. He even built a temple to the horrible Chemosh, the god of Moab, on the Mount of Olives and another temple to the wicked Molech [or Milcom] the god of the Ammonites. Solomon tried to please his wives by building temples where they could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their gods. Adonai was angry with Solomon because he had turned from Him, even though Adonai appeared to him twice to warn him about such things. Solomon would not listen to Adonai’s warning, so Adonai told him what would happen. [Since you would not listen to My warning and would not keep My Covenant and obey My Laws, I will take your kingdom from you and give it to one of your servants. Yet, for the sake of your father David, I will not do this while you are alive. Instead, I will take it from your son. Also, for the sake of your father David and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will leave one tribe for your son to rule.] Through the years YHVH had been preparing two enemies to challenge King Solomon. One was Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family. When King David and Joab had gone to Edom years earlier to arrange for the burial of Israelites killed in battle, they executed almost every male in Edom. This mass execution lasted for about six months and was so thorough that only Hadad, who was just a boy at the time and a few of his officers escaped, they fled from Midian to Paran and gathering some men at Paran, went on to Egypt, where Pharaoh gave Hadad a house, food and even some land. During the time that Hadad was in Egypt, he and Pharaoh became good friends. Pharaoh later gave him his own sister-in-law to marry, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. They had a son who grew up in Pharaoh’s household with his own sons. When David and Joab died, Hadad realized that it would be safe for him to return home, so he asked Pharaoh for permission to go. [Let me return to my homeland,] he said. [I have given you all you need here,] Pharaoh answered. [What do you have in your homeland that you can’t get here?] [Nothing,] Hadad answered. [But I still want to go home.] So Hadad returned home and became Solomon’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign. Rezon also became Solomon’s bitter enemy at this time. Both he and Hadad hated Israel greatly. Rezon had run away from his ruler, Hadadezer the king of Zobah, years earlier and had joined a group of men who became a band of raiders. When King David tried to kill Rezon, he fled to Damascus and remained there. Later he became king of Syria. A third man who became a threat to King Solomon was Jeroboam the son of Nebat. He was from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. The story of Jeroboam goes back to the time when King Solomon was building the fortress known as Millo and repairing some of the broken walls of the city. The king saw what a fine worker Jeroboam was, so he placed him in charge of all the labourers from the tribes of Joseph. One day when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah, who was from Shiloh, met him. Ahijah was wearing a new robe. He took Jeroboam to a quiet place in a field to talk with him. Taking off his new robe, Ahijah tore it into twelve pieces and gave ten of them to Jeroboam. [Take these ten pieces of my robe, which represent ten of the tribes of Israel,] he said, [for Adonai says He will tear the kingdom from Solomon and give ten tribes to you. However, He will leave one tribe for Solomon’s son to rule, for the sake of David and Jerusalem. Solomon has turned against Adonai to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. He has turned from Adonai and His Laws and instructions and has not kept them as his father David did. Adonai says, ‘for the sake of my servant David, I will let Solomon rule as long as he lives and will then tear the kingdom from his son.’ [Adonai says He will give you Jeroboam, ten of these tribes to rule, placing you on the throne of Israel to rule over them with complete power, but Solomon’s son will remain king in Jerusalem, the city that was built to honour Adonai and thus for a time one of David’s descendants will remain king. If you, Jeroboam, listen to Adonai and obey His Commands, doing all that you know is right and keeping His Laws and rules as King David did, He promises to let you and your descendants rule Israel forever, just as He promised this to David. Of course, David’s descendants will not rule forever because of Solomon’s sin.] When Solomon heard what happened, he tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped and went to Egypt, where he stayed under the protection of Shishak, king of Egypt, until Solomon died. Shishak was not the Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon had married. He was a later Pharaoh and opposed Solomon and tried to weaken him. King Solomon ruled for forty years in Jerusalem, when he died, he was buried in Jerusalem and his son Rehoboam ruled in his place. The rest of Solomon’s biography is written in the History of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh and the Visions of Iddo the Seer, who wrote also concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

COMMENTARY

SOME OTHER GODS AND GODDESSES

The religions of the nations surrounding Israel had many similarities. In each country, the most important deities were those who influenced the crops, the weather and the forces of nature. These gods and goddesses were believed to bring life to the soil, fertility to women and abundance to the flocks. At the heart of each of these pagan religions was a myth that explained the mystery of the changing seasons. In some, the god of the rain and crops died each year at the harvest, and the land grew parched and barren. A fertility goddess searched for him in the underworld, until the return of spring gave sign that she had found him and given him new life. The fertility goddess was often a kind of mother-goddess as well, who reigned over all forms of life. The story’s pattern was often the same; only the names were different. In Assyria, the mother-goddess Ishtar searched for Tammuz, the god of vegetation. The fertility goddess was Anat or Ashera in Canaan, and Baal was the storm god. Phoenicians in Sidon called the pair Astoreth and Baal; in Tyre they were named Ashoreth and Melqart. In Egypt Isis wept for Horus, and in Sumeria Ianna sought Dumuzi. The fertility of the women, the abundance of the harvest and the growth of their flocks was literally a life-or-death matter for the short-lived people of the ancient Middle East. Their deities reflect that fact.