Solomon Turns against God
3 Kingdoms 11, verse 1. King Solomon was a lover of women, and he had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and he took foreign wives, as well as the daughters of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians and Idumeans, Hittites and Amorites; 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 2. from the nations of whom the Lord said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go in to them, and they shall not come in to you, lest they turn away your hearts after their idols.” Solomon joined to these in love. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 3. For when Solomon was old and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David, his foreign wives turned his heart after their gods. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 4. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and for their king, the idol of the children of Ammon, 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 5. and for Ashtaroth, the abomination of the Sidonians. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 6. He did the same for all his foreign wives, burning incense and sacrificing to their idols. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 7. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 8. So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart turned from the Lord God of Israel, who appeared to him twice, 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 9. and commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but keep absolutely what the Lord had commanded. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 10. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you did this and did not keep My covenant and the statutes I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from your hand and give it to your servant. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 11. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 12. However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, which I chose, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem.”
Solomon's Adversaries
3 Kingdoms 11, verse 13. Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, and Rezon the son of Eliadah, who dwelt in Ramoth, and Hadadezer, king of Zoba, was his master. The men gathered together to him; and he was head of the conspiracy, and he seized control of Damascus. They were an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. Hadad the Edomite was a descendant of the king in Edom. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 14. For when David destroyed Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, they killed every male in Edom. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 15. Joab remained there six months with all Israel, until he killed every male in Edom. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 16. Hadad fled, along with all the Edomites who served his father, and they went to Egypt. Hadad was still a little child. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 17. Then men arose from the city of Midian and came to Paran, and after joining with other men, they came to Pharaoh king of Egypt. Hadad went to Pharaoh, who gave him a house and apportioned food for him. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 18. Thus Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, that is, the older sister of Tahpenes. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 19. Then the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath her son, and Tahpenes weaned him among the sons of Pharaoh; and Genubath was among the sons of Pharaoh. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 20. So 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, “Send me away so that I may go to my own country.” 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 21. Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what did you lack with me, that suddenly you seek to go to your own country?” So he answered, “Send me away.” Hadad then returned unto his land. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 22. This is the evil Hadad did; and he was a bitter enemy to Israel and reigned in the land of Edom.
Jeroboam's Revolt
3 Kingdoms 11, verse 23. Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Solomon's servant, was an Ephraimite from Zereda, the son of a woman who was a widow. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 24. This was the event bringing him to rebel against Solomon the king: Now Solomon built the citadel. He built a wall of fortification that enclosed the City of David that his father built. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 25. Jeroboam the man was very strong, and Solomon, seeing the young man was industrious, put him in charge of those who labored at the house of Joseph. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 26. As it happened, Jeroboam went out from Jerusalem, and along the way, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite, clothed with a new garment, found him and persuaded him to detour from his path. Now the two of them stood alone in a field. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 27. Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 28. And he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will break asunder the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten tribes to you. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 29. But to Solomon, he shall have two tribes for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 30. Because he forsook Me, and sacrificed to Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chemosh and the idols of the Moabites, and to their king, the abomination of the children of Ammon, and has not walked in My ways, to do what is right before Me, as did his father David— 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 31. therefore I will surely set Myself against him all the days of his life; however, for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose, I will not remove the whole kingdom out of his hand. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 32. But I will take the kingdom out of the hand of his son and give the ten tribes to you. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 33. And to the son of Solomon himself I will pass on these same two tribes, establishing a place for My servant David to be before Me all the days of Jerusalem, the city I chose for Myself as the place to put My name. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 34. So I will receive you, and you shall reign over everything your heart desires. You shall be king over Israel. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 35. It shall be, if you hear and do everything I command you, and walk in My ways, and do what is right before Me, to keep My statutes and My commandments as My servant David did, then I shall be with you, and build you a house that shall endure, as I did for David.’” 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 36. Thereafter Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt. He remained there in Egypt until Solomon died. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 37. Now the rest of the words of Solomon, all that he did and all his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon?
The Death of Solomon
3 Kingdoms 11, verse 38. So the days Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years. 3 Kingdoms 11, verse 39. Then Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father. When Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it, while yet in Egypt at the place to which he had fled from the face of Solomon and remained, he came directly to his city, into the land of Zereda in the Mount of Ephraim. Thus King Solomon slept with his fathers, and his son Rehoboam reigned as king in his place.