1 Kings 11                                                               Book of Kings  

 

 

1 Kings 11:1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

• King Solomon loved many strange women = Foreign women
• Note the three steps in Solomon's fall: wealth, weapons, and women.
• You can add he worshipped other gods
• Deut 17:16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
  17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
• Note the items in which Solomon failed.
• What did God tell us to do?
• Malachi 2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
• God's warning to Judah
• Holiness = Holy Place or Sanctuary
• Which = The Sanctuary
• This was an  an abomination, Strange = foreign: a woman temple-worshipper of a foreign god. (Ezra 8)

2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

• Seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines

4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

• Notice Solomon worshipped others gods
• David his father = was faultless as to idolatry = David never worshipped other gods

5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.

• What is God showing us?
• Don't take your eye off what's right.

7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

• Moab = burn their on children in the fire to their gods 

8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

 

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

• God warned Solomon twice to follow His ways = not man ways 
• God commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods

10 And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded.

• God gave Solomon wisdom to help the people and all the blessing comes from God

11 Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

•  I will give it to thy servant Jeroboam

12 Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.

 

13 Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

• Here we see the tribes divided = two tribes = Judah and Benjamin and 10 Tribes
• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt
• One tribe = Benjamin reckoned as part of Judah 
• Ezekiel 37:16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
•  For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
• Join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
• Make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand

14 And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom.

• An adversary  = a Satan
• Edom = people from Esau = today the nation Russia

15 For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;

• After he had smitten every male in Edom = every men =  fighting men 

16 (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom:)

17 That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child.

• Hadad heard Solomon was dead, and knew the nation was weaken 

18 And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land.

19 And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

• Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh = God cause this

20 And the sister of Tahpenes bare him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house: and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household among the sons of Pharaoh.

21 And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country.

22 Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise.

23 And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:

 

24 And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus.

25 And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

26 And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.

• Back up to verse 11 Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.
• Jeroboam = who people are many
• Jeroboam = The first king of the divided kingdom of Israel, B.C. 975-954, was the son of an Ephraimite of the name of Nebat.
• He was raised by Solomon to the rank of superintendent over the taxes and labors exacted from the tribe of Ephraim.
• 1 Kings 11:28, he made the most of his position, and at last was perceived by Solomon to be aiming at the monarchy.
• He was leaving Jerusalem, when he was met by Ahijah the prophet, who gave him the assurance that, on condition of obedience to his laws,
• God would establish for him a kingdom and dynasty equal to that of David. (Read verses 29-40)
• Genesis 49:9 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah
• Genesis 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
  9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
  10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
• Sceptre = This word originally meant a rod or staff. It was thence specifically applied to the shepherd's crook,
• Lev 27:32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
• Mic 7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
  15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
  16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
• And to the wand or sceptre of a ruler. The allusions to it are all of a metaphorical character, and describe it simply as one of the insignia of supreme power.
• Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be
• To describe the article from any biblical notice we may infer that it was probably made of wood. The sceptre of the Persian monarch is described as "golden" probably of massive gold.
•  Est 4:11 All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

27 And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father.

• Repair = closed
• Solomon closed the breaches

28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph.

 

29 And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:

• Shilonite = a native of Shiloh, where the Tabernacle and Ark bad been placed
• New garment = represents the house of Israel

30 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:

• New garment = rent it in twelve pieces = represent the house of Israel
• The tribe will not joined together unto Christ returns Ezekiel 37 and Revelation 11

31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:

• Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces = I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee.

32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)

• Jerusalem was on borders of Judah and Benjamin

33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

• God told Solomon If you want My blessing, Do Things My Ways
• If not, don't come crying to Me
• Look at what people do today on the Holy Day of the year = they bring in eggs into The House of God
• The Most Holy Day of the year = Passover

34 Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:

35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.

 

36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.

37 And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel.

• Israel became two tribes = the 10 tribes and Judah and Benjamin
• Judah and  Benjamin
• Samuel.8:7-22 David tribe of Judah to be King over all Israel.
• 2 Samuel.7:11-17 and Psalm 89:3-4. The Divided Kingdom
The Northern Kingdom  "Israel", 933-721 B.C.
The Southern kingdom, "Judah" 933-606 B.C.

38 And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.

 

39 And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever.

 

40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

 

41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

• Book of Acts = This book of Kings

42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

• 40 = probation, probation of trial, related to a period of evident probation
• Solomon failed he worshipped other gods
• Solomon was about 59 or 60 years old

43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.

He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them among the heathens (like lost sheep)

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25