1 Kings
11
- King Solomon, however, loved many foreign
women besides Pharaoh's daughter -- Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians
and Hittites.
- They were from nations about which the LORD
had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because
they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon
held fast to them in love.
- He had seven hundred wives of royal birth
and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
- As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his
heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his
God, as the heart of David his father had been.
- He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the
Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
- So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD;
he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.
- On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built
a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable
god of the Ammonites.
- He did the same for all his foreign wives,
who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
- The LORD became angry with Solomon because
his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared
to him twice.
- Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow
other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD'S command.
- So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since
this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which
I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and
give it to one of your subordinates.
- Nevertheless, for the sake of David your
father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand
of your son.
- Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from
him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for
the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
- Then the LORD raised up against Solomon
an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.
- Earlier when David was fighting with Edom,
Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck
down all the men in Edom.
- Joab and all the Israelites stayed there
for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom.
- But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt
with some Edomite officials who had served his father.
- They set out from Midian and went to Paran.
Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king
of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.
- Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he
gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage.
- The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named
Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived
with Pharaoh's own children.
- While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that
David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was
also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go, that I may return
to my own country."
- "What have you lacked here that you
want to go back to your own country?" Pharaoh asked. "Nothing,"
Hadad replied, "but do let me go !"
- And God raised up against Solomon another
adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king
of Zobah.
- He gathered men around him and became the
leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces of Zobah; the rebels
went to Damascus, where they settled and took control.
- Rezon was Israel's adversary as long as
Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram
and was hostile toward Israel.
- Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against
the king. He was one of Solomon's officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and
his mother was a widow named Zeruah.
- Here is the account of how he rebelled against
the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the
gap in the wall of the city of David his father.
- Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and
when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge
of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.
- About that time Jeroboam was going out of
Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a
new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country,
- and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he
was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
- Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten
pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See,
I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes.
- But for the sake of my servant David and
the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,
he will have one tribe.
- I will do this because they have forsaken
me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of
the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in
my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws
as David, Solomon's father, did.
- " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom
out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for
the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and
statutes.
- I will take the kingdom from his son's hands
and give you ten tribes.
- I will give one tribe to his son so that
David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where
I chose to put my Name.
- However, as for you, I will take you, and
you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.
- If you do whatever I command you and walk
in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands,
as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as
enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.
- I will humble David's descendants because
of this, but not forever.'"
- Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam
fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon's death.
- As for the other events of Solomon's reign
-- all he did and the wisdom he displayed -- are they not written in the book
of the annals of Solomon ?
- Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel
forty years.
- Then he rested with his fathers and was
buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him
as king.
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