The Kingdom · c. 940–930 BC
Chapter 22
Solomon’s Heart Turns
When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father was.
For parents
This chapter tells that Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, that his wives turned his heart to other gods, and that he built high places for those gods, among them Molech (1 Kings 11:1–8). It recalls in a few plain words that David’s commander Joab killed every male in Edom (11:15–16), and it tells that Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam (11:40).
King loved many foreign women: ’s daughter, and women of the , , , and . They came from the nations the Lord had spoken of when he told the people of Israel, “You must not marry their people, and they must not marry yours, because they will surely turn your hearts toward their gods.” But Solomon held these women close and loved them.
He had seven hundred wives, all of them princesses, and three hundred . And his wives turned his heart away.
When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart toward other gods. His heart did not belong completely to the Lord his God, the way his father ’s heart had.
Solomon turned to , the goddess of the Sidonians, and to , the Ammonites’ detestable god. He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. He did not follow the Lord all the way, as his father David had.
Then Solomon built a on the mountain facing for , Moab’s detestable god, and for , the detestable god of the people of Ammon. He did this for all his foreign wives, who burned and sacrificed to their gods.
The Lord was angry with Solomon, because Solomon’s heart had turned from the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord had appeared to him twice, first in a dream at and then a second time. He had commanded Solomon about this very thing, telling him not to follow other gods. But Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.
So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept my and the laws I gave you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and hand it over to your servant.
“Yet for your father David’s sake, I won’t do it as long as you live. I will tear it out of your son’s hand. And even then I won’t tear away the whole kingdom. I will give your son one tribe, because of David my servant and because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen.”
The Lord raised up an enemy against Solomon: the Edomite, who came from the family of Edom’s kings. Back when David was in Edom, his army commander had gone up there to bury the dead. Joab and all Israel stayed in Edom six months, until Joab had killed every male in Edom.
But Hadad, who was still a little boy, got away and set out for Egypt with some Edomites who had served his father. They started out from Midian and came to Paran. They took men from Paran with them and went on to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house, arranged for his food, and gave him land.
Pharaoh thought so highly of Hadad that he gave him the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, to marry. She and Hadad had a son, Genubath. When the boy was old enough to stop nursing, Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace. Genubath lived there among Pharaoh’s sons.
Hadad was in Egypt when he heard that David had died and joined his ancestors, and that Joab the army commander was dead too. “Let me go,” Hadad said to Pharaoh, “so that I can go back to my own country.”
“What have you been missing here with me,” Pharaoh asked, “that makes you want to go back to your own country?”
“Nothing,” Hadad answered. “But please, let me go.”
God raised up another enemy against Solomon: son of Eliada, who had run away from his master, king of . When David killed the men of Zobah, Rezon gathered men around him and became the captain of a band of fighters. They went to , settled there, and ruled in Damascus.
Rezon was Israel’s enemy as long as Solomon lived, on top of the harm Hadad did. He hated Israel, and he ruled over .
son of Nebat rose up against the king too. He was one of Solomon’s servants, from Zeredah in the tribe of , and his mother, Zeruah, was a widow.
This was the reason he rose up against the king: Solomon built the and repaired the gap in the wall of his father David’s city. Jeroboam was a strong, brave man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a hard worker, he put him in charge of all the labor of the .
At that time Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and on the road the of found him. Ahijah had put on a new cloak. The two were alone out in the fields.
Then Ahijah took his new cloak, the one he had on, and tore it into twelve pieces.
“Take ten pieces,” he told Jeroboam, “because the Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Look, I will tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and give ten tribes to you. He will still have one tribe, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. I am doing this because they have abandoned me. They have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon. They have not followed my ways, or done what is right in my eyes, or kept my laws and my rules, the way Solomon’s father David did.
“‘Even so, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand. I will let him rule all his life, because of David my servant. I chose David, and he kept my commandments and my laws. But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and give it to you: ten tribes. I will give his son one tribe, so that David my servant will always have a lamp in my presence in Jerusalem. That is the city I have chosen for myself as the place to put my name.
“‘I will take you, and you will reign over everything you could wish for. You will be king over Israel. Listen to everything I command you. Walk in my ways. Do what I see as right, and keep my laws and my commandments as David my servant did. If you do, I will be with you and build you a house that will last, as I built one for David, and I will give Israel to you. I will make David’s descendants suffer for this, but not forever.’”
So Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam got away and fled to Egypt, to king of Egypt, and he stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.
The rest of what Solomon did, and his wisdom, is written in the book of the acts of Solomon. 2 Chronicles says the rest of what he did, from first to last, is written in the history of the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and the visions of the about Jeroboam son of Nebat.
Solomon was king over all Israel in Jerusalem for forty years. Then he died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried in his father David’s city. His son reigned in his place.