Episode 135: Solomon's strange wives and concubines

1 Kings 10-11

The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon

10 ¹ The queen of Sheba heard about how great Solomon was, so she decided to come see for herself.

^3-5 He answered all of her questions, and she was impressed with his wisdom, nice house, food, clothes, and servants.

¹⁰ She gave him 120 talents of gold and more spices and precious stones than anyone had ever seen before or since.

¹³ Solomon gave the queen of Sheba whatever she wanted from his royal bounty. Then she went home.

Solomon's stuff

¹⁴ Every year, Solomon received 666 talents of gold. ²³ He was wiser and had more stuff than all the kings of the earth. ²⁷ While he was king, silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as sycamore trees.

Solomon's strange wives and concubines

11 ¹ Solomon loved many strange women. The daughter of Pharaoh, along with Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. ² God previously had said, "Don't have sex with strange women. If you do, you'll believe in their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon loved them.

³ He had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

⁴ When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart toward other gods. His heart wasn't perfect anymore, like his father David's was. ⁵ He worshipped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ He did evil in God's sight, and didn't completely obey God in all things, as his father David did. ⁷ He built high places for Chemosh and Molech, abominations of Moab and Ammon, respectively. ⁸ He did likewise for all of his strange wives, burning incense and sacrficing to their gods.

^9-11 God was angry with Solomon and said to him,

Because you haven't obeyed me, I'll take your kingdom away from your son.

¹² (I'd take it away from you if you weren't David's son.)

God stirs up adversaries to Solomon

¹⁴ To punish Solomon for his strange wives and strange gods, God strengthened Solomon’s enemy, Hadad the Edomite." ^15-17 When David was king, his captain, Joab, killed every male in Edom, except for Hadad, who managed to get away somehow when he was a little boy. ¹⁸ Hadad was taken by Midianites to Egypt, where he found favor with the Pharaoh. ²¹ When Hadad heard that David and Joab had died, he said to Pharaoh, "Let me return to Edom."

²³ God strengthened another adversary of Solomon’s named Rezon. ²⁵ He was Israel’s enemy all the days of Solomon’ reign.

God gives ten tribes to Jeroboam

²⁶ Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor who served king Solomon. ²⁹ One day, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah grabbed his garment and tore it into twelve pieces.

³¹ Ahijah said to Jeroboam: Take ten pieces, because God says:

I will tear Solomon's kingdom apart and give ten tribes to you.

³² (But I'll give one tribe to Solomon for David and Jerusalem's sake.)

⁴⁰ Solomon wanted to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam fled to Egypt and waited for Solomon to die.

⁴¹ Solomon was king for forty years. ⁴³ Then he died, and his son Rehoboam became king.