1 Kings 11:4, commentary and pictures

When Solomon was old his many foreign wives turned his heart to follow their gods, so he was no longer wholly faithful and fully devoted to the Lord as David his father had been. Perfect in the verse means clean, pure and wholly given to God and truth. Though God had appeared to him twice and warned him not to follow other gods, and though he was greatly favored, renowned for wisdom and entrusted with building the temple, he indulged unlawful affection for what God had forbidden and went gradually into apostasy by alliances, intermarriage and mingling sacred worship with the profane. He built altars and idol shrines for his wives, joined light with darkness, became divided in heart and oppressive in rule, and brought God's displeasure, the breaking of the covenant promise and the dividing of the kingdom with national apostasy following. His fall warns that even the wise, powerful and greatly favored can be overcome, that wisdom and position can never take the place of moral character, and that safety lies in implicit obedience to Scripture, constant dependence on God and remaining a distinct, separate people.

Words and Historical Setting

When Solomon was old his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was no longer wholly faithful, fully devoted and perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. Their influence drew him into their idol worship after he disregarded instruction meant to guard him against apostasy, and he neglected his duties to God and his kingdom. Perfect in the verse means clean, pure, and wholly devoted to God and truth.

The wives were many and foreign, from idolatrous nations, and in taking them he practiced polygamy and multiplied wives. They included women of Phoenicia, Egypt, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, nations that bowed at idolatrous shrines with licentious and cruel rites. Taking them was directly opposed to the law of Jehovah and violated God's express commands against intermarriage with idolaters and against being turned away from following Him.

He turned though instruction had been given to guard against apostasy, though God had appeared to him twice and warned him not to follow other gods, and though he neglected that warning. He was the greatest king ever to wield a scepter, the beloved of God, greatly favored by God and renowned for wisdom and uprightness. He was beloved of God and entrusted with building the temple, yet he made alliances with idolatrous nations and married heathen women.

His turning was unlawful affection and coveting what God had forbidden. It was of the same character as the indulgence Satan promised Eve, though every want is supplied in Christ.

Path Into Apostasy

Solomon's turning was not sudden but gradual, coming in his old age after earlier wisdom and uprightness, when prosperity and honored position led him to forget God and the conditions of success and to lose sight of the need for implicit obedience to Scripture. Step by step he conformed to surrounding nations, and one false step prepared the way for a second and a third, each taken more easily than the last. What had been a pure and elevated character given to God became marred and degraded, and the mind once inspired to write the wisdom of Proverbs became weak in moral power through constant indulgence and evil associations.

That early compromise was worship in high places dedicated to idolatry, which mingled the sacred with the profane and took away the repulsion that should have been felt toward idolatrous practices. It taught him to suppose the Lord was not particular about worship, and by that education he prepared himself for greater departures until little by little his heathen wives led him to make altars for them to sacrifice to their gods. One wrong step led to step after step of political alliance, until going backward from weakness to weakness instead of forward from strength to strength his history became one of deterioration. Attempting to harmonize light with darkness and purity with impurity in this way brings moral ruin and leaves a man on the very brink of the precipice.

Uncontrolled love of women became sin and a snare when not ruled, drawing him away from God the source of his strength. Indulgence of lustful passion, appetite, and passion incurred God's displeasure through Satan's leading, corrupted one greatly favored by God, and separated him from God's presence. Yielding principle, he fell into idolatry, lost the wisdom and firmness of character God had given him, and wavered between right and wrong. For love of a woman he trampled the law of God and became an idolater, turning from wholehearted faithfulness despite great intelligence, promise, and spiritual advantage. Even after having suffered for the truth and stood in its defense until old and gray-headed, he acted as if he did no sin and was all right, and without repentance and conversion such a course is ruin.

Pride, self-sufficiency, self-exaltation, and human praise fostered self-esteem, dishonored God, and led him to trust his own wisdom, reject counsel, walk his own way, and rely on himself instead of God. When he turned from the Source of his strength and went forward relying on himself he fell a prey to temptation, and the wisdom and remarkable abilities God had given him then made him a more effective agent and instrument of the adversary. Injudicious friends helped the tempter ensnare him and reveal human weakness, in sharp contrast to when he was exalted to be king and humbled himself before God, acknowledging before all the people that he was but a little child in management.

Ambition and desire for political power, wealth, and self-aggrandizement led him to alliances, marriages, and friendships with heathen and idolatrous nations, conforming to worldly customs and the surrounding standards of right and breaking down the protective barriers God had erected for His people's safety. Rather than draw the nations to Israel's faith he allowed pagan beliefs to corrupt his own, weakening religious principle, dulling sympathy and love for God, and looking to other nations even to secure workmen and facilities for building the temple when it could have been built with what the Lord provided. The silver of Tarshish and the gold of Ophir were procured at terrible expense, by sacrifice of integrity and betrayal of sacred trust. At the same time greed, covetousness, and extravagance displaced self-denial and devotion, while high wages demanded and received throughout the kingdom gave opportunity for luxury and extravagance, oppression of the poor by the rich, and near loss of the spirit of self-sacrifice in God's service, permeating all branches of the Lord's service and helping turn his heart away.

Idols and Transformed Character

He gave himself to idolatry, leaving the temple of God to worship idols in groves he had prepared for them. For his wives he built altars and shrines and idol shrines near the temple, on the southern rise of the Mount of Olives opposite Mount Moriah where the temple stood. Those shrines were surrounded by idols and used for degrading heathen rites. His ambition to marry into pagan nations and his alliances pursued for political power and self-exaltation corrupted his faith, and rather than drawing the nations to Israel's faith he allowed pagan beliefs to corrupt his own until his once noble character became apostate.

Those shrines outlived his reign and remained as lasting evidence of his apostasy and a testimony against him, even after his repentance. His repentance could not efface the high places and stones that remained as evidence of his crimes. Their ruins, named the Mount of Offense by the true-hearted in Israel, could still be seen when Shiloh came and Christ looked upon the melancholy sight, even into Christ's day. The idols on the Mount of Olives thus later stood as evidence of his decline and a lasting witness to his fall.

He mingled error with truth and idolatry with Israel's faith, as the insidious evils of paganism corrupted his religion and betrayed sacred trust. He became an apostate, no longer recognizing God as the only true and living God and ruling Providence. He tried to join light with darkness and serve both God and wealth, attempting to harmonize Christ with Belial, purity with impurity, and good with evil, but purity and evil could not be combined. Attractive worldly teachings in this way can weaken faith, obscure truth, damage the landmarks of truth, and lead to spiritual weakness and apostasy.

His divided heart marked a change from a kind, just, God-fearing king into a tyrant whose moral strength was gone. Association with idolaters corrupted his faith and led him to worship false gods, and in turning from God he lost self-control and the integrity and compassion of his earlier rule, becoming proud, indulgent, tyrannical, and oppressive. His once noble character deteriorated into profligacy and intemperance, and his rule became despotic and tyrannical, sustained by oppressive taxes. Yielding his principles drew him away from God, the source of his strength; he lost the wisdom and firmness of character God had given him, became weak in moral power and wavering between right and wrong, and separated himself from God. His course separated him from God, and he lost the knowledge of God, with uncontrolled love of women and passion becoming a snare when not ruled.

Though he had urged Israel to be wholehearted toward the Lord, Solomon chose his own way and separated his heart from God, as alliances, self-indulgence, and repeated wrong choices weakened the once firm and pure character he had received through God's wisdom. Despite having received remarkable manifestations of God's power and having built God's temple, he forsook its worship and turned to idols, for divine light and privilege did not by themselves keep him faithful. His God-given wisdom was perverted when he turned from God to seek wisdom from other sources.

Divine Judgment and National Ruin

When old age came his wives drew his heart after other gods until it was no longer wholehearted toward the Lord as his father David's had been, and that turning was apostasy, disloyalty and failure to do God's will. By it he lost his connection with heaven and set before Israel a misleading example that God could not vindicate. His departure violated express commands, despite God having appeared to him twice and warned him not to follow other gods, and it incurred God's anger and displeasure. It broke God's conditional promise and covenant, bringing chastisement in the dividing of the kingdom and the announced loss of the kingdom, for wisdom and greatness cannot preserve one who does not trust and obey God. Had he heeded the instruction given him, God would have worked through him to reveal His power and majesty to the world.

Blessing and God's signature upon past steps taken in light do not secure His continued presence. That presence continues only while looking steadfastly to Him as Teacher and Example. By turning aside to work contrary to God's designs, following a course God had forbidden and refusing the testimonies sent him, Solomon caused the Lord to be unable to cooperate with him, and those who so turn likewise prevent Him from cooperating with them. While he kept separate from the world he was blessed, but his idolatrous connection by marrying idolatrous women and going to other nations for workmen and facilities to build the temple, when it could have been built with what the Lord had provided, greatly displeased God and broke the conditional promise to bless him if he followed right ways. God desires to encircle His people with His protecting arm, blessing them above all others and preserving them in all purity while they remain closely connected with Him as a distinct, separate people, but if they depart they will share Solomon's sorrows.

His alliances and intermarriage helped turn Israel from God and brought national apostasy. Intermarriage and close contact with idolaters made idolatry common, introduced heathen rites into family life, confused true worship with false, and weakened love and reverence for God and obedience to Him. Idolatrous mothers raised children in heathen rites, the people's allegiance shifted to Satan, and a ruler's disloyalty thus influenced a whole nation into backsliding and sin and ruin, as seen in idol shrines built on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple that remained as lasting evidence and testimony against him even after repentance. Pure religious service instituted by God was replaced by idolatry of the darkest hue. That included human sacrifices offered to idols and licentious, cruel rites greatly dishonoring to God, yet countenanced and sustained, with groves and idol shrines built for his wives of Phoenicia, Egypt, Edom, Moab and Ammon who bowed at such shrines. Polygamy was introduced into Palestine, multitudes were contaminated with heathen principles and practices, and this rejection of God's ways for men's ways began the downfall of Israel until the people became a prey to the very nations whose practices they had chosen.

His union with idolatrous women also harmed his son Rehoboam, whose early training was neglected and whose unstable character and eventual apostasy were shaped by the evil influences surrounding him from infancy. Though he may have been saved as by fire, his repentance could not efface the high places and stones that remained as evidence of his crimes.

Warnings and Present Applications

Solomon's fall warns that even the wise, powerful, greatly favored, and spiritually advantaged can be overcome by inward corruption and outward temptation, and that no departure from integrity is safe. His misplaced affection and coveting what God had forbidden was unlawful affection of the same character as the indulgence promised to Eve, though every want is supplied in Christ, and though the greatest king that ever wielded a scepter and the beloved of God, he failed to rule his own passions, became contaminated and miserably forsaken, and dishonored God by choosing to be controlled by lust rather than partaking of the divine nature. His marriages violated the express command against intermarriage with idolaters and turned him away after God had appeared to him twice and warned him not to follow other gods, bringing God's anger and the announced loss of the kingdom, which shows wisdom and greatness cannot preserve one who does not trust and obey God. His love for a woman made him an idolater and turned him from wholehearted faithfulness, so that a life of great intelligence, promise, and spiritual advantage went backward from weakness to weakness and ended in deterioration, proving intellect, position, and wealth can never take the place of moral qualities.

The wisdom and remarkable abilities given to him made him, when he relied on himself instead of God and fell into temptation, a more effective agent and instrument of the adversary. He had obtained wisdom that excited the wonder of the world by earnest prayer and dependence on God, but when he turned from the Source of his strength and went forward relying on himself he fell a prey to temptation, and the marvelous powers given to him as the wisest of kings only made him a more efficient agent of the adversary of souls. His life therefore warns to guard against temptation, resist forbidden desire, and remain dependent on God for strength throughout life, for earlier closeness to God does not grant immunity. His uncontrolled love of women became sin and a snare when not ruled, and as he grew old yielding principle drew him from God the source of strength into idolatry, so that he lost the wisdom and firmness of character God had given him, wavered between right and wrong, separated himself from God, and at last left the temple to worship idols in groves he had prepared.

Close ties, unsanctified connections, and unions with those opposed to God can undermine religious principle, trap the soul in bondage that cannot be broken, and end in sacrificing principle and separation from God rather than winning them. Good intentions to influence them for good may instead end in being overcome by their influence, and one false step can lead to such bondage. People today are no less vulnerable to the influences that drew him away, so safety lies in obeying God's word, remaining separate from the world and its influences, refusing conformity to its standard of right, holding Scripture as the only standard, studying and obeying Christ's teachings, and guarding constantly against every worldly influence that weakens moral power. His later years were marred by pride, self-sufficiency, self-exaltation, and desire for political power and self-aggrandizement that led him to alliances with heathen nations, and the silver of Tarshish and gold of Ophir were procured at terrible expense by sacrifice of integrity and betrayal of sacred trust. Association with idolaters corrupted his faith, and uniting in marriage with worshipers of false gods he at last gave himself to idolatry, until gradually yet surely his life was corrupted by conformity to worldly customs, looking to the standards of right followed by heathen nations and losing sight of the standard of God's law, breaking down the barriers erected for safety, so that a character once pure and elevated and a mind once given to God and inspired to write the wisdom of Proverbs became marred, degraded, and weak in moral power through evil associations and constant indulgence, dishonoring himself, Israel, and God, where one false step prepares the way for a second and a third, each taken more easily than the last.

Beginning to depart from the Lord in order to gain something, linking with unbelievers and declaring sanitarium and institutional work undenominational by hiding distinct truth, repeats his departure instead of remaining forever a peculiar people holding the beginning of confidence steadfast to the end. Following a course God had forbidden and refusing testimonies God sent, as Solomon did though called and favored by God, is repeated when leaders reject God's testimonies and pursue a forbidden course, as in the course of Dr. Kellogg. An evil influence has perpetuating power from generation to generation, leaving a legacy of good or evil that blesses or curses others and must not be used to cover base actions. He may have been saved as by fire, yet his repentance could not efface the high places and stones that remained as evidence of his crimes, and after suffering for the truth and standing in its defense until old and gray-headed he became an idolater who for love of a woman trampled the law, acted as if he did no sin and was all right, and without repentance and conversion such a course is ruin.

The faithful record of his failure, with the sins that overcame Noah, Lot, Moses, Abraham, David, Elijah and others, warns to avoid the evils that brought him down. Divine truth does not gloss faults or suppress sins, and the stern facts prove Scripture true, show God's retributive justice never fails, and warn that the wages of sin is death. The record is given to encourage desponding hearts, showing that as men of the present day strive, waver, and frequently fall into error, so through grace they can gain fresh vigor to rise above evil nature, take heart again and conquer, renew the conflict, press on, surmount obstacles, and be overcomers without despairing of reaching excellence.