Solomon's Sin and God's Judgment
111King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter, including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2They came from the nations about which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You must not enter into marriage with them, and they must not enter marriage with you, or they will turn your hearts after other gods.” Solomon clung to them in love. 3He had seven hundred wives who held the rank of princess and three hundred concubines. So they turned his heart away.
4When Solomon became old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of his father David had been. 5Then Solomon followed Ashtarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not devote himself to the Lord as his father David had done. 7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, on the hill east of Jerusalem and for Molek,[] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and making sacrifices to their gods. 9So the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10The Lord had given him the command not to follow other gods, but Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.
11So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because this is your attitude, and because you did not keep my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely rip the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your servant. 12However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David. I will rip it from your son's hand. 13But I will not rip away the whole kingdom. One tribe I will give to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
God Raises Foreign Enemies to Oppose Solomon
14Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom, as an adversary for Solomon. 15Earlier, while David was at war with Edom, when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he struck down every male in Edom. 16For six months Joab and all Israel stayed there until he exterminated every male in Edom. 17But while Hadad was a young boy, he had fled with some Edomites from among his father's servants to go to Egypt. 18So they set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took some men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. Pharaoh gave Hadad a house and decreed an allowance of food for him and gave him land.
19Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so Pharaoh gave him the sister of his own wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes, as his wife. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in the house of Pharaoh, so Genubath was in the house of Pharaoh with Pharaoh's own sons.
21Later Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Send me back to my own country.”
22Pharaoh said to him, “What are you lacking here with me, so that you want to go back to your own country?”
He said, “Nothing, but please let me go.”
23God also raised up another adversary for Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24After David had destroyed Zobah's army, Rezon gathered men around himself and was the commander of a band of raiders. They went to Damascus and lived there and ruled Damascus. 25He was Israel's adversary during all the days of Solomon, in addition to all the difficulties which Hadad caused. He was hostile to Israel, and he ruled over Aram.
God Chooses Jeroboam to Be King of Israel
26Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His mother's name was Zeruah. She was a widow. Jeroboam was Solomon's official, but he rebelled against the king.
