Read 1 Kings 11 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
11:1-6 {s} Solomon had 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines/ they turned his heart from YHVH God
11:7-10 {p} Solomon built high places for his wives/ he angered YHVH, who had warned him twice
11:11-13 {s} “I will tear the kingdom (but for Judah) from the hand of your son, and give it to your servant.”
11:14-25 {p} God raised up two adversaries against Solomon: Hadad the Edomite and Rezon the Syrian
11:26-28 {s} Jeroboam of Ephraim also rebelled: he was an official of Solomon’s over the labor force of Joseph
11:29-39 {s} The prophet met Jeroboam: “I will give you ten tribes, if you walk in My commandments as David”
11:40 {s} Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam/ he fled to Shishak, king of Egypt and dwelt there
11:41-43 {s} Solomon reigned 40 years and died/ Rehoboam his son reigned in his place
The Strong themes:
11:1-10 {s+p} Solomon’s foreign wives turned his heart/ he served their idols and angered YHVH
11:11-25 {s+p} Because he did this: the kingdom torn from Solomon’s son, two adversaries raised up
11:26-12:17 {sx4+p} …
1 Kin 11:1-13 Chiastic Structure:
I believe the Hebrew Root Words show that the turning of Solomon’s heart was not instantaneous but a progression.
The Hebrew for “to turn” used here is Strong’s H5186 נטה natah, “to stretch out, to extend.” It’s the verb at the base of the noun for a squash, because of that plant’s spreading growth habit. The squash gourd, when dried, forms a hard shell, and the seeds (nun) contained within (tet) rattle when shaken. The squash (nun + tet) extends its vines outward (hey, in the sense of the man’s arms extended outward) to spread abroad. The squash is not content to remain at home, LOL.
Verse 2 is the warning, that Solomon’s wives were “from the nations about which YHVH had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not go among them, and they shall not come among you, for surely they will turn your heart after their gods;’” the verb is in a direct tense, going back to the Torah instruction of Deu 7:3-4.
In verse 3, “… and his wives turned his heart;” the verb shifts to a causative tense: his wives caused Solomon’s heart to turn. The causative tense implies that the turning might not have happened but for their influence.
In verse 4, “For it happened when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods;” the verb repeats the wives as the cause, and a direction is added: he turned to other gods.
Verse 9 drops the wives as the cause and returns to a direct tense: “ … his heart had turned from YHVH;” the action is all on him now, taking the course of which the Torah warned; turning away from YHVH.
The Scripture makes a Comparison and Contrast with Solomon’s heart, and David’s heart.
For it happened when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not whole with YHVH his God, as was the heart of David his father. 1 Kin 11:4
Why was David’s heart whole (completely devoted, undivided), and Solomon’s was not? The testimony of David is:
“Oh, how I love Your Torah! It is my meditation all the day.” Psa 119:97
But the testimony of Scripture concerning Solomon is:
Solomon clung to [his foreign wives] in love. 1 Kin 11:2
The love of both is the same word in Hebrew: Strong’s H157 אהב ahab, “to desire, to breathe after.” It’s the strongest love of all. It’s the love God has for His people:
And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought you out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt. Deu 4:37
It’s the love His people are to have for Him:
For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love YHVH your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him … Deu 11:22
But Solomon clung to his foreign wives in love, and not to YHVH. The Hebrew is Strong’s H1692, דָבַק dabaq, “to cleave, to adhere firmly.” Actually, if you think about it, the idolatry started long before he built the high places for his wives. The love for or of his wives, greater than his love for YHVH, was an idol in his heart before he ever sacrificed to Ashtoreth or Chemosh.
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