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Solomon · Lesson 5 of 5

His Heart Was Turned Away

1 Kgs 11:1-13 · Read 6 min · think and write 15 min

← Solomon For leaders

“Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father” (1 Kgs 3:3). At Gibeon, “the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night” (1 Kgs 3:5); this is in Lesson 1. When the LORD’s house and the king’s house were finished, “The LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon” (1 Kgs 9:2); this is in Lesson 4.

Early in his reign, “Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt” (1 Kgs 3:1); this is at the start of Lesson 1.

This lesson reads of the time when he was old.

Read Together1 Kgs 11:1-13

1Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites,

2of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love.

3He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away.

4When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father was.

5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6Solomon did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and didn’t go fully after the LORD, as David his father did.

7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

8So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

9The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,

10and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he didn’t keep that which the LORD commanded.

11Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

12Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand.

13However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”

Think It Through

What do you see?

  1. Whom did Solomon love? What had the LORD said to the children of Israel long before? (vv. 1–3)
  2. When he was old, how does the passage describe him? Which gods did he go after, and what did he do for them? (vv. 4–8)
  3. Why was the LORD angry with Solomon? What does the passage say about his heart? (vv. 9–10)
  4. What did the LORD say to him? After ‘Nevertheless’, what else did he say, and for whose sake? (vv. 11–13)

If I were there

  1. Imagine you are an Israelite living in Jerusalem: you look across from the city and see high places being built on the mountain that is before Jerusalem (v. 7). What would you be thinking? (The passage does not record what the people said. This question asks you to put yourself in their place.)
  2. Imagine you stood in the assembly on the day of Lesson 3, and many years later you see all this. What would you be thinking? (The passage does not record what such a person said. This question asks you to put yourself in their place.)

What is God like?

  1. The passage says that what his heart turned away from was “the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice” (v. 9). Reading this, what comes to mind?
  2. The LORD said: “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake” (v. 12). Reading this, what comes to mind?

What does this mean for me?

  1. Have you ever found that your own heart was being drawn away by other things without your noticing?
  2. Go back to the one thing you wrote down in Lesson 1 where you ‘don’t know how to go out or come in’. Today, how would you like to ask God about it again?
  3. Look back over these five lessons — the night at Gibeon, the day the two women stood before the king, the day the house was dedicated, the day the queen of Sheba came, and the time when he was old — which moment makes you most want to stop and look a little longer?

Notes

Together with the daughter of Pharaoh. “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh” (v. 1). “Of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon joined to these in love” (v. 2).

When Solomon was old. “When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father was” (v. 4). “Solomon did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and didn’t go fully after the LORD, as David his father did” (v. 6). He built high places “on the mountain that is before Jerusalem” (v. 7).

His heart was turned away. “The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice” (v. 9), “and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he didn’t keep that which the LORD commanded” (v. 10).

I will tear the kingdom. “Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant’” (v. 11).

For David your father’s sake. “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand” (v. 12). “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen” (v. 13).

Later. “The LORD raised up an adversary to Solomon: Hadad the Edomite” (1 Kgs 11:14); Jeroboam, his servant, “also lifted up his hand against the king” (1 Kgs 11:26). “The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years” (1 Kgs 11:42). “Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place” (1 Kgs 11:43).

For Them Then

Long before, the LORD had said to David by the prophet Nathan, speaking of his son: “If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men” (2 Sam 7:14); “but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you” (2 Sam 7:15). This is in David, Lesson 5.

Readers can see this: when the LORD was angry with Solomon, what he said was, “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake” (v. 12).

For You Today

Perhaps you, too, have known times when you knew God very clearly, and later your heart was slowly drawn away by other things. Perhaps you cannot say which day it began.

This lesson does not say that clever people, or people who have known God, will never turn away; nor does it pass judgment on Solomon’s whole life. What it shows you is this: the passage writes plainly that “his heart was turned away” (v. 9), and writes just as plainly that the LORD said, “Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake” (v. 12). A psalm has this prayer: “Make my heart undivided to fear your name” (Ps 86:11).

This week: Each day this week, pray once with Psalm 86:11: “Teach me your way, LORD. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name” (Ps 86:11).

Scripture: World English Bible.