Solomon’s Foreign Wives
Solomon loves many foreign women from nations Israel was told not to marry, and over time those marriages turn his heart away. In old age he is no longer wholly devoted to the LORD as David was.
K1ing Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh — women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. 2These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines — and his wives turned his heart away. 4For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
Solomon follows the gods of his wives and does evil before the LORD. He builds high places for their worship and makes room for their sacrifices beside Jerusalem.
5Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely. 7At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.