Solomon's court -- his polygamy -- spread of foreign ideas in the country -- imitation of foreign manners

-- growing luxury -- Solomon's spiritual decline -- judgment predicted -- Solomon's enemies: Hadad,

Rezon, Jeroboam -- causes of popular discontent -- Ahijah's prediction of the disruption -- Jeroboam's

rebellion and flight into egypt -- death of Solomon.

1 KINGS 11

GREATER contrast could scarcely be imagined than that between the state of Solomon's court and of the

country generally, and the directions and restrictions laid down in Deuteronomy 17:16, 17 for the regulation

of the Jewish monarchy. The first and most prominent circumstance which here presents itself to the mind, is

the direct contravention of the Divine command as regarded the number of "princesses" and concubines

which formed the harem of Solomon.158 Granting that the notice in Cant. 6. 8 affords reason for believing

that the numerals in 1 Kings 11:3 may have been due to a mistake on the part of a copyist, still the sacred

narrative expressly states, that the polygamy of Solomon, and especially his alliances with nations excluded

from intermarriage with Israel,159 was the occasion, if not the cause, of his later sin and punishment.

While on this subject we may go back a step further, and mark (with Ewald) what sad consequences the

infringement of the primitive Divine order in regard to marriage wrought throughout the history of Israel. It is

undoubtedly to polygamy that we have to trace the troubles in the family of David; and to the same cause

were due many of those which came on David's successors. If Moses wa s obliged to tolerate the

infringement of the original institution of God, "the hardness of heart" which had necessitated it brought its

own punishment, especially when the offender was an Eastern king. Thus the sin of the people, embodied,

as it were, in the person of their representative, carried national judgment as its consequence.

But the elements which caused the fall of Solomon lay deeper than polygamy. Indeed, the latter was among

the effects, as well as one of the further causes of his spiritual decline. First among these elements of evil at

work, we reckon the growing luxury of the court. The whole atmosphere around, so to speak, was different

from what it had been in the primitive times which preceded the reign of Solomon, and still more from the

ideal of monarchy as sketched in the Book of Deuteronomy. Everything had become un-Jewish, foreign,

purely Asiatic. Closely connected with this was the evident desire to emulate, and even outdo neighboring

nations. Such wisdom, such splendor, such riches , and finally, such luxury, and such a court were not to be

found elsewhere, as in the kingdom of which Jerusalem was the capital. An ominous beginning this of that

long course of Jewish pride and self-exaltation which led to such fearful consequences. It is to this desire of

surpassing other Eastern courts that the size of Solomon's harem must be attributed. Had it been coarse

sensuality which influenced him, the earlier, not the later years of his reign, would have witnessed the

introduction of so many strange wives. Moreover, it deserves special notice that the 700 wives of Solomon

are designated as "princesses" (1 Kings 11:3). Without pressing this word in its most literal meaning, we

may at least infer that Solomon courted influential connections with the reigning and other leading families

of the clans around, and that the chief object of his great harem was, in a worldly sense, to strengthen his

position, to give evidence of his wealth and power as an Eastern monarch, and to form promising alliances,

no matter what spiritual elements were thus introduced into the country. Closely connected with all this was

the rapidly growing intercourse between Israel and foreign nations. For one reason or another, strangers,

whom Israel hitherto had only considered as heathens, crowded to Jerusalem. By their presence king and

people would not only become familiar with foreign ideas, but so-called toleration would extend to these

strangers the right of public worship, or rather, of public idolatry. And so strong was this feeling, that,

although Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, and Hezekiah put an end to all idolatry, yet the high places which

Solomon had built on the southern acclivity of the Mount of Olives remained in use until the time of Josiah

(2 Kings 23:13), avowedly for the worship of those foreigners who came to, or were resident in, Jerusalem.

Viewed in connection with what has just been stated, even the intellectual culture in the time of Solomon

may have proved a source of serious danger.