Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 11:41
And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, [are] they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
41. And the rest of the acts ] The usual rendering of this phrase is Now the rest, &c. and this has been adopted for uniformity’s sake by the R.V. in this place. The word rendered ‘acts,’ in this and similar passages, means also ‘words,’ and in the case of such a king as Solomon, whose fame arose greatly from what he spake, it has been thought worth while to put this rendering on the margin, both in A. V. and R.V.
the book of the acts of Solomon ] Attached to the royal household was an official recorder, who kept a chronicle of events and thus prepared the sources of future history. In 2Ch 9:29-31 where the parallelism with Kings is taken up again, we have the names of the writers given, viz. ‘the history of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The book of the acts of Solomon – See the marginal reference and Introduction.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 41. The book of the acts of Solomon?] These acts were written by Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite, and Iddo the seer; as we learn from 2Ch 9:29. Probably from these were the Books of Kings and Chronicles composed; but the original documents are long since lost.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the public records, where the lives and actions of kings were registered from time to time. So this was only a political, but not a sacred book.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?] Either written by himself, as Kimchi suggests, though not in being; or by some chronologer or historiographer employed by him in writing the most memorable things that happened in his reign; or by several prophets, as in 2Ch 9:29 out of which the inspired writer of this book took what he was directed to by the Lord to be transmitted to future ages.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Conclusion of the history of Solomon. – Notice of the original works, in which further information can be found concerning his acts and his wisdom (see the Introduction); the length of his reign, viz., forty years; his death, burial, and successor. Solomon did not live to a very great age, since he was not more than twenty years old when he ascended the throne. – Whether Solomon turned to the Lord again with all his heart, a question widely discussed by the older commentators (see Pfeifferi Dubia vex. p. 435; Buddei hist. eccl. ii. p. 273ff.), cannot be ascertained from the Scriptures. If the Preacher Koheleth) is traceable to Solomon so far as the leading thoughts are concerned, we should find in this fact an evidence of his conversion, or at least a proof that at the close of his life Solomon discovered the vanity of all earthly possessions and aims, and declared the fear of God to be the only abiding good, with which a man can stand before the judgment of God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Death of Solomon. | B. C. 975. |
41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? 42 And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
We have here the conclusion of Solomon’s story, and in it, 1. Reference is had to another history then extant, but (not being divinely inspired) since lost, the Book of the Acts of Solomon, v. 41. Probably this book was written by a chronologer or historiographer, whom Solomon employed to write his annals, out of which the sacred writer extracted what God saw fit to transmit to the church. 2. A summary of the years of his reign (v. 42): He reigned in Jerusalem (not, as his father, part of his time in Hebron and part in Jerusalem), over all Israel (not as his son, and his father in the beginning of his time, over Judah only), forty years. His reign was as long as his father’s, but not his life. Sin shortened his days. 3. His death and burial, and his successor, v. 43. (1.) He followed his fathers to the grave, slept with them, and was buried in David’s burying-place, with honour no doubt. (2.) His son followed him in the throne. Thus the graves are filling with the generations that go off, and houses are filling with those that are growing up. As the grave cries, “Give, give,” so land is never lost for want of an heir.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Death of Solomon
Commentary on 1Ki 11:41-43 AND 2Ch 9:29-31
The Scriptures are detailed concerning Solomon’s years of faithfulness to the Lord, during which time he was in his building programs and acquiring his fame. However, the account of his lifetime comes to an abrupt end after telling of his apostasy and its results. It seems probable that he repented before his death, evidenced in his Book of Ecclesiastes, with its conclusions.
Solomon’s deeds and acts were recorded by three prophets. These were Nathan, who helped get him anointed and crowned; Ahijah, who foretold the fall of his kingdom and its passing to Jeroboam; Iddo, who is said to have uttered prophecies against Jeroboam. While all these were men of God who spoke God’s message it is unlikely that their accounts are the inspired ones of Scriptures. The Lord may well have used their accounts in inspiring those who did record Kings and Chronicles by His Holy Spirit.
Solomon’s reign matched those of Saul and David, extending to forty years, although Solomon must have died a considerably younger man than had his father. Since he was very young at his accession to the throne, probably no more than twenty, it would then follow that he died at the age of sixty. No doubt his life was cut short by his abuse through his many extravaganzas and by his apostasy in idolatry. He was buried in Jerusalem, and his son, Rehoboam, was anointed to succeed him. He had not honored his father, David, to follow his godly example (Eph 6:1-3).
Some lessons: 1) fleshly lust involves one in grosser sins and loss of God’s blessings; 2) by becoming a slave to lust one will be tempted to turn entirely away from God and right living; 3) trouble will come as chastisement on the disobedient; 4) someone in the world is always ready to take advantage of those out of the will of God; 5) promiscuous sin will shorten the life of God’s children.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
1Ki. 11:15. When David was in Edom; or, was (at war) with. The Sept. and Peshito read, had smitten. Hadad was a royal child, rescued from Joabs extirminating slaughter (2Sa. 8:13) in Edom, carried into Egypt, and fostered by the Egyptian king. On learning of the death of David and Joab, he quitted Egypt, returned to his own land, and sought to restore the ruined kingdom of his fathers. Foilod in his efforts, he joined himself to Rezon another of Solomons adversaries (1Ki. 11:23-25).
1Ki. 11:22. Let me go in any wiseThe Sept. and Codex Vat. insert here, And Hadad returned to his own land; this is the mischief which Hadad did; and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Edom.
1Ki. 11:23. Another adversary, RezonComp. 2Sa. 8:3, sq.
1Ki. 11:25. Beside the mischief that Hadad did A peculiar phrase, not easy to render; yet A. V. gives the sense fairly; or thus, But as for this mischief that Hadad did; or, And, indeed, along with the evil that Hadad did (so Bertheau).
1Ki. 11:26. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite, i.e., an Ephraimite. Hadad and Rezon were adversaries to Solomon; but Jeroboam was an internal enemy, a subject and servant who developed into a rebel, and a more dangerous enemy. Being a young man of industry and talent, Solomon entrusted him with the honourable position of superintendent of the engineering works in progress around Jerusalem. He evidently used this eminence to sow sedition, for this was the cause, &c., 1Ki. 11:27. Lange suggests that the Ephraimites had an old and irrepressible jealousy of Judah, and very reluctantly submitted to labour in the kings citadel. Compulsory labour increased this dislike to hatred so that Jeroboam found it easy to fan the flame of insurrection among them.
1Ki. 11:29. Ahijah the ShiloniteShiloh was in the tribe of Ephraim; hence Ahijah and Jeroboam were of the same tribeprobably, of the same spirit also.
1Ki. 11:40. Solomon sought, therefore, &c.Jeroboams inflated pride and restless ambition led him to conspiracies even before Solomons death, as 1Ki. 11:26 affirms. Unto Shishak, king of Egypt, who harboured this seditions rebel, thus showing his own hostility to or jealousy of Solomon. Shishak was of a different dynasty from Solomons father-in-law.W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki. 11:41-43
THE DEATH OF GREAT MEN
I. Is not always a calamity to a nation. When the powers of a great mind are devoted to the best interests of the people irrespective of selfish and ulterior designs, and when the nation is flourishing under the sagacious and virtuous policy adopted, the death of such a character is an irreparable loss, a lamentable disaster. But a great man may be a great curse to a nation. He may be a genius in wickedness, aggrandising and indulging himself by cruel oppression and shameless fraud. The death of such a man, terrible as it may be to himself, is a blessing to the nation he has so wofully wronged. It is well for humanity that death does come to the great tyrants of society, else life on earth would become intolerable. The world would be transformed into a Gehenna of unutterable torture.
II. Is a humbling spectacle when it happens after they have outlived their reputation. Napoleon Bonaparte lamented that he did not fall at Waterloo. And it is said of Daniel OConnell, the great and gifted Irish patriot, that he ought to have died thirty or forty years before he did, and while he stood on the highest pinnacle of fame he ever reached, alter the victories he achieved on behalf of Catholic emancipation. So it might be said of Solomon that had he died immediately after the great event of his reignthe dedication of the Templehe would have fallen in the midst of glory untarnished and of greatness unexampled, and bequeathed to history a character of wondrous moral symmetry and unrivalled reputation. But Solomon lived too fast, and, though not old, lived too long. His death, which, had it occurred years before, would have produced a profound impression and wrung the nations heart with sorrow and wailing, was chronicled without emotion. Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David (1Ki. 11:43). Death in any form is a saddening sightin bird, or beast, or flower. Decay is a subtle, mysterious, but all-potent power, which baffles inquiry and conquers all opposition. It is heart-breaking to watch the ravages we are so powerless to arrest. The death of a good man is sad; but it is a still sadder sight to witness the death of one who once was great and noble, and has sunk into obscurity and disgrace. Oh, the weakness and vanity of man! How little is he to be trusted, how deeply to be pitied! How manifold are the changes through which he passes during the course of one brief life-time!
III. Does not hinder the progress of the Divine purpose concerning the race. The individual may prove unfaithful, God never. Great as is the power for evil of one erring spirit, the evil is circumscribed, and will not be allowed to imperil the good which God has provided for sinning humanity. Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. It is humbling to observe how soon and how easily the greatest men can be dispensed with. The defection of Solomon, and of the nation he governed, did not prevent Jehovah from carrying out his merciful intention of redeeming humanity. By methods the most insignificant and unexpected He can accomplish His gracious designs.
LESSONS:
1. Death brings both great and small to one common level.
2. The most brilliant gifts will not protect man from committing the most ruinous follies.
3. Greatness is supremely contemptible when divorced from goodness.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki. 11:40. Sin obscures the soul. He who turns aside from God departs from wisdom; and let those who, instead of bowing and submitting with resignation to the chastisements of God, haughtily strive against them, contemplate the fate of Jeroboam, who doubtless stirred up the plot against Solomon, since he afterwards eagerly abetted the desertion of the ten tribes. Even as Solomon, when he sought to slay Jeroboam, must have felt that in vain he resisted the Divine decrees, and was powerless to hinder them, so likewise Jeroboam, compelled to fly to Egypt, must have become conscious that in vain he strove rashly and insolently to anticipate the execution of the Divine decrees. We must ever make bitter expiation when we haughtily resist and oppose the Lord, or when we strive to hasten His designs, or to appoint time and place for their fulfilment. The life of Solomon closes with the wordsTherefore Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. Instead of seeking forgiveness from Him who forgiveth much, and himself granting forgiveness, he is thinking of murder and vengeance. How great and noble the contrast between this and the figure of Him who in the face of death upon the cross criedFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Let us strive to become like unto His image, and that our last thought in life may be of love and reconciliation, and not of revenge and hatred. Solomon possessed the fairest and noblest crown that mortal can wear, yet it was perishable, not enduring beyond death and the grave. The Lord promises an immortal crown to those who love and follow Him. Be faithful unto death, then He will give thee the crown of life: blessed is he who endureth unto the end.Roos.
1Ki. 11:40-43. These three truths are nowhere more powerfully exemplified than in the life of Solomon.
1. What is a man profited, &c. (Mat. 16:26).
2. Vanity of vanities (Ecc. 1:2).
3. The world passeth away (1Jn. 2:17).Lange.
1Ki. 11:43. Solomon died in almost the flower of his age, and, it appears, unregretted. His government was no blessing to Israel, and laid, by its exactions and oppressions, the foundation of that schism which was so fatal to the unhappy people of Israel and Judah, and was the most powerful procuring cause of the miseries which have fallen upon the Jewish people from that time until now.A. Clarke.
His son followed him in the throne. Thus the graves are filling in with the generations that go off, and houses are filling in with those that are growing up. As the grave criesGive, give; so land is never lost for want of an heir.M. Henry.
Solomon a type of Christ.
1. As the child of promise.
2. As the king of Israel, though ready to spare, yet finally executing and destroying every obstinate rebel against his government.
3. As the Prince of Peace.
4. As the builder of the Temple of the Lord.
5. As the embodiment of Wisdom
6. As attracting multitudes towards him, even of the most distinguished rank.Robinson.
REFLECTED RAYS FROM THE BEST LITERARY LIGHTS ON THE CHARACTER AND CAREER OF SOLOMON
You have seen a blight in summer. The sky is overcast, and yet there are no clouds; nothing but a dry and stifling obscuration, as if the mouth of some pestilent volcano had opened, or as if sulphur mingled with the sunbeams. The beasts groan; the cattle are oppressed. From the trees the embryo fruits and the remaining blossoms fall in an unnoticed shower, and the foliage curle and crumples. And whilst creation looks disconsolate, in the hedgerows the heavy moths begin to flutter, and ominous owlets cry from the ruin. Such a blight came over the Hebrew summer. By every calculation it ought to have been high noon; but the sun no longer smiled on Israels dial. There was a dark discomfort in the air. The people murmured. The monarch wheeled along with greater pomp than ever; but the popular prince had soured into the despot, and the crown sat defiant on his moody brow; and stiff were the obeisances, heartless the hosannas, which hailed him as he passed. The ways of Zion mourned; and whilst grass was sprouting in the temple-courts, mysterious groves and impious shrines were rising everywhere; and whilst lust defiled the palace, Chemosh and Ashtoreth and other Gentile abominations defiled the Holy Land. And in the disastrous eclipse beasts of the forest crept abroad. From his lurking place in Egypt Hadad ventured out, and became a life-long torment to the God-forsaken monarch. And Rezon pounced on Damascus, and made Syria his own. And from the pagan palaces of Thebes and Memphis harsh cries were heard ever and anon, Pharaoh and Jeroboam taking counsel together, screeching forth their threatenings and hooting insults, at which Solomon could laugh no longer. For amidst all the gloom and misery a message comes from God: the kingdom is rent; and whilst Solomons successor will only have a fag-end and a fragment, by right Divine ten tribes are handed over to a rebel and a runaway.
What led to Solomons apostasy? And what, again, was the ulterior effect of that apostasy on himself? As to the origin of his apostasy the Word of God is explicit. He did not obey his own maxim. He ceased to rejoice with the wife of his youth; and loving many strangers, they drew his heart away from God. Luxury and sinful attachments made him an idolater, and idolatry made him yet more licentious; until in the lazy enervation and languid day-dreaming of the Sybarite, he lost the perspicacity of the sage and the prowess of the sovereign; and when he woke up from the tipsy swoon, and out of the kennel picked his tarnished diadem, he woke to find his faculties, once so clear and limpid, all perturbed, his strenuous reason paralysed, and his healthful fancy poisoned. He woke to find the world grown hollow, and himself grown old. He woke to see the sun bedarkened in Israels sky, and a special gloom encompassing himself. He woke to recognize all round a sadder sight than wintera blasted summer. Like a deluded Samson starting from his slumber, he sought to recall that noted wisdom which had signalized his Nazarite days; but its locks were shorn; and, cross and self-disgusted, wretched and guilty, he woke up to the discovery which awaits the sated sensualists. He found that when the beast gets the better of the man, the man is abandoned by his God. Like one who falls asleep amidst the lights and music of an orchestra, and who awakes amidst empty benches and tattered programmeslike a man who falls asleep in a flower-garden, and who opens his eyes on a bald and locust-blackened wildernessthe life, the loveliness was vanished, and all the remaining spirit of the mighty Solomon yawned forth that verdict of the tired voluptuaryVanity of vanities! vanity of vanities! all is vanity!Dr. James Hamilton.
Less varied and less profound is the insight afforded into the private experience of the Wise King. The insufficiency of the most perfect human wisdom to guard the heart, and of the loftiest eminence of power and earthly magnificence to satisfy its cravings, are almost painfully prominent. From amid the lustre of his throne, and the depth of an experience that had fathomed every created element of happiness, issues the plaintive voice still repeating its witness of the vanity of all human things. It is a happiness to turn from Ecclesiastes to the Song of Solomon, and, in its rich and gorgeous allegory, to read that not in vain had he searched for the secret of human happiness, but had found it in the heavenly Bridegroom and the unutterable joys of His espoused Church. There is, however, another point of view in which this period of imperial splendour stood in very close relation to the Divine plan. For it constituted a new appeal to the consciences and even to the interests of Israel, such as they had not previously experienced. It was, indeed, the fault of their own sin, and of that alone, that they had hitherto, with the brief exception of the latter days of Joshua, tasted the bitterness of the warning, and not the glory of the promise. The alternatives presented by Moses, and again reiterated by Joshua, were two: an extraordinary blessing upon obedience, and an extraordinary curse upon disobedience. They had perversely chosen the second course, and had already experienced the first blows of the scourge, to culminate hereafter in their dispersion among all nations. But thus it happened, that of the other alternative they had enjoyed no experience up to the time of David. It might, therefore, have been open to object against Gods final dealings with His chosen race, on the ground that reward had not been adequately tried. The opposition hardened by the storm would have melted, it might have been thought, amid the sunshine. Had they actually known by experience what the blessing was, who can tell what effect it may have had upon Israel? This possible objection has been foreclosed by the glory of the times of David and Solomon. During this period God, by His own gracious actsnot by virtue of any meritorious obedience of theirsgave them the enjoyment of the blessing; not wholly, for the sinful luxury and profusion of Solomon rapidly introduced the elements of evil, but sufficiently to indicate the nature of what God had in store for them. Both alternatives were tried, and both the frown and the smile equally failed to conquer the stubbornness of their disobedience. Hence over this brief period of national magnificence and religious progress the clouds soon gathered again. Here the fortunes of the Hebrew race culminated at their highest point, and then hasted to their decline. Not that God wearied in blessing, but that Israel wearied in obeying. If neither the wise king himself, nor the people he ruled, could bear that time of glory without introducing elements of decay amid such a full flush of life, what wonder that others have proved unable to do so; and that the history of every nation under heaven has hitherto been one invariable story of growth, prosperity, corruption, decline, and ruin! Christianity has, indeed, introduced into nations a new principle of life, and extended the duration of their strength far beyond all the limits of the ancient world; but whether, even among them, the purifying salt will permanently correct the festering elements of moral corruption, is a lesson still to be learned.Garbetts Divine Plan of Revelation.
Solomons character, as drawn in the Scriptures, is surely many-sided. The simple, unpretending childthe darling of Jehovahthe chosen kingthe seeker after wisdom: choosing her above all other thingsthe wise and sagacious judgethe powerful ruler, and glorious sovereignsurpassing, in many ways, all the kings of the nations round about him; his navies traversing many a sea, and kings and princes from afar bringing and laying at his feet their gifts: but in his old age a despot, a polygamist, and an idolater. These last were doubtless the immediate causes of his own decline, and of the subsequent misfortunes of the nation. In his reign the Israelitish monarchy reached the highest pitch of worldly splendour, the memory of which is still preserved in many an oriental legend and tradition. But that very splendour seemed to pervert the nations heart, and cause the cloud of Jehovahs glory to depart from His people and His Holy Habitation. The outer splendour of his court and empire, the magnificence of his buildings, and his commerce with foreign nations were, perhaps, not in themselves wrong. They might have been made the means of leading other nations to the knowledge of the One True God; but they were fraught with danger. Worldly glory has ever had the tendency to take away the heart from the pure and the good rather than to win it to the worship of God. So it was with Solomon, and so it ever has been. How hardly shall a rich man enter the kingdom of God! The thing is not impossible with God; but the dangers of wealth and worldly splendour far surpass their probable advantages to their possessor. And so the Church, whenever she has sought to increase her strength by a showing of worldly forces, has become shorn of her spiritual power. Viewed from the theocratic stand-point, Solomons reign was a grand failure. It corresponded largely with the sad failure of Saul, the first king of Israel. Sauls misfortunes, however, were largely owing to his incapacity for government, as well as to moral obliquity. He was unequal to the exigencies of his age, and the task of successfully moulding into a monarchy the nation so long ruled by judges exceeded his powers. But with Solomon there was no lack of ability. His wisdom, sagacity, and power were equal to any possible emergency. But his grievous sins and neglect of Gods law brought on his ruin. His greatness and glory weaned his heart from God, and his wives led him into idolatry. Speculation as to his probable repentance and final salvation is idle and fruitless, and will always be governed by preconceived opinions. The sacred writers pass it over in utter silence, and give no shadow of intimation that he ever turned from his idolatry. A mighty shadow clouds his latter days: and there, in Holy Writ, he stands depictedone part of his life and character in strangest contrast with the otherthe grandest and saddest personage of sacred history.Whedon.
The danger came, and, in spite of the warning, the king fell. Before long the priests and prophets had to grieve over rival temples to Moloch, Chemosh, and Ashtoreth, forms of ritual, not idolatrous only, but cruel, dark, impure. This evil came as the penalty of another. He gave himself to strange women. He found himself involved in a fascination that led to the worship of strange gods. The starting point and the goal are given us. We are left, from what we know otherwise, to trace the process. Something there was, perhaps, in his very largeness of heart, so far in advance of traditional knowledge of his age, rising to higher and wider thoughts of God, which predisposed him to it. In recognising what was true in other forms of faith, he might lose his horror at what was false. With this there may have mingled political motives. He may have hoped, by a policy of toleration, to conciliate neighbouring princes, to attract a larger traffic. But probably also there was another influence less commonly taken into account. The widespread belief of the East in the magic arts of Solomon is not, it is believed, without its foundation of truth. Disasters followed before long as the natural consequence of what was politically a blunder as well as religiously a sin. The strength of the nation rested on its unity, and its unity depended on its faith. Whatever attractions the sensuous ritual which he introduced may have had for the great body of the people, the priests and Levites must have looked upon the rival worship with entire disfavour. The seal of the prophetic order was now kindled into active opposition. The king in vain tried to check the current that was setting strong against him. The old tribal jealousies gave signs of renewed vitality. Ephraim was prepared once more to dispute the supremacy of Judah, needing special control. And with this weakness within there came attacks from without. The king, prematurely old, must have foreseen the rapid breaking up of the great monarchy to which he had succeeded. Of the inner changes of mind and heart, which ran parallel with this history, Scripture is comparatively silent. We may not enter into the things within the veil, or answer either way the doubting questionIs there any hope?Smiths Bible Dictionary. (See also Smiths Old Testament History, p. 419424; also Stanleys Jewish Church, second series, p. 256260.)
It is extremely difficult to give a portraiture of Solomon which can harmonize at once both the demand for historic truth and the general estimation which tradition assigns to him. The story is extraordinary. David, the father of the wise king, founded and consolidated the kingdom. His life was stormy and chequered. His character was romantic, chivalric, and generous. He showed himself capable of both self-sacrifice and of revolting criminality and treachery. He was tender, and he was brave. His soul rested upon the covenant-keeping Jehovah, yet he dared to violate all the duties of the Decalogue which concern mans dealings with his brother man. Solomon did not inherit the personal traits of his father. He was not warlike; he was a man of peace. He sought wisdom, and he sought it from Jehovah. He desired to administer his government according to the law and will of God. He had fine talent for observation. He was a naturalist of rare attainments. He knew much of the earth; he knew much of men. He was a man of understanding, expressing his thoughts and observations in proverbs. He was splendid in his tastes. He sought wealth by commerce and by trade with heathen nations. He made Israel a kingdom of this world. At the same time he built the Temple, lavishing upon it untold sums of money, and aiming to make it, according to Eastern conceptions, splendid in all respects. Certainly at its dedication he is one of the most imposing and majestic figures in all history. But by degrees, enervated by luxury, by pleasure, by plenty, he lost the strength of his convictions. He became wise in this world. The law of Jehovah lost its hold upon his conscience. He began to justify idolatry. By degrees the splendour passed away, and darkness, and weariness, and hopelessness, and an ignoble old age came on. He forsook the noble path of his youth, and his glory was lost. The sun of his life rose in all splendour and shone brilliantly, to go down at last amid the heavy darkness of impending storm and night. The people lost their sense of the exclusive sovereignty of Jehovah; their burdens were heavy, and the brief glory of Israel as a kingdom of this world passed away for ever.Dr. E. Harwood in Lange.
It is impossible not to perceive that such a time as this of Solomon (the dedication of the Temple), though really a great one, is a critical one for any nation. The idea of building a house which the Lord would fill with His glory was a recognition of God as eternally ruling over that people and over all people. Yet there lay close to it a tendency to make the invisible visible; they represent the holy presence as belonging to the building, instead of the building as being hallowed and glorified by the presence. There was no necessity that this evil should grow out of that good; in a very important sense one is the testimony against the other; still all experience, and none more decisively than the experience of the Israelites, prepares us to expect such a result. And here I believe is the precious moral of Solomons history, that which makes it a perfectly harmonious history in spite of the incongruities in his own life. There was the seed of idolatry in him, as there is in every man. That early prayer for an understanding heart was the prayer against itthe prayer for an inward eye to look through the semblances of things to their reality; for a continual revelation of that which passeth show. The prayer was answered as fully as any prayer ever was. The Divine judgment, the discrimination of good and bad, came to Soloman: it was not limited in any direction; it could be exercised on persons as on things; it was shown to be the faculty which a king requires, because it is that which a man requires, since by it God perceives the thoughts and intents of the heart. But there comes a moment when the king or the man ceases to desire that the light should enter into him, should separate the good and the bad in him. There comes a time when his faculty begins to be regarded as a craft, when he half suspects that the light by which he sees is his own. Then appears the tempter. He may come in the form of an Egyptian princess, or any other; but he will in some way appeal to the senses; he will point the road to idolatry. The secret desire of the heart, mightily resisted once, will be allowed to prevail; it will convert all that once checked it to its nourishment. The gold and the silver, not of the palace only, but of the templenot the glory only of the kingdom, but of the sanctuarywill strengthen and deepen the falsehoods of the inner man. The glorious power of judging, which enabled one who knew not how to go out or come in, to look into the hardest cases, and to resolve them, itself receives the yoke and bows to the image; its keenness and subtilty only inventing arguments and apologies for the shame. And the sympathizing king who sent his people away with gladness of heart, sure that God was the king, and that they had a human king, who felt towards them as he felt, would gradually become a tyrant, laying on his subjects Egyptian burdens, compelling them to do the work of beasts, proving that he valued the stones, the iron, and the brass which formed the materials of Gods house, above the living beings who were to draw nigh to offer their supplications in it. So the wise king may prepare his subjects for rebellion, and his kingdom for division. A lesson surely full of instruction and wisdom for all kings and all men; for those who think, and for those who act; for those who study the secrets of the human heart, and for those who investigate the meaning of nature; for those who despise the arts and wealth of the world, and for those who worship them; for those who hold strength and glory to be the Devils, and for those who covet them and hunt after them as if they were Divine; for nations upon which God hath bestowed mechanical knowledge, and the blessed results of it; for nations which look upon human beings as only the machines and the producers of a certain amount of physical enjoyments. But though so full of instruction, it would be utterly melancholy and oppressive, seeing that it speaks of retrogression instead of progress, of folly coming forth from wisdomdeath from lifeif there were no sequel to the story. But the wisdom which Solomon prayed for and pursued with so great and earnest a heart was not a wisdom which could die with him, or which his forgetfulness of it could kill. The Lord possessed me, says the writer of the Book of Proverbs, in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up for everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. In the beginning was the Word, says St. John, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the King who shall be found as long as the sun and moon endureth, whom all nations shall call blessed. This is that Son who shall judge the people with righteousness and the poor with judgment. This is He in whom the prayers of David are ended. Brethren, every one of us may ask that Divine Word who is near to us and with us, for an understanding heart. Every one of us who feels that a great work is laid upon him, and that he is in the midst of a people which God hath chosen, and some of whom at least he must teach and judge, and that he is but a little child, may crave for a spirit to discern the good and the bad in himself and in all others. And if we feel, as most of us perhaps do, that we need above all things else, is that sense of responsibility, that consciousness of a calling, that feeling of feebleness which were the source of Solomons prayerlet us ask for these gifts first. And so we shall understand more and more clearly that we are called to be kings and priests in that city which He hath set up, and in which He reigns, a city in which there is one visible temple; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it; a city into which the kings of the earth shall at last bring their glory and honour.F. D. Maurice.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. CONCLUSION OF THE HISTORY OF SOLOMON 11:4143
TRANSLATION
(41) And the rest of the acts of Solomon and all which he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? (42) And the time that Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. (43) And Solomon slept with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son ruled in his stead.
COMMENTS
As a consequence of Jeroboams rebellion, Solomon sought to slay his young Ephraimite overseer. Probably the rebellion specifically mentioned in 1Ki. 11:26 was the result of Ahijahs private prophecy. But this in no way justified any treasonous act on the part of Jeroboam. The fact that God had revealed His purposes to the young man was no reason for Jeroboam to attempt to bring these things to pass. David had known that he was destined to be king, but in faith he patiently waited for God to place him on the throne. Jeroboam should have imitated that example. Furthermore, the rebellion of Jeroboam was all the more inexcusable in view of the fact that Ahijah specifically had declared that Solomon was to retain the kingdom during his lifetime. Nevertheless, Jeroboam lifted up his hand against his king, and it was because of this overt act of rebellion that Solomon sought to slay him. Consequently, Jeroboam fled for his life to Pharaoh Shishak in Egypt. Shishak is the first Pharaoh in the Bible who can be identified with certainty. He is known in Egyptian history as Sheshonk I who began to reign between 988 and 980 B.C. The fact that he granted asylum to Jeroboam proves that he was no friend of Solomon. Hence the official attitude of Egypt towards Israel had drastically changed since the days when one of Shishaks predecessors had given Solomon the hand of his daughter in marriage.
In concluding his account of the reign of Solomon, the author indicates one of the sources which the Holy Spirit directed him to use: the book of the acts of Solomon[319] (1Ki. 11:41). The sources of this history are mentioned more specifically in 2Ch. 9:29. Like the reign of David, Solomons reign lasted forty years (1Ki. 11:42). It has been computed that he could not have been more than sixty at the time of his death.[320] The great king was buried in the city of Davidthat portion of Jerusalem which David had conquered from the Jebusites. Rehoboam, Solomons son, succeeded to the throne. As far as can be determined from Scripture, Rehoboam was Solomons only son.
[319] On the nature and content of this document, see section III of the introductory chapter.
[320] Slotki, SBB, p. 90.
It is appropriate at this juncture to make some evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses, the successes and failures of this complex character Solomon. The son of David made Jerusalem a splendid citythe center of attraction to the world of his day. His foremost achievement was the construction of the Temple whose architectural magnificence was only exceeded by its spiritual significance. In addition to the Temple, a splendid group of governmental buildings, a magnificent city wall, six fortresses at strategic locations, two fleets of commercial vessels, industrial development, and the first scientifically planned tax system stand as the constructive accomplishments of his reign. He was a merchant prince and an industrial magnate. Because peace prevailed throughout his reign he was able to develop both commerce and culture. His reputation for wisdom spread throughout his world. He was led of the Holy Spirit to produce three major literary worksProverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticles (Song of Solomon).
On the other hand, Solomons weaknesses were neither few nor trivial. He was selfish, over-ambitious, and out of sympathy with his people. He was a polygamist of the worst sort, and his harem proved his undoing. To accommodate the religious tastes of his many wives, Solomon filled Jerusalem with shrines to various deities. His early zeal for the Lord waned during the middle years of his life. The Book of Ecclesiastes may well have been his public confession of a misspent life. Through bitter experience he came to realize that the duty of man was to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecc. 12:13).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(41) The book of the acts of Solomon.In 2Ch. 9:29 the acts of Solomon are said to be written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat. The prophets appear here in the character of annalists. The book of Nathan presumably contained only the history of the early years; that of Ahijah may have well covered most of the later reign; and the visions of Iddo could but have dealt incidentally with the closing acts of Solomon. The narrative as given in the Book of Kings is evidently a compilation drawn from various sources, differing in various parts, both in style and in degree of detail. Thus the account of the Temple building and dedication evidently comes from some temple record; and the references to Solomons territory, and the arrangements of his kingdom, look like notes drawn from official archives.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
CLOSE OF SOLOMON’S HISTORY, 1Ki 11:41-43.
41. The rest of the acts of Solomon So this scriptural account of Solomon is professedly not a complete history. The writer only recorded such facts as served the purpose of sacred history, and plainly states that for fuller details his readers must look elsewhere. The same thing is true respecting many other parts of the sacred writings. How strange that some professed scholars have ignored this fact, and in their criticisms have assumed that the sacred writers recorded all they knew about the case in hand!
The book of the acts of Solomon The authorship and extent of this book cannot now be determined. It was probably a very full history of Solomon compiled from the public annals of the kingdom, and also from the works of contemporary prophets, like Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo. See 2Ch 9:29.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Comments In Respect Of The Close Of Solomon’s Reign ( 1Ki 11:41-43 ).
It will be noted that some of the information which will in future be given at the commencement of a king’s reign here comes at the end of Solomon’s reign (see also 1Ki 11:6). This will also partially be so with Rehoboam (1Ki 14:21-22; 1Ki 14:29-31) and Jeroboam (1Ki 14:19-20). Thus the forthcoming regular pattern was not established by the author until after the deaths of these three kings. Its basis was that God had made two covenants, one that pertained to the kings of Judah (the Davidic covenant) and one that pertained to the kings of Israel (the covenant with Jeroboam – 1Ki 11:37-38), with the kings of both Israel and Judah thus committed to obey YHWH and walk in His ways. And the continuing principle is that the kings were judged in the light of these covenants, and of how their fathers had behaved towards them Thus the kings of Judah are often compared against David, who had walked rightly before YHWH, and the kings of Israel in comparison with Jeroboam, who had grievously sinned and broken His covenant. This indicates that this framework was very much the creation of the main author of Kings, rather than simply a carrying forward of the practise found in Samuel (1Sa 13:1; 2Sa 5:4-5), although no doubt his reading of Samuel gave him something of the idea.
Analysis.
a
b And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. (1Ki 11:42).
a And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place (1Ki 11:43).
Note that in ‘a’ we have the beginning of Solomon’s obituary, and in the parallel the end of it. Centrally in ‘b’ we have the declaration concerning his reign.
1Ki 11:41
‘ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?’
Here we are given details of the main source from which the prophetic author had obtained much of his information. Two things are in mind, Solomon’s doings and his wisdom. He had a reputation for wisdom, and much had been written about it. But the author was not concerned with his wisdom, but with how it had been worked out in his life. While for a time it had seemed that he would live up to his promise, in the end his behaviour had let him down. This was a sign sadly of his lack of true wisdom, for ‘the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil that is understanding’. So in the end it had not mattered how wise he was. What mattered was whether he had lived in accordance with that wisdom, and our author has made clear that he did not, condemning him in the end as one who had ‘done evil in the sight of YHWH’, and as one who had not followed in the steps of his father David (1Ki 11:6).
For all of us a book of our acts are being written in Heaven (Rev 20:12). And in the end we too will be judged by our actions, and especially by how we responded to the Lamb, and whether our names were written in His book of life (Rev 20:15). By this we too demonstrate whether we are really wise.
1Ki 11:42
‘ And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.’
Solomon reigned in Jerusalem for the whole of his adult life, and he reigned for forty years. The ‘forty years’ indicates a full and complete reign which had not been cut off early, and in view of the fact that Solomon began to reign as a young man and, after a period of consolidation, spent twenty years over building the Temple and the palace complex, it is almost certainly fairly accurate, although it is not to be pressed. The number is a round number and the main idea is of the completeness of his reign. YHWH had not cut him off early. This indication of the length of reign will in future be given in the opening formula.
1Ki 11:43
‘ And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.’
This rather stereotyped statement indicates the bare facts concerning his death and his successor. Its pattern will be constantly repeated. Solomon died and was buried in the city of David, and eventually Rehoboam reigned in Jerusalem in his place, (although it would be over a very much diminished kingdom). The description of a king’s burial will usually indicate that he came to a peaceful end, although certainly not in the case of Ahab (1Ki 22:37; 1Ki 22:40).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
(41) And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? (42) And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. (43) And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.
Here ends the history of Solomon, and which is the history of all men. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Not so thy death, thou glorious Solomon of thy people; for by thy death thou hast overcome death, and hast opened views beyond the grave, of the everlasting mansions of the blessed. Thy soul was not left in hell, neither did thy flesh see corruption. Hail! thou glorious, all-conquering Lord! Psa 16:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 11:41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, [are] they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
Ver. 41. And all that he did. ] His repentance is not expressly recorded, but may be evidently gathered from other texts of Scripture. as 2Ch 11:17 Psa 89:33 , 2Sa 7:15 , 2Pe 1:21 , but especially the Book of Ecclesiastes, that public monument.
In the book of the acts of Solomon.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
written in the book. See note on Exo 17:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Wise Kings Foolish Son
1Ki 11:41-43; 1Ki 12:1-11
Solomons reign had been splendid but very oppressive, and it was reasonable to ask for some relief. The people felt that the accession of the new king gave them their opportunity, and apparently they took the first step in this momentous crisis. We are expressly told that Rehoboam came to Shechem. If this mighty gathering had been called by himself or his court, the people would have had to come to him at Jerusalem. Here was the muttering of the rising storm.
There was much wisdom in the counsel of the older men: Serve them then they will be thy servants forever, This principle underlay the sacrifice of Calvary. Thou art worthy to take the book, for thou wast slain, Rev 5:9. It is because Jesus girded Himself with humility and washed our sins in His own precious blood, that He has ascended to the throne, not only of God, but of our hearts and lives. And He has taught us, that whosoever would become great must begin by being the servant of all. The proud and lofty in this world are served often enough with the eye-service that gives superficial obedience for wages and rewards, Eph 6:6, but what is this compared with that which is yielded by gratitude and love!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
rest: 2Ch 9:29-31
acts: or, words, or things
Reciprocal: 1Ki 14:29 – are they not written 1Ki 22:45 – are they 2Ki 8:23 – General 2Ki 10:34 – General 2Ki 12:19 – the rest 2Ki 14:18 – General 1Ch 29:29 – the acts 2Ch 33:18 – General Est 10:2 – all the acts
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 11:41. The rest of the acts of Solomon, &c. It is probable that Solomon employed a chronologer, or historiographer, to write the annals of his reign, which public record is here termed, The book of the acts of Solomon. And out of these annals the sacred writer of this history took what he judged most useful, and omitted the rest, which he did not think so necessary to be related, or so instructive.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, [are] they not written in the {t} book of the acts of Solomon?
(t) Which it is thought was lost in their captivity.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Solomon’s death 11:41-43
The writer of Kings referred to other ancient records (1Ki 11:41; cf. 1Ki 14:19; cf. 1Ki 14:29). The Acts of Solomon was the first of these. [Note: J. Liver, "The Book of the Acts of Solomon," Biblica 48:1 (1967):75-101.] It is no longer extant. Solomon’s long reign of 40 years (971-931 B.C.) ended with the king in decline both spiritually and politically. [Note: See Rodger C. Young, "When Did Solomon Die?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46:4 (December 2003):589-603.]
"What is the image of Solomon which emerges from the narrative? He was the divinely chosen descendent (1Ki 8:20) of a divinely chosen ruler (1Ki 8:16), reigning in a divinely chosen city (1Ki 8:44; 1Ki 8:48). He was a righteous judge (chap. 3) and an efficient administrator (chap. 4). He ruled extensive territory and promoted the peace of his realm and the prosperity of his people (1Ki 4:20 to 1Ki 5:8 [1Ki 4:20-28]). His building projects were on a grand scale, encompassing sanctuary and palace (chap. 6), fortress and store-city (1Ki 9:15-19). He pursued an active commercial policy and indulged in a conspicuous display of wealth (chap. 10). The key to his success was his divinely endowed wisdom. He was wiser than all men and all came to see and behold and leave their tribute (1Ki 5:9-14 [1Ki 4:29-34], chap. 10)." [Note: Porten, pp. 113-114.]
"Few figures are more difficult to evaluate than Solomon, and that not merely because the records concerning him are neither so full as could be wished nor in chronological order. He was obviously a man of great astuteness who was able to realize to the fullest the economic potentialities of the empire created by David. At the same time, he exhibited in other areas a blindness, not to say a stupidity, that hastened that empire toward disintegration." [Note: Bright, p. 190.]
Solomon, Saul, and David each reigned 40 years. Saul was God’s anointed only because the people demanded a king. David and Solomon were God’s anointed because the Lord elected them as His sons. Saul never really appreciated his role as Yahweh’s servant. David and Solomon both appreciated their servant roles, but Solomon acted as though he appreciated his less than David did his. David had a heart for God that he maintained throughout his lifetime. Solomon also had a heart for God, but he failed to maintain it. Saul’s reign was a tragedy, David’s was a triumph, and Solomon’s was both.
"If he [Solomon] partly escapes Saul’s condemnation, he quite fails of David’s commendation." [Note: Baxter, 2:87.]
In the lives of all three men, the writers of Scripture have carefully pointed out how their responses to God’s grace and His Law determined their destinies. Because they were the leaders of the nation, what befell them also affected their kingdoms.
The man best qualified to live life successfully, Solomon, chose not to do so. Success in life from God’s viewpoint does not come automatically with the gift of wisdom, but when one applies wisdom to one’s life. Spiritual success depends on choices as well as understanding.
II. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 1 Kings 12 -2 Kings 17
The second major part of the Book of Kings records the histories of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. [Note: See the chart "Kings of Judah and Israel and the Preexilic Prophets" in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, p. 513. See also the map "The Divided Monarchy" in Merrill, Kingdom of . . ., p. 317, for the locations of many places referred to in the text.] During this era of 209 years (931-722 B.C.) the two kingdoms experienced differing relations with one another. For 57 years (931-874 B.C.) they were antagonistic (1Ki 12:1 to 1Ki 16:28). Then for the next 33 years (874-841 B.C.) they were allies (1Ki 16:29 -2Ki 9:29). Then renewed antagonism erupted and continued for the final 119 years (841-722 B.C.; 2Ki 9:30 to 2Ki 17:41).
Throughout this history the writer’s purpose continued to be what it had been: to demonstrate that failure to honor the Mosaic Covenant brings ruin and destruction, but obedience brings blessing. This is clear from the material he chose to record. While he gave a basic historical record of the period, he departed often from official matters to record events that have theological and practical significance. He also gave more information about the Northern Kingdom of Israel than he did about the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The reverse emphasis appears in 1 and 2 Chronicles.
"In the books of Kings in general there are some forty instances where a prophet or prophetess plays a part in the narrative or delivers a message from Yahweh." [Note: N. H. Wallace, "The Oracles Against the Israelite Dynasties in 1 and 2 Kings," Biblica 67:1 (1986):21.]
It is interesting that there were also 40 kings in both kingdoms.