Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 13:26
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
26. Solomon king of Israel ] An argument from the greater to the less. If Solomon, the beloved of God, fell through this snare, how much more likely to sin were these ignorant Jews?
by these things] i.e. on account of wives taken from idolatrous people.
among many nations ] Cf. Mich. Neh 4:3, ‘he shall judge between many peoples.’
was there no king like him ] Cf. 1Ki 3:12-13; 2Ch 1:12.
who (R.V. and he) was beloved of his God ] Perhaps referring especially to the privilege of Solomon to receive the task of building the Temple and ordering the sacred worship; but the expression calls to mind 2Sa 12:25, ‘And the Lord loved him; and he called his name Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.’
outlandish women ] R.V. strange women. See 1Ki 11:3 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neh 13:26
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
Solomon
1. It may appear remarkable that one who fell so grievously should contribute at all to the Book of God, nor is there any other instance of the kind; but his sad history adds a peculiar weight of warning to his words; nor are there any books more strongly marked by the finger of God.
2. Solomon was chosen of God, and afterwards rejected as Saul had been; he was full of wisdom and understanding, and what is far more, of holiness and goodness. There is perhaps no one of whom the early promise of good seemed so decisive.
3. It has been said, as by St. Augustine, that Solomon was more injured by prosperity than profited by wisdom. Yet we may observe that his falling away is not attributed in Scripture to his wealth, his power and honour.
4. We cannot conclude that Solomon himself did not at last repent, but this has always been considered by the Church as very doubtful, to say the least. All we know is that Scripture has fully made known to us his falling away from God, but has said nothing of his repentance. The very silence is awful and impressive.
5. What more melancholy than the fall of one so great–so wise! What words could have been spoken to him more powerful than his own! What eloquence could describe his fall with more feeling and beauty than his own words! What could more powerfully paint the loveliness of that holiness from which he fell? what the overpowering sweetness of that Divine love which he has consented to give up to feed on ashes! Who can describe the temptations to those very sins by which he was ensnared in a more searching manner than he has done? It is very awful to think how God may use men as instruments of good that His Spirit may teach them, and through them teach others, and guide them to the fountain of living waters, yet they themselves at last fail of the prize of their high calling. What a warning for fear! (Isaac Williams.)
Solomons restoration
I. The wanderings of an erring spirit. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
1. That which lay at the bottom of all Solomons transgressions was his intimate partnership with foreigners. Did not Solomon sin by these things?–that is, if we look to the context, marriage with foreign wives. The history of the text is this–Nehemiah discovered that the nobles of Judah, during the captivity, when law and religious customs had been relaxed, had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and then, in his passionate expostulation with them, he reminds them that it was this very transgression which led to the fall of the monarch who had been most distinguished for Gods favour. Exclusiveness was the principle on which Judaism was built. Everything was to be distinct–as distinct as Gods service and the worlds. And it was this principle which Solomon transgressed. The Jewish law, shadowed out an everlasting truth. Gods people are an exclusive nation; Gods Church is for ever separated from the world. This is her charter, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, etc. We are to be separate from the world. Mistake not the meaning of that word. The world changes its complexion in every age. Solomons world was the nations of idolatry lying round Israel. Our world is not that. The world is that collection of men in every age who live only according to the maxims of their time. The world may be a profligate world, or it may be a moral world. All that is a matter of accident. Our world is a moral world. The sons of our world are not idolaters, they are not profligate; they are, it may be, among the most fascinating of mankind. No marvel if a young and ardent heart feels the spell of the fascination. No wonder if it feels a relief in turning away from the dulness and the monotony of home life to the sparkling brilliancy of the worlds society. The brilliant, dazzling, accomplished world–what Christian with a mind polished like Solomons does not own its charms? And yet now, pause. Is it in wise Egypt that our highest blessedness lies? Is it in busy, restless Sidon? Is it in luxurious Moab? No. The Christian must leave the world alone. His blessedness lies in quiet work with the Israel of God.
2. The second step of Solomons wandering was the unrestrained pursuit of pleasure. And a men like Solomon cannot do anything by helves. No man ever more heartily and systematically gave himself up to the pursuit. There are some men who are prudent in their epicuresnism. They put gaiety aside when they begin to get palled with it, and then return to it moderately again. Mere like Solomon cannot do that. No earnest man can. No! if blessedness lies in pleasure, he will drink the cup to the dregs. But let us mark the wanderings of an immortal soul infinite in its vastness. There is a moral to be learnt from the wildest worldliness. When we look on the madness of life, and are marvelling at the terrible career of dissipation, let there be no contempt felt. It is an immortal spirit marring itself. It is an infinite soul, which nothing short of the Infinite can satisfy, plunging down to ruin and disappointment. That unquenched impetuosity within you might have led you up to God. You have chosen instead that your heart shall try to satisfy itself upon husks. There was another form of Solomons worldliness.
3. It was not worldliness in pleasure, but worldliness in occupation. He had entered deeply into commercial speculations. He had alternate fears and hopes about the return of his merchant ships on their perilous three-years voyage to India end to Spain. He had his mind occupied with plans for building. The architecture of the temple, his own palace, the forts and towns of his now magnificent empire, all this filled for a time his soul. He had begun a system of national debt end ruinous taxation. Much of this was not wrong; but all of it was dangerous. It is a strange thing how business dulls the sharpness of the spiritual affections. It is strange how the harass of perpetual occupation shuts God out. There are writers who have said that in this matter Solomon was in advance of his age enlightened beyond the narrowness of Judaism, and that this permission of idolatry was the earliest exhibition of that spirit which in modern times we call religious toleration. But Solomon went far beyond toleration. The truth seems to be, Solomon was getting indifferent about religion. He had got into light and worldly society, and the libertinism of his associations was beginning to make its impression upon him. He was beginning to ask, Is not one religion as good as another, so long as each man believes his own in earnest? There are few signs in a souls state more alarming than that of religious indifference; that is, the spirit of thinking ell religions equally true, the real meaning of which is, that all religions are equally false.
II. Gods loving guidance of Solomon in the midst of all his apostasy. In the darkest, wildest wanderings a man to whom God has shown His love in Christ is conscious still of the better way. In the very gloom of his remorse, there is an instinctive turning back to God. It is enumerated among the gifts that God bestowed upon Solomon that He granted to him largeness of heart. Now that largeness of heart which we call thoughtfulness and sensibility, generosity, high feeling, marks out for the man who has it a peculiar life. You look to the life of Solomon, and there are no outward reverses there to speak of. His reign was a type of a reign of the power of peace. No war, no national disaster, interrupted the even flow of the current of his days. No loss of a child, like Davids, pouring cold desolation into his soul–no pestilences nor famines. Prosperity and riches, and the internal development of the nations life–that was the reign of Solomon. And yet, with all this, was Solomon happy? Is there no way that God has of making the heart grey and old before its time without sending bereavement, or loss, or sickness? Has the Eternal Justice no mode of withering and drying up the inner springs of happiness while all is green, and wild, and fresh outwardly? We look to the history of Solomon for the answer. The first way in which his aberration from God treasured up for him chastisement was by that weariness of existence which breathes through the whole Book of Ecclesiastes. Another part of Solomons chastisement was doubt. Once more turn to the Book of Ecclesiastes. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not. In this you will observe the querulous complaint of a man who has ceased to feel that God is the ruler of this world. A blind chance, or a dark destiny, seems to rule all earthly things. And that is the penalty of leaving Gods narrow path for sins wider and more flowery one. But the love of God brought Solomon through all this to spiritual manhood. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. In this we have the evidence of his victory. Doubt, and imprisonment, and worldliness have passed away, and clear activity, belief, freedom, have taken their place. It was terrible discipline, but God had made that discipline successful. I speak to those who know something about what the world is worth, who have tasted its fruits, and found them like the Dead Sea apples–hollowness and ashes. By those foretastes of coming misery which God has already given you, those lonely feelings of utter wretchedness and disappointment when you have returned home palled and satiated from the gaudy entertainment, and the truth has pressed itself icy cold upon your heart, Vanity of vanities–is this worth living for? By all that, be warned. Be true to your convictions. Be honest with yourselves. Learn from the very greatness of your souls, which have a capacity for infinite agony, that you m in this world for a grander destiny than that of frittering away life in usefulness. Lastly, let us learn from this subject the covenant love of God. There is such a thing as love which rebellion cannot weary, which ingratitude cannot cool (W. F. Robertson, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. Did not Solomon] Have you not had an awful example before you? What a heavy curse did Solomon’s conduct bring upon himself and upon the people, for a conduct such as yours?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?…. By marrying strange wives, by whom he was drawn into idolatry,
1Ki 11:3,
yet among many nations was there no king like him; as not for grandeur and riches, so not for wisdom, and yet was ensnared by his idolatrous wives:
who was beloved of God; alluding to his name Jedidiah, which signifies beloved of the Lord, 2Sa 12:24
and God made him king over all Israel; which was a proof of his love to him, and so he was under the greater obligation to serve him, and him only, and yet his heart, through his wives, was turned after other gods:
even him did outlandish women cause to sin; and if so great and wise a man was enticed by them to idolatry, much more may you, and therefore it was very dangerous to marry with them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(26) Did not Solomon . . .Here it is implied that the language of Scripture concerning Solomon was familiar both to Nehemiah and to these transgressors. It is a remarkable instance of the faithful application of their own chronicles.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Outlandish women That is, foreign women. The word outlandish, from the Anglo-Saxon utlendisc, is now obsolete in the sense in which it is here used. The reference to Solomon was exceedingly appropriate. See 1Ki 11:1-9.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Neh 13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
Ver. 26. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, &c. ] Did not he deviate and prevaricate in his old age, shamefully turning from the Lord, who had appeared unto him twice? Did not his strange wives draw him to strange practices; insomuch as some have doubted about his salvation, and Bellarmine reckoneth him (but wrongfully) amongst reprobates?
Yet among many nations was there no king like him
Who was beloved of his God
And God made him king over all Israel
Nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Did not Solomon . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. Compare 1Ki 11. 2Sa 12:24, 2Sa 12:25.
sin. Hebrew. chata’. App-44.
many = the many.
outlandish = the foreign. Hebrew. nakri.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Did not Solomon: 1Ki 11:1-8, Ecc 7:26
yet among: 2Sa 12:24, 2Sa 12:25, 1Ki 3:13, 2Ch 1:12, 2Ch 9:22
who was beloved: 2Sa 12:24
Reciprocal: Deu 17:17 – multiply wives Jdg 16:4 – he loved 1Ki 11:4 – his wives 2Ki 8:18 – his wife 2Ki 23:13 – Solomon 2Ch 12:13 – an Ammonitess 2Ch 21:6 – he had Job 31:9 – If mine Pro 2:16 – deliver Pro 5:9 – General Pro 6:33 – and his Pro 7:26 – General Pro 22:14 – mouth Pro 31:3 – to that Ecc 10:1 – a little Jer 44:15 – all the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GODS YET
Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
Neh 13:26
YETbut, for all that, notwithstanding, neverthelessthere was none like him. It required the whole Godhead to deliver that verdict on poor, frail, tottering human character. Solomon began well and ended ill. Outlandish women caused him to sin; he had broken the sacred law; he had, so to say, performed the miracle of trampling himself under foot. YEToh, that light of hope, that sound of music, that syllable of joy! Who then will despise the least? who then will give up the worst? who will write his own childs history and conclude it in woe? Will any one write the history of the prodigal son without ending it in mirth and glee and song and dance and unpolluted revel?
I. There are two yets.Gods yet is one of hope; He pronounces from heaven that the majority is in favour of goodness. Then there is another yet, in which man does twice over the sin which has been pardoned. Shall we not rather reverse the chronology and say, there is a yet which indicates that man sins against God; then there is a second yet which proves that where sin abounded grace did much more abound? That is the right chronology, if so be our hearts are not wholly given over to the power of evil and the reign of darkness. Solomon was a bad man. He would not have denied the charge himself. Witness after witness could have been called who would have proved the treachery of his heart, even if Solomon himself had resisted the impeachment. Yet. You should take that word into your family. It will shed a rosy flight through the darkest chambers of the house, and through the darkest chambers of the soul.
II. What is the effect of Gods yet in the course of human discipline?It never prevents punishment. God will not spare the rod. Laceration is part of divine education. We must suffer, and there is no help for it; and if God could sin, God would suffer. There is nothing arbitrary in penalty, so far as it is administered by Providence. Human penalties may be arbitrary, irregular, and eccentric; but the punishment, the consequence that follows sin, is divine, inevitable. What is punishment? Here every man must be his own dictionary. What is punishment to one man is no punishment to another. Personality defines penalty. The point you started from will tell you what hell is. A man who has been accustomed to the highest enjoyments of civilisation will have one definition of a prison, and a man who has lived in meanness and misery and every kind of villainy will have another. As we grow in sensitiveness we grow in the power of appreciating penalty. To one child a look will be punishment enough; another could receive the rod and afterwards smile at the smiter.
Illustrations
(1) It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men. Your brethren like to speak against you, to have discovered a peccadillo, one little sin, and to have fingers dainty enough to pick out that little hair, and to be able to say, Ive got it! The Lord saith, You have wounded Me, and disappointed Me, and gone away from Me, yethow can I give thee up? Return! That is the difference between your human theories and the great divine idea of redemptionGod always seeing the best, fixing His eyes upon the salvable points, looking to those elements that are still left out of which He can rear manhood. He will not quench the smoking flax, He will not break the bruised reed.
(2) Never take any man at his worst; God always takes us at our best. If ever we touch the reality of prayer, He answers us then; He knows we must offer a million words before we come to the one word, the right word, and no sooner do we utter it than He gathers the clouds in His heavens and sends rich rain upon the thirsty land. You may talk six times to Him and hear nothing, see nothing, by way of response; but in the seventh time you will come upon the right chord, the right word, the right appeal; He will then open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so great that there shall not be room to receive it. As God therefore takes us at our best, so let us take each other at our best.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Neh 13:26. Did not Solomon sin by these things? He quotes a precedent to show the pernicious consequences of their conduct, which were such as rendered it necessary that their sin should be animadverted upon by the government. The falls of great and good men are therefore recorded, that we may take warning by them to shun the temptations by which they were overcome. Solomon was famous for wisdom; yet, when he married strange wives, his wisdom could not secure him from the snares of such connections: nay, it departed from him, and he acted very foolishly as well as wickedly. He was beloved of God, but his conduct, in that particular, threw him out of Gods favour, and went near entirely to extinguish the grace of God in his soul. He was king over Israel, but that lost his house ten of the twelve tribes. You plead that you can marry strange wives, and yet retain the purity of Israelites; but Solomon himself could not; even him did outlandish women cause to sin Therefore let him that assuredly standeth, take heed lest he fall, when he runs upon such a precipice.