Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
Solomon built the temple for the Lord. Now the same king raises shrines to the gods of Moab and Ammon on the hill facing Jerusalem, and two questions press: how did he get here, and what did he leave behind?
The same hands raised the temple and these shrines. One writer suggests how Solomon may have justified it:
Very likely he took the attitude of open-minded people today. He thought it right to be tolerant of every religion, and even to support evil religions because his wives preferred them. But his unbelief in building these high places was a shameful contradiction to his faith in building the temple! In building the temple he emphasized the supreme authority of the living God. In building the high places he was guilty of challenging God's authority! So in this his wisdom failed him tragically.
The building was not the first step. The chapter gives the order:
Verse 3 says, "his wives turned away his heart." Verse 4 says that when Solomon was old, "his wives turned his heart after other gods." His heart was first turned away from the Lord. So when he became old, he gave in to the seduction of idols. Our hearts are not vacuums. If we displace the Lord from our hearts, they will soon embrace some false substitute. These wives had many substitutes, and they could persuade Solomon that each one was attractive.
The pull works in two directions, and it works slowly. One writer describes both:
We are in danger of going out to the world, or of letting it come in to us. Perhaps the second danger is even greater than the first. Little by little the world works its way into our homes and into our lives, and often, when we open our eyes to the danger, it is already too late. Marriage with the world will certainly lead us to the religion of the world.
Someone might say Solomon only supplied the buildings and kept his own faith. God's verdict says otherwise:
Perhaps today some might say that he had a large heart, respecting the freedom of conscience of others. Some would dress this idolatry up with a lovely humanitarian or social label. But what is human opinion worth? The question is what God thinks of it. God was dishonoured. "Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD." Building these high places for his wives was not mere indifference, hateful as that would be in itself. He joined himself to their worship and became one with them.
The verse names two gods. One writer explains the names, and what worship of them demanded:
Then we move from wives to children. We come to that most inhuman rite in which parents were so blinded by Satan that they devoted their own children as sacrifices to Molech or Moloch, probably also called Malcham or Milcom. It was the guardian god of the Ammonites. Chemosh, the deity of the Moabites, differed little from it. Fürst takes the name Chemosh to mean "fire," as Molech and similar names mean "King." … The greatest science and learning, the highest civilization and luxury, can in no way stop this, if they do not help it along.
Solomon had already been warned in person. One writer sets that beside the way the requests likely came:
God had not only given warnings and clear instructions in the Law. He had also appeared to Solomon in person twice, and had commanded him not to go after other gods. Wife after wife seems to have persuaded him to build a high place for her idol. We can hear them in our minds: "Oh, Solomon, honey, you built such a gorgeous temple for your God. Can't you build just a little high place where we can worship mine?" Before long these high places defiled "the mountain east of Jerusalem," the Mount of Olives. They stayed there 350 years, until the reign of Josiah.
Solomon's shrines outlived him by centuries. One writer notes who left them standing, and why:
King Josiah defiled "the high places that were before Jerusalem, on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the King of Israel had built" for Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Milcom, the abominations of the Zidonians, the Moabites and the Ammonites. Yet godly Kings such as Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah had left all this untouched! Neglect of the Word of God is the only possible explanation of this.
- Heart first. The shrines came last, not first. His wives turned his heart before he laid a single stone.
- Then the building. What the heart welcomes, the hands build. Solomon's shrines denied what his own temple declared.
- Then the man. He did not just fund his wives' religion. He joined it, and God's verdict was that Solomon did evil.
- Then the hill. The mountain east of Jerusalem carried those high places for 350 years, and Scripture calls it the "mount of corruption."
- Then the silence. Even kings who feared God left the high places standing. One writer names the cause: neglect of God's Word.
And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, and then built shrines where his foreign wives could go on making offerings and sacrificing to their own gods. How does the man who built the house of God end up paying for the worship of Chemosh and Molech?
The fall did not begin with idols. One writer traces it back to earlier choices that looked harmless — wealth, horses, and then many wives.
God had promised Solomon riches and glory. He did not need to send for horses from Egypt or gold from Ophir. By doing this he enriched himself, but he departs from God and from His word. He gave himself up to his desires for riches and glory. He multiplied the number of his wives, and in his old age they turned away his heart. This neglect of the word seemed at first to do no harm. He grew rich, as though it were only the fulfilment of God's promise. But it soon led to a departure more serious in itself and in its consequences... and at last to open disobedience of the word's plainest and most essential commands. The path of sin is slippery, and people always walk it with quickening steps. The first sin weakens in the soul the authority and power of the one thing that can keep us from committing still greater sins — that is, the word of God.
The idols were not the first step. One writer explains what fills a heart that the Lord no longer holds.
His heart was first turned away from the Lord, so that when he became old he gave in to the seduction of idols. Our hearts are not vacuums. If we displace the Lord from our hearts, they will soon embrace some false substitute. And these wives had many substitutes that they could persuade Solomon were attractive.
The verse says these wives sacrificed. One writer says what sacrifice to such gods could mean.
Then we move from wives to children, and to that most inhuman rite. Parents were so blinded by Satan that they gave their own children as sacrifices to Molech or Moloch, and probably Malcham or Milcom... The greatest science and learning, the highest civilization and luxury, can in no way hinder this, and may even help it on.
The same hands raised the temple and these shrines.
Very likely he took the attitude of broad-minded people today. He thought it right to be tolerant of every religion, and even to support evil religions because his wives preferred them. But what a shameful contradiction! His faith built the temple; his unbelief built these high places. In building the temple he emphasized the supreme authority of the living God. In building the high places he was guilty of challenging God's authority! So in this his wisdom failed him tragically.
Did the man who only supplied the altars share the guilt of those who used them? And who were these gods?
It has been stated that Solomon himself was not actually guilty of idolatry. If he built the places of idolatrous worship for his many wives only, he was still guilty of the sin of idolatry. The abominations were then introduced. Luxuries, wealth, self-indulgence, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life led into idolatry... Ashtoreth was a Phoenician goddess, worshipped with impure rites. Milcom (Molech) was the idol-god of the Ammonites. Chemosh was the sun-god and war-god of the Moabites.
How does a man get from tolerating an idol to paying for its altar?
It began possibly with Solomon's weak desire to please his idolatrous wives, who like Rachel brought their images with their household goods. The desire was weak, but it was sinful and foolish where obedience and faithfulness to the Lord were at stake. As a wise man he perhaps looked with contempt on his wives' folly, but he did not forbid it. And, beginning with winking at it, he ended by being a willing supporter. A dreadful end it was to a small beginning.
The damage did not stay inside Solomon's household.
The man who prayed so humbly to the Lord at the dedication of the Temple became a worshipper of Ashtaroth, Milcom, and other pagan abominations... The Lord's beloved Zion was ringed round with everything that was hateful in His sight. In 1 Kings 10 Jerusalem was the centre of spiritual light. In chapter 11 it was a breeding ground of the grossest idolatries!
- Neglect — Small departures from God's word came first. The word loses its hold, and each step down comes faster.
- Vacancy — A heart emptied of the Lord does not stay empty. It takes the nearest substitute on offer.
- Tolerance — Building for other gods looked broad-minded. It challenged the very authority his own temple proclaimed.
- Supply — He began by overlooking his wives' worship and ended by paying for it. Winking at evil turns into funding it.
- Reach — Zion, the centre of light, ended up ringed with altars. One man's private compromise became his city's public shame.