because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did.
God has just promised Jeroboam ten of Israel's tribes. Here He gives the reason for the loss: three foreign gods have taken the place that belonged to Him alone, and David is named as the standard Solomon failed to meet.
Who "they" refers to
The verse opens with a plural: "they have forsaken me." Yet God is judging one king here. One reading takes the plural as pointing straight at Solomon:
H. L. Rossier"They have forsaken Me," says the Lord... "They" was Solomon, the king! No doubt, all the people later followed that same path, but at this moment one man had sinned — the king. God had set him in a position of responsibility for all the people, so his unfaithfulness brought judgment on Israel. What a severe punishment Solomon had incurred.
Commentators differ here. Others read the plural as widening the blame beyond the king, and point out that Scripture gives more than one reason for the same disaster:
James BoydTen of the tribes of Israel were torn from Rehoboam. In 1 Kings 11:11 we are told it was for the sin of Solomon, but verse 33 of the same chapter says it was for the idolatry of the people. In chapter 12 we find the immediate cause was the harsh spirit in which Rehoboam met the people, when they asked him for a gentler rule than his father's. The fact is that the sin of any one of the three parties named was quite enough to bring all the trouble, and so the responsibility is left at the door of each.
The three gods named
God names the three gods instead of speaking of idolatry in general. One writer identifies each one, and says that building shrines for his wives left Solomon himself guilty:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIt 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 guilty of the sin of idolatry. Luxuries, wealth, self-indulgence, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life led into idolatry. It is the same in the closing days of the present age. Ashtoreth, a Phoenician goddess, was worshipped with impure rites. Milcom (Molech) was the idol-god of the Ammonites. Chemosh was the sun-god and war-god of the Moabites.
Behind the name Milcom lay a rite in which parents gave up their own children:
William KellyThen 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.
How a temple-builder reached this point
The astonishing thing is the identity of the man. The one who built the house for God's name set up shrines for Chemosh and Milcom. The path there was traced backwards to a single earlier step:
C. H. MackintoshWe may wonder how such a man as Solomon could ever be led to "build high places for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." But the reason is easy to see. He had first disobeyed the Word of his Lord by going to those nations for wives. From there he fell easily enough into the deeper error of adopting their worship.
The collapse was slow, not sudden — and that is what makes it dangerous:
The Christian's FriendHis reign opened amid the glory of a little millennium... But as we go on examining his conduct, it is easy to see that his early glory fades, the king's heart turns to the world, the world becomes his master... And how had this decline begun? Note, dear brother, it did not happen all at once, but gradually; without his noticing, the things of the world gained access to his heart, and he went from bad to worse until he became an idolater.
Why David is the measure
The verse ends by comparing Solomon with his father. David failed too, yet God's verdict on him was striking:
An Outline of Sound WordsDavid failed, yet this could be written about him: "David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite" (1 Kings 15:5). This is a remarkable divine commendation.
Judgment, and the grace running underneath it
God still holds one tribe back, and the reason is David, not Solomon:
H. L. RossierIn verse 34 God comes back once more to the grace He had shown to David. He adds: "And to his son I will give one tribe, that David My servant may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for Myself to put My name there" (v. 36). Grace is more in God's eyes than all glory, or rather, grace is the most precious part of glory, for it is, so to speak, at the head of all divine perfections.
Jeroboam, who received these words and the ten tribes, learned nothing from them:
Leslie M. GrantIsrael was guilty of this, and Solomon was the leader in it. God's plain hatred of such guilt should have impressed itself deeply on Jeroboam's conscience, so that he would take care not to follow such disgusting practices. But soon after he was made king of the ten tribes, he fell into the same evil ways.
Summary
- Cause — The kingdom was not lost to politics. One step away from God's Word made the next step easy.
- Named — God lists Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Milcom. Their worship was impure, and it cost children their lives.
- Reach — What the king did in private became the nation's religion. Leaders carry others with them.
- Measure — David failed too, yet God commended him for keeping His commands. He is the standard this verse holds up.
- Remnant — Judgment stops short of total loss. God leaves one tribe for David's sake, so the lamp keeps burning — grace, not merit.