Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
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?
A builder against himself
The same hands raised the temple and these shrines. One writer suggests how Solomon may have justified it:
Leslie M. GrantVery 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 heart before the stones
The building was not the first step. The chapter gives the order:
Leslie M. GrantVerse 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.
How the world gets in
The pull works in two directions, and it works slowly. One writer describes both:
H. L. RossierWe 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.
More than a favour to his wives
Someone might say Solomon only supplied the buildings and kept his own faith. God's verdict says otherwise:
H. L. RossierPerhaps 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.
What Chemosh and Molech were
The verse names two gods. One writer explains the names, and what worship of them demanded:
William KellyThen 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.
The hill east of Jerusalem
Solomon had already been warned in person. One writer sets that beside the way the requests likely came:
Eugene P. Vedder Jr.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.
Why good kings left it standing
Solomon's shrines outlived him by centuries. One writer notes who left them standing, and why:
W. W. FeredayKing 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.
Summary
- 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.