1 Kings 11:5

_FOR SOLOMON WENT AFTER ASHTORETH THE GODDESS OF THE ZIDONIANS, AND AFTER MILCOM THE ABOMINATION OF THE AMMONITES._ Ashtoreth - plural, Ashtaroth (Astarte), a female divinity worshipped by the Sidonians (1 Kings 11:33; 2 Kings 23:13) [Septuagint, tee Astratee (cf. Genesis 14:5), the moon]. MILCOM (1 Kings 11:33; 2 Kings 23:13) - Molech, (see Mover's 'Die Religion und die Gottheiten der Phonizier,' p. 12, etc.) But though Milcom is commonly considered synonymous with Molech, and both were idolized by the Ammonites, t

1-8 There is not a more melancholy and astonishing instance of human depravity in the sacred Scriptures, than that here recorded. Solomon became a public worshipper of abominable idols! Probably he by degrees gave way to pride and luxury, and thus lost his relish for true wisdom. Nothing forms in itself a security against the deceitfulness and depravity of the human heart. Nor will old age cure the heart of any evil propensity. If our sinful passions are not crucified and mortified by the grace of God, they never will die of themselves, but will last even when opportunities to gratify them are taken away. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. We see how weak we are of ourselves, without the grace of God; let us therefore live in constant dependence on that grace. Let us watch and be sober: ours is a dangerous warfare, and in an enemy's country, while our worst foes are t...

WENT AFTER - This expression is common in the Pentateuch, and always signifies actual idolatry (see Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:14, etc.). For Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, see Exodus 34:13, note; Deuteronomy 16:21, note. On the tomb of a Phoenician king, discovered in 1855, on the site of Sidon, mention is made of a temple of Astarte there, which the monarch built or restored; and his mother is said to have be

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S DEFECTION.—The observant reader will have already remarked in this history some intimations of Solomon's approaching fall. Among these are, first, the repeated warnings which are addressed to him, especially in 1 Kings 9:6, and, second, his repeated transgressions of the law by which he ruled. We have already heard of the multiplication of silver and gold (1 Kings 10:14-11), in defiance of Deuteronomy 17:17, and of the multiplication of horses (1 Kings 10:27-11), in disregard of...

AND SOLOMON WENT AFTER ASHTORETH THE GODDESS OF THE ZIDONIANS,.... Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, 1 Kings 11:1. According to the Phoenician histories i, Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre and Zidon; so Clemens of Alexandria says k, that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon; Ashtoreth is Astarte, the same with the Venus of the Greeks, so Suidas l; and Lucian m expressly says, the Sidonians had a temple, said by them to belong to Astarte, which he takes to be the moon; and both Venus and Juno signify the same planet; Judges 2:13 AND AFTER MILCOM THE ABOMINATION OF THE AMNONITES; the same with Molech, 1 Kings 11:7....

ASHTORETH (1 Kings 11:33). (_ See Scofield) - (Judges 2:13). _...

7. SOLOMON'S FAILURE: JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED AND THE BEGINNING OF DISRUPTION CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Solomon's polygamy and departure from God (1 Kings 11:1)_ 2. Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) 3. Rezon the second adversary (1 Kings 11:23) 4. Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26) 5. Solomon's reign and death (1 Kings 11:41) “But--.” An ominous word with which this chapter begins. It introduces us to the sad picture of Solomon's great apostasy. “He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people

SIN OF SOLOMON, AND THE ADVERSARIES RAISED UP IN CONSEQUENCE. From various differences in the arrangement of the earlier verses in the LXX and Heb., it has been supposed that in its original form the narrative merely recorded the fact that Solomon had a number of wives, and that he built sanctuaries and offered sacrifice to their gods. In its present form the influence of a Deuteronomic editor is unmistakable. But the account of Solomon's adversaries (1 Kings 11:14 ff.) must be derived from an earlier source; and even as it stands does not necessarily mean that they were raised up in punishment of his sin. Hadad, the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) must have troubled him early in his reign (1 Kings 11:21 f.), and Rezon wa

ASHTORETH. Compare Judges 2:13. 1Sa 7:3. 1 Samuel 12:10; 1 Samuel 31:10. MILCOM. Same as _Malcham,_ the Aramaic pronunciation of Molech (1 Kings 11:7). See Zephaniah 1:5. Translated "their king" (Jeremiah 49:1.Amos 1:15; Amos 1:15). ABOMINATION. The word used for an idol by Figure o

_Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians_ Ashtoreth was the chief female divinity of the Phœnicians, as Baal was their chief male deity. As Baal has been identified with the sun, so Ashtoreth has by some been thought to be the moon. Recent investigations have however connected the name of Ashtoreth with the planet Venus, and by some it is thought that the name was applied in some parts of the Phœnician settlements to Venus, in others to the moon. Ashtoreth is identified with the Greek Ἀστάρτη, and the name of an ancient city (Genesis 14:5) _Ashteroth-Karnaim_, i.e. Ashteroth of the two horns, seems to point to the crescent moon. This is accepted by Milton (_Par. L_. I. 438). -Ashtoreth, whom the Phœnicians called Astartè, queen of heaven, with crescent horns To whose bright image, nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs." The wors