1 Kings 11:7

_THEN DID SOLOMON BUILD AN HIGH PLACE FOR CHEMOSH, THE ABOMINATION OF MOAB, IN THE HILL THAT IS BEFORE JERUSALEM, AND FOR MOLECH, THE ABOMINATION OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON._ Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh [Septuagint, Chamoos]. He was the tutelary divinity, the national idol of the Moabites (Numbers 21:29; Jeremiah 48:7; Jeremiah 48:13; Jeremiah 48:46); and though he is once called the god of the Ammonites (Judges 11:24), that designation arose entirely from a community of feeling between two nations having th

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...

Verse 1 Kings 11:7. _THE HILL THAT IS BEFORE JERUSALEM_] This was the _Mount_ _of Olives_....

Chemosh (Numbers 21:29 note), seems to have been widely worshipped in Western Asia. His name occurs frequently on the “Moabite-Stone.” Car-Chemish, “the fort of Chemosh,” a great city of the northern Hittites, must have been under his protection. In Babylon he seems to have been known as Chomus-belus, or Chemosh-Bel. THE HILL - Olivet. At present the most southern summit only (the “Mons Offensionis”) is pointed out as having been desecrated by the idol sanctuaries: but the early Eastern travelers tell us that in their time the most northern suburb was believed to have been the site of the high p ace of Chemosh, the southern one that of Moloch only....

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...

Ver. 7 THEN DID SOLOMON BUILD AN HIGH PLACE FOR CHEMOSH, THE ABOMINATION OF MESH,.... Of this idol, Jeremiah 48:7, an high place for which he ordered to be built, or at least suffered it to be built, at the instigation of his Moabitish woman or women, 1 Kings 11:1, this was built in the hill that is before Jerusalem; on the mount of Olives, as Jarchi, called from hence afterwards the mount of corruption, 2 Kings 23:15 and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon, 1 Kings 11:5....

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

CHEMOSH. Compare Numbers 21:29; Jeremiah 48:7; Jeremiah 48:13; Jeremiah 48:46; 2 Kings 23:13. THE HILL, &C.. Mount of Olives! Hence called "the Mount of Corruption" (2 Kings 23:13). MOLECH. Generally has the article and denotes the king-idol (Leviticus 18:21;...

_a high place_ That -high places" were not abolished in Solomon's time we can see from 1 Kings 3:2-3, where see notes. The idea was that on a lofty height the worshipper drew nearer to his god, and so was able to offer a more acceptable sacrifice. Hence the erection of altars on the tops of hills, and these were frequently accompanied with some house or shrine for the image of the god, and hence we read of the -houses of the high places." Cf. 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:32; 2Ki 17:29; 2 Kings 17:32; 2 Kings 23:19. This form of worshipping was so fi