_SOLOMON LOVES STRANGE WOMEN, BY WHOM HE IS DRAWN TO IDOLATRY. GOD RAISES UP AGAINST HIM HADAD AND REZON, AND DECLARES TO JEROBOAM, BY THE PROPHET AHIJAH, THAT HE SHALL REIGN OVER TEN TRIBES. JEROBOAM FLIES INTO EGYPT. SOLOMON DIES, AFTER A REIGN OF FORTY YEARS._ _Before Christ 980._... [ Continue Reading ]
TOGETHER WITH THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH— Pharaoh's daughter, as we have before remarked, is generally supposed to have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and therefore Solomon incurred no fault in marrying her. But in marrying so many women besides, and these of a different religion, he committe... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN HUNDRED WIVES, &C.— Without knowing the customs of the princes of the East, their pomp, and sumptuousness of living, one might be tempted to wonder of what possible use was this multitude of wives and concubines. But, as Solomon was between forty and fifty years old before he ran into this exc... [ Continue Reading ]
HADAD THE EDOMITE— Hadad was a young prince of the royal family of Idumea, who fled into Egypt when David conquered that country: for David, having obtained a signal victory under the conduct of Abishai, who, at that time commanded in chief, sent Joab afterwards with an order to kill all the males w... [ Continue Reading ]
REZON, THE SON OF ELIADAH— When David made war against Hadadezer, Rezon, one of his generals, escaped from the field of battle with the troops under his command; and, having lived for a little while by plunder and robbery, at length seized on Damascus, and reigned there. But his reign was not long,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JEROBOAM, THE SON OF NEBAT, &C.— As the expence and trouble of building and repairing Millo were very great, Jeroboam, who was placed over this work, took an opportunity from thence to infuse a spirit of sedition into his brethren of the tribe of Ephraim, to complain heavily of the hard labour t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET AHIJAH— Ahijah was a native of Shiloh, and one of those who wrote the annals of king Solomon's reign, 2 Chronicles 9:29 and he is thought to have been the person who spake twice to Solomon from God; once while he was building the temple, chap. 1 Kings 6:12 and again when he fell into his... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 KINGS 11:30_. A_HIJAH CAUGHT THE NEW GARMENT,—AND RENT IT_— Language, it appears from the nature of the thing, from the records of history, and from the remains of the most ancient languages still subsisting, was at first extremely rude, narrow, and equivocal; so that men would be perpetually at... [ Continue Reading ]
SOLOMON SOUGHT THEREFORE TO KILL JEROBOAM— How Solomon came to know what was transacted between Ahijah and Jeroboam alone, is a question of no great difficulty; for, perhaps, the prophet made no scruple to report what he had delivered in the name of the Lord; perhaps Jeroboam himself, being puffed u... [ Continue Reading ]
FORTY YEARS— Josephus, Antiq. lib. 8: cap. 3 tells us, that Solomon lived to a great age, that he reigned eighty years, and died at ninety-four; but this is a manifest error in that historian; and our saying that the Scriptures give us an account of Solomon only while he continued in a state of piet... [ Continue Reading ]