What is the meaning of 1 Kings 11:5? Solomon followed - “Followed” in 1 Kings 11:5 signals deliberate, ongoing allegiance. Solomon shifted from exclusive devotion to the LORD (1 Kings 3:3) to walking after other deities (1 Kings 11:4). - This disobedience ignores clear commands: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), “Your heart must be fully devoted to the LORD” (1 Kings 8:61). - Deuteronomy 17:17 had warned Israel’s kings not to multiply wives, “lest his heart turn away.” Solomon’s many foreign marriages (1 Kings 11:1–2) became the avenue for idolatry. - The contrast is stark: earlier the LORD twice appeared to Solomon (1 Kings 3:5; 9:2), yet he chose to “follow” gods that cannot speak or save (Isaiah 44:9-20). Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians - Ashtoreth (also spelled Astarte) was the chief fertility goddess of Phoenicia. Worship involved sexual rites condemned by the LORD (Leviticus 18:24-25). - Israel had tangled with this idol before: “They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths” (Judges 2:13). Samuel later told the nation, “Rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths” (1 Samuel 7:3-4). - Solomon built a high place east of Jerusalem for Ashtoreth (2 Kings 23:13); centuries later Josiah destroyed it, illustrating how one man’s compromise infected generations. - New-Testament light: idolatry and sexual immorality remain linked (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5). The believer’s body is for the Lord alone (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites - Milcom (often identified with Molech) demanded child sacrifice—“You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech” (Leviticus 18:21). - The LORD’s verdict is severe: “abomination.” Idolatry that destroys life stands in direct opposition to the God who gives life (Psalm 36:9). - Solomon erected a shrine for Milcom on “the hill east of Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23:13). What began as tolerance became outright facilitation of evil. - Later kings followed his pattern (Jeremiah 32:35), proving how sin spreads when leaders abandon the Word. - The New-Testament call is to flee every “idol” that exalts itself against Christ (1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18). summary 1 Kings 11:5 records Solomon’s tragic shift from wholehearted devotion to the LORD to intentional pursuit of pagan gods. “Followed” shows persistent allegiance; Ashtoreth represents sensual idolatry, Milcom violent idolatry. Both violate the first commandment and the covenant warnings to Israel’s king. Solomon’s compromise illustrates how disobedience, especially in leadership, breeds generational sin, while Scripture calls God’s people to exclusive, obedient worship of the living God. |
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