In 1st Kings 11 we have a warning concerning apostasy, Solomon's apostasy in particular. as an outgrowth of his former sins, God's angry message to Solomon and the execution of God's judgment against Solomon with the succession of his son Rehoboam as well. Hear now the word of almighty God inspired by his spirit profitable for us. First Kings 11, starting at verse one. But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chamosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore, the Lord said unto Solomon, for as much as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding, in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David, my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, which I have chosen. And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, he was of the king's seed in Edom. For it came to pass when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom. For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom. that Hadad fled. He and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him to go into Egypt. Hadad being yet a little child. And they arose out of Midian and came to Paran. And they took men with them out of Paran. And they came to Egypt unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, which gave him an house and appointed him vittles and gave him land. And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tapanes, the queen. And the sister of Tapanes bare him Genuboth, his son, whom Tapanes weaned in Pharaoh's house, and Genuboth was in Pharaoh's household among the sons of Pharaoh. And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, let me depart, that I may go to mine own country. Then Pharaoh said unto him, but what hast thou lacked with me, that behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, nothing. Howbeit, let me go in any wise. And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezan, the son of Eliadah, which fled from his Lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah. And he gathered men unto him and became captain over a band when David slew them of Zobah. And they went to Damascus and dwelt therein and reigned in Damascus. and he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did, and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria. And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the breaches of the city of David his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. And Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way And he had clad himself with a new garment, and they too were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and rent it in 12 pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, take thee 10 pieces. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give 10 tribes to thee. But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, because that they have forsaken me. and have worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father, how be it? I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and I will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light all way before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with thee. and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever. Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, unto Shyshach king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. And the rest of the Acts of Solomon and all that he did and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the Acts of Solomon? And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. Thus far the reading of God's inspired, inerrant, and infallible word from 1 Kings 11. A chapter filled with warning and instruction for the people of God, a chapter pivotal in the history of the kingdom of Israel and Judah, as we shall see Jeroboam's name coming up again and again and again, and the division of the kingdom forming the rest of first and second kings, as well as first and second chronicles, or second chronicles in particular. Let us try to speedily haste our way through this chapter. Much could be discussed. Notice here, verse one, Solomon loved many strange women, or the Geneva Bible says outlandish women, women of a different religion, of a different nation. Jerome calls them foreign born or exotic. The Septuagint says Solomon was fond of women. These women were not holy. They were not godly. They were not homegrown. They were foreign idolatresses, as we say. And not just one, but many wives he had. God said in Deuteronomy 17, 17, the king ought not to multiply wives unto himself. Why? Because they would steal his heart away from the Lord, and then God would bring his wrath against him. Guess what happened to Solomon? One compromise makes way for another. If you ever have a shirt or a pair of jeans that gets a little hole, what ends up happening? Well, it makes way for a bigger one, doesn't it? It gets bigger and bigger until you can't wear the garment any longer. So the conscience, one little compromise, one little tear. Remember, Solomon compromised with his horses and with his riches and with his wives. You see, they all go downward till eventually he turns his back on the Lord. We must be diligent to watch over our conscience and our actions. Don't make deals with your sins. Okay, this sin I'll let you have Tuesday, or maybe once a week, or maybe once a year I'll sin. Just this once, no, no deals with sin. Mortify it, put it off. Will you sin? Of course you will. Mortify it, repent of it, turn from it. Don't compromise with it. No special pleading for this or that sin. God then cites the law of God. Exodus 34 verse 6, Deuteronomy 7 verses 3 and 4, with the aggravations of Solomon's sin, that God appeared and spoke to him twice, and yet he would not hear. Solomon, we are told, clave unto these in love. He didn't love God. He loved his wives. He loved his women. What are your priorities? What do you truly love? What do you cleave to in love? Because God says that is when you depart from Him, when some other thing, you cleave to it in love. And his wives turned away his heart, verse three, that is, from following God. As God said, Deuteronomy 7, four, for they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. You see Solomon's a living example of this, is he not? Now the latter part of being destroyed and God's wrath is in verses nine and following. Do not choose friends, much less marital partners, with the model of missionary dating. Oh, these heathens, I'll start with them where they're at. I'll get them to where I want them to be. You know what God says? No, you won't. They'll take you where you don't want to be, under the wrath of Almighty God. It displeases God to behave as Solomon did. Further, it leads to apostasy. It will ruin you. You won't fix them, it'll ruin you. Solomon is shown then as a test case when God made this threat in Deuteronomy 7. Proverbs 13 20 perhaps Solomon should have read what God inspired him to say. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Get married to a fool. What are they going to do to you. Destroy you. That's right. They'll kill you. They'll ruin you so that you will perish forever. Solomon, it says, went after Ashtoreth, verse 5 tells us, the goddess of the Zidonians. Now, by the way, Ashtorah, or Ashtoreth, was first the god of the moon, then you had the other gods, Milcom, the god of the sun, and they would breed together around the springtime, and their child was born around December 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th. Sound familiar? You have a god for the spring called Ashtoreth, here are some other names, Ishtar, Astart, Ostara, among the Germans, later called Easter. Ever heard of that? She's also called Aphrodite by the Greeks. From the Isle of Cyprus, where the Greeks first learned of her cult and her worship, they called her this, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, the goddess of productivity, the goddess of spring. Does this all sound familiar to you? Ashtoreth personified the productive principles of nature exemplified in the springtime of the year. She was celebrated as such by the pagans among the Germans with this Ostra worship or this Easter tide as we call it. He also went after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Milcom is also called Molech or Malcom or Moloch. He is the great king. God says he's an abomination. He's something Solomon should have hated, and yet he loved them. Milkom is the great king, the male, Ashtoreth is the productive principal, the female, and the two breed together throughout the year to produce the sun in the December time frame, as the Germans celebrated it. The two demons would mate, the male and the female. This is part of the tapestry, by the way, of the kingdom of the Antichrist, who brings in the Babylonian gods and calls them by different names, creates holy days to celebrate them. Solomon also built an high place for Chemosh. Oh, wow. How very tolerant of Solomon. He's got a little bit of diversity here, a little bit of diversity there, and the false gods all say, yeah, that's fine. I just want one high place. I want one part of your heart. You can give some to Ashtoreth. You can give some over here to Milcom. You can give some to Chemosh. No exclusivity, you notice. Who is exclusive? The Lord is. He's a jealous God. No other gods before me, he says. And the others say, well, you know, I'll take what I can get. Chemosh, a demon or idol that was tolerated and promoted by Solomon. Strong's says concerning this Chemosh that it was the national deity of the Moabites and a god of the Ammonites, also identified with Baal Peor, Beelzebub, Mars, and Saturn. These are all different names for this one god. He again is called an abomination because as the Geneva Bible's notes say, Thus the scripture calls whatever man reveres and serves as God. You ought to hate it, but here you are, reverencing it, serving it as if it were your God, giving honors to it, what only belongs to God. It is an abomination. And he did this on the hill before Jerusalem. Do you know what hill is right before Jerusalem? The Mount of Olives, as we'll read about in Matthew 24. This Mount of Olives in the days of Josiah was called the Mount of Corruption because of these idols that Josiah would destroy. And not only did Solomon make his own little shrines for himself and his wickedness, who else did he make shrines for? For his wives. Have you ever heard the pagans say this or even Christians take this pagan phrase in their mouths? Happy wife, happy life. Isn't that what they say? Oh, my wife is happy. I'll give her her idols so that I'll have a happy life. It'll be so much easier if I submit myself to her and don't glorify God in my life and see that she does the same. Anything for the ladies. Idolatry pleases my wife. Well, let her have her idols, so Solomon says. What does God say? Well, God judges him. Verse 9, the Lord was angry with Solomon. And so God, in verses 9 through 13, tells him of this judgment. Why is God angry? Because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. It gave you wisdom. I gave you more than wisdom. That's the first appearance. What's the second? After the building of the house, what does God say? You keep walking in my way, Solomon, and I will build you a house. Your descendants will stand before me. Your kingdom will stand, Solomon. Twice God appeared in grace and mercy to him. The second time requiring obedience of him in very stern terms. 10 through 13, God gives his indictment against Solomon, that his kingdom would be torn apart in his son's days. Notice then verses 14 through 25, Solomon is judged by the removal of peace. Solomon means a man of peace. His kingdom was filled with peace until what? Until he turned his back on God's commandments. Then what does he have? Enemy after enemy after enemy. First is Hadad and his ancient grudge, verses 14 through 22. Look, he was a little child when he left Edom in the days of David, in the days of Joab. And yet what? He remembers it. He has a grudge. It boils within him and burns up and finally spills over. All the favor of Pharaoh, marrying into Pharaoh's family, having his own son adopted by Pharaoh. That's not good enough. I need vengeance. What hast thou lacked with me, Pharaoh asks, verse 22. That behold, thou seekest to go unto thine own country. And you know what Hadad says? Well, nothing. You know what the thing he lacks? Vengeance on the house of David. That's what he lacks. Then we have Rezan, the son of Eliadah, one of Hadadizers, the king of Zobah's servants. Verses 26 through 40, Solomon is judged by his servant being raised up to tear the kingdom away from his son. And Solomon thinks he can overcome God and kill him. Notice Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. His name will be a constant refrain in the history of the Northern Kingdom. God's going to look back to this man again and again and again. Why? Well, let's find out in chapter 12, God willing, this evening. He was an Ephrathite of Zareda, Solomon's servant. He was advanced to a place of trust and rule because he was diligent. He was industrious, verse 28 tells us. He was from the tribe of Ephraim, that's what Ephrathite means in this context, not of Ephrata, which comes from the same root word in Hebrew meaning fruitful. Ephraim means one who is fruitful or fruitfulness. Ephrata means a place of fruitfulness. So they use similar words. He was a mighty man of valor, great and mighty in his work, strong in his body, wise in his mind, skillful with his hands and his feet, working in his tasks with ease and efficiency. So Solomon takes note and advances him. Solomon had said Proverbs 22 verse 29, seest thou man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. Learn then to be diligent, to take delight in your work, to work hard at what you do, to be skillful and strong for your tasks, even as Jeroboam was. Verses 29 through 39, Ahijah the Shilonite, God's prophet, delivers a very promising message to Jeroboam. He symbolically takes this new garment Jeroboam has on and what does he do? Hey, can I see that? No. He tears it off him and rips it into 12 pieces and says, here, God gives you 10. But here's the condition, Jeroboam. If you want your house to stand, if you want to be blessed as my servant David was, what must you do? You must listen. You must obey. You must come under my yoke. You must submit to me as your king and do my bidding as David, my servant, did. Universal obedience to God's 10 commandments, his covenant. A conditional promise is made to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. And that is why he's brought up again and again and again. He violated God's terms. But note, even though God is going to rip this kingdom out of Solomon's son's hands, notice the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ typified in David. Verse 32, he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake. Verse 34, I will make him prince, that is Solomon, prince all the days of his life for David, my servant's sake. Verse 36, that David, my servant, may have a light always before me in Jerusalem. Verse 38, a sure house I will build for you, Jeroboam, as I built for David. Verse 39, I will afflict for these things the seed of David, but not forever, God says. Do you see how David, by his obedience, by his doing what was pleasing to God, brought blessings on his descendants? Can you imagine if David had been perfect in every way, fully and absolutely obedient? Well, that's what Jesus Christ, the son of David, did. Would you be accepted in the beloved? That's what David means. David in Hebrew means the beloved. And Paul says we are made accepted, where? In the beloved, in our Lord Jesus Christ. Flee then to Christ. Receive greater, deeper, and more enduring blessings, even than the house of Judah received through David. Notice verse 40. How does Solomon respond? Can you imagine if someone was so foolish that they thought they could tear the moon out of the sky? You think you could do that? Build a ladder to the moon and tear it out of the sky? You know how stupid that is? Now imagine if there was an infinite being above and beyond the moon who spoke it into existence with all the other billions of planets and stars out there, and then you said, I'm gonna undo his word. That's even more foolish, isn't it? What does Solomon try to do after the word of God speaks concerning Jeroboam? What does he try to do? Snuff out the word. I'm going to kill Jeroboam, he says. Solomon is not humbled by God's judgment against him. Solomon rather seeks vainly to undo God's revelation to Rehoboam. Let us not be as he was at this time. Let us learn to submit to God's word, lest we vainly seek to fight against heaven itself. It's a losing battle. Jeroboam arose. He fled to Egypt until the death of Solomon, as we shall see in chapter 12. You see, Solomon couldn't overcome the word of God. He couldn't undo what God had promised. God had said, I'm taking this kingdom from you. What are you going to do? Kill him? Rehoboam is going to do the same thing. The people reject him. What's he going to do? He's going to go try to collect taxes. He's going to send his tax man. Let me get some tax money here. No, they kill him. And then he raises an army, Rehoboam does. And what does God say? Stop it. You don't get that kingdom. It's not yours anymore. You have no right any longer. Solomon sets this wicked example even before his son. Then in verses 41 through 43, we have Solomon's death and burial. Just as a sidelight, you may read the book of Ecclesiastes and you may see Solomon in his repentance in the latter years of his life before his death. All of this apostasy he will describe as wine, women and song, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, he will say. And so we will see by God's great mercy, his repentance. and thus far the exposition of First Kings chapter 11.