I Kings 11:5

This chapter begins with as melancholy a "but" as almost any we find in all the Bible. Hitherto we have read nothing of Solomon but what was great and good; but the lustre both of his goodness and of his greatness is here sullied and eclipsed, and his sun sets under a cloud. I. The glory of his piety is stained by his departure from God and his duty, in his latter days, marrying strange wives and worshipping strange gods (Kg1 11:4-8). II. The glory of his prosperity is stained by God's displeasure against him and the fruits of that displeasure. 1. He sent him an angry message (Kg1 11:9-13). 2. He stirred up enemies, who gave him disturbance, Hadad (Kg1 11:14-22), Rezon (Kg1 11:23-25). 3. He gave away ten tribes of his twelve, from his posterity after him, to Jeroboam, whom therefore he sought in vain to slay (Kg1 11:26-40), and this is all that remains here to be told concerning Solomon, except his death and burial (Kg1 11:41-43), for there is nothing perfect under the sun, but all is so above the sun.

11:5 Ashtoreth, the Canaanite goddess of love and war, was widely worshiped in the ancient Near East under names such as Ishtar and Astarte. The cult practices associated with Astarte were transmitted to the Greek world in the worship of the goddess Aphrodite. • Rites in the worship of Molech, the god of the Ammonites, included sacrificing children by fire (11:7; see Lev 20:1-5; 2 Kgs 16:3; 23:5-10; Jer 7:30-33; 19:4-6; 32:35), which the writer properly denounces as detestable.