The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  10:16, 17 shields. From his gold revenues, Solomon made 200 large shields, containing about 7.5 pounds of gold each, and 300 small shields, having 3.75 pounds of gold each, that were ornamental in design and restricted to ceremonial use.

  10:21 silver. To show the wealth of Solomon’s kingdom, the writer explains that gold was so plentiful that the value of silver dropped to nothing. House of the Forest of Lebanon. See note on 7:2–5.

  10:22 merchant ships. These “ships of Tarshish” were large, all-weather cargo vessels designed to make long ocean voyages.

  10:25 silver and gold…horses. The wisdom God had given to Solomon (v. 24) caused many rulers, like the queen of Sheba (vv. 1–13), to bring presents to Solomon as they sought to buy his wisdom to be applied in their own nations. These gifts led Solomon to multiply for himself both horses, as well as silver and gold, precisely that which God’s king was warned against in Deut. 17:16, 17. Solomon became ensnared by the blessings of his own wisdom and disobeyed God’s commands.

  10:28 Keveh. Keveh was in Cilicia, an area S of the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor. In antiquity, Cilicia was fabled for breeding and selling the best horses.

  10:29 six hundred shekels. About 15 lbs. of silver. one hundred and fifty. About 3.75 lbs. of silver. Hittites. The majority of Hittites lived in Anatolia (Asia Minor). From ca. 1720–1200 B.C. a unified kingdom ruled over the Hittites. These kings spread the influence of the Hittites throughout the ancient Near East; the Hittite empire reached the peak of its power ca. 1380–1350 B.C. When the Hittite empire collapsed, ca. 1200 B.C., many Hittite city-states developed, each with its own king. These rulers were called “the kings of the Hittites” and were scattered in Solomon’s day throughout Anatolia and northern Aram (Syria). Syria. This familiar geographical area within the bounds set by the Taurus Mountains in the N, the western bend of the Euphrates River and the edge of the desert in the E, the Litani River to the S and the Mediterranean Sea to the W, had as its major city, Damascus. “Syria” is actually a later Gr. term; the land was known in OT times as Aram.

  1 Kings 11

  11:1–6 loved many foreign women. Many of Solomon’s marriages were for the purpose of ratifying treaties with other nations, a common practice in the ancient Near East. The practice of multiplying royal wives, prohibited in Deut. 17:17 because the practice would turn the king’s heart away from the Lord, proved to be accurate in the experience of Solomon. His love for his wives (vv. 1, 2) led him to abandon his loyalty to the Lord and worship other gods (vv. 3–6). No sadder picture can be imagined than the ugly apostasy of his later years (over 50), which can be traced back to his sins with foreign wives. Polygamy was tolerated among the ancient Hebrews, though most in the East had only one wife. A number of wives was seen as a sign of wealth and importance. The king desired to have a larger harem than any of his subjects, and Solomon resorted to this form of state magnificence. But it was a sin directly violating God’s law, and the very result which that law was designed to prevent happened.

  11:1 Moabites. Descendants of Lot (Gen. 19:37) who lived in the land E of the Dead Sea between the Arnon River to the N and the Zered Brook to the S. Ammonites. Descendants of Lot (Gen. 19:38) who were located in the area of the Transjordan beginning about 25 mi. E of the Jordan River. Edomites. Descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:1) who were located in the area S of Moab, to the SE of the Dead Sea. Sidonians. See note on 5:6. Hittites. See note on 10:29.

  11:4 as…David. Cf. v. 6. David is consistently presented in Kings as the standard by which other kings were to act and be judged (3:14; 9:4; 14:8; 15:3; 2 Kin. 8:19; 22:2). This was not because David had not sinned (cf. 2 Sam. 11, 12), but rather because he repented appropriately from his sin (Pss. 32; 51), and because sin did not continue as the pattern of his life.

  11:5 Ashtoreth. A deliberate distortion of the Canaanite “ashtart,” re-vocalized based on the Heb. word for “shame.” She was the goddess of love and fertility, especially worshiped at Tyre and Sidon. Milcom. Another name for Molech (v. 7), the national god of the Ammonites. His name seems to mean “the one who rules.” The worship of Molech was associated with the sacrifice of children in the fire (Lev. 18:21; 20:2, 3, 4, 5; Jer. 32:35).

  11:6 evil in the sight of the LORD. The particular evil of Solomon was his tolerance of and personal practice of idolatry. These same words were used throughout the book of Kings to describe the rulers who promoted and practiced idolatry (15:26, 34; 16:19, 25, 30; 22:52; 2 Kin. 3:2; 8:18, 27; 13:2, 11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28; 17:2; 21:2, 20; 23:32, 37; 24:9, 19). Solomon became an open idolater, worshiping images of wood and stone in the sight of the temple which, in his early years, he had erected to the one true God.

  11:7 Chemosh. The god of the Moabites, to whom the sacrifice of children as a burnt offering was customary (2 Kin. 3:27). hill…east of Jerusalem. Probably, the Mt. of Olives. This is the area called Tophet in Jer. 7:30–34 and the Mt. of Corruption in 2 Kin. 23:13.

  1 Kin. 11:8

  The Kings of the Divided Kingdom

  11:9, 10 appeared to him twice. Once was at Gibeon (3:5), the next at Jerusalem (9:2). On both occasions, God had warned Solomon, so he had no excuses.

  11:11 not kept My covenant. Solomon failed to obey the commandments to honor God (Ex. 20:3–6), which were part of the Mosaic Covenant. Obedience to that Covenant was necessary for receiving the blessings of the Davidic Covenant (see 2:3, 4). tear the kingdom away from you. The Lord’s tearing of the kingdom from Solomon was announced in Ahijah’s symbolic action of tearing his garment in vv. 29–39. The tearing of the robe, picturing the loss of the kingdom, recalls the interaction between Samuel and Saul (1 Sam. 15:27, 28), when the Lord took the kingdom away from Saul because of his disobedience. The great gifts to Solomon followed by his great abuse warranted such a judgment.

  11:12 not do it in your days. The Lord’s great love for David caused Him to temper His judgment with mercy by not disrupting the kingdom in Solomon’s lifetime (cf. v. 34). This showed that Solomon’s disobedience did not annul the Davidic Covenant; the Lord’s commitment to fulfill His Word to David remained firm (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12–16).

  11:13 one tribe. The one tribe that remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty was Judah (cf. 12:20). for the sake of Jerusalem. The Lord had chosen Jerusalem as the place where His name would dwell forever (9:3). Therefore, Jerusalem and the temple would remain so that the divine promise might stand.

  11:14–18 Hadad the Edomite. Even though Hadad belonged to the royal family that ruled Edom, he escaped death at the hands of David’s army when he was a child, and he fled to Egypt (cf. 2 Sam. 8:13, 14; 1 Chr. 18:12, 13).

  11:18 Midian. The land directly E of Edom, to which Hadad first fled on his way to Egypt. Paran. A wilderness SE of Kadesh in the central area of the Sinai Peninsula (cf. Num. 12:16; 13:3).

  11:21 Let me depart. Like Moses (Ex. 2:10), Hadad’s son grew up in Pharaoh’s household. As did Moses (Ex. 5:1), Hadad requested that Pharaoh allow him to leave Egypt. Hearing of the deaths of David and Joab, he renounced his easy position and possessions in Egypt to return to Edom in order to regain his throne. His activities gave great trouble to Israel (v. 25).

  11:23–25 Rezon. After David conquered Zobar (2 Sam. 8:3–8), Rezon and his men took Damascus and established the strong dynasty of Syrian kings that severely troubled Israel in the ninth century B.C. (cf. 15:18; 20:1).

  11:26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In contrast to Hadad and Rezon, who were external adversaries of Solomon, God raised up Jeroboam from a town in Ephraim as an internal adversary. Jeroboam was from Ephraim, the leading tribe of Israel’s northern 10 tribes. He was a young man of talent and energy who, having been appointed by Solomon as leader over the building works around Jerusalem, rose to public notice.

  11:28 labor force. See note on 5:13.

  11:29 Ahijah the Shilonite. Ahijah was a prophet of the Lord who lived in Shiloh, a town in Ephraim about 20 mi. N of Jerusalem. See note on 1 Sam. 1:3.

  11:30–32 Here is a monumental prophecy th
at because of Solomon’s sins the kingdom would be divided and Jeroboam would rule in the northern area (cf. vv. 35–37).

  11:33 See notes on 11:5, 7.

  11:36 a lamp before Me. A lighted lamp represented the life of an individual (Job 18:6; Ps. 132:17). God promised that from the tribe of Judah David would continue to have descendants ruling in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Sam. 21:17; 1 Kin. 15:4; 2 Kin. 8:19).

  11:38 if you heed all that I command you. The Lord gave to Jeroboam the same promise that He had made to David—an enduring royal dynasty over Israel, the 10 northern tribes, if he obeyed God’s law. The Lord imposed on Jeroboam the same conditions for his kingship that He had imposed on David (2:3, 4; 3:14).

  11:39 but not forever. This statement implied that the kingdom’s division was not to be permanent and that David’s house would ultimately rule all the tribes of Israel again (cf. Ezek. 37:15–28).

  11:40 kill Jeroboam. Though the prophecy was private (v. 29), the king heard about it and Jeroboam became a marked man, guilty in Solomon’s eyes of rebellion and worthy of the death penalty. Shishak. Shishak was the founder of the 22nd dynasty in Egypt. He reigned ca. 945–924 B.C. He invaded Judah during the reign of Rehoboam (14:25, 26).

  11:42 forty years. 971–931 B.C.

  1 Kings 12

  12:1-2 Kin. 17:41 The division of Solomon’s kingdom had been predicted by the Lord to Solomon (11:11–13) and through Ahijah to Jeroboam (11:29–37). This section of the books of Kings shows how the Word of the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled and narrates the history of the divided kingdom, Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom), from 931–722 B.C.

  12:1—14:31 This section describes the disruption of the Kingdom (12:1–24) plus the establishment and royal sanctioning of idolatry in Israel (12:25—14:20) and Judah (14:21–31). The reigns of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, in the S (ca. 931–913 B.C.) and Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam, in the N (ca. 931–910 B.C.) are discussed. See 2 Chr. 10:1–12:16.

  12:1 Shechem. A city located in the hill country of northern Ephraim, 30 mi. N of Jerusalem. Shechem had a long and important history as a political and religious center (cf. Gen. 12:6; Josh. 8:30–35; 24:1–28, 32). all Israel. The representatives of the 10 northern tribes assembled to accept Rehoboam as king (cf. 2 Sam. 5:3).

  12:2 heard it. Jeroboam, in Egypt (11:40), learned about the death of Solomon (11:43).

  12:3 Jeroboam…spoke. The 10 northern tribes summoned Jeroboam from Egypt to become their representative and spokesman in their dealings with Rehoboam.

  12:4 yoke. The hardships that resulted from Solomon’s policy of compulsory labor service (cf. 5:13; 9:22; 11:28) and excessive taxes (cf. 4:7) came because the splendor of his courts, the magnitude of his wealth, and the profits of his enterprises were not enough to sustain his demands.

  12:6, 7 the elders. These were older, experienced counselors and administrators who had served Solomon. They counseled Rehoboam to give concessions to the 10 tribes.

  12:8–10 the young men. The contemporaries of Rehoboam, about forty years of age (cf. 14:21), who were acquainted only with the royal court life of Solomon, recommended that Rehoboam be even harsher on the 10 tribes than was Solomon.

  12:10 My little finger…my father’s waist. A proverbial manner of saying he was going to come at them with greater force than Solomon had exhibited (vv. 11–14).

  12:15 from the LORD. God sovereignly used the foolishness of Rehoboam to fulfill Ahijah’s prophecy (11:29–39).

  12:16 David. These words of Israel (v. 16) expressed deliberate, willful rebellion against the dynasty of David (cf. v. 19). Defiantly, the Israelites quoted the rallying cry used in Sheba’s failed rebellion against David (2 Sam. 20:1). The northern tribes declared that they had no legal tie with David and went their way.

  12:17 the children of Israel. People from the northern tribes who had migrated S and settled in Judah.

  12:18 Adoram. Sending the chief of taxation and forced labor (Adoniram in 4:6; 5:14) to negotiate with the northern tribes was foolish (cf. v. 4).

  12:19 to this day. See note on 8:8.

  12:20–24 The kingdom was divided at that point. Israel (the northern 10 tribes) had its own king.

  12:21 the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin had split loyalty and land during the divided-kingdom era. According to v. 20, only the tribe of Judah remained completely loyal to the house of David, but in vv. 21, 23 it is said that Benjamin was associated with “all the house of Judah,” the emphasis being on the tribe of Judah. Certain towns of northern Benjamin, most notably Bethel (v. 29), were included in the northern kingdom. Simeon, the tribe originally given land in the southern section of Judah’s territory (Josh. 19:1–9), had apparently migrated N and was counted with the 10 northern tribes (cf. 1 Chr. 12:23–25; 2 Chr. 15:9; 34:6). Thus, the 10 northern tribes were Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, and Ephraim. The southern kingdom was the tribe of Judah only. The 12th tribe, Benjamin, was split between the two kingdoms. The tribe of Levi, originally scattered throughout both kingdoms (Josh. 21:1–42), resided in Judah during the divided kingdom (see 2 Chr. 11:13–16).

  12:22 the man of God. Cf. 17:24. A common OT expression designating a man with a message from God who would speak authoritatively on the Lord’s behalf (cf. Deut 33:1; 2 Tim. 3:17). See note on Deut. 33:1.

  12:24 this thing is from Me. Through the prophet Shemaiah, the Lord commanded Rehoboam and his army not to invade Israel. God, in judgment, had ordained the N-S split (v. 15; 11:29–39), so to attack Israel was to oppose God Himself.

  12:25 Shechem. Cf. v. 1. Jeroboam fortified the city of Shechem and made it into his royal residence. Cf. Judg. 9:1–47. Penuel. Jeroboam also fortified Penuel, a city about 10 mi. E of the Jordan River on the River Jabbok, asserting his sovereignty over the Israelites E of the Jordan.

  12:26 return to the house of David. The Lord had ordained a political, not a religious, division of Solomon’s kingdom. The Lord had promised Jeroboam political control of the 10 northern tribes (11:31, 35, 37). However, Jeroboam was to religiously follow the Mosaic law, which demanded that he follow the Lord’s sacrificial system at the temple in Jerusalem (11:38). Having received the kingdom from God, he should have relied on divine protection, but he did not. Seeking to keep his subjects from being influenced by Rehoboam when they went to Jerusalem to worship, he set up worship in the north (vv. 27, 28).

  12:28 two calves of gold. These two calves, probably made of wood overlaid with gold, were presented to Israel as pedestals on which the Lord supposedly sat or stood. He publicly presented them with the very words with which idolatrous Israel had welcomed Aaron’s golden calf. He repeated Aaron’s destructive sin of trying to make an earthly image of God. See note on Ex. 32:4.

  12:29 Bethel…Dan. Bethel was located about 11 mi. N of Jerusalem within the territory of Benjamin (Josh. 18:11–13, 22). It lay at the southern end of Jeroboam’s kingdom on the main N-S road to Jerusalem. Israel had long revered Bethel as a sacred place because Jacob had worshiped there (Gen. 28:10–22; 35:1–15). Dan was located in the northernmost part of Jeroboam’s kingdom, about 25 mi. N of the Sea of Galilee. A paganized worship of the Lord was practiced at Dan during the period of the judges (Judg. 18:30, 31).

  12:30 this thing became a sin. Jeroboam’s policy promoted gross and flagrant violation of the second commandment (Ex. 20:4–6) and led to violation of the first commandment (Ex. 20:3).

  12:31 the high places. Jeroboam built minor sanctuaries on high places throughout the land of Israel. Over the centuries these high places became the breeding ground of Israel’s idolatrous apostasy (cf. Hos. 5:1). See note on 3:2. priests. Jeroboam appointed priests to run his sanctuaries from all his tribes. His action blatantly violated the stipulation that only Aaron’s descendants were to hold that office in Israel (Num. 3:10).

  12:32 ordained a feast. Jeroboam instituted a religious festival to compete with the Feast of the Tabernacles held at the temple in Jerusalem and sch
eduled it for the 15th day of the 8th month (Oct./Nov.), exactly one month after its divinely ordained Judean counterpart (Ex. 34:22, 23; Lev. 23:33–36, 39, 40).

  1 Kings 13

  13:1 man of God. See note on 12:22.

  13:2 Josiah. He ruled Judah about 300 years later ca. 640–609 B.C. (cf. 2 Kin. 22:1—23:30). sacrifice the priests of the high places. The prophet predicted that Josiah would slaughter the illegitimate priests of the high places of his day who made offerings on the altar at Bethel. This prophecy was realized in 2 Kin. 23:15–20, executing the divine judgment on the non-Levitical priesthood established by Jeroboam (12:31, 32).

  13:3 sign. An immediate “wonder” that served to authenticate the reliability of the long-term prediction (cf. Deut. 18:21, 22), this sign came to pass in v. 5. the ashes on it shall be poured out. Proper ritual required the disposal of sacrificial ashes in a special “clean” place (Lev. 4:12; 6:10, 11). Contact with the ground would render the ashes “unclean” and nullify the procedure.

  13:9 commanded me by the word of the LORD. The prophet’s divine commission expressly forbade receiving any hospitality at Bethel. It even required him to return home by a different route from the one by which he came, lest he should be recognized. The prophet’s own conduct was to symbolize the Lord’s total rejection of Israel’s false worship and the recognition that all the people had become apostates.

  13:11 an old prophet. Here was a spokesman for the Lord who had compromised his ministry by his willingness to live at the very center of the false system of worship without speaking out against it.

  1 Kin. 13:14

  Resuscitations From the Dead

  1. Widow of Zarephath’s son, raised by Elijah 1 Kin. 17:22

  2. Shunammite woman’s son, raised by Elisha 2 Kin. 4:34, 35

  3. Man raised when he came into contact with the bones of Elisha 2 Kin. 13:20, 21

  4. Widow of Nain’s son, raised by Jesus Luke 7:14, 15