Solomon’s Wives (Solomon): What was Solomon’s downfall? In his old age, he ignored God’s word on marriage, took hundreds of foreign wives and concubines, and started worshipping the idols of his many wives. But there were devastating consequences for his unfaithfulness. If Solomon, with all his advantages in life, couldn’t stay faithful to God, is there any hope for us? Recorded on Feb 1, 2026, on 1 Kings 11:1-13 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of the Solomon: The Legacy of a King series. King Solomon was a complex man whose story started some 3,000 years ago, when David, his father, was the most powerful and successful king of ancient Israel. David’s reign brought peace, prosperity, and plans to build the temple before handing the kingdom to Solomon. How would King Solomon handle living in the shadow of his great father’s legacy? Would he learn to be a wise and godly king? Could he overcome the plotting of his enemies, the dysfunction of his family, and the temptations of virtually unlimited wealth, fame, and women? What would be his legacy? Solomon’s story is a vital part of the history leading up to the ultimate son of David and anointed king, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Well, ever since September, we’ve been working through a sermon series on one of the most important kings of ancient Israel, in a series called Solomon: The Legacy of a King. And we’re approaching the end of the story of this famous king. We’ll be done at the end of February before starting a new series for Lent. But we’ve seen Solomon’s rise in fame and fortune. We’ve seen the Lord’s favor in Solomon’s life and the great accomplishments of his reign. People from all over the world heard about Solomon and many, like the Queen of Sheba, came to visit. Last week, Pastor Nate helped us consider Solomon’s virtually unlimited wealth. Life was good, right? Now, there were some questions about Solomon’s character along the way, especially with his wealth, but nothing obviously disqualifying. So far, we’ve seen the rise of Solomon, but today we’ll consider his downfall. He was warned. He had every resource at his disposal. He should’ve been prepared for this. But the mighty Solomon still had a great fall. Today, we’ll see what happened, and there is much to learn from that, but we’ll be asking ourselves this question: If Solomon, with all his advantages in life, couldn’t stay faithful to God, is there any hope for us? If you have your Bible/app, please open to 1 Kings 11:1. We’ll read through it and unpack it as we go.
1 Kings 11:1–3 (NIV), “1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.” Ok, so for months now, we’ve seen the rise of King Solomon and the united kingdom of ancient Israel. And here, we’ve come to the start of their downfall. Throughout this series, we’ve asked: Could Solomon overcome the temptations of virtually unlimited wealth, fame, and women? Maybe we should respond by asking: Could anyone resist that level of temptation? Maybe not. But, to be fair, in some ways, Solomon was acting here just like any other ancient king. Ancient kings often had multiple wives and concubines. Granted, Solomon seems to have gone way above and beyond the norm, but in those times and places, a large family represented power, prosperity, and the blessings of the gods. However, a large royal family could use multiple marriages to cement political alliances, demonstrate dominance over a kingdom you conquered, and provide potential heirs to the throne. Now, surely a king as wealthy as Solomon could afford to care for a thousand women and the children who came from his relationships with them. And maybe some of the peace and prosperity of Solomon’s kingdom seemed to come from (or at least were reinforced by) some of these marriages. But…are you starting to feel a little uncomfortable with all this? Is one man and a thousand women disturbing to consider? I hope so. Because, while it might’ve had a historic precedent for Solomon to have all these wives and concubines, and there might’ve been a pragmatic political benefit in their relationship with other surrounding kingdoms, here’s the problem: it was wrong. Contrary to what many people believe today, marriage is not a social construct that can be defined or redefined however we want. According to the Bible, marriage is a gift from God for all of humanity and is therefore governed by God. In the beginning, God said that marriage is when a man (singular) leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife (singular), and the two become one flesh (Ge 2:24). In our pre-marital counseling, we talk a lot about what that kind of “one flesh” relationship is supposed to be. It’s a whole-life oneness. How could that kind of relationship be shared with another? But of course, since sin entered into God’s good and perfect world, everything has been corrupted and distorted to some degree by sin, including marriage. So now, tragically, marriage can sometimes be the context of wickedness, abuse, and great harm. But that doesn’t mean we can jettison marriage as an institution or what God says about it when it gets hard, or whenever it’s convenient. Instead, it takes great wisdom, grace, love, loyalty, forgiveness, and just a ton of work to build and keep a healthy marriage—especially when God’s way is so different than the ways of the world. But Solomon hadn’t only violated God’s intention for marriage to be between one man and one woman. He violated other commandments, as well, one of which is referenced here in v. 2. “You must not intermarry with them,” meaning the people groups who occupied the land of Canaan before Israel. Ok, but why would this be a command of God? Did God not like these peoples? Was he prejudiced against them? That can’t be right. We’ve already seen God’s heart for the nations in the Temple project. Israel was supposed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, so that all the peoples of the world would be blessed by God. God has a huge heart for the nations. The gospel is good news for Jews and Gentiles, meaning for everyone! For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The reason for this commandment during the time of Moses was because (we’re told in Genesis), the people groups who lived in Canaan had committed so much evil that God used the Israelites to conquer them as a punishment for their generational, Sodom-and-Gomorrah-level sin, some of which had to do with their despicable religious practices, including temple prostitution and child sacrifice. God’s command not to intermarry with those peoples was because they were under the judgment of God. And God knew that if they married each other, the Israelites would be influenced by them in many ways, one of which was in the worship of their gods. “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” There it is. “Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.” Despite God’s pattern from creation and despite the clarity of God’s word and despite the fact that Solomon didn’t share a common faith with any of these women, Solomon, in all his vast wisdom, nevertheless, ignored all this and “held fast to them in love.” Even the wisest man alive had a huge moral blindspot. But what kind of impact would this have on Solomon and the kingdom?
1 Kings 11:4-8 (NIV), “4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.” So, this wasn’t just unwise. Solomon wasn’t playing the fool he wrote so much about in the book of Proverbs. This was a complete and utter moral and spiritual calamity. Why? Because Solomon was the king. He had all the money/authority/attention of the whole kingdom. So when he was leading the people the right way, in listening to and obeying God’s word, the people followed their king, God lavished his blessings on them, and the kingdom flourished. But when Solomon started marching off in the wrong direction, rejecting God’s word and doing what he wanted—not remaining fully devoted to Yahweh his God—again, the people followed their king, and it ruined everything. Solomon was faithful to God…until he wasn’t. As an old man, he had a heart problem. He had a heart disease. Solomon’s heart for all his foreign wives, and his disordered love for them, expanded to include their gods as well. He wasn’t wise in who he married, and it hurt him badly. How can two become one flesh, how can you have whole-life oneness, when you’re not on the same page about your faith in God? So is it that big of a surprise that Solomon’s heart started to drift from Yahweh his God? But what the author of the book of Kings presents here is not just a moment of doubt, or even a crisis of faith. They present King Solomon as one who not only allowed idol worship in his kingdom, but approved of it and even facilitated it! Just as he had built the grand Temple for Yahweh in Jerusalem, so he also eventually built places of worship for these idols, including supposedly sacred poles or trees for worship of Ashtoreth, the fertility goddess of the Sidonians. Her worship included ritual prostitution and other sexual immorality. I wonder how many wives worshiped her before Solomon started? But he also built high places for Molek and Chemosh, both of whom were worshiped with human and even child sacrifice. The thinking was that if you offered your baby to Molek, for example, and they were burned in a ritual fire at one of these high places, then Molek would bless your family with financial security and provision. What a horrifying and barbaric practice. It makes me think of Jesus’ words in Mt 18, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Mt 18:6). God calls these idols detestable and abominations; God hates these practices because a good father will hate anything that harms their children. Woe to anyone who messes with kids. And here, we have the Lord’s anointed building high places for and offering sacrifices to these abominations. Now, did Solomon offer any of his children? It doesn’t say, but even if he didn’t, surely Solomon knew this was so wrong. He was way out of bounds here. But what could be done? Could anyone intervene? As we’ve seen, it was Solomon’s job to rule and reign according to justice and righteousness. Wherever righteousness was lacking, justice was required. But if Solomon was this far off, who could make this right? Who would be able to bring justice to bear?
1 Kings 11:9–13 (NIV), “9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” This is God’s word. The Lord became angry with Solomon. No kidding! I would’ve been furious. After everything God had done for him and his kingdom, God had been nothing but kind to Solomon and had graciously lavished his wisdom and wealth on him. He was so good and so faithful to him, and this is how Solomon repaid him, with disloyalty, disobedience, and detestable worship practices. But even worse, he led others down this path of destruction and death! Solomon never should’ve married Pharaoh’s daughter to begin with. Nevertheless, just as he failed to remain faithful to her in marrying all these other royal women (or acting married in the case of the concubines), so he failed to remain faithful to God and followed and worshiped all these other false gods. One of the things that makes marriage so powerful as God intended it to be is its exclusivity. This is true in our relationship with God as well. According to the Bible, there aren’t many gods and goddesses to pick and choose from; there is only one true and living God. And one of the things that makes our worship and our relationship with God so powerful in Christ is its exclusivity. There is only one. And you either follow him and worship him and serve him and love him, or you don’t. But when people try to take other paths, that doesn’t mean they stop worshipping. They continue to worship gods of their own making. As the Apostle Paul writes, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” (Ro 1:25). But this never ends well. Solomon’s heart problem, his disordered loves, had devastating consequences for both his family and his kingdom. God said that as a result of his covenant faithfulness (and Solomon’s covenant unfaithfulness), his kingdom would be torn away from him. However, (nevertheless!) God is still merciful even in the severity of his judgment. This wouldn’t happen in his lifetime. After Solomon, the united kingdom would be broken into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, would only have one tribe left to his name, but the idolatry that was practiced by the aging king would continue to plague Israel and Judah until the destruction of the Exile. Even though it happened so soon after the high point of the whole Old Testament, we cannot overstate how disastrous these actions of Solomon would be for the rest of the Old Testament. But maybe that’s where we need to land today. Maybe that’s the application for us. Should we be faithful to our spouse in marriage? Yes, of course. Should we be exclusive in our relationship with God? Yes, of course. There are devastating consequences if you aren’t exclusive in marriage or in faith. But a bigger question as I consider Solomon’s rise and fall is this: If Solomon, with all his advantages in life, couldn’t stay faithful to God, is there any hope for us? Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. He lacked nothing. He had God’s word. He had the time to figure out how to live and reign. He had all the money in the world. He had the God of the universe on his side. Solomon was just at the high point of the whole OT. If Solomon fell, then seriously, what hope is there for us? Well, the good news of the gospel is, yes, there is hope for us. But our hope is not in ourselves. We are not the hero of our own story. It reminds me of when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Mt 19:16), and when Jesus replied, teaching about how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, the disciples were baffled and they replied, “Who then can be saved?” (Mt 19:25). If those among us with all the advantages/resources will struggle with this, if the rich young ruler will struggle with this, if King Solomon struggled with this, who then can be saved? But friends, this is why everyone needs Jesus. Because everyone needs a savior, even Solomon. Sin is powerful, and the pull of temptations can be so strong. It’s hard to stay faithful over the course of a lifetime. Even the most knowledgeable, even the most wise, even the most accomplished/talented/faithful man or woman will need the blood of Jesus. But thank God we have a compassionate and gracious God! He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love! And he was willing to send his own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because even the best among us needs more than help sometimes. We need to be saved. But praise God, salvation has come through the person and work of Jesus. Solomon’s sin didn’t derail God’s plans or promises. He would still build a kingdom through the house and line of David. He would still build a kingdom that would never end. His kingdom would still be ruled by an anointed royal son. It would just be built on the Lord Jesus Christ, not on Solomon. Is there any hope for us? Yes! Yes, there is hope! No matter who you are or what you have done, no matter how far off the path you’ve wandered, you can always come back. Because there is hope in Jesus Christ. Let us pray.
