Solomon's Downfall

"But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites… And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart." He goes after Ashtoreth of the Zidonians and Milcom of the Ammonites, and builds high places for Chemosh of Moab and Molech "in the hill that is before Jerusalem."

"Forasmuch as this is done of thee… I will surely rend the kingdom from thee… Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake… but I will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."

Hadad the Edomite, who had fled to Egypt as a child and married Pharaoh's sister-in-law, returns to trouble Israel. Rezon rules in Damascus. Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite in charge of the labor of the house of Joseph, meets the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh on the road. Ahijah tears his new garment into twelve pieces: "Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD… I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee." Solomon seeks to kill Jeroboam, who flees "unto Shishak king of Egypt." "And the rest of the acts of Solomon… are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?" Solomon reigns forty years and is buried in the city of David.

Seven hundred wives

Ancient kings sealed alliances with marriages (the Amarna letters, Mari). The numbers are the book's claim and may be rhetorical; Song of Songs 6:8 gives sixty queens and eighty concubines. The library's Greek in 11:1–3 is arranged differently from the Hebrew. For many of these women marriage was a political arrangement made for them; the text blames them for Solomon's choices, but it is Solomon who builds the shrines.

Chemosh and Molech

Chemosh was the god of Moab, named on the Mesha Stele. Milcom was the god of Ammon. The high places Solomon built are said to have stood until Josiah destroyed them about three centuries later (2 Kings 23:13).

Shishak and the lost Book of the Acts of Solomon

Shishak is the first pharaoh named in the Bible, usually identified with Shoshenq I (c. 945–924 BC). The "book of the acts of Solomon" (11:41) is one of the sources Kings cites by name. It has not survived; no fragment or quotation outside Kings is known. See the passage page.