838 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver,.... Which, reckoning at two shillings and six pence a shekel, amounted to seventy five pounds; but a shekel was not worth more than two shillings and four pence farthing: and an horse for one hundred and fifty; and this being the fourth part of the above sum, the Jews...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 11 This chapter relates the false steps Solomon took, notwithstanding all his wisdom, in marrying strange wives, and worshipping other gods, 1 Kings 11:1 upon which the Lord threatens him to rend the kingdom in his son's time, 1 Kings 11:9 and he raised up adversaries against him, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:14...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But King Solomon loved many strange women,.... His love was a lustful and not a lawful one, and of women who were not only of foreign countries, but not his lawful wives, and these many: together with the daughter of Pharaoh; besides her, or as he loved her, and perhaps more; his sin was not that he loved her who was his lawful wife, but others...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you,.... That is, they should not intermarry with one another; this is to be understood of the last mentioned, the Hittites, who were one of the seven nations this law respected, Deuteronomy 7:1 for surely they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines,.... In all 1000, a prodigious number; though these might not be all for use, but for state after the manner of the eastern monarchs; these were a far greater number than are alluded to in So 6:8, unless the virgins without number there, were such of these as were not defiled...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when Solomon was old,.... Toward the latter end of his reign, when he might be near sixty years of age; for Rehoboam his son and successor was forty one when he began to reign, 1 Kings 14:21 which is observed either as an aggravation of the sin of Solomon, that in his old age, when by long experience he might have been thought...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,.... Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, 1 Kings 11:1. According to the Phoenician histories (i), Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre and Zidon; so Clemens of Alexandria says (k), that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon; Ashtoreth is Astarte, the same with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... As idolatry is, nothing more provoking to him: and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father; for though he did not relinquish the worship of the true God, and the service of the temple, yet inasmuch as he worshipped other gods besides, or connived at the worship of them, he did not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Mesh,.... Of this idol, [See comments on Jeremiah 48:7], an high place for which he ordered to be built, or at least suffered it to be built, at the instigation of his Moabitish woman or women, 1 Kings 11:1, this was built in the hill that is before Jerusalem; on the mount...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And likewise did he for all his strange wives,.... That is, built high places for their idols, or suffered them to be built; for when he had done it for one, he could not refuse it to another, without greatly disobliging them; even for as many of them, which burnt incense, and sacrificed unto their gods; the gods of the countries from whence they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel,.... Or from the fear of him, as the Targum, which must in a great measure be cast off, or he could not have given in to idolatry in any shape as he did; for it was for that the Lord was displeased, the which nothing is more provoking to him, as may be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods,.... Which is another aggravation of his sin that it was against an express command of God, and was particularly given him, and he was warned to observe it, and threatened with evil should he break it: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded: see 1 Kings 9:5.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon,.... Not in a vision, as before, but by a prophet; the Jews say (n), Ahijah the Shilonite, which is probable, see 1 Kings 11:29 forasmuch as this is done of thee, that thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee; but broke them by his idolatry: I will surely rend the kingdom from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake,.... Not for the merits of David, but the promises made to him, 2 Samuel 7:12, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son; and immediate successor, Rehoboam.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom,.... The whole kingdom of Israel: but will give one tribe to thy son; but it seems he had both Benjamin and Judah, and only ten tribes were rent from him; the reason of this mode of expression may be, either because he gave him one of the tribes of Israel, besides that of Judah, which was his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite,.... Though he did not take his kingdom from him for his sin, he chastised him with the rod of men, as he said he would; suffering one, and then another, to rise up and disturb his peace in his old age, see 2 Samuel 7:14 he was of the king's seed in Edom; of the blood royal.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For it came to pass, when David was in Edom,.... Fighting with the Edomites, and subduing them, and putting garrisons in the land, 2 Samuel 8:14 and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain: the Israelites that fell in battle, or whom the Edomites afterwards, through stratagem and surprise, fell upon in their garrisons and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For six months did Joab remain with all Israel,.... With the whole army: until he had cut off every male in Edom; as he supposed; for it was not fact, since after this they increased again, and became a powerful people, and had a king over them, and revolted from Judah, 2 Kings 8:20.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That Hadad fled,.... While Joab was burying the slain: he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him; who either was a king, and these some of his officers and courtiers; or however was of the royal family, and had an equipage, and these some of them: to go into Egypt; that was their view at first setting out, where they might hope for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they arose out of Midian,.... A country which lay in their way to Egypt, and where it seems they made some stay, and then departed: and came to Paran; near to which was a wilderness of the same name, in which the Israelites wandered when they came out of Egypt, and which lay between Edom and Egypt: and they took men with them out of Paran;...