“For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Kings 11:5 Mean?
Solomon's apostasy is catalogued with devastating specificity: he went after Ashtoreth (the Sidonian fertility goddess) and Milcom (the Ammonite national deity, described as "the abomination of the Ammonites"). The wisest man in history chose the most foolish possible path: abandoning the God who gave him wisdom for gods who can offer nothing.
The word "went after" (halak acharei — to follow, to pursue, to chase) describes intentional, sustained pursuit. Solomon didn't stumble into idolatry. He walked toward it. The same vocabulary used for following God (Deuteronomy 13:4: "ye shall walk after the LORD") is now used for pursuing false gods. The direction of the walking changed; the deliberateness didn't.
The narrator identifies both gods with their national and moral associations: Ashtoreth is "of the Zidonians" (connecting the idolatry to Solomon's foreign wives), and Milcom is "the abomination of the Ammonites" (adding moral revulsion to the identification). Solomon isn't just worshipping other gods; he's worshipping the specific gods his wives brought into his household.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does Solomon's fall — the wisest man pursuing the most foolish path — challenge the assumption that intelligence protects against spiritual failure?
- 2.What does 'went after' (deliberate, sustained pursuit) teach about how idolatry operates gradually?
- 3.How did the mechanism (foreign wives) fulfill the exact warning of Deuteronomy 17:17?
- 4.Where might gradual compromise be slowly reversing the direction of your walking?
Devotional
Solomon — the wisest man who ever lived — went after Ashtoreth and Milcom. The man who built God's temple built shrines for the gods of his foreign wives. The wisdom that impressed the Queen of Sheba couldn't protect him from the influence of the bedroom.
The word "went after" is what hurts most. It's deliberate. Sustained. Intentional. The same verb the Torah uses for following God is here applied to following Ashtoreth and Milcom. Solomon didn't slip. He walked — in the wrong direction, with the same determination he once walked in the right one. The feet that carried him to Gibeon to seek God (chapter 3) now carry him to the high places of Ammonite abomination.
The foreign wives are the mechanism. Deuteronomy 17:17 warned the king: "neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away." Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines later (verse 3), the prediction is fulfilled with exact precision. The heart that was supposed to remain undivided has been divided among a thousand women and their thousand gods.
The narrator's use of "abomination" (shiqquts) for Milcom is the moral vocabulary reserved for the most repulsive forms of idolatry — the same word used for the abomination of desolation (Daniel 11:31). Solomon has brought what is most repulsive to God into the city where God chose to dwell. The temple and the abomination exist in the same Jerusalem, built by the same king.
Wisdom doesn't immunize against compromise. The smartest person in the room is as vulnerable to gradual spiritual drift as the simplest. Solomon's fall didn't require stupidity. It required one compromised relationship at a time, over years, until the direction of the walking had reversed completely.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,.... Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, Kg1…
Went after - This expression is common in the Pentateuch, and always signifies actual idolatry (see Deu 11:28; Deu 13:2;…
This is a sad story, and very surprising, of Solomon's defection and degeneracy.
I. Let us enquire into the occasions…
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians Ashtoreth was the chief female divinity of the Phœnicians, as Baal was their…
Cross References
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