📖WEB · 1 Kings 11:7
What does 1 Kings 11:7 mean?
"Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon."
— 1 Kings 11:7 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father was.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Solomon did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and didn’t go fully after Yahweh, as David his father did.
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Yahweh was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he didn’t keep that which Yahweh commanded.
Explanation
1 Kings 11:7 records a sobering moment in the life of Solomon, Israel's third king, describing how he built pagan worship sites on a hill near Jerusalem. Specifically, the verse says he constructed a "high place" — an elevated outdoor shrine typical of ancient Near Eastern religion — dedicated to Chemosh, the national god of Moab, and to Molech, the god associated with the Ammonites. The text explicitly labels these deities as "abominations," a strong term used throughout the Old Testament to describe practices utterly detestable to God, often connected to child sacrifice and other rites forbidden in the Law of Moses.
The context is essential to understanding this verse. First Kings 11 explains that Solomon, despite his God-given wisdom and the glory of his reign, had accumulated many foreign wives — the text says seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines — largely through political marriage alliances with surrounding nations. Verses 1 through 6 describe how these wives "turned his heart away" from full devotion to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and led him to embrace the gods of Sidon, Moab, and Ammon. This was written as part of the larger narrative history of Israel's kings (traditionally attributed to a prophetic author or compiler working from court records), intended to explain Israel's later national decline and eventual division of the kingdom as consequences of covenant unfaithfulness, particularly idolatry at the highest levels of leadership.
Theologically, this verse marks a tragic turning point. Sol
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