John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 11

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 with her; it is very probable she was a proselytess, and had no hand in turning him to idolatry, since we read not of any high place built for an Egyptian idol:

women of the Moabites, Anmonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites ;
all of the neighbouring nations. Some think he did this with political views, to get intelligence of the state of those countries, or to abate and extinguish their enmity; but it rather seems to be the fruit of lust or pride.

Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the
children of Israel, you 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 7:1Deuteronomy 7:3)

for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods ;
which is the reason given for the making the above law, and was sadly verified in Solomon:

Solomon clung to these in love ;
he not only took them, but kept them, and expressed a strong affection for them.

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 (Song of Solomon 6:8) , unless the virgins without number there, were such of these as were not defiled by him; but the number here seems plainly referred to in (Ecclesiastes 7:28) ,

and his wives turned away his heart ;
both from his duty to his God, and from attendance to his business as a king, especially the former, as follows.

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 to be still wiser, and less lustful: and yet

that his wives turned away his heart after other gods ;
or as pointing at the advantage his wives took of his age:

and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart
of David his father ;
who, though guilty of many sins, never inclined to idolatry; his heart was always right in that point, and sincere in his worship, see (Psalms 18:20–24) .

And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians ,
&c.] Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, (1 Kings 11:1) . According to the Phoenician histories ^F9 , Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre and Zidon; so Clemens of Alexandria says ^F11 , that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon; Ashtoreth is Astarte, the same with the Venus of the Greeks, so Suidas ^F12 ; and Lucian ^F13 expressly says, the Sidonians had a temple, said by them to belong to Astarte, which he takes to be the moon; and both Venus and Juno signify the same planet; (See Gill on Judges 2:13)

and after Milcom the abomination of the Amnonites ;
the same with Molech, (1 Kings 11:7) . (See Gill on Leviticus 18:21). (See Gill on Amos 1:13). After this he was drawn by his Ammonitish wife, or wives, (1 Kings 11:1) , though the Jewish writers think he did not worship these idols, but suffered his wives to do it, and connived at it, which was his sin; so Ben Gersom and Abarbinel.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Apud Tatian. contr. Graecos, p. 171.
• F11: Stromat. l. 1. p. 325.
• F12: In voce (Astarth) .
• F13: De Dea Syria.