Women in the Bible

Women of Solomon

1 Kings 3:1; 7:8; 10:8; 11:1-8; Nehemiah 13:26

• 1 Kings 11:1-4 King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.

• Nehemiah 13:26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin.

List of Reading & Resources:

Articles

• “Women of Solomon: Bible” by Diana Edelman

• “Solomon” by Sarah Malena

Books

• “1 and 2 Kings” (pp. 164-179) by Cameron B. R. Howard in The Women’s Bible Commentary, edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley (2012)

• “Anonymous Women and the Collapse of the Monarchy: A Study in Narrative Technique” (pp.43-65) by Adele Reinhartz in A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings, edited by Athalya Brenner (1994)

• The lsraelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative by Athalya Brenner (1985)