There was one redeeming feature in the backslidings of Solomon-he did not put in a claim for what he had done and given towards the building of the Temple. He did very wickedly in yielding to his wives, and building altars to their favorite divinities.
For the sake of domestic peace he sacrificed the purity of the worship of Jehovah, and “went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.” And he built high places “for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods” (1 Kings 11:8). But he did not put a mortgage on the Temple to pay for them; nor did he withdraw the offerings which he had made to God.
He made no attempt to turn the Temple over to the priests of Baal. Bad as his case was, it might have been worse. But if God was angry with him, how must he feel towards those who labor to destroy what they formerly built for God?
–B.T. Roberts
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