1 Kings 11:5

Hebrew Bible

4 When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 5 Solomon worshiped the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. 6 Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not remain loyal to the Lord, as his father David had. 7 Furthermore, on the hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a high place for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom.

2 Kings 23:13

Hebrew Bible

12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley. 13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom. 14 He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled those shrines with human bones.

 Notes and References

"... the Deuteronomist—and his hero King Josiah—shared the Shilonite priests' antipathy toward Solomon and Jeroboam, the two kings who had removed the Shilonites from authority. In the case of Solomon, the historian said that Solomon went wrong in his old age, that he turned to pagan religion, that he followed the Sidonian goddess Ashtoreth, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom, and that he built high places to these deities on a hill opposite Jerusalem. Then the historian reported at the end of the history that part of Josiah's reform was to eliminate these very high places. His language made it clear that he meant to picture Solomon's acts in the worst light possible. He wrote that Josiah defiled the high places that were opposite Jerusalem ... that Solomon King of Israel had built to Ashtoreth, the Sidonians' disgusting thing, and to Chemosh, the disgusting thing of Moab, and to Milcom, the Ammonites' abomination. So much for Solomon. The Deuteronomist also wrote critically about Jeroboam's religious building activities, namely the golden calf high places of Dan and Beth-El, and he reported that Josiah destroyed at least the Beth-El high place as well ..."

Friedman, Richard Elliott Who Wrote the Bible? (p. 124) Harper San Francisco, 1997

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