5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Went after - This expression is common in the Pentateuch, and always signifies actual idolatry (see Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:14, etc.).
For Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, see Exodus 34:13, note; Deuteronomy 16:21, note. On the tomb of a Phoenician king, discovered in 1855, on the site of Sidon, mention is made of a temple of Astarte there, which the monarch built or restored; and his mother is said to have been a priestess of the goddess.
Milcom or Molech 1-Kings 11:7 are variants of the term ordinarily used for "king" among the Semitic races of Western Asia, which appears in melkarth (Phoenic.), Abimelech (Hebrew), Andrammelek (Assyrian), Abd-ul-malik (Arabic), etc. On the character and worship of Molech, see Leviticus 20:2-5 note.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after (d) Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
(d) Who was also called Molech in (1-Kings 11:7). See also (2-Kings 23:10).
And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians,.... Enticed by the Zidonian women, or woman, he had, 1-Kings 11:1. According to the Phoenician histories (i), Solomon married a daughter of Hiram, king of Tyre and Zidon; so Clemens of Alexandria says (k), that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon; Ashtoreth is Astarte, the same with the Venus of the Greeks, so Suidas (l); and Lucian (m) 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.
(i) Apud Tatian. contr. Graecos, p. 171. (k) Stromat. l. 1. p. 325. (l) In voce (m) De Dea Syria.
Ashtoreth--Astarte,
Milcom--Molech,
and Chemosh--He built altars for these three; but, although he is described (1-Kings 11:8) as doing the same for "all his strange wives," there is no evidence that they had idols distinct from these; and there is no trace whatever of Egyptian idolatry.
Milcom - Called also Moloch.
*More commentary available at chapter level.