Nehemiah 13:26 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

Did not Solomon sin by these things? He quotes a precedent to show the pernicious consequences of their conduct, which were such as rendered it necessary that their sin should be animadverted upon by the government. The falls of great and good men are therefore recorded, that we may take warning by them to shun the temptations by which they were overcome. Solomon was famous for wisdom; yet, when he married strange wives, his wisdom could not secure him from the snares of such connections: nay, it departed from him, and he acted very foolishly as well as wickedly. He was beloved of God, but his conduct, in that particular, threw him out of God's favour, and went near entirely to extinguish the grace of God in his soul. He was king over Israel, but that lost his house ten of the twelve tribes. You plead that you can marry strange wives, and yet retain the purity of Israelites; but Solomon himself could not; even him did outlandish women cause to sin Therefore let him that assuredly standeth, take heed lest he fall, when he runs upon such a precipice.

Nehemiah 13:26

26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.