For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Ver. 5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth,] i.e., Venus, as some will have it, or Juno, as others.
And after Milcom,] i.e., Saturn, as it is thought. Hinc patet Solomonem vere coluisse idola, saith A Lapide: hence it appeareth that Solomon did indeed worship idols: yea, Pineda and Salianus say, that he sacrificed his sons to this Milcom or Moloch. But I cannot be of that mind. He gave way, indeed, to those idolatries, and built temples for those dunghill deities, &c., atque ita obnubilabat gloriae multiplices cursus, as Marcellinus saith of Julian, and thereby be much dishonoured and endangered himself; carnal love drowning his zeal to God.