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; Judges 2:13
and after Milcom the abomination of the Amnonites; the same with Molech, 1 Kings 11:7.
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 Ασταρτη. m De Dea Syria.