The Fallible Study Bible

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1 Kings11:41–43

The Death of Solomon

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

1 Kings 11:41–43 — The Death of Solomon. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

41

As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ye·ṯer diḇ·rê šə·lō·mōh wə·ḵāl ’ă·šer ‘ā·śāh wə·ḥā·ḵə·mā·ṯōw hêm hă·lō·w- kə·ṯu·ḇîm ‘al- sê·p̄er diḇ·rê šə·lō·mōh

Word by word14 · parsed
וְיֶ֨תֶרwə·ye·ṯerAs for the restH3499
√ yether — properly, an overhanging, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
yether, an overhanging, remainder (H3499) The formula word of the book of Kings. Its picture is of material hanging over the edge, and it functions as an editorial confession: what follows in Scripture is chosen, not exhaustive. Benson infers a court chronicler from it, and says the sacred writer "took what he judged most useful, and omitted the rest." The same word returns over Rehoboam at 1 Kings 14:29, so Solomon is not given a unique exemption from the archive formula.
דִּבְרֵ֧יdiḇ·rêof the actsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
dâbâr, a word (H1697) Plural construct: the words, hence the deeds, of Solomon. Hebrew historiography does not separate a king's speech from a king's acts, which is why the Chronicler can title his own book by this same noun. Cambridge records that both the AV and RV margins keep "words" here precisely because Solomon's greatness was largely verbal.
שְׁלֹמֹ֛הšə·lō·mōhof SolomonH8010
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
וְכָל־wə·ḵālallH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
עָשָׂ֖ה‘ā·śāhhe didH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
ʻâsâh, to do or make (H6213) Qal perfect, third masculine singular: the completed whole of a life's doing. In this chapter the same verb has already been turned against him (he did evil, he made high places), so "all that he did" is not flattery here; it is a closed file.
וְחָכְמָת֑וֹwə·ḥā·ḵə·mā·ṯōwas well as his wisdomH2451
√ chokmâh — wisdom (in a good sense)Conjunctive wawNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
chokmâh, wisdom in a good sense (H2451) The theological center of the verse. The wisdom given in answer to prayer is now an archival entry, not a verdict. K&D is candid that the question the older commentators pressed, whether Solomon turned back to the LORD with his whole heart, "cannot be ascertained from the Scriptures"; the historian records the wisdom and withholds the judgment.
הֵ֣םhêm[are] theyH1992
√ hêm — they (only used when emphatic)Pronounthird person masculine plural
הֲלֽוֹא־hă·lō·w-notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
Interrogative particle with the negative: the rhetorical "are they not," assuming a reader who can check.
כְּתֻבִ֔יםkə·ṯu·ḇîmwrittenH3789
√ kâthab — to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)VerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural
kâthab, to grave, to write (H3789) Qal passive participle. The state of being on record, with no named writer. Ellicott observes that 2 Chronicles 9:29 names prophets as the annalists (Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo) and adds that "The prophets appear here in the character of annalists"; Poole answers that the book cited here was "only a political, but not a sacred book." The unit therefore holds two sourced opinions that do not agree, and Scripture itself does not settle which.
עַל־‘al-inH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
סֵ֖פֶרsê·p̄erthe BookH5612
√ çêpher — properly, writing (the art or a document)Nounmasculine singular construct
çêpher, writing, a document (H5612) Construct before "the words of Solomon": a scroll, a document, not a bound book. Cambridge identifies the office behind it, an official recorder attached to the royal household. The same noun anchors the recurring citation formula throughout Kings, and it is the word that will one day be used of the book of the Law found in the temple in 2 Kings 22.
דִּבְרֵ֥יdiḇ·rêof the ActsH1697
√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine plural construct
שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃šə·lō·mōhof SolomonH8010
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
42

Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·hay·yā·mîm ’ă·šer šə·lō·mōh mā·laḵ ḇî·rū·šā·lim ‘al- kāl- yiś·rā·’êl ’ar·bā·‘îm šā·nāh

Word by word10 · parsed
וְהַיָּמִ֗יםwə·hay·yā·mîmThus the timeH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Conjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine plural
yôwm, a day (H3117) Plural with the article: the days, the sum of lived time rather than an abstract span. The word opens the verse where the BSB reads "Thus the time," and Pulpit marks the difference explicitly. Kings measures every reign this way, and the Psalter measures every life this way ("The days of our years are threescore years and ten," Psalm 90:10), a psalm of Moses that the tradition set beside the wisdom Solomon is remembered for.
אֲשֶׁר֩’ă·šerthatH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
שְׁלֹמֹ֤הšə·lō·mōhSolomonH8010
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
מָלַ֨ךְmā·laḵreignedH4427
√ mâlak — to reignVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
mâlak, to reign (H4427) Qal perfect, third masculine singular. In Kings this verb carries the regnal formula that will be repeated for every successor; here it is used for the last time of Solomon. The lexeme is common (284 verses), so its recurrence across the closing notices is a pattern of form, not a quotation.
בִירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ḇî·rū·šā·limin JerusalemH3389
√ Yᵉrûwshâlaim — Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of PalestinePreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular
עַל־‘al-overH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
kôl, properly the whole (H3605) "All Israel" is the phrase that will not be true again in this book. Within a single chapter Ahijah has torn a garment into twelve pieces and given ten away; the historian still measures Solomon's forty years by a wholeness that outlived him by days.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êlIsraelH3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
אַרְבָּעִ֖ים’ar·bā·‘îm[was] fortyH705
√ ʼarbâʻîym — fortyNumbercommon plural
ʼarbâʻîym, forty (H705) The third consecutive forty-year reign. Barnes records both the oddity and the restraint required: it is "remarkable" that Saul, David and Solomon each reigned forty years, "but such numerical coincidences occur from time to time in exact history." Ellicott likewise refuses to read the number as a round figure for "long duration."
שָׁנָֽה׃šā·nāhyearsH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine singular
shâneh, a year, a revolution of time (H8141) Singular after the plural numeral, as Hebrew requires. K&D draws the arithmetic out: Solomon "was not more than twenty years old when he ascended the throne," so forty years of reign still leave a man who did not reach great age.
43

And Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. And his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šə·lō·mōh way·yiš·kaḇ ‘im- ’ă·ḇō·ṯāw way·yiq·qā·ḇêr bə·‘îr ’ā·ḇîw dā·wiḏ bə·nōw rə·ḥaḇ·‘ām way·yim·lōḵ taḥ·tāw

Word by word12 · parsed
שְׁלֹמֹה֙šə·lō·mōhAnd SolomonH8010
√ Shᵉlômôh — Shelomah, David's successorNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּשְׁכַּ֤בway·yiš·kaḇrestedH7901
√ shâkab — to lie down (for rest, sexual connection, decease or any other purpose)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
shâkab, to lie down (H7901) Qal consecutive imperfect. The formula "lay down with his fathers" is the standard death notice of the kings, and its very standardness is the point: Poole argues at length that it carries no moral verdict, which is why the question of Solomon's end has to be argued from elsewhere (Ecclesiastes, 2 Chronicles 11:17) rather than from this word.
עִם־‘im-withH5973
√ ʻim — adverb or preposition, with (iPreposition
אֲבֹתָ֔יו’ă·ḇō·ṯāwhis fathersH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine singular
ʼâb, father (H1) Plural construct with suffix. In v. 43 the word occurs twice within six words, first of the ancestors gathered in death, then of David singly. The repetition binds Solomon's dying to the one father whose throne and city he received, and whose name the historian will keep invoking as the standard of comparison long after Solomon is gone.
וַיִּ֨קָּבֵ֔רway·yiq·qā·ḇêrand was buriedH6912
√ qâbar — to interConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
qâbar, to inter (H6912) Niphal consecutive imperfect, the passive of burial. Gill locates the tomb precisely: "not in Bethlehem, but Zion," reading this verse with 1 Kings 2:10, where David himself was buried in the city of David.
בְּעִ֖ירbə·‘îrin the cityH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-bNounfeminine singular construct
ʻîyr, a city, a place guarded by a watch (H5892) Construct: the city of his father David, that is, Zion. The temple he built stood there, yet the closing notice names the city by David's name, not by Solomon's works.
אָבִ֑יו’ā·ḇîwof his fatherH1
√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
דָּוִ֣דdā·wiḏDavidH1732
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
בְּנ֖וֹbə·nōwAnd his sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular
bên, a son, as a builder of the family name (H1121) Strong's root sense is telling here: the son builds the family name. Pulpit, quoting Bishop Hall, presses the irony that the king of a thousand wives and concubines has, so far as the record shows, one son, and that the son will unbuild in a single day at Shechem what the father spent forty years assembling.
רְחַבְעָ֥םrə·ḥaḇ·‘āmRehoboamH7346
√ Rᵉchabʻâm — Rechabam, an Israelite kingNounpropermasculine singular
וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְway·yim·lōḵreignedH4427
√ mâlak — to reignConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
mâlak, to reign (H4427) Consecutive imperfect: reigning begins again. The same verb that stood in the perfect over Solomon's closed forty years now runs forward into chapter 12, where the ten tribes will be torn from the hand of the very son named in this clause.
תַּחְתָּֽיו׃סtaḥ·tāwin his placeH8478
√ tachath — the bottom (as depressed)Prepositionthird person masculine singular
tachath, the bottom, in the room of (H8478) The succession word of Kings. It says less than English "succeeded him": it says the son stands in the place under, in the room of, the father. Every king of this book will be handed the same preposition, and each one dies and hands it on again.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The overhang: a king filed in another man's book — 11:41

The closing formula begins with וְיֶ֨תֶר (yether, H3499), whose root sense Strong's gives as "properly, an overhanging." What Scripture has told is not all there was, and the historian says so in his first word. Cambridge names the institution behind the citation: an official recorder "attached to the royal household" who "kept a chronicle of events." Ellicott goes further and reads the whole narrative of Kings as "a compilation drawn from various sources," pointing to 2 Chronicles 9:29, where the annalists are prophets: Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo. Poole disagrees about the nature of the cited volume, calling it "only a political, but not a sacred book," and Geneva adds a tradition that it was "lost in their captivity." ⚙ These are three honest positions and they do not merge. What the text itself asserts is narrower and firmer than any of them: the acts and the wisdom stand כְּתֻבִ֔ים, on record, and the reader is asked "are they not," as though he could go and look. Note what the inspired writer chose to keep and what he sent to the archive. He kept Gibeon, the temple, the queen of Sheba, the foreign wives, the adversaries, and the torn kingdom. He sent the rest away.

ii. Forty years over all Israel, counted in days — 11:42

The verse opens with וְהַיָּמִ֗ים, "the days," a fact the Pulpit Commentary flags in brackets where the English prints "the time." Days are how a reign is actually spent; years are how it is summarized. Barnes notes the pattern of three consecutive forty-year reigns and refuses to make it a symbol, judging that "such numerical coincidences occur from time to time in exact history," and Ellicott likewise denies that the figures are "merely round numbers, signifying long duration." Gill and Cambridge both take up the competing ancient figures: Gill cites Eupolemus for a life of fifty two years and Josephus for a reign of eighty, while Cambridge dismisses the eighty as "a mistake" and puts Solomon at not more than sixty at death; K&D reaches a similar place by reasoning that he was "not more than twenty years old when he ascended the throne." ⚙ The weight of the verse, though, is not in the arithmetic but in עַל־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל, "over all Israel." That phrase is written thirty verses after God said he would tear the kingdom away, and one chapter before he does. It is an epitaph for a unity that dies with the man.

iii. He lay down, and another stood in his place — 11:43

Three verbs close the life: he lay down (וַיִּשְׁכַּ֤ב, H7901), he was buried (Niphal, וַיִּ֨קָּבֵ֔ר, H6912), and his son reigned תַּחְתָּֽיו, in his place. Poole is careful about the first: the idiom "is promiscuously used concerning good and bad, and signifies only that they died as their fathers did." That caution sets up the oldest controversy in this unit. Poole himself concludes from Ecclesiastes, from the silence of Scripture about Adam, Noah, Lot and Samson, and from the honorable mention of Solomon's way in 2 Chronicles 11:17, that "Solomon did repent, and was saved." Gill agrees: "there is no doubt but he was a good man." Benson lays out both sides at length and then quotes Dr. Dodd that this "is one of those questions which will for ever be a field of controversy." K&D is flatly agnostic: it "cannot be ascertained from the Scriptures." ⚙ We record the disagreement rather than resolve it, because the historian left it open on purpose, and Benson says as much: the silence itself leaves "an awful example of human weakness, even in a man of the greatest endowments." Pulpit, quoting Bishop Hall, adds the last domestic irony: the king with a thousand wives leaves one son, "and he no miracle of wisdom." Henry draws the only line that goes anywhere beyond the grave: "The New Testament declares that one greater than Solomon is come to reign over us."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by the text. Three verses end the reign that Israel remembered as its golden age, and every one of them points away from Solomon. Verse 41 points to a book that is not this book. Verse 42 measures him against a wholeness ("all Israel") that God has already announced he will break. Verse 43 hands his place to a son who will lose ten twelfths of it before chapter 12 is over. The obituary that the wisest man gets is shorter and cooler than the one given to his father, and it contains no verdict: no "he did what was right," no "he did evil," no note of repentance and no note of impenitence. Scripture is not coy here, it is restrained. The judgment that the commentators have fought over for three hundred years is a judgment God kept to himself, and the pastoral use of that silence is exactly what Benson said: it makes Solomon a warning that cannot be filed away as someone else's story. What the text does supply, positively, is a throne and a city that keep David's name after Solomon's works are finished, and a succession word, tachath, that will be spent on king after king, each one lying down, each one replaced, until the line runs out of men. Read forward, that is the gap into which the New Testament speaks: a greater than Solomon, a son of David who is not succeeded, because he is not buried.

The last word on the wisest man is a footnote to another book and a place in his father's tomb.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The Chronicler's parallel close structural / thematic: confirmed

2 Chronicles 9:29 to 9:31 closes Solomon's reign with the same three elements in the same order: the citation of sources, the length of reign, the death and burial with Rehoboam succeeding. Ellicott and Cambridge both use the Chronicles passage to name the annalists whom Kings leaves anonymous (Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo). ⚙ The link is one of shared regnal form, not of quotation: the Verifier's shared lexemes here are the commonest possible (the name Solomon, the verb to reign), which is exactly why the tier below is structural rather than verbal.

2 Chronicles 9:31 · 2 Chronicles 9:29

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H8010 Shᵉlômôh (in 263 vv) and H4427 mâlak (in 284 vv). Both are high frequency, so the basis recorded is the shared regnal closing pattern (source notice, reign length, death and succession), not verbal dependence.

"The rest of the acts ... written in the book": the formula that outlives Solomon structural / thematic: confirmed

The same citation formula that closes Solomon closes his son. At 1 Kings 14:29 the Verifier finds all three of this verse's formula words together: יֶתֶר (H3499), כָּתַב (H3789) and סֵפֶר (H5612). Cambridge's note about the royal recorder applies to the whole series, and Poole's caution that the cited volume was "only a political, but not a sacred book" applies to it equally. ⚙ The effect of the repetition is leveling: the wisest king is filed by the same clerk's sentence as everyone after him.

1 Kings 14:29 · 1 Kings 15:7

basis: Verifier: three shared Hebrew lexemes co-occurring at 1 Kings 14:29, H3499 yether (in 95 vv), H3789 kâthab (in 212 vv), H5612 çêpher (in 174 vv). None is rare enough alone to support a verbal tier; their co-occurrence records a fixed editorial formula. 1 Kings 15:7 is listed by the same formula but was not in the Verifier's candidate set, so it is offered as pattern, not as a computed basis.

Rehoboam in his place, and what the place became structural / thematic: confirmed

The last clause of v. 43 names the successor; 1 Kings 14:21 and 2 Chronicles 12:13 pick him up with the same verb מָלַךְ and give his accession age as forty one, which is the datum Gill uses at v. 42 to refute the tradition that Solomon took the throne at twelve. ⚙ So the thread is not only narrative: one of its verses is load bearing for the chronology argued in this unit's own commentary.

1 Kings 14:21 · 2 Chronicles 12:13

basis: Verifier: shared Hebrew lexemes H4427 mâlak (in 284 vv), H7346 Rᵉchabʻâm (in 41 vv, comparatively restricted) and, at 2 Chronicles 12:13, H705 ʼarbâʻîym (in 123 vv). A shared succession pattern plus a restricted proper name; no quotation is claimed.

Three reigns of forty years structural / thematic: confirmed

Barnes sets this verse beside 2 Samuel 5:4 to 5:5 (David) and Acts 13:21 (Saul) and grants that it is "no doubt, remarkable" that three successive kings each reigned forty years, while refusing to treat the figures as schematic. The Pulpit Commentary, citing Rawlinson, offers a secular parallel of three consecutive Babylonian kings each reigning twenty one years. ⚙ The link is recorded by the commentators, not by the Verifier, and one of its refs is Greek, so no shared lexeme basis exists or is claimed.

2 Samuel 5:4 · Acts 13:21

basis: Cross-Testament in part (Acts 13:21 is Greek), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be the basis. Recorded basis: the numerical pattern of three successive forty year reigns, cited explicitly by Barnes at this verse and discussed by Pulpit and Ellicott. Not a quotation link.

"The way of David and of Solomon": a contested proof of repentance flagged: verify source

Both Poole and Gill rest the case for Solomon's repentance partly on 2 Chronicles 11:17, where Judah is said to have walked in the way of David and of Solomon for three years. ⚙ The verse exists and the Verifier confirms the lexical contact, but the inference is contested: K&D holds that the question "cannot be ascertained from the Scriptures," and Benson quotes Dr. Dodd that it will "for ever be a field of controversy." We record the link and flag the use made of it rather than adopting either side.

2 Chronicles 11:17 · Ecclesiastes 12:13

basis: Verifier lists 2 Chronicles 11:17 as a candidate on H8010 Shᵉlômôh (in 263 vv) and H7346 Rᵉchabʻâm (in 41 vv), so the lexical contact is real. Flagged because the theological use of the link (that it proves Solomon's repentance) is disputed among the sourced voices, and because the Ecclesiastes reference depends on the contested premise of Solomonic authorship after the fall, asserted by Poole, Gill and Benson and left open by K&D.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

A greater than Solomon ancient/widely-held

Henry draws the line himself at these verses: "The New Testament declares that one greater than Solomon is come to reign over us, and to possess the throne of his father David." The phrase is the Lord's own in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31, spoken of the queen of the South who came for the wisdom that this unit files in an archive, and the throne language is Gabriel's in Luke 1:32 to 1:33. ⚙ The comparison cuts in the direction the text has already set: 11:41 puts Solomon's wisdom in a book that was lost, and Christ is the wisdom of God in person (1 Corinthians 1:30) who is not mislaid by any captivity.

Matthew 12:42 · Luke 11:31 · Luke 1:32

He lay down with his fathers, and one who does not ancient/widely-held

The formula of v. 43 is the engine of the book of Kings: a man lies down (shâkab), he is buried (qâbar, Niphal), and his son reigns tachath, in his place. Peter preaches exactly this text against itself at Pentecost: David "is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day," therefore the promise of 2 Samuel 7:12 to 7:16 must terminate on one who was not left in the grave. Hebrews 7:23 to 7:25 states the structural point plainly: the many priests were many because death prevented them from continuing, whereas this one holds his office permanently. ⚙ Kings narrates the problem, in a succession word spent on king after king; the New Testament names the solution as a throne that needs no successor.

Acts 2:29 · 2 Samuel 7:12 · Hebrews 7:23

The books that are not lost novel

⚙ This is a novel reading and is marked as such. The unit's first word concedes an overhang, acts not written here, and Geneva reports the tradition that the book holding them perished in the captivity. Scripture's own last vision of an archive is of books that do not perish and a register that decides more than a reign's length (Revelation 20:12, Philippians 4:3). No commentator in this unit draws that line, and the connection is thematic rather than verbal; it is offered only as a way of feeling the weight of the historian's "are they not written."

Revelation 20:12 · Philippians 4:3

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text: BSB with the Berean interlinear parsing for 1 Kings 11:41 to 11:43 (Hebrew, 35 words). The final word of v. 43 carries the section marker samekh in the printed text, closing the Solomon narrative; nothing in this synthesis depends on it.

Sources and their limits: the "book of the acts of Solomon" is not extant, and no voice here has seen it. Ellicott and Cambridge reconstruct it from 2 Chronicles 9:29 as prophetic annals; Poole judges it a political and not a sacred record; Geneva passes on a tradition ("it is thought") that it was lost in the captivity. These are three different claims and the text settles none of them.

Numbers: the forty years is the datum. Everything else about Solomon's age is inference. Gill reports Eupolemus (via Eusebius) for a life of fifty two years and the rabbinic tradition of accession at twelve, which he refutes from Rehoboam's age; Josephus's eighty year reign is rejected by Barnes, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit alike; K&D's "not more than twenty years old" at accession and Cambridge's "not more than 60 years old" at death are reconstructions, not records.

The open question: whether Solomon repented. Poole and Gill say yes and argue it chiefly from Ecclesiastes and 2 Chronicles 11:17; Benson gives both sides and declines to decide; K&D says it cannot be ascertained. This unit does not decide it either. Every ⚙ paragraph above is fallible synthesis and is marked; the quoted voices are verbatim public domain commentary; only the BSB text is the Word of God.

Voices: ten of the eleven commentators available for this unit are quoted. JFB is not, because its only entry on all three verses is a note on Shishak carried over from 1 Kings 11:40 and says nothing about the closing formula, the reign length, or the burial.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)