Solomon's fall through foreign wives
Cyril: …the end of Solomon’s life as proof, and what befell him on the very threshold of old age?
Palladius: What do you mean?
Cyril: He was so brilliant and so celebrated that he had, in a sense, already won a glory beyond compare; yet he passed over into what is shameful, or rather he leapt down basely into the very depth of impiety toward God. His story runs like this. It is written in the Third Book of Kingdoms: ‘And Solomon grew greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which the Lord had given in his heart’ (1 Kings 10:23–24). Yet this man, so glorious and so celebrated, who had advanced so far in wisdom that he became an object of boundless wonder even among the most eminent, was pried loose by pleasure in wicked women; and that pleasure, as it were, dragged him out of the divine tent itself and threw him into the pits of idolatry. For it is written of him: ‘And King Solomon was a lover of women, and he took foreign wives, and also the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Syrian, Hittite and Amorite women, from the nations about which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not go in to them, and they shall not come in to you, lest they turn your hearts aside after their idols. To these Solomon clung in love. And he had seven hundred wives who were princesses, and three hundred concubines. And it came to pass in the time of Solomon’s old age that the foreign wives turned his heart aside after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon went after Astarte, the abomination of the Sidonians, and after their king, the idol of the sons of Ammon. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord as David his father did’ (1 Kings 11:1–6).
Is it not right to lament over one who is said to have suffered such things? The man who raised that famous temple in Jerusalem, who asked for the wisdom that sits beside the divine thrones (Wisdom of Solomon 9:4), who was admired for his matchless understanding to the very ends of the earth beneath heaven, who shone like the morning star over cities and lands: overcome by shameful women and following after a most loathsome pleasure, he is found to have fallen into such folly that he utterly disregarded even piety toward God itself. Beyond dispute, then, it is dangerous to keep company with foreigners. And it is altogether terrible to be overcome by fleshly pleasure. Such a man is unclean and hateful to the all-pure God, and without virtue he may not enter the holy and divine tent. Nor could he even offer an acceptable sacrifice. For it is written in Deuteronomy: ‘There shall be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, and no fornicator among the sons of Israel; and there shall be no… (Deuteronomy 23:17)
Greek
εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς Σολομῶντος ζωῆς τὴν κατάληξιν, καὶ ἅπερ αὐτῷ συνέβη παθεῖν, ἐπ' αὐτῷ γήρως οὐδῷ;
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Πῶς ἔφης;
{ΚΥΡ.} Ἦν μὲν γὰρ οὕτω λαμπρὸς καὶ ἀοίδιμος, ὡς ἀσύγκριτον ἤδη πως τὴν δόξαν ἑλεῖν, μετέθει γε μὴν εἰς τὸ ἀκαλλὲς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ κατέθορεν ἀγεννῶς, ἐς αὐτό που τὸ λοῖσθον τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀσεβείας. Ἔχει δὲ ὧδε τὰ ἐπ' αὐτῷ. Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν· «Καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθη Σολομὼν ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς πλούτῳ καὶ φρονήσει. Καὶ πάντες οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς ἐζήτουν τὸ πρόσωπον Σολομὼν, τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ, ἧς ἔδωκε Κύριος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ.» Ἀλλὰ τὸν οὕτως εὐκλεᾶ καὶ ἀοίδιμον, καὶ σοφίας εἰς τοῦτο διεληλακότα λοιπὸν, ὡς ἐν ἀμετρήτῳ γενέσθαι θαύματι, καὶ παρά γε τοῖς ἄγαν διωρισμένοις, ἡδονὴ γυναίων ἐξεμόχλευσε πονηρῶν, καὶ οἱονείπως αὐτῆς ἐξελοῦσα τῆς θείας σκηνῆς τοῖς τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας ἐνῆκε βόθροις. Γέγραπται γὰρ ὡδὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ· «Καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Σολομὼν ἦν φιλογύναιος, καὶ ἔλαβε γυναῖκας ἀλλοτρίας, καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα Φαραώ· Μωαβίτιδας, καὶ Ἀμμονίτιδας, καὶ Ἰδουμαίας, Σύρας, Χετταίας, Ἀμοῤῥαίας, ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὧν ἀπεῖπε Κύριος τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· Οὐκ εἰσελεύσεσθε πρὸς αὐτοὺς, καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐκκλίνωσι τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὀπίσω τῶν εἰδώλων αὐτῶν. Εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐκολλήθη Σολομὼν, τοῦ ἀγαπῆσαι. Καὶ ἦσαν αὐτῷ γυναῖκες ἄρχουσαι ἑπτακόσιαι, καὶ παλλακαὶ τριακόσιαι. Καὶ ἐγενήθη ἐν τῷ καιρῷ γήρως Σολομὼν, καὶ ἐξέκλιναν αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ ἀλλότριαι τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ ὀπίσω θεῶν ἑτέρων. Καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ τελεία μετὰ Κυρίου Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ, καθὼς ἡ καρδία τοῦ Δαβὶδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐπορεύθη Σολομὼν ὀπίσω τῆς Ἀστάρτης βδελύγματος Σιδωνίων, καὶ ὀπίσω τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν εἰδώλου υἱῶν Ἀμμών· καὶ ἐποίησε Σολομὼν πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, καὶ οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ὀπίσω Κυρίου, ὡς Δαβὶδ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ.» Ἆρ' οὐκ ἐποιμώζειν ἄξιον τῷ τοιάδε παθεῖν λεγομένῳ; Ὁ τὸν διαβόητον ἐκεῖνον ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις ἀναστήσας ναὸν, ὁ τὴν τῶν θείων θρόνων πάρεδρον αἰτήσας σοφίαν, ὁ ἐπὶ συνέσει τῇ ἀσυγκρίτῳ τεθαυμασμένος, καὶ μέχρις αὐτῶν τερμάτων τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανόν, ὁ καθάπερ ἑωσφόρος, πόλεσί τε καὶ χώραις ἐκφανὴς, αἰσχρῶν γυναικῶν ἡττώμενος, καὶ μυσαρωτάτης ἡδονῆς κατόπιν ἰὼν, εἰς τοῦτο μωρίας φωρᾶται πεσὼν, ὡς καὶ αὐτῆς ἀλογῆσαι παντελῶς τῆς εἰς Θεὸν εὐσεβείας. Σφαλερὸν οὖν ἄρα καὶ ἀναμφιλόγως ἐστὶ τὸ τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις εἶναι κατὰ ταὐτόν. Πάνδεινον δὲ κομιδῇ καὶ τὸ ἡδονῆς ἡττᾶσθαι τῆς σαρκικῆς, καὶ ἀκάθαρτος ὁ τοιόσδε, καὶ τῷ πανάγνῳ Θεῷ κατεστυγημένος, καὶ οὐκ ἀρετῆς δίχα, πρὸς τὴν ἱεράν τε καὶ θείαν εἰσελάσαι σκηνήν. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν προσοίσειε θυσίαν δεκτήν. Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ· «Οὐκ ἔσται πόρνη ἀπὸ θυγατέρων Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται πορνεύων ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· καὶ οὐκ ἔσται