“He had seven hundred wives of royal birth
and three hundred concubines,
and his wives led him astray.”
-1 Kings 11:3
Verse 3 tells us that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Now, you may be wondering, what exactly is the difference between a wife and a concubine?
Technically speaking, a concubine never received an official marriage document.
This also means if her owner wanted to dissolve his relationship with her, a concubine would never receive an official divorce document.
This is called a GET in Hebrew.
Other than that, the concubine was just like a wife.
Her husband was required to take care of her physical and material needs.
And she was not allowed to go frolicking around with other men.
Solomon’s multiple wives was not the only Torah commandment he disregarded.
Let’s go back to that key verse from the Book of Deuteronomy:
“However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch as ADONAI told you never to go back that way again. Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.“ – Deuteronomy 17:16-17
Per this verse, Solomon broke the Torah in three ways.
FIRST, he acquired a ton of horses.
SECOND, he acquired a ton of wives.
THREE, he acquired more silver and gold than he knew what to do with.
The Lord made it clear that His People were not to return back to Egypt.
Solomon violated this commandment to the hilt.
His Egyptian wife appeared to be his favorite wife.
Solomon also purchased most of his horses from Egypt.
Heck, Egypt might as well have been a sister-state to Israel.
One point I need to be clear about the multiple wives part.
The Lord is not against polygamy (or polygny to be accurate).
The Torah did make provision for it.
You can read my past article about it HERE.
You’ll also see in the comments that many readers agreed with me.
The problem was that Solomon put himself on the slippery road to idolatry by marrying Gentile women.
These non-Hebrew women never gave up their allegiance to false gods.
That’s the main point, and actually the takeaway I wanna communicate today.
There ain’t nothing wrong with horses, multiple wives, or silver and gold in and of themselves.
The problem is when they interfere with your relationship with the Lord.
That’s when they become a problem.
Ya feel me here?
Done.
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