17. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, according to the Bible
In 1 Kings it is recorded that “…Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites” despite the prohibition of God who warned that such women would turn the hearts of the men of Israel against Him and toward their own gods. “Solomon clave unto these in love” according to the biblical account. Solomon must have had a great capacity for love because 1 Kings relates, “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart”.
According to the account in 1 Kings Solomon erected temples and shrines to the gods of the proscribed tribes, enticed by his many wives and concubines, and aroused anger in the god of Israel, who told him “…I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and give it to thy servant”. According to the account in 1 Kings, God raised enemies against Solomon and split his kingdom in two with his Solomon’s son Rehoboam becoming the king of Judah in the south, and a series of kings, uniformly failing to worship the god of Israel, establishing reigns in the north.
