Solomon’s Concubines and Wives

1 Kings 11:1, 3: “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites… He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”

Solomon clearly knew that the Lord had instructed the Israelites: “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet, Solomon loved these women. The spiritual breach in his life did not appear only in his old age, but began with Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon marrying so many princesses from foreign city-states was likely a common practice of political alliance at the time. However, these wives and concubines did not make Solomon’s kingdom more secure; instead, they became ambassadors for spreading idols and false gods, luring his heart away.

To please these foreign wives, Solomon not only built high places for them to worship their respective idols but also joined them in worshiping at these idolatrous high places built on the mountain opposite Jerusalem (which is the Mount of Olives). These high places existed for over three hundred years, until they were finally removed during the time of King Josiah (2 Kings 23:13). But it was too late; idol worship had deeply permeated the people’s hearts, and God’s judgment was inevitable (2 Kings 23:26). God declared: “I will reject this city Jerusalem that I chose and the temple about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there'” (2 Kings 23:27).