| ToC | Reading the Old Testament | . . . Chapter 9. Kings | ToC |
In the evaluation of the Deuteronomistic writer, none of this was as disastrous as the trouble caused by his harem.
1 King Solomon loved many foreign women, including the daughter of Pharaoh, and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and Hatti--2 from nations about which YHWH had said to the people of Israel, "You must not marry them, neither may they marry you, for they would surely turn your heart away after their gods." Solomon clung to these women in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses, and three hundred who were concubines. His wives turned away his heart. (11.1-3)
What Solomon did here is not all that remarkable for his time, at least in principle. The fact that he had so many female retainers most certainly was not an indication that he had an overly active sexual appetite. Rather, the 1,000 women were a sign of the vast political contacts of the Solomonic administration in this newly crafted Davidic empire. The wives of Solomon were a part of international arrangements, marriages for political and diplomatic purpose; treaties with other nations and city-states were contracted through political marriages.
But the Deuteronomistic writer interprets these marriages as the seeds of Israel's disintegration. Solomon was just too tolerant. He allowed these women to worship their native gods and goddesses right there in Jerusalem. In so doing Solomon compromised his loyalty to Yahweh. For this, God would soon strip a major portion of the kingdom from the control of the house of David. This sets the stage and gives the theological rationale for dividing the kingdom into two separate nations.
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| ToC | Reading the Old Testament | . . . Chapter 9. Kings | ToC |
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