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Solomon had 700 wives. Would a less wise man have got to 600 and thought to himself, "You know, I think hat might be sufficient."?
14 Answers
- Doug CatholicLv 71 year ago
That's what happens when you think with your private parts and your ego, instead of your brain.
Source(s): www.askmeaboutgod.org - SamwiseLv 71 year ago
The story might be somewhat exaggerated in the version that's come down to us. And it's likely that, however many he really had, some of those marriages had more to do with the necessity of cementing political alliances than with his desire.
The best stories I've seen concerning Solomon and his wives--one quoted below as a sample--are about just how much of a hassle it was to have so many.
He didn’t really want nine hundred and ninety-nine wives, but in those days everybody married ever so many wives, and of course the King had to marry ever so many more just to show that he was the King.
-- Rudyard Kipling, "The Butterfly that Stamped"; in the collection, "Just So Stories"
- AlexLv 41 year ago
Face it, Solomon, in spite of his wisdom, was foolish in overthrowing the marriage covenant, especially since a huge chunk of them were pagans.
- Anonymous1 year ago
Can you imagine dealing with 700 sets of in-laws?
- dewcoonsLv 71 year ago
Wives in that era were not about "sex" as much as they were about alliances. It was common when a treaty was established between two nations to exchange "hostages" to assure that both sides were more likely to keep the treaty.
That could be a son gives as a "ward", a daughter given as a "wife", or other family members.
Have that many wives was a sign of how powerful Solomon was. there were 700 other tribes, groups or nations that wanted to have a peach treaty with Solomon. And badly enough that they were willing to give him a daughter to seal the deal.
It should be noted that Solomon was the only king in the Bible who is not listed has having fought a battle or engaged in a war. His reigns was peaceful because he had the wisdom to use diplomacy and his money rather then his army to keep the peace.
(Though he did increase the size of their standing army to 10 times what it had been before. Or it actually says he increased the stables for the armies horses by that amount. Which makes no sense if he did not also increase the troops.)
For the "sex", he had the 300 concubines.
- k wLv 71 year ago
altho once wise, he caved in to his ego.........then chased after strange gods....God/YHVH was quite ticked off.........that's when the tribes split...Israel/Judah....not many know that either......