Girls lived there all their lives — though of course they moved from one harem to another when they married. The future tribal or family leader was born in this harem, but the eldest son could not be sure of inheriting the leadership: a clever boy might be preferred to a less able older brother, or he might outwit his rivals as Solomon did. During this time Israel had a brief period of independence free from the foreign powers surrounding it.
Saul was the first leader of this period. He fought to gain independence from the Philistines who had. With the support of the prophet Samuel who gave him religious and psychological backing, Saul was at first victorious. So he was not able to gain a complete victory over the Philistines, and in a battle with them Saul was defeated and his favorite son Jonathan killed. David, waiting in the wings, took over as leader of the Israelite people.
He was a subtle, brilliant and unscrupulous man: a military leader, poet, musician, schemer and diplomat. Much of his reign was spent in fighting to gain territory and incorporate newly acquired lands into the kingdom of Israel.
David used a combination of military power and diplomacy to lessen the threat of the Philistines and to take over Canaanite towns. At certain times in his reign he held the territories of Ammon, Moab, Edom, west of the Jordan, and Damascus. Here David established a religious, political and military center, so that Jerusalem became the unifying focus for the Israelites.
Under Solomon, son of Bathsheba and David, Israel became an established kingdom, with. Trade was promoted, mineral wealth was exploited, and the army was enlarged and modernized.
We should thank the court recorders for the stories from this period — but be aware of their bias as well. They were not fools. The loose tribal confederation that had governed the Jewish people since the original settlement in Canaan by Abraham and Sarah was replaced by.
Before this, land ownership had been common at all economic levels. Almost all family groups had owned some land. He [Solomon] had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
He had a thousand, not a million but still large enough! Jacobs b. Think about that. Seven hundred mothers-in-law. What was he thinking? Percy S. Van Keulen b. Materially, this note links up with the remark of I Kings that Solomon loved many women. However, at I Kings a the note interrupts the logical sequence between I Kings b and I Kings b; the latter verse notes the fulfillment of the prediction made at I Kings b that foreign nations could turn the heart of the Israelites away behind their gods.
Marvin A. Sweeney b. And he had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines. These are distinguished from his additional three hundred concubines I Kings The sheer volume is staggering. Solomon tends to do everything extravagantly and marriage is evidently no different. He has far more wives than anyone else in the Bible. Gene Rice b. Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines are not unprecedented [I Kings ], but never before or after did an Israelite king have so many wives.
In fact, it is scarcely possible to conceive a sex life on this scale. Weitzman, Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom , Given the outlandish figure, many have seen the record as employing hyperbole. Iain W. Provan b. The point is that everything Solomon did, he did in a big way!
Victor Sasson [b. Schearing b. Handy [b. Russell H. Dilday b. The fact that this number far exceeds the typical harems of other contemporary monarchs should not cause a problem with credibility, since Solomon diligently competed to exceed the other nations in every way. He had accumulated greater wealth, wisdom, and power than all others; and since virility was supposed to be an indicator of royal greatness in that day, he wanted to surpass them in this category too.
John Monson b. Counting royal women by the hundreds was not unusual during the Iron Age. Assyrian wine lists from Nimrud indicate that as many as three hundred women of various ranks lived at that palace. Extensive harems produced a large pool of heirs to ensure the enduring strength of the dynasty. John H. Walton [b. Surprisingly, polygamy is not explicitly outlawed in the Bible. Most of the biblical patriarchs had numerous wives. David had fifteen. Abijah had fourteen [II Chronicles ]. Dilday, 1, 2 Kings Mastering the Old Testament , The harem was likely a source of pride for the king.
Steven Weitzman b. Biblical family values allowed a man to have multiple wives and concubines it was only in the Middle Ages that Jews embraced monogamy as the ideal , and a large family was considered a mark of virility, wealth, blessing—evidence that a man was favored by God.
Weitzman, Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom , While polygamy is not expressly forbidden, intermarriage with those of other religions is Deuteronomy Fretheim b. Deuteronomic law had prohibited marriage with the peoples of Canaan because of the danger of being led astray to serve other gods Deuteronomy ; see Exodus ; Joshua That law, paraphrased here I Kings , is interpreted to apply to other non-Israelite peoples as well.
Cameron B. Howard b. Sweeney [b. Carol A. The round numbers listed in the passage from I Kings 11 is a clue to the fact that it is an approximation.
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