Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (33): Solomon’s Many Women (I Kings 11:1-3) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Massive Number
II. The Foolish Behaviour
III. The Failing Type
Psalm singing: 63:1-8; 29:1-5; 127:1-5; 128:1-6 (see below for the words to the Psalms)
Scripture reading: I Kings 11:1-22
Philip Ryken: "In those days it was customary for kings to take many wives, but Solomon took more than most. He was called to be a one-woman man, just as Christian husbands today are called to give all of their affection to the one woman that God has called them to love by sacrifice (Eph. 5:25-31). In a godly marriage, there is only room for one main emotional connection, one overriding passion, one sexual bond. Instead, Solomon foolishly squandered his affections on women he was forbidden to touch. Obviously he could not truly love these women in any meaningful sense of the word love. When the Bible says that he ‘clung to these [women] in love’ (I Kings 11:2), the connotation is frankly sexual. This was a foolish sin of marital infidelity" (King Solomon: The Temptations of Money, Sex, and Power, pp. 176-177).
John G. Butler: “Some like to be clever and spread out their multiplicity of wives by using divorce as a means of having more than one wife. But Paul condemned that practice when he said, ‘For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth ... So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man’ (Romans 7:2, 3). One wife (or husband) is the limit unless she (or he) dies. That is God’s rule and God’s rule is for man’s best. Those who ignore this rule do so to their own confusion and condemnation. The rules have not changed since creation. Solomon did what was a popular practice but that did not make it right. His father, David, had a number of wives and some concubines, too, but that did not make it right nor help his morals. Adding wives only added more woes for David” (Solomon: The King of Splendour, pp. 268-269).

Psalm 63:1-8
1 LORD, thee my God, I’ll early seek:
my soul doth thirst for thee;
My flesh longs in a dry parch’d land,
wherein no waters be:
2 That I thy power may behold,
and brightness of thy face,
As I have seen thee heretofore
within thy holy place.
3 Since better is thy love than life,
my lips thee praise shall give.
4 I in thy name will lift my hands,
and bless thee while I live.
5 Ev’n as with marrow and with fat
my soul shall filled be ;
Then shall my mouth with joyful lips
sing praises unto thee:
6 When I do thee upon my bed
remember with delight,
And when on thee I meditate
in watches of the night.
7 In shadow of thy wings I’ll joy;
for thou mine help hast been.
8 My soul thee follows hard; and me
thy right hand doth sustain.

Psalm 29:1-5
1 GIVE ye unto the Lord, ye sons
that of the mighty be,
All strength and glory to the Lord
with cheerfulness give ye.
2 Unto the Lord the glory give
that to his name is due;
And in the beauty of holiness
unto JEHOVAH bow.
3 The Lord’s voice on the waters is;
the God of majesty
Doth thunder, and on multitudes
of waters sitteth he.
4 A pow’rful voice it is that comes
out from the Lord most high ;
The voice of that great Lord is full
of glorious majesty.
5 The voice of the Eternal doth
asunder cedars tear;
Yea, God the Lord doth cedars break
that Lebanon doth bear.

Psalm 127:1-5
1 EXCEPT the Lord do build the house,
the builders lose their pain:
Except the Lord the city keep,
the watchmen watch in vain.
2 ’Tis vain for you to rise betimes,
or late from rest to keep,
To feed on sorrows’ bread ; so gives
he his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are God’s heritage,
the womb’s fruit his reward.
4 The sons of youth as arrows are,
for strong men’s hands prepar’d.
5 O happy is the man that hath
his quiver fill’d with those ;
They unashamed in the gate
shall speak unto their foes.

Psalm 128:1-6
1 BLESS’D is each one that fears the Lord
and walketh in his ways;
2 For of thy labour thou shalt eat,
and happy be always.
3 Thy wife shall as a fruitful vine
by thy house’ sides be found :
Thy children like to olive-plants
about thy table round.
4 Behold, the man that fears the Lord,
thus blessed shall he be.
5 The Lord shall out of Sion give
his blessing unto thee :
Thou shalt Jerus’lem’s good behold
whilst thou on earth dost dwell.
6 Thou shalt thy children’s children see,
and peace on Israel.