If sex is to be restricted to a husband and wife, why did Solomon have hundreds of concubines?
Short answer: Because Solomon was disobeying God’s commands. Long answer: While Solomon was very much with God at the beginning of his reign, it was not so in the latter years; he worshipped false idols and even built temples for them. In 1st Kings 11:11, Solomon is rebuked by God for his sins, saying “”Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.” So, Solomon had hundreds of wives because he was turning away from God.
This is a difficult question. As a Christian I do believe our loving God only ever sanctioned a loving relationship between one man and one woman who become one for life. I think the simple, easy answer is that Solomon was sinful toward the end of his reign, as others have suggested. BUT I think that God did sanction multiple wives and concubines in a RIGHTEOUS, NON-SEXUAL WAY. But as with Solomon it didn’t always happen in a righteous way. There is at least one verse in the bible that talks of a man being “mighty” for having multiple wives _and_ concubines. Now that seems puzzling given that lifelong monogamy is God’s desire and will. I would suggest that the extra wives and concubines were permitted as “women to have loving, non-sexual, spiritual fellowship with.” That is, they are women who, otherwise lonely and rejected, were given a place in the household and permitted to have close, spiritual fellowship with the head of the house- and indeed his wife- but NEVER to have sex with h
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