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When I was a kid, we went to the picture show (movies) to see King Solomon's Mine. Frankly, I cannot remember a thing about it. Must have been good. At the time, King Solomon was just an old king somewhere who had a gold - silver - jewel ?? mine. People fought over it. African natives got really upset when the hero tried to find it and exploit. Now that I thinks on it. That could have been a Tarzan movie. He was such a hero. {cue: Tarzan yell}
So, this week, sitting on my own throne, while reading the spring edition of Biblical Archaeology Review - a magazine truly enjoyed - naturally I read the article "Solomon's Egyptian Bride" by Philip D. Stern. What caught my eye in JUST the first paragraph, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). I quote the article, "surely an exaggeration." The article wanted to talk about how remarkable it was that King Solomon had aligned himself with the Egyptians who, apparently, never farmed off their daughters to other kings.
What I wanted to read about was the 700 wives and 300 concubines. Think about that for awhile. Aside from the old mother-in-law narrative. this whole concept is full of questions:
Where did they stay?
Was there a house mother or eunuch?
Who remembers their names?
How do you feed that many?
Did they form an all girls choir?
Hair brushes, lip stick, unmentionables, fingernail polish, the list, the list, the list.
Were they jealous of each other and/or the concubines? Or were they happy to have the competition in order to avoid meeting up with the old boy?
Can you just see the problems. He tromps into the dorm and announces, "Tonight I want Sarah # 79 in my chambers. Concubine #233 shall come tomorrow night." I imagine he had a eunuch announce all that for him. What was the life expectancy of an eunuch? The questions never end.
With a thousand nightly possibilities, he could have visited each female only once in a 3 year period of time. Or did he have favorites? Delilah #13. What a gal!! Then Jeannie #47 with the light brown hair!!
They say Solomon was renowned for his wisdom. I would like to say that I wonder. I truly wonder about anyone who is married to that many women. Possibly he had a system to take care of the nagging wife. Should I continue with this? Nah. Me thinks I'll let this sleeping dog - lie.
You can add your questions to the comment section below.
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