1 Kings 11:3

3 He had 700 wives, all princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

1 Kings 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 11:3

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines
In all 1000, a prodigious number; though these might not be all for use, but for state after the manner of the eastern monarchs; these were a far greater number than are alluded to in ( Song of Solomon 6:8 ) , unless the virgins without number there, were such of these as were not defiled by him; but the number here seems plainly referred to in ( Ecclesiastes 7:28 ) ,

and his wives turned away his heart;
both from his duty to his God, and from attendance to his business as a king, especially the former, as follows.

1 Kings 11:3 In-Context

1 King Shlomo loved many foreign women besides the daughter of Pharaoh. There were women from the Mo'avi, 'Amoni, Edomi, Tzidoni and Hitti -

2 nations about which ADONAI had said to the people of Isra'el, "You are not to go among them or they among you, because they will turn your hearts away toward their gods." But Shlomo was deeply attached to them by his love.

3 He had 700 wives, all princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart away.

4 For when Shlomo became old, his wives turned his heart away toward other gods; so that he was not wholehearted with ADONAI his God, as David his father had been.

5 For Shlomo followed 'Ashtoret the goddess of the Tzidoni and Milkom the abomination of the 'Amoni.