To God be the Glory FOREVER, AMEN AND AMEN! ! !

There is no question but that Moses stipulated that the kings God was going to give to Israel must not imitate the ways of the nations around them by taking many wives, for the wives would lead their hearts astray (Deut 17:17).

Particularly noticeable in Scripture is the extreme moral degeneracy of the Canaanites (Gen 19; Lev 18:24-30; Deut 9:5; 12:29-31). It was for this reason that the Israelites were warned that intermarriage would result in their tolerating Canaanite religious practices (Ex 34:12-17; Deut 7:1-5).

Even though one would expect a higher standard from a king who should set the example for the nation, Solomon began to regard himself as beyond the need for such warnings. It is true, of course, that the text specifically noted that the seven hundred wives were of royal birth, for it was customary in that day to employ marriages with a foreign king's daughters as a way of cementing diplomatic alliances. In case of nonperformance of a treaty, Solomon had only to imply that the dissident king's daughter was most anxious to hear that her father had done what he had promised to do--so that her health might be enjoyed for more years. The reverse side of that coin, however, was that a daughter might write home to her father complaining that Solomon cared not at all for her religion in that he never went to her idol's services. Thus the trap was sprung against Solomon, no matter how politically savvy he might have thought that such marriages were. Spiritual disaster resulted.