Lexicon

He had

וַיְהִי־

(way·hî-)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular



To fall out, come to pass, become, be

seven

שְׁבַ֣ע

(šə·ḇa‘)

Number - feminine singular construct



Seven, seven times, a week, an indefinite number

hundred

מֵא֔וֹת

(mê·’ō·wṯ)

Number - feminine plural



A hundred

wives

נָשִׁ֗ים

(nā·šîm)

Noun - feminine plural



Woman, wife, female

of royal birth

שָׂרוֹת֙

(śā·rō·wṯ)

Noun - feminine plural



A mistress, female noble

and three

שְׁלֹ֣שׁ

(šə·lōš)

Number - feminine singular construct



Three, third, thrice

hundred

מֵא֑וֹת

(mê·’ō·wṯ)

Number - feminine plural



A hundred

concubines—

וּפִֽלַגְשִׁ֖ים

(ū·p̄i·laḡ·šîm)

Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural



A concubine, a paramour

and his wives

נָשָׁ֖יו

(nā·šāw)

Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine singular



Woman, wife, female

turned his heart

לִבּֽוֹ׃

(lib·bōw)

Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular



The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

away.

וַיַּטּ֥וּ

(way·yaṭ·ṭū)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural



To stretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bend

Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.

(3)--The harem of an Eastern king is simply an adjunct of his magnificence, and the relation of the wives to him little more than nominal. (Comp. Esther 2:14 .) Nor does the statement here made necessarily imply that at any one time the whole number existed. Still, the numbers here given, though found also in the LXX. and in Josephus, are not only extraordinarily large, but excessive in comparison with the "three- score queens and fourscore concubines" of Song of Solomon 6:8 , and disproportionate in the relative number of the superior and inferior wives. It is possible that, in relation to the former, at any rate, the text may be corrupt, though the corruption must be of ancient date.

Verse 3.

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses

and three hundred concubines

round

e

g.

obiter

l.c

average strength

e

g.

pellices

in loc

and his wives turned away his heart.

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[These may have been members of royal or princely houses of neighbouring nations. Evidently they enjoyed a distinguished rank],[Though not committed to a defence of the accuracy of the figures 700 and 300 (which are clearlynumbers), it must be said that the reasons alleged for reducing them (as from 700 to 70) are not of much weight. It is hardly correct,, to say (as Rawlinson) that the numbers are given in Song of Solomon 6:8 as "threescore queens and fourscore concubines," for it is obvious that too much importance must not be attached to anstatement ("there are threescore," etc.) in a poetical book, too, and one descriptive of Solomon's youth. The view of Ewald and Keil, again, that these numbers represent the sum total of the inmates of the harem at different periods of Solomon's long reign, rather than the number present at any one time - they would see in the numbers of Song of Solomon. a statement of theof the seraglio - though not to be described as evasive, is certainly not the natural interpretation of the words. And these numbers, when we compare them with the establishments of other Eastern potentates, are not found to be at all incredible. The commentators all remind us that Dareius Codomannus,, took with him on his expedition against Alexander 360. Or if ancient history, as Rawlinson affirms, furnishes no strict parallel to these figures, the harems of modern Persia and Turkey at any rate have quite equalled that of Solomon. (See Bahr.) It is true that Rehoboam had only 18 wives and 60 concubines ( 2 Chronicles 11:21 ), but then Rehoboam was not Solomon. If his harem was but a tithe of his father's, so also were his wealth and his power]:["Satan hath found this bait to take so well that he never changed since he crept into Paradise" (Bp. Hall).]Alphabetical: and astray away birth concubines had He heart him his hundred led of princesses royal seven three turned wives