Q&A: King Solomon
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
King Solomon
Question
- Hello Rabbi, King Solomon took many wives in violation of the Torah’s command. The preachers, as best I understand, offer explanations for why he did this (diplomatic relations, repairing the nations, etc.), but in the end they don’t really answer the simple question: why did Solomon violate Jewish law? What caused him to choose to go against the divine command? In Judaism, Solomon is given a place of great honor. He is seen by us as a great righteous man who attained high spiritual levels
- and whose books were included in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). I would be glad if the Rabbi would answer me.
Answer
The greater a person is than his fellow, the greater his evil inclination is than his. What is wrong with the plain meaning of the text—that he stumbled and gave in to his evil inclination?
Furthermore, the Talmud itself says that the greatest man in the world (=Solomon) said: “I will take many wives, and my heart will not turn away,” yet his heart did turn away. That is, the Sages themselves explain that Solomon failed because the Torah wrote the reason for the prohibition against taking many wives (“He shall not take many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away”), and therefore he interpreted the reason for the verse.