King Solomon [1 Kings 11 (4)] “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines;” How many children did he have? Three. The question is referred to at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_children_did_King_Solomon_have Do we have a different/better answer?
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I don't have a better answer, but I just want to say that the odds of Shlomo HaMelech having children with the extra 700 wives and 300 concubines is rather low. – avi Sep 03 '11 at 21:26
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His palace was not big enough for them all to live there. – avi Sep 04 '11 at 06:18
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1@avi: so who says he didn't have other palaces all over the country for them? (The Gemara, Bava Metzia 86b, in fact says that each of these thousand wives had her own quarters.) – Alex Sep 04 '11 at 15:56
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@Alex, who says they all moved to Israel? – avi Sep 04 '11 at 15:57
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@avi: if the idea was that they were marrying Shlomo because of his preeminence, wouldn't it make sense that they'd move to his country, rather than making him go to see them? – Alex Sep 04 '11 at 16:12
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Who says he went to see them!? It's a marriage to show the power of the kingdom, there is no indication that they all came to him, or that he went to them. Just think of the impossible logistics. There are not enough days in the year! – avi Sep 04 '11 at 17:03
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@avi: so maybe indeed he visited each of them only once every couple of years. He ruled for forty years, after all, so they could each have gotten their turn. And the Gemara that I quoted above indicates that each of them indeed thought every day that he might visit her. – Alex Sep 04 '11 at 18:13
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2Like the Mashgichot that verify factories in china :) – avi Sep 04 '11 at 19:04
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Some of the Kings must've been pretty fertile and just plain BUSY making kids -- look at II Chronicles 13:21, Abijah after becoming king and warring w/Jeroboam "waxing mighty" and having 14 wives, 22 sons, and 16 daughters -- and he was King for only 3 years!! – Gary Nov 13 '13 at 16:30
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Only three of his children are named in Tanach: his successor Rechavam, and two daughters named Tafath and Basemath, who married two of Shlomo's officials (I Kings 4:11,15).
R. Chaim Dov Rabinowitz (Daas Soferim) comments that it seems likely that Shlomo had 100 children or less (which would of course mean that most of his wives were childless), since in Eccles. 6:3 he speaks of that number as a peak of human potential.
