Did Solomon Marry Out?

Question:

Solomon married a whole slew of pagan women. How was this allowed?

Response:

A cursory reading of those actions of King Solomon's does seem pretty incriminating. The verse states clearly that these women were of the gentile nations, from which we are warned not to marry.

Yet, in Kings I 3:3, after telling us that King Solomon married the Egyptian princess, the verse tells us that "Solomon loved G‑d, walking in the statutes of David his father." How is one who marries "of the nations about which G‑d had said to the Children of Israel, 'You shall not marry among them (Kings I 11:2)'" described as "a lover of G‑d" who "walks in the statutes of his father"?

This question troubled Maimonides too. The great 12th century philosopher and halachist addressed this in his Mishneh Torah, in the Laws of Forbidden Relationshps (13:14-16). The following is a free translation of his explanation to these seemingly conflicting verses:

"Do not imagine that Samson, the savior of Israel, or Solomon, king of Israel, who was called 'the beloved of the Lord,' married foreign women while they were still Gentiles. Rather, the key to this matter is as follows:

"The correct premise is that when a man or woman shall come to convert, we investigate if perhaps they came to convert for monetary reward, office they will receive, or out of fear. If the would-be convert is a male we investigate if perhaps there is a Jewish woman he has eyed for marriage, and if it is a women we investigate if there is a Jewish man she is eyeing. If we find that they have no ulterior motive, we inform them of the weight of the yoke of Torah and the burden of its fulfillment for a gentile, in order that they should abandon this quest. If they accepted, and did not abandon this quest, and we see that they truly came out of love, we accept them...

"Therefore, in the days of King David and King Solomon, the Jewish courts did not accept proselytes since in the days of David they possibly came out of fear, and in the days of Solomon perhaps they came for the kingdom, material goodness, and greatness that the Jews enjoyed at that time. For anyone who converts for personal gain is not a 'righteous convert' (accepted as a Jew). Nonetheless, numerous converts were made in the days of David and Solomon through ad hoc courts of non-experts. Such converts were neither pushed away – since they had already been immersed (i.e. the mechanics of conversion) – nor brought close by the High Court of Authority until it was seen how they turned out. Since Solomon had women undergo conversion and then married them; and likewise Samson had women undergo conversion and then married them, and it is known that they became Jewish only for an ulterior motive, thus their conversion was in defiance of the official court, therefore, Scripture considered them Gentiles. In addition, their subsequent behavior revealed their original mindset, when they worshiped their alien gods, and they constructed high-places for those gods..."

Best regards,

Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson

By Baruch S. Davidson

Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson serves as shliach and rabbi of the Shul Community at Chabad of the Main Line and is the writer of Lightpoints, a collection of insights on the Torah, adapted from the works of the Rebbe. Together with his wife and children, he lives in Lower Merion, in the Philadelphia suburbs.

All names of persons and locations or other identifying features referenced in these questions have been omitted or changed to preserve the anonymity of the questioners.

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23 Comments

Cathryn Brisbane, Australia July 14, 2010

To ‘Nervous’ from Montreal According to Wikipedia (which is always so trustworthy! :P) there are 2 different definitions of a tzadik. “According to Maimonides (based on Tractate Yevamot of the Babylonian Talmud, 49b-50a): "One whose merit surpasses his iniquity is a tzadik." According to the Tanya (based on passages in Tanach and the Talmud), the true title of tzadik can only be applied to one who not only never sins, but also has eradicated any inclination to do so”. Based on the Tanya definition, Solomon obviously was not a tzadik because he did commit "sins". But based on Maimonides’ definition, Solomon could have been a tzadik. But because tzadikim are obviously not “perfect”, then surely you’re allowed to point out and discuss their short-comings. If, however, the Tanya definition is right and tzadikim are perfect, then you can point out Solomon’s short-comings because he did sin and was not a tzadik. Reply

Craig Hamilton Sandwich, MA August 4, 2009

Wisdom vs. Understanding Some people miss the difference between wisdom and understanding. Wisdom says, "If my hormones as a man tell me I have the desire to populate a town, then there is nothing necessarily wrong with doing that," and I might craft myself a way to populate a town. And, who but the wise man says, "Fools rush in," as he knows it happened to him before when his pride was toppled. However, everyone cries foul in Soloman's understanding, not his wisdom, as a king possesses no understanding that marries a thousand woman and tries to populate a town. That is, there is no understanding that women don't appreciate polygamy. Understanding says, "Though I as a man am built with greater sexual desire than my wife or probably any woman that I won't seek another sexual outlet because she would be unhappy." Reply

Anonymous August 4, 2009

To Nervous Nervous, don't be so nervous. Fear of G-d is wonderful. You raise a good point about Moses except there's one problem. Self-sacrifice that isn't the Will of G-d, is not the will of G-d. The whole point here is that we should aim not to deviate from the will of G-d, and that even the greatest of Tzaddikim, Mosheh Rabbeinu deviated from the will of G-d. I think it is just a great danger to airbrush Tzaddikim into flawless as it is to overemphasize the negative. We need to take an approach of the Golden Mean here. If we think Tzaddikim are on such a totally different plane, then we are in danger of saying we will never be such Tzaddikim, which is _NOT_ what G-d wants. You should do your best to be as righteous as you can, and in doing so, learn from the mistakes of others as well as the positive example. To ignore the mistakes and only focus on the positive examples, is unfortunately how mistakes are repeated. To overemphasize the mistakes is undue, and disrespectful. Reply

Nervous Montreal, Quebec August 2, 2009

This is making me nervous I know that there's a concept of not speaking about tzaddikim in a negative light. They live on a completely different plane of existence and it's tricky business to be "trashing" the wisest of all men in a public forum. A leader of the generation who is attached to G-d can't really be discussed in the same manner as you'd discuss, for example, the foibles of fallen presidents and senators. I'd like to hear what a Chassidic Torah scholar would have to say about this subject. Moses, for example, had self-sacrifice to strike the rock to give the Jewish people the opportunity to access deeper wellsprings of the inner aspects of Torah. That deeper insight is not so well known... we only focus on his "mistake." I think this topic deserves a deeper look... Reply

Anonymous New York August 2, 2009

Anonymous from Calgary I like what Anonymous is getting at in this being totally inappropriate behavior=) It clearly isn't how someone of Israel is expected to live and that's why it says in the Tanakh that the kingdom was divided on account of this. Reply

Anonymous Calgary, AB August 2, 2009

Solomon Lets see this another way: Queen Solomon loved the Lord. She was the wisest of the wise. You, the 547 converted husband of the Queen, might be expecting to have a wife. But she has no time. Husband # 578 is still in waiting, (and all before) and he is better looking. Would you would feel robbed, cheated and betrayed? Not only in your wife but in your new found religion? If this is how a Son of Israel is expected to live, you might think you have the wrong religion and G-d. How are we to see the Queen as the wisest of the wise? Wisdom starts in the home. But what home. How was the Lord honored in the Queen's decisions. If He is not honored, where is the wisdom? Reply

Craig Hamilton Sandwich, MA August 1, 2009

Dark Ages and Medieval Kings Jews are often quick to criticize the dark ages and medieval kings though they were descended of Judah and Tamar. I'd suggest that though Solomon was righteous that he was more or less like any other king. Whether its crusades and inquisitions or leading the people into idolatry and marrying foreign wives we humans somehow find that in order to know the law, we have to transgress it. Perhaps, Solomon did not know he was doing any wrong, but rather found out that it didn't end up like how he thought it would. Thus, a true court could not convict him ascertaining intent through an acceptance of a warning. It's a lot like the Adam and Eve story. I'd argue that we are sometimes able to see ourselves in the mirror through these historical kings, and that is why we study them. Reply

Anonymous Calgary, AB July 26, 2009

Solomon I have often wondered if G-d is perhaps, using his humor, a kind of dry irony, when he say Solomon is the wisest, then and now? Maybe we should catch the Joke and see what insights we could learn. A little humor can be a good thing. Reply

Anonymous July 17, 2009

Complete Tzaddikim do make mistakes just own their own level. G-d doesn't make mistakes, Moses made multiple. We're even shown recently how he lost his temper and forgot an important law about kashering. If that sounds disrespectful then we're missing the lessons that _we_ should be learning from other people's mistakes. Moses was Moses, but I don't think Moses would want us repeating his mistakes because we minimized them into 'deeper chassidic meanings,' which are often nice ways of keeping everything happy and smooth rather than really deeper in Emes (truth). On the other hand Anonymous from Montreal is correct, we need to be careful in how we portray such Tzaddikim and lay the foundation of our respect for them, otherwise the message is lost. That being said where's the wisdom in seeing what's obviously a mistake as not? We in our own lives should also own up to our mistakes, and ask G-d in His 13 Attributes of Mercy to cleanse our and Klal Yisrael's souls. Reply

Anonymous Montreal, Quebec July 17, 2009

Can't Biblical heroes make mistakes too? It usually depends on whether it's the simple meaning of the verse or the deeper Chassidic dimension. For example, viz. the circumstances behind the marriage of Dovid and Batsheva. The true intent of the Spies. The real intent of Korach. To say that complete tzadikim make mistakes can be overly simplistic and can become disrespectful unless carefully addressed (especially with children). Since the wellsprings of Chassidic wisdom have been opened to us, we have been blessed with the deeper dimension of many of these issues. Are there any that you know of in this case? Reply

George Peterson Cincinnati June 30, 2009

Re: Huh? I think that the rabbi is saying that Solomon married converts, which is completely acceptable, and then later some of those converts abandoned the Jewish faith. Reply

danny london June 29, 2009

HUH???? maybe i misread this, but did the rabbi just say that solomon DID marry a gentile because she wanted to convert for wrong motives? correct me if i am wrong about this. Reply

Baruch S. Davidson NYC June 22, 2009

Did he or didn't he? The women did convert and were therefore permissible for marriage. This is evident from the fact that after telling us that King Solomon married the Egyptian princess, the verse tells us that “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father”.

But doesn’t the Bible say otherwise? Is it not written that his pagan wives “turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not whole with the Lord, His God (Kings I 11:4)”? Is the verse not clear that “Solomon did what was displeasing to the Lord...all of his alien wives offered incense and slaughtered sacrifices to their deities( ibid 11:6-8)”?

Maimonides explains that though they had converted, making it permissible for Solomon to marry them, they later reverted to their idolatrous ways. Since Solomon was the cause for these eventually defiant conversions, the verse considers their eventual behavior as Solomon’s own doing.

Why the air-brushing? Can't Biblical heroes make mistakes too? See Was Aaron responsible for the Golden Calf? Reply

Michael Makovi Jerusalem, Israel June 22, 2009

Laws of conversion Miriam has an interesting reading: these women were not Jewish (due to their improper motives), but King Shlomo gave them the benefit of the doubt, and assumed (wrongly) their conversions were valid. If so, then King Shlomo really truly married gentiles, but he thought they were Jews.

However, Rambam further on in this section, if I remember correctly, says their secret was revealed. Biur haGra to the Shulhan Arukh, cited in Rabbi Henkin's recent article on giyur in Hakira 7, says likewise.

If so, then King Shlomo truly knew the women had converted for invalid purposes, and yet he was *not* guilty of intermarriage! But we cannot say he mistakenly thought they were Jewish, for he knew full well what they were up to!

Apparently, Rambam would thus be saying even conversion for improper motives is, after-the-fact, still a valid conversion. These women WERE Jewish.

Professor Zvi Zohar derives precisely this in his "Retroactive Annulment of Giyur (Conversion)?". Reply

Anonymous November 6, 2017

in response to Michael Makovi:

Right, and also, if this is so explicitly stating that the conversions were not officially recognized but were done ad-hoc, why today are we so stringent about only recognizing official conversions. Like if we're admitting that these weren't legitimate conversions, why is it so unacceptable today to marry someone who converted through an illegitimate conversion? Reply

J.E.K. Ocala, FL June 22, 2009

Did Solomon Marry Out? Solomon not only married gentiles but he raised groves and alters to false gods, thereby earning the splitting and ultimate destruction of Israel. This cannot be forgotten. I believe the point in saying that he loved G_d and followed the statutes of his Father is in part to show that he did not stray suddenly or immediately but very slowly, over time, as his affection for his wives slowly grew greater than his love of G_d. Put this in context with the fact that Solomon was made the wisest man ever and it teaches us that wisdom is not an infallible pathway to keeping G_d's love and laws. Even the greatest of human wisdom pales before G_d's wisdom and arrogance is a trap for even (especially?) the wisest of us. In contrast, Samson was all passion, unrestrained - distinctly NOT wise. His failure, through a gentile woman, was more a matter of betrayal, though because it was so easily predictable he was held responsible. Reply

Ra'anan Jerusalem February 3, 2023

in response to J.E.K.:

The women he married were converted to Judaism & it was their FAMILIES that reverted to idolatry, but Scripture views this severely, as IF it was K. Solomon's own wives. Reply

Miriam (learning while the baby's sleeping) Coral Springs, FL June 21, 2009

question Could it be, then, that both Solomon and Samson gave these women the benefit of the doubt and assumed that once they converted through the ad hoc courts, they would surely display behavior fitting Jewish women. Unfortunately, these women did not live up to their expectations so were not able to retain the status of Jew. Am I on the right track? Reply

Anonymous Los Angeles, CA June 21, 2009

confused I don't get it. the question still on, how Shlomo & Shimshon got married to those women if they are considered gentiles isn't that a transgression? Reply

Anonymous June 21, 2009

I agree this answer needs help Also it seems to clearly state that the splitting of the Kingdom was due to Solomon's behavior, why do we need to air brush Tzaddikim's gaffs? I'm a very devout person, and it's certainly nice to view great men greatly, but to claim they never erred in the life and to then explain it away, is to make waste of the innate desire for truth that G-d gave us. Solomon was Solomon! And he made mistakes. If Moses can be punished for hitting a rock instead of speaking to it, Solomon can make mistakes too, and if we cannot admit that these people make mistakes, I think we're guilty of idol worship. At the same time I want to add that we have to be very careful about judging people until we are in their place. However when scripture itself the Tanakh itself says that someone erred, we should not _subtract_ from the Tanakh and say they didn't. Reply

Ra'anan Jerusalem February 3, 2023

in response to Anonymous:

K. Solomon erred in that he THOUGHT that he had rehabilitated his wives AND THEIR FAMILIES so they were no longer idolaters. He overestimated his influence in a desire to usher in the Messianic Age. Reply

Yonathan Moscow , Russia June 21, 2009

Does it answer the question? I think we don't see the answer about the lack of seriousness on behalf of these great men about a relationship with a gentile woman. Here you explain just a common practice of ad hoc courts in these times, but this practice didn't make a problem to them. Reply

Anonymous brooklyn , ny June 21, 2009

Conversion perversion This answer isn't deep enough or sufficient enough. needs more clarification. Reply

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