Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 11:3

"And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart." — 1 Kings 11:3 (ASV)

Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. —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. (Compare to 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 Septuagint 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.