While kings in Israel were implicitly permitted to have more than one wife (Deuteronomy 17:17),1 they were meant to model godliness and submit to the biblical ideal of monogamous marriage (see Deuteronomy 17:18–20; Genesis 2:23–25). The fact that David had multiple wives is not a positive development.2 It was not necessary for David to have multiple wives in order to have many sons (see 1 Samuel 2:21). The fact that he did so suggests that David was becoming enamoured with kingship and modelling his kingship after the cultural patterns of other nations.3 The presence of many sons from different wives also prepares us to expect strife in David’s kingdom (see Judges 8:1–9:57).4 In the context of the culture of the ancient Near East, multiple wives serve to affirm the strength and power of a man.5
2 And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;