Lessons from Kings

Shavua Tov. The section in the Parsha that deals with kings, has several interesting lessons. Regarding the law that a king may not have too many wives, the Gemara tells the story that Avishag Hashunamite asked King David to marry her. David told her that a king was allowed a maximum of eighteen wives and she would be number nineteen. She told David to divorce one of the eighteen. David answered that the מזבח, the altar sheds tears when there is divorce. He did not marry Avishag.Regarding having too many wives, the Rambam is emphatic in calling Shlomo Hamelech, ידיד ה׳, the beloved of G-d. Therefore, anyone who implies that Shlomo actually married non-Jewish women is mistaken. He converted them all and mistakenly believed that by marrying women from all over the world, it would bring peace to the world.One must learn that straying from the teachings of the Torah even with the best of intentions, will not bring good results.