1 Kings 11:3 is ahistorical account of part of King Solom's life. This is an important verse. King Solom had been given the gift of wisdom. He was the wisest man who had ever lived. Yet there such problems in his kingdom that when he died it split in two: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. What happened? The root of what went wrong is in this verse:

This is what 1 Kings 11:3 says (NASB):

"He had seven hundred wives, princecesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away."

The next verse explains further:

"For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been." (1 Kings 11:4 NASB)

This is not a verse that is telling us it is okay to have many wives and concubines. This verse is telling us about the evil that resulted in King Solomon's life as a result of his having many wives and concubines.