Too many wives = Too many children = Not enough time to care for them properly

From I Kings 1-3:

1. It is interesting to see some of the other fruit of David having this many wives. He has a second son who decides he wants to be king, so he also goes to set himself up as king. It becomes very apparent that David did not really know his sons very well. How could he? After all, I imagine all of his time was taken up caring for his many wives. And I wonder how it came about that he promised Bathsheba that her son would reign as king. Was it because he saw the superior wisdom of Solomon, or because he was really attracted to Bathsheba? It is also very evident from the passage here that Bathsheba was much younger than David. After all, David is in his bed, and she comes and bows low before him, asking if he will make good his promise. If she was as old as him, she would be in bed too.

2. I wonder why David waited and had his son Solomon put to death Joab and Shimei. I mean, David knew about these dissenters and evildoers much earlier. What was his purpose in waiting?

3. I don't know if the entire story of Solomon is in chronological order, but I tend to think it is not. Moreover, if it were in chronological order, it seems to me that Solomon was already gifted with some extraordinary wisdom even before he asked this of God. The way in which he handled Shimei, his brother Adonijah and Joab shows that he knew what he was doing.

4. It is interesting to see that Zadok becomes the priest instead of Abiathar. Not only did it fulfill what had been told about Eli's house, it also was probably in some part due to the extreme attitude of wanting to serve by Zadok and his sons. If you will recall, his son was the one that ran (outran the Cushite) to tell David of his victory in the battle when Absalom was trying to usurp the kingdom. He was also one of the two that risked his life to deliver the message to David of what Absalom was planning to do.

5. I am not sure that I understand I Kings 3:2. It states that Solomon did everything according to the Lord's commands EXCEPT that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. However, when he was at the most important high place (in Gibeon), God asked him for whatever he might want. I am interpreting this to mean that Solomon should have been only offering sacrifices to God where the tent and the ark was. This does not mean that he was worshiping idols or anything. And it almost seems that he gained in wisdom just during that night. The next picture we have of him offering to God, it is at the ark in Jerusalem.