There is no way of knowing. Taphath and Basemath (or Basmath KJV) are only mentioned once each in the Bible (1 Kings 4:11,15) and then it is only to tell us who they married.
We know that Solomon’s son Rehoboam was 41 years old when Solomon died (1 Kings 14:21), and that Solomon died when in his 60s (see “How old was Solomon when he began his reign?”). Therefore, Rehoboam was born when Solomon was in his 20s. But we can’t tell whether Taphath and Basemath were born before or after Rehoboam.
300 wives and 700 concubines – and only 3 recorded children – no allusions to other siblings and since Rehoboam had no brothers challenging his throne, it would seem that 3 was Solomon’s lot. I imagine there was a bit of palace gossip about his virility.
Is there anything anywhere to substantiate either the number of his children or his virility?
Actually, it was 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). I don’t know of any further information about his children, or his ability to produce them. But presumably, with 1000 sexual partners, he was likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease, and that may have prevented further children.
Hi Rob thanks for your answer. It seems reasonable to me.
Sorry about confusing the wives with concubines – some men have a low sperm count and perhaps spread himself to widely – but I take it you agree that he had few children, posibly only the 3 mention in scripture. I have often heard people assume that he a multitude of kids – I do not think we can assume that.