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Was it alright for the Old Testament figures such as Abraham and David to have concubines and numerous wives?

When God created man, He did not intend for him to have more than one woman (wife). The first person mentioned in the Bible to practice polygamy was Lamech, the fifth descendant of Cain, a murderer.  He took for himself two wives (Gen 4:19). The Bible gives a reason for the action of Abraham in taking Hagar for an additional wife and, in the case of Jacob, for taking Rachel as a wife besides Leah. Plurality of wives was a concession to time and condition; hence, polygamy became an established part of the social system but not an encouraged one. In the Mosaic Law the regulations were clear that the high priest could have only one wife and that a king in Israel should not have too many wives (Lev 21:13; Deut 17:17; Ex 21:10). Certain regulations with respect to polygamy were, for example, if a man takes a second wife, the economic position of the first wife and of the children she bore must be secure; and, in the case of inheritance, no child of a subsequent marriage is to be preferred over a child from the first wife.

David the prophet and king had several wives; and we notice that the prophet Nathan did not denounce the king for adding Uriah's wife to those he already had but for the means he employed to get her (2 Sam 12:7-15).

Throughout the Talmudic age not one rabbi is known to have had more than one wife. Monogamy was held to be the only ideal legal union; as for the term 'concubine' people suppose that a concubine is someone not really married to the man, whereas the wife is the one who is married. This is a modern usage of the word "concubine" and is not how it was used anciently. In the Old Testament, the term was particularly used to describe second-class wives. This "second class" status was important for inheritance. Children by wives were sons of the patriarch and they obtained full inheritances from their fathers. Children by concubines were sons of the concubines and had no inheritances, though they received gifts from the patriarchs. Thus we read: "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country" (Gen 25:5-6).