Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 3:16–28, “Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”
The Lord gave Solomon Divine wisdom and then we are given an example of how this wisdom worked in practice. In those days the king was still close to his people and was called upon, from time to time, to make judgements about disputes and issues affecting the people. In other words, the king was judge in the Old Testament sense as well as being a king. He made laws within the context of the Law of the Lord (this often didn’t happen in Israel’s and Judah’s history but this was the ideal.) After that the king was responsible for administering the Law, judging lawbreakers and ensuring the punishment was carried out properly. There were other people who would judge cases further down the chain of command so that the king wasn’t bothered by every issue that troubles his people. On day a problem arrived with the king that was far too difficult for anyone else in the land to deal with. Two women who were single mothers lived together. Both of these women had babies and during the night one of the mothers rolled over on her baby and suffocated her baby. When this woman realised that she had suffocated her baby she quickly took her dead baby and swapped it with her housemate’s living baby. When the other woman woke in the morning to feed her baby she discovered that the baby was dead. However, as she looked at the dead baby she realised that it wasn’t her baby. She wanted her living baby but the other mother said it was her baby. Because both mothers were single mothers there was no one else to verify the baby’s mother. This was too difficult for anyone else to solve so the case was brought to Solomon. There was no DNA testing in those days and no one else to verify one mother or the other. Solomon told one of his soldiers to bring a sword and divide the living baby. The mother who had lost her baby didn’t mind if the other baby died while the real mother of the baby didn’t want her baby to die. The baby’s mother asked that the baby be given to the other mother. Solomon knew which mother had given birth to the living baby and gave the baby to her. Solomon had not ever intended to harm the baby.
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