As well known as Solomon was for being, perhaps, the richest man in history, it didn’t escape the attention of Hebrew Bible writers that the man was pretty wise too. Is there anyone who has forgotten the story which spawned his claim to fame? It is told in 1 Kings 3:16-18. We’ll hit the highlights.
In the beginning, two prostitutes were living in the same house, each with a baby boy. Hmm, prostitutes raising kids together in a house. Sounds like a great idea for a sitcom. Fox? NBC? Lifetime? Anyone? But we digress. It seems that one of the women rolled over on her son in the night and smothered him to death. No clue given as to whether or not she was working at the time.
Continuing…
The other woman claimed to Solomon that the first woman, who had accidentally killed her child, switched the babies before morning to make it look like her roommate had crushed the infant. Now both women were claiming the remaining live child for their own. They went to King Solomon for help in resolving the situation. The king pondered and came up with an idea – cleave the live son in two with a sword and give each woman half.
Of course, the true mother completely freaked out at this idea and began begging Solomon to give the baby to the other woman. Sneaky rascal. He didn’t really plan on letting the kid get cut in two (we don’t think) but was simply using an extreme approach to winnow out the woman with the strongest feelings toward the child, assuming she would be the true mother. The lying woman told him to go ahead and divide it.
In today’s world you have sports and then you have EXTREME sports. Let’s call this little story about King Solomon EXTREME wisdom. Pushing the line a little bit there aren’t you, buddy? But pretty clever if you ask us. Guess that whole deal about asking God for wisdom worked out well for the good king.
The Solomon Success Team
Flickr / jikatu