Solomon Judges Wisely
Two prostitutes come before Solomon with a dispute over a living child after one infant dies in the night and each woman claims the surviving son. Solomon listens as the case is laid out and the competing claims are reduced to their essential conflict.
A16t that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. 19During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. 20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. 21The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.” 22“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” 23Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
Solomon calls for a sword and proposes dividing the living child, a judgment that exposes the true mother when she would rather surrender her son than see him killed. Solomon then awards the child to her.
24The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, 25and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” 27Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”
All Israel hears the judgment and stands in awe of the king, recognizing that the wisdom of God is in him for justice.
28When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.