1 Kings 3:17

Two women who were prostitutes came to Solomon to have him judge a controversy between them. The complainant stated her case first. She claimed that after she had given birth to a child, the other woman had smothered her own child by lying on him at night. Then, while the first mother was sleeping, the other woman had swapped the babies. When she awoke in the morning, she said, she found the child dead, but in examining him, found this was not her child.

After the understanding to worship before the ark, which was the first sign of his wisdom, we find in Solomon "the wisdom of God… to do judgment" (v. 28). Though it concerns harlots, nothing changes this judgment. People always let the character of the speaker sway their judgments; it is not so with God. What is important for Him is the heart, not the outward character.

Claims and denials carried equal weight in this case, and no judgment could rest on them. What could establish judgment was the showing of the heart. The question was not which of the two women was the more worthy — both were harlots. It was not whether the actions complained of were likely or had taken place — there had been no witness. It was not whether the true mother could recognise her child by certain outward signs — there were none.

No sovereign better than Solomon shows that the heart of kings is unsearchable. See his decision of the dispute between the mothers, whose was the dead child, and whose the living one. Was there one soul who saw into his heart? He asked for a sword and said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." The false mother was as willing as the true was not, but who could have expected it except the king? What sounded cruel turned out wise and kind.

One of them loved the child with a mother's true love. The other had no love for him at all. She wanted him only because she could not bear to see true love in possession of what it loved. "Bring a sword and divide the living child," said the king. For that moment the child was under the sentence of death, with the sword hanging over it, ready to strike. How could anyone save him from the carrying out of the sentence? True love found the way of salvation for it. But it was the way of sacrifice, and that was the only way… The king's judgment was this: self-sacrificing love has a right that cannot be taken away — the right to have and enjoy the object it loves.

The sentence of death had been passed on us and the enemy of God claimed us as his; not that he cared for us at all. "Let it be neither mine nor yours, but divide it," said the woman who was not the child's mother — let it perish… But the Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.

The suggestion to divide the baby with the sword was new and bold. It was probably without precedent in the world's history. But it brought out the feelings of the true mother with such a rush that it became clear whose the child was… But the incident reminds us that perfection was not reached in Solomon's glorious reign. It is unthinkable that anyone would bring such a sordid case to Solomon's greater Son, God's "Holy One," for judgment.