Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”
Two women shared a house, one baby was alive, one was dead, and no witness could say which was which. Here the king gives the child back to the mother who fought for his life, in a ruling commentators trace all the way to the cross.
A case with no evidence
No testimony could settle the case, because there was none. Solomon found another way to the truth.
Leslie M. GrantSolomon did not need other witnesses. He called for a sword, and commanded that the living child should be cut in half, with each mother having a half. It was not love for the child that moved the false mother, but jealousy toward the other woman. Solomon knew that if she was dishonest enough to steal the child, the test he gave her would reveal her motives.
No one else could guess what the king was thinking.
William KellyNo king shows better than Solomon that the heart of kings cannot be read. Not one soul saw into his heart when he asked for a sword. The false mother was as willing to divide the child as the true mother was unwilling, and who could have expected that except the king? What sounded cruel turned out wise and kind.
Judging the heart, not the reputation
Both women were prostitutes. Neither had a reputation a human judge would trust.
H. L. RossierEven though the case concerns prostitutes, nothing changes this judgment. People always let the character of those who speak to them sway their judgments. It is not so with God. What matters to Him is the heart, not the outward character. The question was not which of the two women was more worthy, for both were prostitutes. It was not whether the things they complained of were likely or had really happened, for there had been no witness. It was not whether the true mother could recognise her child by outward signs, for there were none. It was a matter of judging the state of her heart, and only the affections she showed could reveal it.
Love proved by what it will give up
The true mother would rather lose her son than see him killed. That willingness to let go tells the real from the fake, and God gives back what love is ready to lose.
H. L. RossierWhen the true mother saw the sword lifted over her child, her heart yearned for her son. The object loved means more to us than our love for it. This is how you tell what is real, and who the true mother is. Among people who claim the name of Christian, the one who has never found an object for his heart soon gives himself away. "Divide it," says the woman who is not the mother, giving way to her resentment. People are quick to sacrifice Christ when it suits their own desires. How often there is a claim without the reality! Where is the devotion that sacrifices even its lawful rights for Him?… This is a question of ties created by God, of something given by Him which the soul values. God will never take it away from us. On the contrary, in the trial we shall receive it back afresh from His own hand.
The principle behind the verdict
The king does more than name a mother. He settles a claim, and one writer states it as a law.
J T MawsonThe king's judgment was this — self-sacrificing love has the inalienable right to the possession and enjoyment of the object it loves. And all the power of his throne stood behind his judgment to carry it out. Solomon's judgment declared the law of God's universe, and there is none greater than it.
Commentators take the same rule to the cross.
J T MawsonOur minds at once go back to Calvary, and we think of the self-sacrificing love that expressed itself there. The sentence of death lay on us, and the enemy of God claimed us as his. He did not care for us at all. Satan would have rejoiced if we had been buried for ever in the depth of hell, for then God and Christ would have lost us for ever. But the Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.
A glory still short of the greater King
The whole nation saw the wisdom of God in the verdict. Yet one writer points to what the case itself says about Solomon's reign.
W. W. FeredayThe king's action made a deep impression on the people. "And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice." But the incident reminds us that perfection was not reached in Solomon's glorious reign. Such a squalid case could never come before Solomon's greater Son, God's "Holy One."
Summary
- Sword. With no witnesses and two unreliable claims, Solomon's order to divide the child was a test, not a sentence. What sounded cruel turned out wise and kind.
- Heart. The verdict rests on the heart, not on reputation or evidence. Both women were prostitutes, and only their affections could decide the case.
- Sacrifice. The real mother would rather lose her son than see him die. Love shows itself by what it gives up, and God gives it back.
- Right. The judgment declares a law: self-sacrificing love has the rightful claim to the one it loves. The throne's power enforces it.
- Cross. Commentators see the same rule at Calvary, where love paid the price to keep its own. Fereday adds that Solomon's reign, for all its wisdom, still fell short of the reign of his greater Son.