1 Kings 3:28

The story had a sordid beginning. But it gave King Solomon the chance to display the wisdom of God in a judgment. The Holy Spirit has kept that judgment in the Holy Scriptures for our learning. It is even more striking and interesting because it is the only clear example we have of Solomon's wisdom from the throne of judgment.

After the understanding to worship before the ark, 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. Men always let the character of the speaker sway their judgments. God does not. What is important for Him is the heart, not the outward character. Solomon based his judgment on the affections the heart showed. Statements and denials carried equal weight in this case, so they could not settle it (v. 22). Only what the heart showed could settle it.

No sovereign better than Solomon shows that the heart of kings is unsearchable. See his decision in the dispute between the mothers — whose was the dead child, and whose the living one. Did anyone see into his heart when he asked for a sword? He 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 one was not, but who could have expected it except the king? What sounded cruel turned out wise and kind.

The king's judgment was this: love that sacrifices itself has a right that cannot be taken away — the right to have and enjoy the one it loves. And all the power of his throne lay behind his judgment to give effect to it. It was the law of God's universe that was declared in Solomon's judgment, and there is none greater than it.

Our minds at once go back to Calvary, and we think of the self-sacrificing love that expressed itself there. 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 whose child it was not — let it perish. Satan would have been overjoyed if we had been buried for ever in the depth of hell, because then God and Christ would have lost us for ever. But the Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.

"Divide it," says the one who is not the mother, giving in to her resentment. A person quickly sacrifices Christ when it is a matter of satisfying their own passions. Only divine wisdom can tell whether a profession of faith is real, and it does so by the state of the heart. How often there is a profession without the reality! Where are the affections for Christ? Where is the devotion that sacrifices even its legitimate advantages and rights for Him?

The king's action produced a deep impression on the people in general… But the incident reminds us that perfection was not reached in Solomon's glorious reign. It is unthinkable that such a sordid case could be brought for decision to Solomon's greater Son, God's "Holy One" (Psalm 89:19).