1 Kings 3:16-28 – Wisdom from above is available to us

The story recorded in 1 Kings 3:16-28 is one of the well-known stories that affirmed God’s gift of wisdom and discernment to Solomon. The story tells of two prostitutes each having given birth to a son. One of them was careless and unknowingly smothered her son to death. She then took her dead baby and switched it with the baby belonging to the other prostitute, while she was asleep. Now both the women came to Solomon claiming that the baby who was still alive was theirs. In the absence of witnesses, this was a difficult case to solve. At a time where DNA testing technology had not been developed, what was Solomon going to do? This was where Solomon’s God-given wisdom and discernment were put to the test. Would he be able to satisfactorily resolve the unusually perplexing issue?

Verses 24-28 give us a glimpse of the wisdom and wit that Solomon possessed. He could discern that the genuine mother would prefer her son to be alive no matter what. So he wisely tested the maternal affection of the mothers to see how each of them would respond when the son’s life was threatened. He asked for a sword to be brought to divide the son who was alive into two, so that the mothers could each have half of that son. Of course, the mother who had given birth to her son would prefer him alive than dead, even if it meant having to part with him. On the other hand, the mother who did not give birth to the baby was nonchalant. For she did not care even if the child was dead because the live baby was never hers. After all her own child was dead, so it made no difference to her.  Her cruelty was exposed by Solomon’s wise actions.  

The real mother of the son who was alive showed deep compassion for him. So she spoke to the king asking that her son be given to the other prostitute. She would rather see him alive than have him dead. That gave Solomon the cue of who the real mother was. He saw through the different responses of the women. Wisely, he then gave his judgment and returned the son to the compassionate woman. When Solomon’s action was known, his fame spread throughout Israel and the people respected and feared him. For they saw that the wisdom of God was upon him.  

Wisdom as we have discovered is more than knowledge. It is the ability to discern from the knowledge one has acquired and then to translate it into appropriate action. The Bible in Proverbs 3:13 said, “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.” In our complex world, we need wisdom to be able to distinguish what’s important and what’s not, between the peripheral and the core. Thankfully, God promises to give us that wisdom. The God given wisdom according to James 3:18 “…is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruit, unwavering. without hypocrisy.” We can have such wisdom. All we need to do is to ask God for it. For in James 1:5, He invites us to ask for His wisdom saying, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Ask God for this wisdom, and live life without regret!