1 Kings 3:26

16-28 An instance of Solomon's wisdom is given. Notice the difficulty of the case. To find out the true mother, he could not try which the child loved best, and therefore tried which loved the child best: the mother's sincerity will be tried, when the child is in danger. Let parents show their love to their children, especially by taking care of their souls, and snatching them as brands out of the burning. By this and other instances of the wisdom with which God endued him, Solomon had great reputation among his people. This was better to him than weapons of war; for this he was both feared and loved....

EXPOSITION IN this section we see how remarkably the gracious promise of Gibeon (1 Kings 3:12) was fulfilled. The "understanding to discern judgment" has been richly bestowed. And this, no doubt, is the reason why the story is related here. Ἐπιδεῖξαί τὴν τοῦ βασιλεως ἐβουλήθη σοφίαν_ _(Theodoret). It is just possible, as Thenius maintains, that the narrative was handed down to a succeeding age by tradition, and was not incorporated into any of the documents from which our historian compiled his narrative; but this argues nothing against its authenticity or its inspiration. It is, as Bähr observes, a thoroughly Oriental story. 1 KINGS 3:16 THEN CAME THERE TWO WOMEN THAT WERE HARLOTS [The Jewish writers here, as in th

THEN SPAKE THE WOMAN, WHOSE THE LIVING CHILD [WAS], UNTO THE KING,.... In haste, and with great vehemency, lest the executioner should at once dispatch it: (FOR HER BOWELS YEARNED UPON HER SON); not being able to bear to see his life taken away: AND SHE SAID, O MY LORD: or, "on me q, my lord"; let the sin, the lie that I have told, be on me, and the punishment of it; she rather chose to be reckoned a liar, and to endure any punishment such an offence deserved, than that her child should be cut asunder: GIVE HER THE LIVING CHILD, AND IN NO WISE SLAY IT; being willing to part with her interest in it, rather than it should be put to death: BUT THE OTHER SAID, LET IT BE NEITHER MINE NOR THINE, [BUT] DIVIDE [IT]; for as she knew it was not her own, she had no affection for it, nor desire to have it; chose rather to be clear of the expense of keeping and nursing it, and would, by its being...

2. JEHOVAH APPEARS TO SOLOMON HIS PRAYER AND THE ANSWER CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Affinity with Pharaoh and Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1)_ 2. Solomon loved the LORD (1 Kings 3:2) 3. Jehovah appears to Solomon (1 Kings 3:5) 4. The wisdom granted and exemplified (1 Kings 3:16) We shall now see how the Lord kept His promise He made unto David in the establishment of his kingdom. After the execution of the demanded judgment Solomon entered into affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt (probably the last King of the 21 Tanitic dynasty) and married his daughter. She was with him in David's city until he made an end of

1 KINGS 3:1 TO 1 KINGS 4:34. EARLY DAYS, REIGN, AND WISDOM OF SOLOMON. The sources of this section are various, and the arrangement of the narrative in the LXX should be noticed. There are (_a_) a statistical account of Solomon s reign, referred to, apparently in 1 Kings 11:41, as the book of the acts of Solomon; (_b_) a number of narratives about this reign; (_c_) several Deuteronomic additions_ e.g._ 1 Kings 3:6; 1 Kings 3:14, etc.: and (_d_) some very late passages, possibly originally explanatory notes. The history of Solomon's reign

SAID. kept on saying....

_her bowels yerned_ It was believed that some of the viscera were the seat of the emotions. Hence this expression is very common both in the Old and New Testament for the keenest and strongest feeling. The verb _yern_, cognate with the German adverb _gern_= -eagerly", -gladly", implies intense desire. The literal sense of the Hebrew verb is -to grow excessively warm." We speak of the heart _burning_within any one. _in no wise slay it_ The mother's love comes out. She could be content if it only lived and she might see it, though it were called the child of another. _divide it_ In this word she addresses those who stand ready to execute the king's sentence, -divide (ye) it....

THEN CAME THERE TWO WOMEN, &C.— See Judges 2:1 respecting the word זנות _zonoth_ rendered _harlots._ Solomon knew at once, that the only sign whereby to discover the true mother, would be her affection and compassionate tenderness for her child; and therefore, in order to distinguish between the two, his business was to make trial of this. And if we suppose, that when he commanded the child to be divided he spake with a sedate countenance and seeming earnestness, as the true mother's petition to the king makes it apparent that he did, then we may suppose further, not only that the two women, but all the people present, with horror and admiration expected the execution of the thing; but when the whole ended in so just a decision, quite contrary to what they looked for, it raised joy in every breast, and gave a more advantageous commendation to the judge. It may not be improper, upon th

B. THE DEMONSTRATION OF HIS Wisdom 3:16-28 TRANSLATION (16) Then two women, harlots, came unto the king, and stood before him. (17) And the one woman said, O my lord the king, I and this woman were sleeping in one house; and I brought forth a child with her in the house. (18) And it came to pass on the third day after I brought forth a child, this woman brought forth a child also, and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house besides the two of us in the house. (19) And the son of this woman died in the night when she laid on top of him. (20) And she arose in the middle of the night, and took my son from beside me while your handmaiden slept, and she laid him in her breast, and her dead son she laid in my breast. (21) When I arose in the morning to nurse my son, behold he was dead. But I considered him closely in the morning, and behold he was not my son to whom I had...

SOLOMON'S CHOICE This chapter relates how Solomon, out of various gifts offered to him by the Almighty, chose wisdom, and adds an illustration of the use he made of the gift with which he was endowed....