Commentary - 1 Kings 3:16-28

Bird's-eye view

This famous account of Solomon's wisdom is not a mere courtroom drama inserted into the historical record for its human interest. It is a potent demonstration, a living parable, of the gift of wisdom God had just bestowed upon the young king in the preceding verses. Having asked for an understanding heart to judge God's people, Solomon is immediately presented with a case that appears utterly unsolvable by ordinary means. There are no witnesses, no evidence, just the raw, contradictory testimony of two harlots. The dispute is over life and death, motherhood and identity. Solomon's genius is not in a clever legal trick, but in his profound understanding of the human heart, specifically the heart of a mother. He devises a test that bypasses the lying lips and cuts straight to the affections. The true mother's love reveals itself in its willingness to sacrifice, while the false mother's envy and spite are exposed by her willingness to see the child destroyed. The story serves to establish Solomon's authority in the eyes of all Israel, causing them to fear him because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. It is a picture of the ideal Davidic king, a type of the one who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, who knows what is in man and judges with perfect righteousness.

At its core, this is a story about how divine wisdom operates in a fallen world. It does not float in the abstract but engages with the messiest of human situations, involving sin, deceit, and desperation. The king's righteous judgment brings order out of chaos, truth out of lies, and life out of a sentence of death. It is a microcosm of the gospel. Two women stand before the king, one with a true claim and one with a false one. The king, through a test that involves a sword and the threat of division, reveals the truth and renders a just verdict. In the same way, all of humanity stands before the greater Solomon, King Jesus. The sword of His Word divides, discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and ultimately renders a judgment that is perfectly true and righteous.

Outline

Context In 1 Kings

This episode is strategically placed by the author of Kings. Chapter 3 opens with Solomon securing his kingdom, making a politically motivated but spiritually compromised marriage to Pharaoh's daughter, and then going to Gibeon to worship. It is there, in a dream, that God invites him to ask for anything he wants. Solomon, in humility, asks not for riches or long life, but for a "discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong" (1 Kings 3:9). God is pleased with this request and grants him unparalleled wisdom, along with the riches and honor he did not ask for. The story of the two harlots is the immediate sequel. It is the first public demonstration of this divine gift. It is the proof in the pudding, the validation of God's promise. This event solidifies Solomon's reputation and authority over the nation, showing that he is not just David's son by birth, but a king endowed with supernatural insight from Yahweh Himself. It sets the stage for the glory of his reign that will be detailed in the subsequent chapters.

Key Issues

Wisdom on the Edge of Town

It is significant that the first great test of Solomon's God-given wisdom comes from the margins of society. These are not princesses or noblewomen; they are harlots. In the ancient world, they would have had virtually no social standing, no powerful family to advocate for them. Their testimony would have been considered unreliable at best. They bring their sordid, tragic story directly to the highest court in the land. This tells us something crucial about the nature of God's justice. The king's court is to be open to all, and the king's wisdom is for the benefit of all, especially those who have no other recourse. A king who can bring justice to the lowest of his subjects is a king who can truly govern the entire nation. Solomon does not dismiss them because of their profession. He takes their case seriously, because life and truth are at stake. This is a picture of the kingdom of God, where the last are first, and where the King of kings hears the cries of the destitute and the outcast. God's wisdom is not an esoteric, philosophical abstraction; it is a practical, powerful tool for bringing righteousness into the darkest corners of human experience.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him.

The scene is set with stark simplicity. The characters are introduced not by name, but by their profession: harlots. This immediately establishes their low social status and the difficulty of the case. They are on the fringes, and their word alone would carry little weight. Yet they come to the king, the supreme court of Israel, and he receives them. This is how a righteous kingdom is supposed to function. The king is the fountainhead of justice for everyone, regardless of their station.

17-21 And the one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.”

The first woman lays out her case. The details are important. They live together, and there were no other witnesses. This is crucial; it establishes that this will be a case of one woman's word against another's. Her story is plausible and tragic. She describes how the other woman's child died through accidental suffocation, a sad but not uncommon event. Then, she alleges a malicious, premeditated act: a secret swap in the middle of the night. The detail about looking "carefully" at the dead child in the morning light adds a touch of realism. A mother knows her own child. Her story is a mixture of grief, outrage, and a plea for justice.

22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

The second woman offers a flat, direct denial. She doesn't offer a detailed counter-narrative; she simply inverts the first woman's claim. The living is mine, the dead is yours. The text emphasizes the complete deadlock by repeating the back-and-forth. "Thus they spoke before the king." There is no middle ground, no possibility of compromise. One is telling the truth, and one is telling a monstrous lie. From a purely evidentiary standpoint, the case is impossible to solve.

23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ”

Solomon's first action is to simply restate the problem. He demonstrates that he has listened carefully and understands the intractable nature of the conflict. He doesn't take sides. He doesn't dismiss them. He calmly and publicly articulates the core of the dispute. This is the first mark of a wise judge: the ability to accurately grasp and state the issue at hand before proceeding to a solution.

24-25 And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. Then the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”

This is the master stroke. Solomon's command is shocking, brutal, and seemingly insane. But it is not a genuine legal sentence. It is a probe, a scalpel designed to cut through the lies and expose the heart. A sword is an instrument of division and judgment. By threatening to divide the child, Solomon is creating a situation where the true maternal instinct cannot remain hidden. He is proposing a form of "justice" that is perfectly equal and perfectly monstrous. This forces the women to react not from their rehearsed stories, but from their deepest affections.

26 Then the woman whose son was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred with compassion over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!”

The test works instantly and perfectly. The two hearts are laid bare. The true mother is overcome with compassion. Her love for her child is greater than her desire to possess him. She would rather see him live in the arms of her rival than see him die. This is true, sacrificial love. The liar, on the other hand, reveals the blackness of her heart. Consumed by envy and spite, she is content to see the living child destroyed as long as the other woman does not get to have him. Her statement, "Divide him!" is the voice of pure, nihilistic malice. If she cannot have him, no one will. Her heart is as dead as her own child.

27 Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means put him to death. She is his mother.”

With the truth now revealed for all to see, Solomon delivers his final, authoritative verdict. His command is simple, direct, and decisive. He reverses his previous order to kill the child and awards him to the woman who showed compassion. "She is his mother." The judgment is based not on evidence presented to the ear, but on the evidence of the heart revealed to the eye. True justice has been done, and life has been preserved.

28 Then all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

The story concludes with its intended result. The news of this remarkable judgment spreads throughout the nation. The effect on the people is profound. They "feared the king." This is not the fear of a tyrant, but a deep-seated awe and respect for his authority. They recognized that his wisdom was not merely human cleverness; it was a divine endowment. "They saw that the wisdom of God was in him." This event established his reign on a foundation of righteousness and cemented his role as God's chosen instrument to bring justice to the people of Israel.

Application

This story is a powerful illustration of how God's truth operates. The world is full of lies, confusion, and seemingly irresolvable conflicts. Our hearts are deceitful, and our mouths can speak falsehoods with terrifying conviction. How can truth be found? Solomon shows us that true wisdom gets past the surface arguments and discerns the heart. And the ultimate tool for discerning the heart is the sword.

For us, that sword is the Word of God. The author of Hebrews tells us that "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). When the gospel is preached, it confronts us with a choice, just as Solomon's sword confronted those two women. It presents us with Christ crucified, and our reaction to Him reveals what is truly in our hearts. Do we, like the true mother, see the value of the Son and say, "Let Him live, even if it costs me everything"? Or do we, like the false mother, see Him as an object of our envy and say, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; crucify him!"?

We live under the reign of a greater Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who judges with perfect righteousness. He knows our hearts completely, and nothing is hidden from His sight. The good news is that this King did not simply threaten to divide a child; He allowed Himself to be divided for us. He took the sword of God's wrath in His own body on the cross, so that we, who deserved to be cut off, might be made whole and given life. The wisdom of Solomon saved one child. The wisdom of God in Christ offers salvation to the whole world. The proper response is to fall down before this King in fear and awe, recognizing that the wisdom of God is in Him to do justice, and to save all who call upon His name.