Solomon’s Discerning Heart in Action

Scripture — 1 Kings 3:16-22 (NRSV)

Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before [Solomon]. The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.

Devotion

In the first half of 1 Kings 3, Solomon, king of Israel, asked God for a discerning heart so that he might rule his people justly. God granted Solomon’s prayer, making him exceptionally wise because he had asked, not for his personal benefit, but for the sake of his job and the people entrusted to his care.

The second half of 1 Kings 3 tells the story of a situation in which Solomon’s discerning heart was sorely tested. The situation involved two women whom the Bible identifies as prostitutes (3:16). (Note: in all my years of Sunday School as a boy, we talked about this story many times. But no teacher ever mentioned what the women in the story did for a living.) Anyway, both women lived in the same house and gave birth at more or less the same time to two boys. Shortly thereafter, one of the babies died in the night. While the other mother was sleeping, the mother of the dead baby exchanged him for the live baby, without waking his mother. When that mother awoke in the morning to discover that her son was apparently dead, she noticed that her baby was actually alive and being claimed by the other mother. There were no witnesses to what had happened. Both mothers claimed to be the rightful mother of the only living child.

When they could not sort things out, they took their argument to King Solomon. Each one claimed to be the mother of the living baby. There was no physical or witness evidence to prove either case. So, this was a time in which Solomon’s discerning heart would be severely challenged.

Solomon’s response to the women’s complaints might at first seem bizarre, more like the stuff of a horror film than a biblical story. He instructed the women to bring him a sword, explaining that they should “divide the living boy in two,” giving “half to the one, and half to the other” (3:25). One woman, the one whose child had died, was satisfied with this plan. The other was horrified, begging Solomon to give the living boy to the other mother. She would rather have her child live with that woman than see him killed.

When this happened, Solomon knew that the woman who was willing to give up the baby was the true mother. He decreed that the child be given to his mother. This decision became known throughout Israel. The people “stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice” (3:28).

Because this story is so familiar to me, I can take for granted the way it turns out. Of course, Solomon did the sensible thing. But if I use my imagination to get inside the story, and if I put myself in Solomon’s place, I can feel my heart beginning to pound with anxiety. Here I am, facing an extraordinarily difficult decision with so much riding upon it, including justice for a victimized woman and the life of a baby. In such a situation, I would be desperate, not only to use whatever wisdom I could muster, but also and especially to listen to God’s wisdom.

Of course, I have never been in a situation quite like that of Solomon. But, in the course of my leadership, there have been times when I confronted what appeared to be an impossibly difficult decision with significant consequences. One of these happened when I was the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church. Our church was planning to loan money to a staff member so he could purchase a home. With our encouragement, he had put money down on the home. His financial pro worked out all the details of the loan agreement. Everything seemed fine.

Fine, that is, until I read the contract I needed to sign on behalf of the church. The contract stated that the loan was actually a gift, with no repayment required. This was not true. I called the financial guy to say it needed to be changed. He told me this was impossible, that any change would invalidate the process. He said my staff member would lose the home and his down payment. He also told me that what I was supposed to sign was no big deal. “People do it all the time. Nobody will ever know. Etc. etc. etc.” I told him I would get back to him and hung up.

I was deeply dismayed and very upset. I did not want to sign something that wasn’t true. I knew that would be wrong. But I also did not want my staff person to lose his house and his substantial down payment. I was between a rock and a hard place and didn’t know what to do. So, I called out to God for help, yes, for wisdom. As I prayed, I tried to hear God’s guidance in the matter. To my surprise, what I “heard” was that I should call one of my elders, a godly man who was an excellent attorney.

I called him and explained the situation. At the end of my explanation, he acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. “I can see why you’re so upset,” he said. “But you’ve done the right thing by calling me. I agree that you mustn’t sign a contract that isn’t truthful. But I don’t think your staff person needs to lose the house and the down payment. If you’ll allow me, I’ll get involved. I’ll talk with the finance guy and see what we can work out.”

I said I’d be glad for his help and thanked him. About an hour later, he called back. “It’s all being worked out,” he said. “You will sign a fully truthful contract. And the house sale will go through.” Again, I thanked my elder for what he had done, this time even more profusely. After we hung up, I thanked the Lord for the wisdom he had given me.

You’ll notice that I was not given wisdom about how to correct the contract. There was no free legal advice from the Lord. What I was given was the realization that I shouldn’t deal with this on my own. I needed help from the body of Christ, in this case, from one of my elders. You might say that I listened to God for discernment, and that discernment encouraged me to listen to the wisdom of another person.

I expect there have been times in your life when you had to make what seemed like an impossibly difficult decision. There will likely be more times like this in the future. Perplexing decisions can sneak up on us at work, at home, in our relationships, in our health care, in our church, and so on. When this happens, we would do well to imitate the example of Solomon, asking the Lord for a discerning heart. Sometimes, as you listen attentively, God will guide you to the right decision. Sometimes the Lord will encourage you to listen to the wisdom of others. You may never have world-famous wisdom like Solomon. But you will know the gladness that comes when you’ve paid attention to God.

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