But the other said: “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.” [1]
Then the king commanded the child to be given to her who would rather give it up to another than have it killed, knowing that she must be its mother. The report of this judgment having gone abroad, the people all feared the king and knew that the wisdom of God[2] was in him. How necessary it is that kings and rulers should examine in the spirit of justice and wisdom all cases brought before them!
COMMENTARY.
God's Goodness to Solomon was wonderful. What gifts did He bestow and what promises did He make the young king?
Love of God and our neighbour. Solomon, by his great virtues, had made himself worthy of God’s gifts and graces. He loved God above everything and served Him with a willing heart. Moreover he loved his people and was full of zeal for their good. He therefore prayed to God to give him the gift of wisdom to enable him to govern his people well and provide for their spiritual and temporal welfare.
His humility was most pleasing to God. He showed it by his words: “Thou hast made Thy servant king, who am but a child.” In him were fulfilled the words: “To the meek God will give grace” (Prov. 3, 34).
Prayer for spiritual gifts. Solomon’s prayer was pleasing to God, because firstly he made it with a humble heart; and secondly because he did not pray for riches or long life, but for far higher gifts. This shows us that we must not pray only for temporal blessings, such as health or a good harvest or peace and so forth, but above all for higher and more precious gifts, such as the forgiveness of sins, virtue, and especially for the grace to do our duty in our own state of life. In the “Our Father”, the model-prayer taught us by our Lord, there are five petitions for spiritual gifts, and only two for temporal gifts, the fourth and the seventh, even these two being combined with spiritual petitions. Bear in mind our Lord’s exhortation and promise: “Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (New Test. XXI).
- ↑ Divide it. By this hard-hearted speech Solomon knew at once that the speaker was not the mother of the living child.
- ↑ The Wisdom of God. i. e. they knew that the young king had not settled the difficult question thus skilfully and decisively by his own natural ability, but by a supernatural inspiration of God. Without this inspiration it would not have occurred to Solomon to find out the true mother in such a peculiar way.
