IX. JUDGING THE CASE
OF THE TWO HARLOTS’ QUARRELING
In verses 16 through 28 Solomon judged the case of the two harlots’ quarreling about the genuine motherhood of a son (vv. 16-22). Solomon decided to cut the son into two pieces and give a peace to each (vv. 23-25). By his judgment the genuine mother and the false one were exposed (vv. 26-27). Such a wise judgment convinced all Israel and caused them to respect Solomon because they saw that the wisdom of God was within him (v. 28).
Solomon became a man of wisdom and also a man of understanding. However, because he took many pagan women and worshipped their idols and built places for the people to worship idols, he lost his God-given wisdom and his God-given understanding. He became very foolish and brought in damage to his kingdom.
Such a history indicates to us that God’s dealing with His people is very strict and very detailed. God deals with each of us in a strict, detailed way. We should not forget that whatever we do is the sowing of a seed. There will be a result, an outcome, of what we sow. Even a little negligence will produce a result. Thus, we must learn to fear God.
It is true that God is loving, kind, full of grace, and full of forgiveness. However, He is also the righteous God, and He is righteous in a detailed way. If we do not act in the way God wants us to act, He will have no chance to make His home in our hearts. Our doing, our behaving, affects God in His dealing with us. Therefore, we all need to be very careful in our behavior. We need to learn the lesson not to speak a wrong word or an idle word. We are people in God’s hands, even in God Himself. God will not be careless in dealing with us but will be very careful. So we must learn to be careful, even in small things.
Because the kings all did wrong things, their enjoyment in the good land was cut off. Today we also are kings, reigning with Christ. Our intentions, desires, character, habits, and behavior affect our enjoyment of Christ. Because we are kings, for us to be cut off from the enjoyment of Christ means that we are cut off from the top enjoyment of Christ, and will cause us to lose our kingship. Thus, we must be careful, even in the smallest thing. We should walk according to the spirit in everything (Rom. 8:4).
(Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
