Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other. Real smart?

Was that really a wise thing for Solomon to command?

1 Kings 3:

16 two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 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. 18Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.

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Nice and concise description. However, in reality, more testimonies must have been given by the two women in the charge and counter-charge as they argued before the king's questionings. Near the end of the proceedings:

25 the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”

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Was it really a wise thing for Solomon to command?

Yes, because by this point, Solomon was acquainted with the psychologies of these two women. He knew one was good and one was bad. The true mother was the good one. He just needed to confirm it by this unusual command.

26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.”

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Solomon expected the above response from the good woman.

But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”

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Solomon banked on that kind of response from the bad woman.

Why did she respond like that?

That's her psychology. There are people like that. She wasn't loving toward the baby. She hated the true mother for bringing this lawsuit before the king. If they actually had gone ahead and killed the baby, that would have been her revenge against the true mother and no one would know she was guilty.

What if she responded by saying the same as the good woman: “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death”?

By her personality, she wouldn't. If she had, Solomon would just give the live baby to its true mother.

Was Solomon wise in this episode?

Yes, wise in the sense that he could tell psychologically what kind of women were before him and predicted their responses.

27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

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What about us today?

James 1:

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

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