As the two women came to King Solomon to plead their case, one of them spoke first. “I plead with you, Sire, to hear what I have to say!”
“Speak!’” said the King. “What is your problem?”
She pointed to another woman who was standing near her with a tiny baby in her arms. “Sire, this woman and I live in the same house. About two weeks ago I gave birth to a son. She helped me. She and I were the only ones there.” As she spoke, tears came to her eyes.
“Go on, my daughter,” said the King.
“Three days later, my lord, this woman also had a baby. And it, too, was a son. I helped her give birth. There were still only two of us in the house.” Tears streamed from her eyes as she continued.
“A few days later, her baby died in the night because she accidentally lay on it as she slept. And then she took my son from my bed while I was sleeping and put her dead child beside me.” She continued to weep as she spoke. “When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I found that it was dead; but when I examined it, I discovered that it was not my child.”
“That’s not the way it was!” the other woman interrupted. “That’s not the way it was at all! She’s just making up an emotional story for you, Sire, and she has produced some tears to go with it! This is my son; the dead child is hers!”
“You’re lying!” said the first woman. “And you know it! The living son is mine and the other is hers!”
“Oh no it isn’t!” said the other woman, as she held the child close to her. “It’s the other way around! This is my son!”
And in this way they argued back and forth in front of the King. Solomon had listened and observed carefully and it seemed as though he had made up his mind. However, he asked the woman to lay the child down in front of him. He looked intently at the child and then at each of the women as thought he were trying to determine by appearance whose child it was. Then, to the great surprise of all who heard, King Solomon said, “Bring me a sword.” One of his guards came with a sword in his hands. “Divide the child in two parts!” he said coldly. “Give half to one and half to the other!”
As the guard raised the sword to obey the King, the first woman cried out, “Don’t kill the child, my lord! Please don’t do it! Let him live and give him to her.”
The other woman, however, thought Solomon’s idea was a good one. “Cut it in two!” she shouted. “Then neither one of us will have it!”
Then the King raised his hand and spoke. “Don’t kill the child! Give it to the first woman!” he commanded, pointing to her. “She is the mother!”
