Wednesday Bible Study: What are you, a wise guy?

Ch. 3 ends with a famous little story, but if you bother to think about it for a second it's completely ridiculous. The first thing that happens is that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gives his daughter to Solomon  Riiiiiigggght. 

 

I happened to read an article in the new Scientific American about archaeology in Jerusalem. It's a problem because originally, actually until fairly recently, diggers set out to prove the foregone conclusion that the Bible stories are true. Another problem is that it's hard to dig anywhere without offending somebody. Anyway, the current scholarly consensus is that at the time these events supposedly occurred, a little before 1000 BCE, Jerusalem was a small village. Egypt, however, was at the height of its power, although it was descending into what is called the Third Intermediate Period, with divided rule. In any case, Pharaoh was not about to make his daughter one of 700 wives of a desert tribal chieftan.

Then Solmon goes to Gibeon and sacrifices 1,000 animals at a time. (Gibeon is a city north of Jerusalem.) There he has a dream of a long-winded exchange with God in which God promises to make him wise. Solomon wakes up and realizes it was just a dream; it's not clear whether we're supposed to take it seriously or not. 

In any case, the following incident that's supposed to prove Solomon's unparalleled wisdom is well, pretty damn stupid. In the first place, I don't think the Bible Stories for Children version of this mentions that the two women are "harlots," as RSV has it. Evidently they work in the same house of ill repute. (It doesn't say if Jelly Roll Morton was the pianist.) Anyway, the conceit that the false claimant would agree to have the baby cut in half is absurd. She doesn't want half a baby any more than the real mother does. We use the phrase "split the baby" today for a situation in which compromise is impossible, which makes some sense, but the woman who isn't the real mother won't see this as a compromise. They'd both just think that Solomon is nuts.

3 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father; only, he sacrificed and burnt incense at the high places. ⁴ And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar. ⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “Thou hast shown great and steadfast love to thy servant David my father, because he walked before thee in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward thee; and thou hast kept for him this great and steadfast love, and hast given him a son to sit on his throne this day. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. ⁹ Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern this thy great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

¹⁵ And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment

¹⁶ Then two harlots came to the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸ Then on the third day after I was delivered, 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. ¹⁹ And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. ²⁰ And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your maidservant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I looked at it closely in the morning, behold, it was not the child that I had borne.” ²² But 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.

²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴ And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. ²⁵ And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” 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 slay it.” But the other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” ²⁷ Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means slay it; she is its mother.” ²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to render justice.