Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Justice (7) - Solomons Wisdom

When King Solomon’s settled the dispute over a live baby between two prostitutes, he provides s a good example of the biblical judicial process (1 Kings 3:16-28). The king first identified the mother of the baby. He used real wisdom to get to the truth. His declaration of the truth vindicated the mother and condemned the other woman.

Solomon's second action was to restore the baby to its mother. This remedial action corrected the injustice that had been done.

When all Israel heard the verdict (mishpat) the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice (mishpat) (1 Kings 3:28).

1 comment:

Steve Scott said...

His mother was a harlot who had a roommate who was a liar, thief (kidnapper) and guilty of manslaughter. Not the kind of "family" our states today would find "in the best interest of the child." Yet Solomon restored him to his true mother, rather than call social services to have him abducted by the state, placed in the system, abused and neglected.