True Justice: Real Love

1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28

You can have anything, anything at all

Riches, power, success, reputation, anything at all – just name it.

The wisdom it took to ask for wisdom would be enough for me!

For of all the things we have and are and need, surely wisdom and discernment will inform everything else?

Solomon’s wisdom was there, even before God’s blessing, for he understood that the tasks that lay ahead would need the utmost in sensitivity and judgement... though I cannot imagine he would ever have anticipated the two women and the baby.

This is not an easy tale; nor was there an obvious solution.

This is a story, not about Solomon’s wisdom so much as a mother’s love and a mother’s grief... and the search for justice.

This story has specific elements:

Solomon’s wisdom – legendary

Solomon’s shrewdness – famous

Solomon’s blessing – endless

A mother’s love – unconditional

A mother’s grief – unfathomable

The searing pain of loss – indescribable

Into that maelstrom of pain and anguish comes wisdom’s touch

In the Old Testament in particular in the books of wisdom, wisdom is described as feminine; as gentle; as strong; as resilient... as woman.

Our story today, is about a mighty king, blessed by God

But it is also about the character of wisdom: the feminine - Gentle, caring, loving, honest, true.

The wisdom and the imagination that was able to decide to literally divide the living child are unimaginable. Truly shocking.

 And yet.

Solomon did it.

(though, I do wonder if he’d have gone through with it?)

And the mother’s love, so great, she was prepared to give up the child in order to let him live, was sufficient to save her child, restore her equilibrium, and enable the world to see God’s power at work.

God’s blessing bearing fruit.

God’s chosen one using judgement wisely, lovingly, justly.

Wisdom visiting with her caress

As it should be