Solomon's Worldly Wisdom

Solomon used Benaiah to end the lives of nearly all threats to his power. With the exception of Abiathar who was the Levitical priest who served David during his reign. Solomon though had him removed because he would likely have taught people that the temple wasn’t needed. However Solomon wanted it as his great desire was to design the political structure of his society after Egypt. Joab died on the altar as a pseudo human sacrifice. Shimei died because he went after his servants to Gath, but he actually never violated the agreement made with Solomon. The government of Israel’s new regime was literally being defined by violence and deception. It was a highly structured model based on the an identical structure in Egypt. Although Solomon is

In vs.27 Solomon gives the child to the compassionate mother. His response to the situation was violence, and it is revealing of his worldly wisdom. Solomon used threat of death to get the ‘truth’. What is interesting is that this instance would not have been needed if wisdom was his strong suite. There was no inquiries made, and no detections of evidence or even a true trial. As it was it seemed he operated on pure luck and the only redeemable aspect of the moment was that the second child wasn’t dismembered. Such a moment would also likely hold certain psychological repercussions for the women. For the one who accidentally smothered her child (Vs.19-21). No help was allotted her for her loss or her pain. The second woman who retained her son had to watch as he was nearly murdered by her king. Within all of this though the biggest issue in this passage is the fact that these women are prostitutes. A king who claims God’s wisdom, but has women subjected by men for profit. It’s not likely that these women chose to be prostitutes. This moment lets us see that Solomon was not sensitive to human life. He was willing to murder a child. He also had two women with no husbands, and perhaps did not know the father of the children. They were also sleeping in conditions that may not have been conducive to child rearing. Let alone the fact that they had men coming to call on them when they had children at thome. All of these things lead to conclusive evidence that Solomon did not have a unique wisdom given to him. Yet he is seen as being blessed with Great wisdom and discernment. These few issues are enough to enlighten people to the societal issues he did not address concerning the devaluing of women and the poor. Murder was commonplace, and forced labor was something ISrael was never to participate in due to their historical circumstances. God was not with