In 1 Kings 3:16-28, the incident that the two prostitutes came to see Solomon to settle a dispute among them shows the wisdom of Solomon. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon, asking, “Ask what I shall give you.” In response, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern the people (3:5-9). “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this” (3:10). This incident laconically indicates that God answered Solomon’s prayer by granting him wisdom. Even though Solomon realized that the Lord appeared to him in a dream (3:15), his prayer became a reality, somehow.
When I was reading this narrative this morning, what caught my attention was that people revered Solomon because they perceived the way of God in Solomon. 1 Kgs. 3:28—“And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.” To look at it from a leadership perspective, people followed Solomon because he aimed at God and His ways of doing things. Solomon had followers because he asked for wisdom to govern the people based on godly wisdom (biblical principles). People see how we manage things. Do we manage things randomly, or do we manage it with biblical principles? People perceive what is in us: to do justice or injustice. Like it or not, people perceive.
Leaders are out there to be perceived. However, leaders are not for display only. Leaders learn to lead in leading. On the one hand, followers perceive leaders. On the other hand, leaders lead consistently to change followers’ perception. Followers should perceive with grace and follow with obedience; leaders ought to lead with consistency, courage, and character.
The story is not so much about the two women. It is about Solomon and his God, or it is about how God shaped Solomon. The way Solomon handled business in chap. 2 is very different from chap. 3. Perhaps, after the Lord appeared to him the first time (3:5; The Lord appeared to him the second time in 9:2), he has changed gradually.
I like how Iain Provan, Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, comments on this text: “Certainly the focus of the narrative’s conclusion is not on what has happened to the women, but on what has happened to Solomon. The transformation of the king is by the end of the story complete. His old ‘wisdom’ had led to the use of the sword for executions whose justice is questionable. His new wisdom leads him in more constructive paths. He still uses the sword, but in a more positive way, threatening execution only to achieve justice. The sword is functioning in the service, not of the ruthless self, but of the kingdom as a whole” [1 and 2 Kings (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995), p. 52.].
The wisdom of God in Solomon has put the sword of Solomon into a rightful place.
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