I Pray for a Heart that Listens

The video version of this teaching is available at: https://youtu.be/suon4ON4ekQ

The scripture reading is 1^st Kings 3:1-4:1

As believers, we should all pray for God’s wisdom to guide us each and every day.  There is no better Biblical example of someone seeking God’s wisdom than King Solomon.  Biblical scholars agree that Solomon became king at a young age, however wisdom normally comes with age and experience.  Solomon may not have had that luxury. Early in his reign, Solomon traveled to Gibeon, where the tabernacle and altar of God was, at the time, to make a sacrifice to God.  God came to Solomon in a dream and Solomon asked God for an understanding heart. In the Hebrew the meaning of the phrase is closer to “a heart that listens.”

1 Kings 3:4-5, 9 NKJV 4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask! What shall I give you?"… 9 "give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

When Solomon asked God for this Heart that listens, what was he actually asking for and what was he specifically given?  In our understanding, Solomon was the greatest example of a wise king.  Our reading portion this week contains one of the best-known stories in the Bible. Even those who are not believers have most likely heard the story of the two women who claim that a single child is theirs, and how king Solomon solved this dilemma. But there is much more to this story than most people realize.

Before we examine the story of the two women claiming the same child lets take a look at some background context. The two books of kings along with those of Samuel were originally each one book.  The splitting of then into two was first observed in the Septuagint around 250 BCE.  Jeremiah is credited as being the author of the books of Kings, and they were accepted by the Great Assembly as divinely inspired during the late second temple period well prior to Yeshua’s day. The time period covered by the books of Kings is approximately 500 years from the time of Solomon to the reign of the Babylonian king Evil-merodach.

Our teaching portion today covers an expanded section of scripture from the published Haftarah reading. We can break it down into five areas that we will take a look at as we examine the story of the two mothers and the single child.

First off is the need for wisdom. Every leader needs an extra portion of wisdom. Understanding that true wisdom comes from God is a major step to becoming a righteous leader.

1 Kings 3:1-3 NKJV 1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem. 2 Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.

Solomon became king of a united Israel at a very early age. His exact age is not given in scripture, but Jewish sources and tradition says that he was just 12 years old at the time of his coronation. However, just the context of the scriptural narrative would indicate that he was probably in his late teens to early twenties.

Solomon tried his best to follow in his father David’s footsteps. But it would prove to be a near impossible aspiration and task.

One of the first things that Solomon did was to form a political alliance with the kingdom of Egypt by an arranged marriage with the daughter of Pharaoh as we just read in verse 1 of chapter 3. Marrying an Egyptian may not have been against the Torah.  The only prohibition was that the Israelites were not to intermarry with the Canaanites. However, there was a danger in taking on a foreign wife. Foreign wives could lead the husband to worship other gods so, the prospective wife was to denounce her foreign gods and embrace the God of Israel. Solomon’s later wives failed to renounce their other gods and Solomon sometimes gave them his active approval.  The marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter formed a political alliance with a foreign power, something the prophets also often warned against.

Isaiah 36:6 NKJV 6 "Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Besides Solomon’s apparent immaturity and his marriage to an outsider, he also suffered from a kind of spiritual immaturity.  He allowed the people to practice their sacrifices in “high places” and Solomon himself made sacrifices in high places.  The word used in verses 2 and 3 for “high places” is #1116 bamah (baw-maw’) meaning literally a high place or an elevation. This is the same word used to describe the place of the sacrifices done by the Canaanites in their worship of Baal and would imply that there were many places on hills and mountaintops to which the Israelites were bringing their sacrifices before God. God had designated that the sacrifices were to be brought to only one place which He would choose. Although they were not worshiping a false god with this practice, they were not offering their sacrifices in the Torah prescribed manner.

Second, Solomon had a great desire for wisdom. He went to Gibeon to make his sacrifice of one thousand burnt offerings. At this time, before Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, the Mishkan resided at Gibeon.

1 Chronicles 16:39-40 NKJV 39 … Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place that was at Gibeon, 40 to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the Law of the LORD which He commanded Israel;

While at Gibeon, The LORD comes to Solomon in a dream and asks Solomon what he wants of the LORD. Solomon could have asked the LORD for any of his hearts desires; wealth, power, anything he wanted. But instead he asks God for wisdom and understanding to rule the nation which, due to his age, he lacked.

1 Kings 3:6-9 NKJV 6 And Solomon said: "You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 "Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 "And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 "Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

The word translated as “understanding” in verse 9 is #8085 Shama (Shaw-mah’) meaning to hear intelligently with attention and obedience, to obey and to understand. Solomon was asking for God to give him a heart which listens and understands God.  He could have asked for anything, but above all, Solomon wanted wisdom, discernment and spiritual maturity.

God was pleased with Solomon’s request, so he, also, granted him those things he did not request.

1 Kings 3:10-15 NKJV 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 "behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 "And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 "So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

There are two types of wisdom, that which is given by God, which Solomon was seeking, and a false wisdom that is found in the world.  Solomon himself wrote about it in the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 14:12 NKJV 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

Yes, there is a wisdom from God that men of the world cannot understand.  The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this very thing.

1 Corinthians 1:25-27 NKJV 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

Why did Solomon ask for such wisdom from God?  Why did he ask for a heart that listens? Solomon wanted to be able to hear justice.  He wanted what was good in God’s eyes. Solomon’s request showed that he was a humble man and his request pleased God. God wants us all to come to Him in humility. He wants to be heard inside the hearts of His people.

God seems to have given Solomon a crash course in spiritual wisdom.  In today’s world we might describe it as a download. The entire Book of Proverbs is a testament by Solomon as to the giver of true wisdom and its true source.

How is this Godly wisdom manifest in Solomon’s life and rule as king of the unified Israel? We don’t actually know how much time had passed in Solomon’s reign before we come to the incident of the two women and the single child.

1 Kings 3:16-17 NKJV 16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And one woman said, "O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house.

The two women in this story are described as harlots. Why is it important to know that these women were harlots?  Biblical scholars have puzzled over this for centuries and no one really knows except for the fact that women who were practitioners of this profession were not given to care about children at all.  They would more often than not simply kill their children, offer them up to Baal worship, or sell them into slavery. But, the important point that this fact illustrates is that God’s wisdom does not differentiate the value of a person based on their social status. The testimony of these women before Solomon gets more intense and there are no other witnesses to verify the testimony of either woman.

1 Kings 3:18-22 NKJV 18 "Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 "And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 "So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 "And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne." 22 Then the other woman said, "No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son." And the first woman said, "No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son." Thus they spoke before the king.

This poses quite a dilemma for king Solomon.  How is he to judge this situation with no witness testimony? Solomon’s solution is quite elegant and gets to the deeper heart of the issue which is really between the two women and has little to do with the child other than being a pawn in the larger game.

1 Kings 3:23-27 NKJV 23 And the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one'; and the other says, 'No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'" 24 Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other." 26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, "O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!" But the other said, "Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him." 27 So the king answered and said, "Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother."

Solomon’s suggested solution revealed the true nature and heart of the women as well as demonstrated the wisdom that God had granted to Solomon.

As for the lying woman, she did not care whether the child was cut in two or not as long as the other woman didn’t get to keep the child.  It certainly suggests a much deeper back story involving the lives and interactions of these two women.  By having a heart that listens, Solomon was able to reveal who the true mother of the child was and restore the child to her.

Solomon’s solution to this problem was risky.  What would have happened if the true mother of the child had not stepped forward and stopped the sword?  Somehow Solomon knew that she would step forward because of the gift of spiritual wisdom granted to him by God.

Solomon’s demonstration of God given wisdom reaped him great rewards throughout his reign as king.

1 Kings 3:28 - 4:1 NKJV 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice. 1 So King Solomon was king over all Israel.

The gift of wisdom that Solomon received from God earned him great respect throughout the kingdom. The people knew that they could trust him as their leader and he would rule in fairness and equity.

What would you do if God came to you and said that He would grant you anything you wished?  Would you ask for things of this world such as riches, property and honor?  Solomon didn’t seek any of those things. But, in his young age, he humbled himself in righteousness and asked of God to grant him wisdom to lead the nation that his father David had left him.  In doing so, Solomon lived up to the meaning of his name, “peace, security.”

As a reward, God gave Solomon wisdom without measure and also granted him some of the other things that he did not ask of God. But it was the wisdom alone that secured his reputation as a trusted leader.

We should all pray for this same kind of wisdom and discernment just as Solomon did.  Asking God to give to us a heart that listens.

Study Questions:

1. Discuss the connection of this teaching to the Torah Portion Miketz, Genesis 41:1-44:17.

2. What lessons can we learn from Solomon’s dealing with these women?  Specifically the fact that Solomon did not rebuke them for being harlots or having children outside of marriage.

3. What is the difference between wisdom and discernment?

4. What potential danger would marrying the daughter of Pharaoh pose for the security of the nation of Israel?  What would be the danger posed to Solomon himself?

5. What would the difficulties be for Solomon in trying to follow in the footsteps of his father David?

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