KBM The Sword & The King
Notes
Transcript
Today we continue looking at the theme “Impact 3:16” and we find ourselves examining the text of 1 Kings 3:16. For anyone that has studied the great son of David and Bathsheba, Solomon, this passages is a very well known illustration of Solomon’s kingly wisdom given to him by God (1 Kings 3:1-15). Let’s read 1 Kings 3:16…
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
Now here we have a situation wherein two prostitutes have come to the king to settle a dispute about their child. They each had a child within three days of each other. One of the women, upon falling asleep, accidentally rolled over on her child and the child died. In her grief she replaced her dead child with her roommates living child. When the woman other woman awoke and found a dead child next to her she “at first” thought it was hers but then realized it was her roommates. However, the roommate was saying the living child was hers. Now it is here where Solomon’s wisdom given him by God to rule the people of Israel really shines. Solomon’s wisdom was not based on “spiritual wisdom” but “political wisdom.” Hence from the beginning and even into his old age Solomon worship other god’s he knew were not “God” (1 Kings 3:1-3; 1 Kings 11:3-8). But that is really for another study sometime, here we see the ingeniousness of his political wisdom given him by God. Solomon asks for a sword two cut the child in-two and naturally the actual mother of the child begs him not to but to give the child to the other woman. This tells Solomon all he needs to know and gives the child to the rightful mother. I bring this text up because all Christians today are going to have to make “wise decisions” and it will, as brother Bob Stapleton used to say, sometimes it takes the wisdom of Solomon to make the right decision. My point is we won’t always make the wise decision. That doesn’t mean we don’t try our best which means asking God for help.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Wisdom is lived out knowledge. By that I mean the more we know of God’s law i.e., his desires for us and then the more we pray for wisdom and thus go through situations that require us to make the wise decision (James 1:2-4). This is how we gain godly wisdom today. Anyone can gain political, social, or any other earthly wisdom through life, but the wisdom that comes from God can only be gained by knowing and living for God.