Ask What You Want

When David was very old he made Solomon king after him, and told him to walk in the ways of the Lord and to keep his commands. And then David died, after forty years as king, and they buried him in the city that everybody still called the city of David. And Solomon was king — a young man with the biggest job in the country and no idea how to do it. One night, up at Gibeon where he had gone to worship, the Lord came to Solomon in a dream. And God said, “Ask something for yourself.” Anything.

And Solomon said, “You were very kind to my father David, because he walked in front of you honestly and did what was right. And you have kept that kindness for him, and set his son on his throne — and here I am. But Lord my God, I am only a little child. I do not know how to go out or how to come in. And here I am in the middle of your people — the people you chose — a people so many that nobody can count them. So give your servant a listening heart, to judge your people fairly, and to know the difference between good and evil. For who could ever judge a great people like this?” And God was pleased with that. He said, “Because you asked for this — and did not ask for a long life for yourself, and did not ask to be rich, and did not ask for your enemies to die — but asked to understand, so that you could judge fairly: I will do what you asked. Look, I am giving you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anybody like you before, and there will not be after. And what you did not ask for, I am giving you as well: riches, and honor, more than any other king. And if you walk in my ways and keep my commands as your father David did, I will give you a long life too.” And Solomon woke up — and it had been a dream. And he went back to Jerusalem and stood in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord and worshiped, and made a great feast for everybody who served him.

And not long after that, two women came into the king’s court with a terrible argument, and everybody found out what kind of wisdom God had given him. They lived together in one house, and they had both had a baby a few days apart, and there was nobody else in the house with them. And one of the babies had died in the night. And now each of the two women was saying that the living baby was hers. The first woman said, “Please, my lord. Her baby died in the night, and she got up while I was asleep and took my son out of my arms and laid him beside her, and put her dead baby beside me. And when I woke up in the morning to feed my son, he was dead — and when I looked at him in the daylight, it was not my son at all.” And the other woman said, “That is not true. The living one is mine, and the dead one is hers.” And the first said, ‘No — the living one is mine!’ And so it went, in front of the whole court. There were no witnesses. There was no way to tell.

And the king listened to them both. And then he said, “Bring me a sword.” And somebody brought a sword and laid it in front of the throne. And Solomon said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” And one of the two women screamed. She said, “Please, my lord — give her the baby! Only do not kill him!” And the other one folded her arms and said, “Let him be neither mine nor hers. Cut him in two.” And the king said, “Give the baby to the woman who said, ‘Do not kill him.’ She is his mother.” He had never meant to touch the child. He had only needed to see which of the two of them would rather lose him than see him hurt — because that is what a mother is. And the story went all over Israel, and the people were in awe of the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do what was right.