Devotion • August 29
Today’s Scripture Reading
1 Kings 3:16–28
Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One woman said, ‘Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.’ But the other woman said, ‘No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.’ The first said, ‘No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.’ So they argued before the king.
Then the king said, ‘One says, “This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead”; while the other says, “Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.” ’ So the king said, ‘Bring me a sword’, and they brought a sword before the king. The king said, ‘Divide the living boy in two; then give half to one, and half to the other.’ But the woman whose son was alive said to the king — because compassion for her son burned within her — ‘Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!’ The other said, ‘It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.’ Then the king responded: ‘Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.’ All Israel heard of the judgement 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 execute justice. (NRSV)
Reflection
We may have compassion for the two women in this story, as their survival in a deeply patriarchal society probably depended upon having a male family member. A son could protect a woman in her old age and provide for her throughout her life. And yet the two women reacted differently to their losses and their vulnerability.
To survive, the women have resorted to prostitution. Finally, each one bears a son, and then another tragedy strikes: the death of a son, because the mother “lay on him” as she slept. Imagine the grief, shame, and regret of that mother. She lashes out at another mother. She doesn’t acknowledge her own loss but tries instead to manipulate the situation and push her tragedy onto another woman.
King Solomon is seen as wise in this story because he is able to identify true love. He creates an ethical dilemma for the women by forcing them to choose between the life of the infant boy and the life they might live with him. The woman who has already lost her son is prepared to lose this one, too. She is angry enough to wish her loss on the second mother.
How very human this is. It seems that life is so unfair. We may ask, “Why do I have to suffer in this way?” The suffering in this story comes from a couple of different sources. The social system that caused women to resort to prostitution for their own survival is one source of suffering. How we organize society and share or don’t share resources is a source of suffering that we create or undermine by our actions.
But the second source of suffering is the loss of loved ones through death. This is something that comes to all of us eventually. We lose those we love, and we have choices about how we react to these losses.
Prayer
God of Compassion, walk with me through the valley of the shadow of death. Help me to take responsibility for my grief and to pass through it. Protect me from lashing out or wishing ill on others. And give me strength and perseverance to work for just social systems that protect all people. Amen.
Written by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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