Jesus is The Wisdom of God (9 of 32)
Series: John
John 7:53-8:11
Patrick Edwards
Introduction
In a very well-known story from the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Kings, we read of two women coming to King Solomon, each having recently given birth, but one of the babies died. It is claimed by one of the women that it was not her baby who died, but that that the other woman stole her living baby from her and claim the child as her own. Of course, the other woman denies it and says that this child has been her baby all along and now this other woman is trying to steal her baby.
It's not clear who is telling the truth and so it seems that Solomon is in a bit of a predicament. There doesn't seem to be any way for him to be able to tell who the true mother is. Then Solomon does something quite unexpected. We read,
So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, ''Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.'' Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, ''Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.'' But the other said, ''He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.'' Then the king answered and said, ''Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.'' 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 (1 Kings 3:24-28).
Now how literally we are meant to take this story is unclear. It's hard to imagine any person being ok with cutting a baby in half, but that's not the point. The reason that the author includes this story at the beginning of Solomon's reign was to exemplify the incredible wisdom which Solomon possessed. The Scriptures tell us that this was his request of God, to be wise, and that God had indeed made him the wisest man in the ancient world. In ...
Series: John
John 7:53-8:11
Patrick Edwards
Introduction
In a very well-known story from the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Kings, we read of two women coming to King Solomon, each having recently given birth, but one of the babies died. It is claimed by one of the women that it was not her baby who died, but that that the other woman stole her living baby from her and claim the child as her own. Of course, the other woman denies it and says that this child has been her baby all along and now this other woman is trying to steal her baby.
It's not clear who is telling the truth and so it seems that Solomon is in a bit of a predicament. There doesn't seem to be any way for him to be able to tell who the true mother is. Then Solomon does something quite unexpected. We read,
So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, ''Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.'' Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, ''Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.'' But the other said, ''He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.'' Then the king answered and said, ''Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.'' 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 (1 Kings 3:24-28).
Now how literally we are meant to take this story is unclear. It's hard to imagine any person being ok with cutting a baby in half, but that's not the point. The reason that the author includes this story at the beginning of Solomon's reign was to exemplify the incredible wisdom which Solomon possessed. The Scriptures tell us that this was his request of God, to be wise, and that God had indeed made him the wisest man in the ancient world. In ...
There are 22422 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
