Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
The ruling was a display of wisdom and sympathy belonging to the early part of Solomon's reign. He used that wisdom and sympathy to take the side of a helpless child in danger. He commanded that the living infant be handed over to its mother and by no means be put to death. By that order he acknowledged her maternal claim and identified her as the true mother.
That early act of rescuing a living child and restoring it unharmed to its mother stands in direct contrast with his later course. In his apostasy he gave consent to idolatrous worship in which children were presented as living sacrifices.
The ruling was a display of wisdom and sympathy belonging to the early part of Solomon's reign. He used that wisdom and sympathy to take the side of a helpless child in danger. He commanded that the living infant be handed over to its mother and by no means be put to death. By that order he acknowledged her maternal claim and identified her as the true mother.
That early act of rescuing a living child and restoring it unharmed to its mother stands in direct contrast with his later course. In his apostasy he gave consent to idolatrous worship in which children were presented as living sacrifices.