The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 71

be condemned." The Son of Man sh11ll " mo.ke ma,nifest tho counsels of the heart." IV. THE REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. To the one the tribunal brought justifi- cation, joy, peace. To the other, condemnation, she.me, contempt. But notioe especially (1) the d(fference it made in their emotions and (2) the difference in their reputations. (1) The joy of the mother who had received her child age.in may be better imagined than described. The same ma,y be said of the vexation, con- fusion, remorse, of the pretender when her villainy w11s made manifest. And in these emotions we may see a faint image of the unspenkable joy of the saved: of the weeping and gnashing of teeth of the lost. (2) The true mother would have the sympathy of bystanders, the congratulations of her friends, &c. ; the other would be pointed at with scorn and reproach. Here, too, we have a picture, albeit an imperfect one, of the issues of the day of judgment. To the saint, the " Come ye blessed" of the Judge will lead to "pleasures for evermore;" to the sinner, "Depart ye cursed" will be the beginning of" shame and everlasting contempt." Ver. 26.-" Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." "The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword . . . . and is a. discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The judgment of Solomon is a striking commentary on this passage ; indeed, it is possible that the writer had this incident in his mind when he penned these words. For assuredly the word of Solomon," Divide," &c., was sharper than the sword they had just brought him• in wounding the mother's heart (Cf. Luke ii 35) ; while not more surely would the king's sword, ha,d it not been stayed, have pierced to the "dividing asunder of the joints and marrow " of the child, than did the king's word distinguish between the true and the false, revealing both the tenderness and yearning love of the real mother, and also the thoughts and intents and workings of heart of the pretender. It is probably, in part at least, because of their revelation of character that they are recorded here. Let us now, therefore, consider the character and motives of the pseudo-mother, as disclosed to us in her words and conduct. And first, let us ask, what can have led to this cruel and unnatural speech? Here is a woma.n who has recently become a mother, and who claims to be the mother of the child, having no pity on a helpless babe. At one moment, she strenuously contends before the king for its possession, B,JJ.d at the next she con- nives at, and indeed clamours for, its murder. She has surreptitiously ta.ken it from one who would have guarded and cherished it; she loudly protests that it is hers ; she is so anxious to have it that she will plead for it before the royal tribunal, and yet, when it is gravely proposed to cut the hapless child in two, she is loud in her approval of the plan. How can we account for such strange inconsistency ? The usual explanation is that she was impelled to do and say what she did by spite, by jealousy. And, without doubt, there was an element of spite in her con- duct. If she was to be denied the child, she was resolved that none else should have it. She would never Sllbmit to the humiliation of leaving the judgment-sea,t with the ch&racter of an impostor, while that other one carried off the babe in her arms in triumph. But while the feeling of " dog in the manger " explains muoh, it does not explain all. It does not account, for example, for her having cumbered herself with the care of the child in the first instance ; and it hardly explains her proceeding to the extremity of judicial murder. Nor even if we combine with spite the desire to flatter the youthful king, do we find a sufficient explanation of her inconsistency. No doubt she thought it would be a compliment to her prince readily to acquiesce in his proposal. It is not the first time or the last that men have readily assented to wrong-doing because a crowned head suggested it. We see in her cry, "Divide it," a cringing, fawning desire to ingratiate herself into Solomon's favour, or if not that, at least to play the courtier; but we do not see in this desire alone a sufficient explanation of this • "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword. "-WHICJICOTB, OB. nI, 16-28.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 65