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The HIM song "Shatter Me With Hope" includes the line "We'll tear this baby apart, wise like Solomon". One day King Solomon, the wise judge was in his court. The common motif in those parallel versions is that the wise judge announces an absurd procedure, which is reasonable in some perverse way: splitting the baby, according to the principle of compromise; or a tug of war, in which one can possibly presume that the true mother will be motivated to pull harder. This theme has long been a popular subject for artists and is often chosen for the decoration of courthouses. A Greek papyrus fragment,[9] dating from the beginning of the second century AD, includes a fragmented reference to an ancient legal case which is similar to the judgment of Solomon. Embeddedness and Perspective in Biblical Hebrew and in 1 Kings 3:16–28", "Solomon, Daniel, and the Detective Story: The Social Function of a Literary Genre", "The Judgment of Solomon, object 1 (Butlin 392) "The Judgment of Solomon, "Jewish Law – Commentary/Opinion – The Brilliant Wisdom of King Solomon", Stephanie E. Keer and Richard W. Naimark, Arbitrators Do Not “Split-the-Baby”: Empirical Evidence from International Business Arbitrations, "On 'Splitting the Baby' in Legal Discourse | OP-ED", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judgement_of_Solomon&oldid=996434700, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Stained glass window by Jean Chastellain in. A friend in need is a friend indeed. [18] Similarly, Ze'ev Weisman notes that the story seems "more of a paradigmatic anecdote created in the milieu of courtly wisdom than a folktale". Aug 21, 2016 - Lace panel depicting the story of the Judgement of King Solomon English, circa 1640-1670 Needle lace, with seed pearls and glass beads The Judgement of Solomon. The Judgment of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. [43] Solomon is depicted as a king accessible to all of his subjects, even those in the margins of society. She brought two garlands of flowers with her. Let us enjoy reading this story of The Wise Judge. She is not the mother. Some scholars assume, as already mentioned, that the story existed independently before it was integrated into its current context. It clarifies why the women live alone, gave birth alone and were alone during the alleged switch of the babies;[42] The lack of witnesses seems to create a legal impasse that only the wise king can solve. Miracle Family Temple 1100 Bellamy Road Toronto, Ontario Canada M1H 1H2 Rev. As a result both of them entangled in a quarrel. The women’s tale to the King. Later, the narrative context of the story undewent another Deuteronomistic redaction that undermined Solomon's figure in comparison to Josiah. Meir Sternberg notes that two genres merge in the story: A riddle and a test; the juridical dilemma, which is the riddle, also constitutes a test for the young king: if he can solve it, he will be acknowledged as possessing divine wisdom. Following Gressmann,[23] Gunkel speculates a possible Indian origin, on the basis that "[s]uch stories of wise judgments are the real life stuff of the Indian people", and that, in his view, "a prostitute has no reason to value a child which was not born to her"; he acknowledges, however, that the Indian versions "belong to a later period". In the earliest narrative involving Solomon, the Qur'an (21:78) briefly alludes to a story that Solomon was in the company of his father, when two men came to ask David to judge between them regarding a ḥarth (Arabic: حَرْث , field). She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. As a result both of them entangled in a quarrel. [59], In other instances, lawyers and legal commentators may use "split the baby" to refer to any compromise or ruling in which both sides can claim partial victory. He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”, The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! The scene has been the subject of television episodes of Dinosaurs, Recess, The Simpsons (where a pie was substituted for the baby), the Netflix animated series, All Hail King Julien, where a pineapple is cut in two to settle a dispute, the Seinfeld episode "The Seven", and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. King Solomon, I thought, had it easy. One is natural and another is artificial. [24] Other scholars point out that such a travelling folktale might become, in its various forms, more or less coherent. The first book of kings records the story of Solomon and the two harlots (ch. In this story, two women come to the king. That is a judgement about a true mother and a false mother. [16], According to Raymond Westbrook, the story is essentially a hypothetical problem, introduced to the recipient as a pure intellectual challenge and not as a concrete juridical case. The sage announced a tug of war, drawing a line on the ground and asking the two to stand on opposite sides of it, one holding the baby's feet, the other his hands – the one who pulled the baby's whole body beyond the line would get to keep him. The case is brought before the king to decide. Kate says: December 5, 2016 at 03:22 It was not just sex, money and power that destroyed Solomon. King Solomon ( “Shlomo Hamelech” in Hebrew) was the third king of Israel. These two women, that lived in the same house, came one day to King Solomon that he may judge between them. Salem Media Group. Slow and steady wins the race. Finding out the truth he could solve any problem. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. Other scholars also recognize in this story, as in other parts of the account of Solomon's reign, ironic elements which are not consistent with the story's overt purpose to glorify Solomon. Yes, you read that right. 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