Story of King Solomon, splitting babies and Kenyan politics

By Mwenda Njoka

The big question for the country is this; who among the Kenyan political equivalent of the two squabbling mothers was all too willing to let the six Solomons split the baby into two?

Few things fascinate me more than biblical stories especially stuff from the Old Testament and how some of the stories resonate with contemporary issues.  One such story revolves around King Solomon. Born circa 848 BC, Solomon was the son of King David and Bathsheba. When his father died and Solomon became king, God asked him to request for what he desired most and it would be granted.

Instead of asking for riches, fame and expansion of his territory, as most Kenyans would have done, Solomon’s request to God was uncharacteristically simple. He prayed for wisdom. God was so impressed by Solomon’s prayer that He gave him not just boundless and unparalleled wisdom but also riches and fame beyond comprehension.

Solomon ruled Israel for 40 years before he died at around age 60. Historians regard his 40-year reign as the best ever years of Israel before and after Solomon.

History books refer to Solomon as chacham mi’kol ha’adam (wisest of all the men). Now, Solomon— wise as he was— and unfortunately like most men, had one big weakness; lust for beautiful luscious women.

The Bible says Solomon was married to 700 wives and had 300 concubines who led him astray. But wives and concubines are not the focus of our interest in Solomon today. That is a story for another day.

Invariably though, our interest rotates around Solomon and women – two of them to be exact – who came to the king for arbitration on a most grave matter. The two women were workers along the ‘Koinange Street’ of Israel in them days; I trust you get the drift.

The story, as told in the book of 1st Kings, goes like this. There were two young women who lived in a single room where they shared a bed. It happened that they gave birth around the same time. The two women used to take turns to stay with and take care of the babies. One night, one of the women went to the Koinange business leaving her colleague with the babies. She came back home late at night dog-tired and slept like a log.

Later in the night, one of the women realised that her baby had died. Surreptitiously she lifted the dead baby and tiptoed to her colleague’s side of the bed where she exchanged the babies. In the morning, the real mother of the live baby woke to find a dead infant by her side and suspected foul play. When the two women could not reach a compromise as to whose kid was dead, they decided to go to the court of King Solomon for a decision.

After making their case before the wise king, Solomon, with much ceremony reached out for the royal sword unsheathed and then picked the live baby with his left hand.

The king then said to the bewildered women: “since the two of you can’t reach an agreement, there is only one fair solution to this problem. I will split the baby into two so that each of you can have a piece!”

One of the women exclaimed – almost flippantly – “yes, please go ahead and divide the baby for us.” However, her colleague pleaded with the king saying “Oh dear Lord, please don’t kill the baby, just give it to her…”

And at that moment King Solomon knew who the real mother of the child was and gave the baby to her. Solomon’s ruling on the matter became the archetypal judgement full of profound wisdom.

Now, with the decision of the Supreme Court is behind us, as we move forward, the big question for the country is this; who among the Kenyan political equivalent of the two squabbling mothers was all too willing to let the six Solomons split the baby into two?

The writer is Managing Editor of The Standard On Sunday