1 Kings 3

3 ¹Solomon allied by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter, bringing her to the City of David until he finished building his palace, the house of our Father, and Jerusalem's wall. ²But the people were still sacrificing at the high places, since no house had yet been built for the name of our Father in those days. ^a a v2 The high places were local hilltop shrines where people sacrificed before the temple gave worship a single home. ³Solomon loved our Father, living by the statutes of his father David; only he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. ⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for it was the great high place; Solomon offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵At Gibeon our Father appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, saying, "Ask what I should give you."

⁶Solomon replied, "You showed your servant David, my father, great covenant love, for he walked before you faithfully, righteously, and with an upright heart toward you. You kept this great covenant love for him, giving him a son to sit on his throne today. ⁷Now, my Father, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, though I am just a young child, not knowing how to go out or come in. ⁸Your servant is among your people, the people you chose—too many to number or count. ⁹So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people, telling good from evil. For who can govern this great people of yours?"

¹⁰It pleased the Sovereign Father that Solomon had asked this.

¹¹Our Father said to him, "Because you asked this, not for long life or riches or your enemies' lives, but for discernment to understand justice, ¹²I now act on your word: I give you a wise, discerning heart—no one before you was like you, and none like you will rise after you. ¹³I also give what you did not ask: riches and honor, so no king will compare with you all your days. ¹⁴If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commands as your father David did, I will lengthen your days."

¹⁵Solomon awoke and realized it was a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Sovereign Father's covenant, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.

The Father's Wisdom Reveals the True Mother

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷One woman said, "Please, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I gave birth with her in the house. ¹⁸On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were alone; no stranger was with us in the house, just the two of us. ¹⁹During the night this woman's son died, because she lay on him. ²⁰She got up at midnight, took my son from my side while your servant slept, laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at mine. ²¹When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, he was dead. But looking closely in the morning light, I saw he was not the son I had borne."

²²The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." The first replied, "No! The dead one is your son; the living one is mine." So they argued before the king.

²³The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive, your son is dead,' and that one says, 'No, your son is dead, my son is alive.'"

²⁴So the king said, "Bring me a sword." And they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵The king said, "Cut the living child in two; give half to one, half to the other."

²⁶The mother of the living son spoke to the king, her heart aching for her child, and said, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! By no means put him to death!" But the other said, "He'll be neither mine nor yours—cut him in two!"

²⁷Then the king said, "Give the living child to the first woman; by no means put him to death. She is his mother."

²⁸All Israel heard the judgment the king gave, and they were in awe of him, because they saw that the wisdom of our Father was in him to do justice.