Solomon and the two harlots.
Have you heard the story about the two harlots? If you don’t know what the word, harlot, means, some synonyms for it are; prostitute, hooker, hustler, sex worker, streetwalker and more. The term “harlot” is used in the Bible. Our story comes from the Bible in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Believe it or not, the story is about love. Yes, prostitutes do love. And no, I do not know this from personal experience.
As King Solomon sat on his throne, two women were brought before him. They needed his help to solve a problem. Both women were prostitutes, both women had newborn babies and both lived in the same house with their infants.
One night, one of the harlots accidentally laid on her infant and suffocated him. Waking and seeing that she had killed her son, she quietly took her dead infant and put him in bed with the other woman, while taking the other woman’s live son for her own.
In the morning, the other woman awoke to find her son dead, but after examining him, she realized it was not her son. It was evident that this child belonged to her roommate and that her own child had been taken by the other woman.
As they stood before the king, he considered their problem. One child was alive and one child was dead. The living child had been supposedly taken from his real mother by the mother who had the dead son.
One Person’s Word Against Another
How would you solve this problem? There were no finger print records to check. You could not do a DNA test. It was one person’s word against another.
King Solomon commanded that a sword be brought and the living child be divided in two and that one half should be given to each woman. The woman whose son was the living child immediately begged the king that her child be given to the other woman and not be hurt. The woman whose son had died said to divide him and that he would not be the son of either woman.
King Solomon rightly concluded that the woman who was willing to give up her living son so that he could live, was the mother. He could tell that her self-sacrifice was born out of love for her child. Therefore, he gave the living child back to his real mother.
An Expression of Love
Have you felt love? What does love look like to you? In the story of the two harlots, love is exemplified by the sacrifice of the living child’s mother. She was willing to give up her child forever so that he might live.
Love has the capacity to give to the point of self-sacrifice. Each time you deny yourself to allow someone else to be first, you are practicing self-sacrifice. The result is an expression of love.
Two Moms
The sacrifice the harlot was willing to make before King Solomon is still happening today. Standing before King Solomon, one mother loved her child so deeply that she was willing to let go of her baby forever so that her child could live and have a good life. There are mothers today who face the same, heart-wrenching decision as that mother so long ago.
There is a woman who chose to give up her child for adoption. She loved her daughter and cherished her. She waited for her daughter to be released from the NICU so that they could go home together. In her heart though, the pain of poverty and struggles she faced as a drug addict were not the gifts, she wanted to give her beautiful girl.
With an act of self-sacrifice that was reminiscent of that mother so long ago, this mother chose to give up her daughter in the hope that her child would live and have a better life.
What this mother could not know was that her choice would touch the life of another woman who had dreamed of a third child for twelve years. This woman longed for more children but never considered adoption to fulfill that desire.
Unable to have another natural child of their own, this mother finally turned to adoption with her husband. Her fear that she would not be able to love an adopted child as much as her own had prevented her from seriously considering adoption.
Speaking God’s Language
What are the characteristics of love? The Bible says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The expression of love from the heart is pure, even if your life has been defiled with the refuse of the world. The world cannot take away the gift of your love. It cannot say your love is meaningless. There is nothing in your life or the world around you that can hide or diminish your acts of love.
The Lord made the heart. Each time you show an act of sincere love, you are speaking God’s language. He hears and sees a love that is pure and undefiled. God is love and His love is found in us, in that one place in the heart that can’t be satisfied by the world. It is the one place that only God and His love can satisfy because it is the source and fountain of life that God put there when He created us. If you look close enough, it is where you will find Jesus Christ and His life.
No Earthly Bottom
When the path of these two mothers crossed, the first found the hope she was looking for in her daughter’s safety and welfare. The second mother found the hope she was looking for in the opportunity to love another child. Both mothers saw the hope of a better path for this little life. Is it any wonder this beautiful girl was named, Hope?
The second mother also found that she loved this child so deeply that she realized the well of her love was deep enough to drown in. That’s because the well of love begins with Jesus Christ and there is no earthly bottom to it. Have you given up your child for adoption? Is there a sacrifice you have made that cost you so dearly you felt as if your heart was torn from your very chest? That same well of love is there for you. God sees your sacrifice and He remembers the sacrifice His Son made 2000 years ago. It is the sacrifice of denying yourself for the sake of someone else. It is an expression of the deepest, most abiding love that is buried deep inside each of us.
