Hindsight

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Hindsight is always 20/20 and years after an event, we can all talk about how we were sure it would turn out that way.

That’s how it is with King Solomon. Following the success of his reign, our tradition has amassed a literature of wonderful stories, showing how wise and revered the king was. But it wasn’t that way from the beginning.

In our Haftarah this morning, there is just one verse that hints at the challenge that Solomon faced. It is the final verse of our Haftarah, veyihe hamelch Shlomo, melech al kol Yisrael, And King Solomon was king over all Israel. What does that verse add? Wasn’t he king at the beginning of the story as well? Perhaps to give us the full import of the verse, we should translate it this way: AND NOW King Solomon was REALLY king over all Israel.

This verse hints at the difficulties that Solomon faced in ascending the throne and the real significance of this tale of the two women and the baby.

The last years of King David’s reign were troubled times. Following the incident with Bat-Sheva, Solomon’s mother, one rebellion followed on another. David’s beloved son Abshalom rebelled against his father, as did others, from outside the court, like Bichri who rallied the other tribes around him stating: “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tents O Israel.” Repeatedly, David was forced to flee Jerusalem, and only prevailed through the intense loyalty of his men and the tribe of Judah.

Even as David lay on his death bed, his son Adoniyahu was preparing a palace coup, lining up David’s former generals on his side, and wooing the people of Israel with campaign promises of better access to justice. Solomon succeeds his father only through the intervention of the prophet Nathan and the pleading of his mother. To arrive on the throne at a very young age, our tradition says 12 or 16, by virtue of your mother’s wiles, is hardly a recipe for success.

This gives us a sense of what was at stake when these two women walked into the King’s presence and brought forth their difficult case.

Our tradition asks whether Solomon had a plan from the start and knew what he was doing when he asked the soldiers to bring his sword, or whether that was a desperate move to an insoluble situation. One commentator states that it was only in that moment that the mother said, “give her the living child, but do not slay it”, that Solomon knew what he would do. He then understood that prostitutes also love their children, in the same way of those who live in the castle, in the same way his mother had loved him.

Solomon’s procedure in repeating the claims of both litigants in their hearing, to insure that he had grasped their words correctly, is adopted in Jewish law, as a model for good legal procedure. It’s actually a technique that can help in many different kinds of situations of conflict. It gives the person who is making the argument, the satisfaction of knowing they have been heard. In addition, sometimes in repeating back the argument, there is some nuance or aspect that can become more visible for clarification, and sometimes that alone, helps to clear the air. Who knew that the Carl Rogers technique, “I hear you saying that…. “ originated in the book of Kings?

Rabbi Joshua Gutoff, writing about this portion, imagines the courtiers who were watching this all unfold. To them the screaming, disheveled prostitutes were less than full citizens of the land, less than fully human. Yet when Solomon heard their case, and even learned from them, the court itself learned something about how impartial justice is the foundation of a well functioning society. They came to recognize the King’s wisdom and to revere him sufficiently to respect him in his role as king.

About King Solomon, in later years, the Psalmist will write, that he “judged the people rightly, your lowly ones justly, championing the lowly among the people, and delivering the needy folk”. So may we too have leaders gifted with wisdom and understanding.