Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 3:20

And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

20. and laid it in her bosom ] It is not easy to account for the action of this woman. We need not however suppose her to have been possessed of very fine feelings, as indeed her after-behaviour shews. But it is somewhat more than unnatural to adopt such a scheme as this described here at a moment’s notice. It may be that she was chiefly moved by anxiety to preserve her own health, which would be imperilled through the sudden loss of the babe which she was meant to nurse.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

She arose at midnight, when I was asleep, as she reasonably and truly concluded.

Took my son from beside me; either because she really desired the comfort of a child, to be educated by her, and owned as hers; or because she would not be thought guilty of the childs death, for which she knew not how severely Solomon would punish her.

While thine handmaid slept; as she might well know, because had she been awake, she had discovered and prevented her design.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And she arose at midnight,…. Perceiving what she had done, that she had overlaid her child, and it was dead; either through fear of punishment inflicted on persons thus negligent, or because of the disgrace of it, taking no more care of her child, she made use of the following stratagem:

and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept; this served to puzzle the cause, for how could she know what she did when she was asleep? this she could not prove, it was only conjecture:

and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom; where she found it in the morning; but still what proof was there that it was the other woman’s, and not her own, that lay dead in her bosom?

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“ And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.”

So the woman whose child had died arose at midnight and took the first woman’s baby son, replacing it with her own dead son.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Ki 3:20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

Ver. 20. While thine handmaid slept. ] But how could she certainly tell what was done when she was asleep? The proofs in this cause alleged were so weak and unsatisfactory, that it was thought the wit of man could not determine it. But “a divine sentence was in the mouth of the king: his lips transgressed not in judgment.” Pro 16:10

And laid her dead child in my bosom. ] This was Q , a cold bosomful, as one calleth a bad wife. And another complaineth of some in these days, that, harlot-like, they take their dead and putrid fancies, and lay them in the bosom of the Scripture, as of a mother, while they go about to give unto it, and not to receive from it the sense; wresting it to their own destruction.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

midnight: Job 24:13-17, Psa 139:11, Mat 13:25, Joh 3:20

took: 1Ki 3:21

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

3:20 And she arose at midnight, and {l} took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

(l) She stole the living child to avoid both the shame and punishment.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes