Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 3:27

Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she [is] the mother thereof.

27. Give her the living child ] Not referring to the woman who had last spoken as the sequence of the clauses might lead us to expect. The king no doubt pointed to the mother who was desirous at all cost to keep the child alive.

The late Dr Bernard had a most ingenious explanation of the construction of this passage. The king, he said, was pondering the words of the two women. At last he broke forth in the language of the mother who had said ‘Give her the living child and in no wise slay it.’ And to that sentence, taken as representative of the person who had spoken it, he adds his own decision, ‘She is the mother thereof.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

As is evident from her natural and motherly affection to the child, which she had rather have alienated and given away from her than destroyed.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Then the king answered and said, give her the living child,

and in no wise slay it,…. That is, to her who desired it might not be slain, but rather be given to her who had no right to it:

she [is] the mother thereof; which might be strongly concluded from her compassion for it, her eagerness and earnestness to have its life spared, and from the indifference of the other, yea, from her cruelty and barbarity in moving to have it divided.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Solomon saw from this which was the mother of the living child, and handed it over to her.

(Note: Grotius observes on this: “ The of Solomon was shown by this to be very great. There is a certain similarity in the account of Ariopharnis, king of the Thracians, who, when three persons claimed to be the sons of the king of the Cimmerii, decided that he was the son who would not obey the command to cast javelins at his father ‘ s corpse. The account is given by Diodorus Siculus. ” )

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

1Ki 3:27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she [is] the mother thereof.

Ver. 27. She is the mother thereof. ] As appeareth by her natural affection. Ownness maketh love. Prolem quisque amat non quia pulchram, sed quia suam.

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