{"id":61583,"date":"2019-08-20T17:36:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T14:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61583"},"modified":"2023-03-14T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T12:19:42","slug":"child-welfare-and-the-worlds-first-custody-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/child-welfare-and-the-worlds-first-custody-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Child Welfare And The World\u2019s First Custody Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[529,646,391,428],"acf":{"old_id":"61583","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":61700,"related_cahpter":"290","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And it\u2019s between two women\u00a0","content":"

Many read the story of Solomon\u2019s judgment regarding the two women and their single surviving baby as one of Solomon\u2019s divine, almost miraculous, wisdom, and his uncanny ability to get at the absolute truth. The wise king uses a clever ruse to divine the secret and reveal to the crowd and to all Israel: who is the <\/span>real <\/span><\/i>mother (and in so doing, reveal as well, who is the wise king).<\/span><\/p>\n

But that would be misreading both the Tanakh, and the nature of the institution of the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Solomon did was not adjudicate the truth, or mete out absolute justice, by discovering the hidden identity of the true mother. Rather, he ruled in a custody battle and used an emotional test to try and decide which of the mothers was <\/span>more worthy <\/span><\/i>of being awarded the baby. The one who put the baby\u2019s welfare over her own, or at least over her own sense of right, the baby <\/span>deserved <\/span><\/i>her as a mother. And so therefore – that woman ipso facto becomes the mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

The text tells us in verse 26 that the woman who \u201cwas overcome with compassion\u201d was indeed the real mother. But Solomon does not know that, and neither does anyone else. There is absolutely no corroborating evidence brought to prove one woman\u2019s case or the other. The test is brought in absence of proof, as a substitute for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What the test does is determine a standard of motherhood, and then adjudicate according to it. Note that we have no idea if it is the plaintiff, the one who brought the case, claiming her (live) baby had been kidnapped, or the defendant, the one who claims that she did no wrong, is the real mother. The story is interested in neither truth nor justice – just in what constitutes worthy motherhood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The woman who loses the case is not punished. We don\u2019t know which one she is – plaintiff or defendant – but it seems that someone who tries to pawn off another\u2019s baby as her own, knowingly perjuring herself in the process, in a court of law, in front of the king no less, would receive some sort of punishment for her serious crimes. But no – she simply loses the custody battle and goes her way. She too is a mother, a grieving one, and truth and justice are not relevant here: the deciding factor is mercy and compassion for the maternal pain she has experienced.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what we have here is neither divine oracle or miraculous wisdom, but the bio-power of the king to use high office to make decisions about desserts, motherhood and custody of a baby whose welfare will be cared for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgement of Solomon, c. 1617 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61584,"id":61584,"title":"1kings3-judgement - Rubens","filename":"1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/child-welfare-and-the-worlds-first-custody-battle\/1kings3-judgement-rubens\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings3-judgement-rubens","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61583,"date":"2019-08-20 14:36:36","modified":"2019-08-20 14:36:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":638,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens-768x612.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":638,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":638,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":638,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":638,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings3-judgement-Rubens-527x420.jpg","home_baner-width":527,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Child Welfare And The World\u2019s First Custody Battle","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And it\u2019s between two women\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":61584,"id":61584,"title":"1kings3-judgement - 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