1 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! 3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! 4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor! Psalm 72:1-4 (ESV)
1. A situation that requires Just and Merciful Wisdom
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king. 1 Kings 3:16-22 (ESV)
17 The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.
Proverbs 18:17 (ESV)
In this case there were not two witnesses:
15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. Deuteronomy 19:15 (ESV)
2. A judgment that exhibits Just and Merciful Wisdom
23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 1 Kings 3:23-27 (ESV)
8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes. Proverbs 20:8 (ESV); Proverbs 25:2
3. A reputation that reflects Just and Merciful Wisdom
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. 1 Kings 3:28 (ESV)
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war . . . Ecclesiastes 9:18 (ESV)
4. A foreshadowing of true Just and Merciful Wisdom
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, Isaiah 11:3 (ESV); 1 Corinthians 1:24
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed, Luke 4:18 (ESV);
Psalm 72:12-14; Matthew 12:42