The (Flawed) Wisdom of Solomon

When I was in grade school, I remember reading verses from the Bible during class and at home. (My most favorite and yet most feared is the Book of Revelations.) Besides David, whom I think has a serious libido problem, it was Solomon who dazzled me with his "wisdom".

There are two particular stories that caught my attention: the first is the story of the two mothers and the baby, and the second one was the story of the two merchants and the bag of coins.

Regarding the two mothers and the baby, it taught us compassion and the importance of life. Which is exactly the flaw in the justice given. During the time when DNA has not been discovered, Solomon argued that no mother would want to harm befall a child, especially one that is theirs. So, he went ahead and "awarded" the right to take care of the child to the one that wailed endlessly. But, what if the baby really belonged to the "angry" mother?

I don't think that compassion should partake with justice, in any form whatsoever. Justice is best ruled by evidence and logic derived from that evidence. That is how fair, unbiased justice is.

The second story is regarding a bag of coins claimed by two merchants: a butcher and hmm, I actually forget what the other one is (I think it was a baker, I'm not sure). Anyway, the story goes that the coins where put into a basin of water overnight, and by the next morning, a thin film of oil was hovering above the water. Solomon, basing his decision on evidence, decided to award the bag of coins to the butcher.

This argument is flawed. Why?

1) The bag that held the coins was most likely soaked in oil. Remember that their bags came from the hide of dead animals. People then had to coat their baggages in oil so that water and moisture would not damage the contents.

2) People produced oil via the oil glands of the skin. Whoever touched the coins would have smeared it with their own body oil. In a hot land where water was scarce, I'm sure people sweat a lot. The coins has been paid to the merchant, and so the oil from the hands of the former owner would have added to oil on the coins.

Still, Solomon went ahead and awarded the coins to whom he saw fit.

Based on the two stories, in the eyes of man, he had done great justice. In the eyes of God, the source of all logic and rationality, has he?

During our times of uncertainty, it is important not to take everything in its face value. Logic and rational reasoning should rule the day. Today, I am glad that science has simplified the way justice should be metted. To some, this seems too cold.

I wouldn't have it in any other way.