Melachim I Perek 3

• Shlomo made an alliance with Paroh, king of Egypt, and married bas Paroh (Paroh’s daughter.)

• Sacrifices were offered on bamos by Yisrael (the bamos were halachically-sanctioned altars that were outside of the Mishkan in Shilo.)

• Shlomo thanked Hashem for all the goodness and kindness that He had done for him and his father, Dovid. Shlomo told Hashem that he feels inadequate in wisdom to be able to properly judge the great nation of Yisrael, to judge what’s right and what’s wrong.

• Hashem said that because Shlomo did not ask for wealth or honor, not only will Hashem give Shlomo the aforementioned, but Hashem will also make Shlomo the wisest person who ever lived!

Note: this was all on condition that Shlomo would properly keep the words of the Torah.

• When Shlomo awoke he brought sacrifices to Hashem in Yerushalayim.

• Two women came to Shlomo with a case for him to rule on. This is the gist of the case:

• The two women were living in one house and gave birth 3 days apart, but one of the babies was dead. The first woman argued that her baby was intentionally switched with the second woman’s dead baby. The second woman denied the accusation and maintained that the first woman was the mother of the dead baby.

• With great wisdom Shlomo ordered that the baby to be cut in half and that each woman should receive one half of the baby.

• One of the woman exclaimed, “Let the other woman have the baby, but spare the baby’s life!”

• Shlomo then knew that the true mother was the woman who wanted the baby’s life to be spared.

• The kingdom was established through King Shlomo.