1Ki 3:26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
The true test of the real mother of the living child is finally in full display. Her motive is displayed in her compassion. It was not about winning a case, or winning a child back, it was fighting to keep this son alive either with her or the woman who stole him from her. The other woman did not care, she would rather have the good destroyed to feel even. If she really cared for this boy, she would fight for his survival. King Solomon in his wisdom knew how to reveal the true mother by revealing the motives of both women.
There are people in churches today who would rather ruin the church than sacrifice their ambitions. There are also leaders instead of fighting for the good of the people and perhaps exit positions would rather use nefarious ways to ruin the current and future of others because they could not get their way. Sacrifice ought to always be for the good of others (the Good Samaritan example)
The true mother’s tenderness towards the child it appeared that she was not the careless mother that had overlaid the dead child, but was the true mother of the living one, for she could not endure to see his death. The true King of kings is brilliant in flashing out truth by testing our motives.