Very shortly he was called upon to give proof of that sagacity and clearness of judgment, especially in judicial cases, so much prized by Orientals. Of two women inhabiting one house together, each had an infant child. The mother of one overlaid hers while she was asleep, and rising at midnight, laid it in the bosom of the other woman, taking her live child in its place. In the morning the latter discovered the deception that had been practised upon her, and demanded the living infant. This the other woman refused, claiming it for her own, and both of them appealed to Solomon, who commanded the living child to be divided into two halves, one of which should be given to each. The anguish of the real, and the cruel acquiescence of the pretended mother in this sentence, decided the point in a moment, and proved the sagacity of the king. But besides judicial sagacity, Solomon was eminent for his attainments. He was deeply versed in all the knowledge of his age, his _wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt_ (1 K. iv. 30). In the course of his life he spake 3,000 proverbs, of which a considerable portion remain in the “Book of Proverbs,” and his Songs, of which the “Song of Songs” alone survives, were a thousand and five. He spoke or wrote also of trees, from the lofty cedar of Lebanon to the humble hyssop _that springeth out of the wall, of beasts, of fowl, of creeping things, and of fishes_. His fame spread abroad among surrounding nations; and there came of all people to hear his wisdom (1 K. iv. 34). CHAPTER VII. _THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE._ 1 KINGS V.–VIII. 2 CHRON. II.–VII. B.C. 1012–1005.