“After this, there came to the king two women who were prostitutes. After presenting themselves to him, one of the women said, ‘My lord, I and this woman live in the same house; and when she was in the house, I gave birth to a baby.'”-1 Kings 3:16-17
On July 10th, 1988, a baby named Kamiyah Teresiah Tasha Mobley was kidnapped from a Florida hospital.
The infant was only 8 hours old.
The kidnapper’s name was Gloria Williams.
Why in the world would this woman commit such a crime?
Well, investigations revealed that she had just miscarried a child a week before.
She was also in an abusive relationship that no doubt contributed to her mental instability.
The good news is that about 20 years later, Williams was eventually caught.
And Kamiyah’s biological mother in Florida, Shanara Mobley, was awarded US$1.5 million after settling a lawsuit against the former University Medical Center.
So why do I share this story?
Well, we’re about to hear a similar story about two prostitutes who had given birth around the same time period.
During the night, one of the mothers accidentally rolled over onto her child while sleeping, and the baby died.
Realizing what had happened, she quietly got up and went to the other woman, who was still asleep beside her own infant.
She took the living child from the mother’s arms and replaced it with the dead baby.
Then she returned to her bed carrying the surviving child that belonged to the other woman.
When the other mother woke up, she discovered a dead infant lying beside her.
But as she examined the child more carefully, she quickly realized something was wrong.
The baby was not hers!
It was the other woman’s child, while the living baby was now being falsely claimed by the woman whose own infant had died.
So here’s the thing.
A lot of folks claim this story sounds too far-fetched.
Again, it all comes back to the question of why in the world would a woman commit such a crime?
I’m a man, and I don’t have any children of my own.
So I can’t comprehend such a thing.
But I also recognize that the bond a mother forms with her child can be incredibly deep and powerful.
After suffering such a devastating loss, women may react in irrational and desperate ways that are hard for others to understand.
In some tragic cases, that desperation can even lead a grieving mother to take another woman’s child and claim it as her own.
I believe those intense feelings were behind the abduction of Kamiyah Mobley.
And I believe that’s what may have happened in this Biblical story about the two ZONAH (prostitutes) fighting over the ownership of the baby.
They likely both became pregnant when servicing their clients.
Some scholars believe the house was probably an inn or tavern, since prostitution was often connected to such establishments in the ancient world.
Recall that was probably Rahab’s case from the book of Joshua.
Anyway, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
So here’s what’s coming to me.
Human beings are very complex psychological creatures.
Just because you and I may not understand the motives behind a certain person’s crazy actions doesn’t in any way mean they aren’t there.
Ya feel me homie?
It takes almost supernatural wisdom to see through the human heart and all its deceptions.
It is this very supernatural wisdom that Solomon demonstrated when he ruled over who was the real mother of the living child.
So, see ya all next time.
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