1 Kings 3:16

Solomon's judgement between the two harlots, and the effect produced thereby (Not in Chronicles)

16. Then came,&c. We need not, any more than with τότε in the New Test., consider -then" as indicating immediate succession in order of time upon what has gone before.

harlots The Chaldee paraphrase explains in the sense of πανδοκεύτριαι, but Josephus calls them (Ant. viii. 2, 2) ἑταῖραι τὸν βίον.

and stood before him The Eastern monarchs sat often to give judgement at the gate of the city and so were accessible to all applicants. So sat the elders of the city by the Mosaic ordinance (Deuteronomy 21:19). Compare also Ruth 4:11; 2 Samuel 19:8; Proverbs 22:22, in which last instance, the words -in the gate" mean -when he is before the tribunal, where his cause is heard."