מלכים א, פרק ג׳, פסוק י״ט

A sudden tragedy in the dead of night sets the stage for a famous legal dispute. The primary approach among commentators is that the mother fell into a deep sleep, unknowingly rolled over, and placed her body weight on her baby, tragically crushing and suffocating him. This specific cause of death is not merely a sorrowful detail. It is a crucial element that explains how the ensuing confusion and doubt over the infants' identities became possible.

Had the infant passed away following a prior illness, the situation would have been entirely different. Other women from the area would have undoubtedly visited the sick child. Through these visits, the identities of both babies would have become widely known and clearly established within the community. Such familiarity would have prevented any possibility of a mix-up regarding the surviving infant. However, because the death was a completely sudden nighttime accident without any previous sickness, there were no witnesses to identify which child belonged to which mother. This absolute lack of outside knowledge is exactly what allowed the surviving baby to be secretly swapped in the dark.