מלכים א, פרק ג׳, פסוק כ״א

A mother's testimony reaches a critical turning point as she recounts the moment she awoke to a devastating discovery. The unfolding tragedy happens in two distinct stages. Initially, she rises to feed her newborn and is met with the shock that the infant is dead. It is only later, as daylight fills the room, that she truly sees the child and realizes a switch has occurred [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

She studies the lifeless infant with deep, intense concentration. The primary approach among commentators is that she carefully examined the child's specific facial features and physical form, allowing her to know with absolute certainty that the baby she held was not her own. She makes a point to emphasize that this close inspection happened immediately in the morning. This detail is crucial because it prevents any claim that the infant's face had already changed or become unrecognizable due to the natural processes of death [מלבי״ם].

Her certainty comes from more than just recognizing a face, as there is a clear physical difference between the two children. Her own child was born three days earlier, while the other woman's baby was born just the night before. The physical development of a three-day-old infant is noticeably different from that of a newborn who is only hours old, providing solid, tangible evidence for her identification [מלבי״ם].

Logically, her argument is highly sophisticated. Rather than simply insisting that the living child is hers—a claim easily countered by arguing that all newborns look alike—she builds her case entirely on proving that the dead child is not hers. By establishing this fact, the final conclusion becomes undeniable. Since the two women were completely alone in the house without any visitors, no stranger could have entered. Therefore, if the dead child is not hers, the other woman must have secretly swapped the infants in the night, proving that the living child rightfully belongs to her [מלבי״ם].