And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, How do ye advise to return answer to this people?
The people have just asked Solomon's son to lighten the burden his father laid on them, and he buys himself three days before answering. His first move looks right: he turns to the men who had served in his father's court and asks them how to reply.
The wording of the verse marks these advisers out by where they had stood. One writer notes what that closeness gave them, and what Rehoboam missed:
Rehoboam consults the old men who had stood before Solomon to drink at the source of wisdom… If only he had stood before his father himself and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips! Then he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), and many other precepts.
Their value was not just their age. They had watched this people for years, and they could see that the request was not outrageous:
From long experience they knew the mood of the people well. In asking for their burdens to be lightened, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked. Suppose the newly crowned king had granted their reasonable request, and been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them. Then, as those old counsellors said, they would have been his loyal subjects forever.
One writer ties their answer to the way Christians are told to treat each other. He works from an older translation, which reads "be kind to this people":
The old men are rich in experience. They tell Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
Rossier adds that their counsel matches what Jesus told His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26).
The verse records a good question. What follows shows that asking and heeding are two different things.
Rehoboam the king, Solomon's son, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He did not take advice from the men of experience who might have helped his youth. He took it from the young men, who only urged him on in his rashness.
The young men had grown up with him and stood before him, so they could only mirror his own thinking. The ones who flattered his pride won his approval. Their advice was in the end nothing but the advice of his own heart. The same trap waits for anyone who asks around:
A wise man distrusts himself and listens to advice. He does not cheat God and his conscience by asking advice from the weak and easy-going. He asks the godly.
The three-day consultation ends in a rough answer and a split kingdom. Yet the account does not end with Rehoboam's folly.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
- Stand first. The old men were worth hearing because they had stood before Solomon. Rehoboam had not, so he had no wisdom of his own.
- Ask well. Their advice was to be good to the people, please them, and speak good words. That is bearing with the weak instead of loading them with yokes.
- Choose honestly. A wise man distrusts himself and does not hunt for the easy-going adviser. The young men only mirrored the king's own heart.
- Flattery costs. Pride fed by courtiers produced a rough answer, and the rough answer cost him ten tribes.
- God governs. Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause. But God's word of judgment had already gone out, and the low state of the people lay behind His discipline.
And they spoke to him saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.
Rehoboam has just inherited his father Solomon's throne, and the people meet him with one request: lighten the load. The older men who had served Solomon give him an answer that costs nothing and could win him everything. What follows turns on whether he takes it.
The advice has three parts. One writer finds each part again in the way Christians are to treat one another. He follows an older translation, which reads "be kind" where the ESV has "be good."
The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1–4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears with "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "his good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. And in verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
The parallel account in Kings puts the same counsel more sharply: the king is to be a servant to the people. One writer hears in it the very principle Jesus laid down for His followers.
Rehoboam consults the old men who had stood before Solomon and drunk at the very source of wisdom. Their counsel is the counsel Jesus gave His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26)… Rehoboam turns away from wise counsel and follows the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). So they could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts.
The young men did not lead Rehoboam astray. They only echoed what was already in him.
Not every writer treats the elders' words as the highest answer. One calls them good policy that still fell short of the best ground a king could have taken.
It was not the noblest ground it is true. It was not the ground that would have left him in both liberty and responsibility… that ought to have been his ground if he meant to be a servant of Jehovah. He would then have served Jehovah by watching over the best interests of Jehovah's people. But they spoke according to their own measure: "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever." It was prudence, it was good policy. I could not say there was faith in it but there was good policy in it, as far as that went.
So commentators differ over how high this counsel reached. It was wisdom worth following. Yet it aimed at keeping a kingdom, not at serving God.
The people asked for relief, not rebellion. The elders had lived through those years, so they knew the mood of the nation.
He might have calmed the discontent caused by his father's forced labor… if he had wisely and humbly taken the advice of the old men who had been his father's honored counselors. Long experience had taught them the mood of the people well. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only asking what any people who had not been reduced to slavery or serfdom might ask. And if the newly crowned king had granted their reasonable demands, and been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them, they would have been his loyal subjects for ever — just as those old counselors said.
The young men's advice looked strong and firm. That was its appeal.
That is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men," is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature admires: he is to take a strong line and to keep up his authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and he threatens the protesters with violent and extreme punishment.
- Kindness offered. Three things cost Rehoboam nothing: be good to the people, please them, speak good words. It is the same pattern as bearing with the weak, building others up, and comforting with the good words of Scripture.
- Kindness is service. The counsel asked the king to serve his people, matching the Lord's rule that the leader is the one who serves.
- Kindness wins. Serve them once, said the elders, and they are yours for ever. What they asked was reasonable. Granting it would have kept them loyal for life.
- Kindness refused. Rehoboam chose the counsel of nature, which looked like strength and majesty. His young advisers were only a mirror of his own thoughts.
- Kindness lost. He refused the elders and threatened the people instead. So he lost the lasting loyalty they had promised him.
But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him.
Rehoboam has just inherited his father's throne. The northern tribes ask him to lighten the burden Solomon laid on them, and the advice he takes will split the kingdom in two.
The tragedy of the verse is not that Rehoboam lacked good advice. He had it, heard it, and set it aside for the voices of his own age group.
In 2 Chronicles 10 we find what, sadly, is in all human types — failure. Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He took counsel not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged on his rashness.
The old men had told him that if he would serve the people and speak good words to them, they would be his servants forever. One writer notes where those men had learned it, and how closely their advice matches what Jesus later told His followers — that the greatest should become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.
Rehoboam consults with the old men who had stood before Solomon and drunk wisdom at its source. Their counsel is the counsel of Jesus to His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26). The old men say, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever" (1 Kings 12:7). Rehoboam abandons the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him, and who stood before him.
Why did the second group persuade him so easily? Because they had been formed by him. The same writer traces the failure back a generation: a son who had never sat and listened to his father could pass nothing on.
They could only mirror and reflect their master's own thoughts. Suppose he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips. He could then have passed on some of that wisdom to others. But no. The men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men, in the end, is only the counsel of his own heart.
The advice of the young men was not obviously stupid at the time. It had the ring of firmness, and that is exactly what made it dangerous.
That is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men", is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature admires. It looks like taking a strong line, and like keeping up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature.
The old advisers knew the people well, and they judged their plea to be fair. The men Rehoboam turned to instead had a different instinct.
From long experience these men knew the mood of the people well. In asking for their burdens to be lightened, the people were only doing what any nation not reduced to slavery might have asked. But he abandoned their wise counsel. A handful of inexperienced young court favourites had his ear. Like himself, they thought more of the rights of the king than of his duty to govern righteously. So he answered with as reckless and insolent a speech as was perhaps ever spoken from a throne to a civilised nation.
Judging the division by Rehoboam's folly alone misses the point. His guilt stands, and so does the state of the nation behind it.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God lay the low condition of the people.
So the outcome had been foretold. Did that excuse the men who brought it about?
A prophecy is in no way God's approval of what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most horrible acts that the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
The verse warns the young, but one writer — himself old — refuses to let the old use it as a weapon.
Young men should never despise the counsel of the aged, and the aged should never discourage the zeal of the young. Let us help one another to a better understanding of the will of the Lord.
- Offered. Wisdom was within reach. Experienced men told Rehoboam to serve the people and speak good words, and they would be loyal for life.
- Refused. He walked past it, choosing men who had grown up with him and could only echo what he already thought.
- Flattered. Their advice won because it fed his pride; in the end it was his own heart's counsel coming back to him.
- Mistaken for strength. Nature calls harshness firmness. The course that looked like majesty ruined the kingdom.
- Governed. Behind the king's folly stood God's judgment, announced long before. Yet prophecy never excused the man who fulfilled it.
And he said to them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Lighten the yoke which thy father put upon us?
The people have just asked Rehoboam for a lighter yoke, and his father's old advisers have already told him what to say. Here he asks a second group — the friends he grew up with — and their answer will split the nation.
One writer sets the king's choice of advisers at the centre of the failure:
In this chapter we find what, sadly, is in all human types — failure. Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, did not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherited whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He turned not to the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but to the young men, who only encouraged his rashness.
One writer hears in the elders' advice the same note as Romans 15:
There had been a long history of harsh actions and heavy bondage, and now a portion of the people rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them." Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
One writer says the young men could only give back what Rehoboam already thought:
Rehoboam forsakes the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. They could be nothing other than the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts... But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is, in the end, only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
The yoke was the forced labour Solomon had imposed, and the older men knew the people's complaint was fair:
He might have quieted the discontent caused by his father's forced labour, if he had wisely and humbly listened to the aged men who had been his father's honoured advisers. They, from long experience, knew the temper of the people well. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked... But he forsook their wise counsel. A handful of inexperienced beginners and young court favourites swayed him. Like himself, they thought more of the rights of the king than of his responsibility to govern righteously. So he replied with a speech as rash and insolent as perhaps any ever spoken from a throne to a civilised nation.
One writer calls Rehoboam's folly the immediate cause, but not the whole story:
People of that day, looking only at the bare facts, might have thought that the division was entirely due to the folly of Rehoboam... Such arguments might seem reasonable to the natural mind, but they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
One writer traces the split back to Solomon, and on to the King who will heal it:
Solomon in his later years made Israel's yoke heavy; he punished them with whips. But Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head, and the sleeping jealousy between the tribes now blazes out with fresh bitterness... A prophet had told Jeroboam that he would rule over the ten tribes. This man is the appointed executor of God's judgment. A breach is made in Israel, and only the coming of the true and wise King to the throne will heal it.
- Counsel given. The elders told him to be good to the people and speak good words to them — kindness, not heavy yokes.
- Counsel re-sought. He had a clear answer, and he asked again. He wanted a different reply, not guidance.
- Counsel mirrored. The young men only mirrored their master. Their advice was his own heart flattering his pride.
- Counsel misjudged. He and his friends thought more about a king's rights than about his duty to rule justly.
- Counsel overruled. His folly was the immediate cause. But God's word of judgment had already gone out, and the breach waits for the true and wise King.
And the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus shalt thou say to the people who have spoken to thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and lighten thou it for us, -- thus shalt thou say to them My little [finger] is thicker than my father's loins;
Israel has asked Rehoboam for a lighter yoke. He turns to two very different groups for an answer. The older men advise kindness. His own generation hands him a boast about his little finger, and the words he chooses here split the kingdom for good.
The men Rehoboam turned to had grown up beside him and stood in his court. One writer points out that such men could only mirror him. He traces the boast of this verse back to the king's own heart, and names the wisdom Rehoboam never learned.
Rehoboam turns away from the counsel of wisdom and follows the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. They could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. Had he stood before his father and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed some of that wisdom on to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1), and that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). But no — the men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself. Great Solomon, his father, even seems small next to his own greatness.
Solomon was famous for wisdom, but wisdom is not passed down with a throne. The contrast between father and son is the point of the chapter.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. For Rehoboam took counsel not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged him on in his rashness.
One commentator gives the older men's advice a mixed verdict.
It was not the noblest ground, it is true… But they said, according to their measure, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever." It was prudence, it was good policy. I could not say there was faith in it, but there was good policy in it, as far as that went.
Another writer calls the old men's counsel spiritual. Commentators differ, then, on how high it reached.
Why did the young men's answer sound so attractive? Because it flattered the instinct to look firm.
Such is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men", is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature finds admirable: taking a strong line, and keeping up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Alas, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline. The people meet the king's violence with violence of their own. They stone the king's officer, and the division is complete.
It would be easy to read the split as nothing more than one young man's arrogance. The same writer warns against stopping there.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
Rehoboam misread the people, and the boast did not last.
Rehoboam found it hard to believe that the ten tribes had truly refused his yoke. He no doubt flattered himself that they would not dare to rebel against his authority… The king had boasted so proudly that his "little finger" would be "thicker than his father's thighs." Now, to his shame, he hurried to get into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
- Pride asks. Rehoboam consulted men who only mirrored his own thoughts. Their counsel was the counsel of his own heart.
- Pride flatters. The boast about the little finger measured him against Solomon. Even his great father seemed small next to him.
- Pride sounds strong. A hard line looks like authority, but it is the counsel of nature, not of wisdom.
- Pride divides. The king's violence drew out the people's violence, and the kingdom split in two.
- Pride is not the whole story. Behind the king's feeble hand was the mighty hand of God in discipline. Behind that was the low condition of the people.
and whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, *I* will add to your yoke my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.
A nation asked its new king to lighten its load, and Rehoboam's young advisers handed him a slogan instead: he would add to the yoke and swap his father's whips for scorpions. Why did a son of Solomon show so little of Solomon's wisdom?
Before the young men spoke, the older advisers had offered another way. One writer links their counsel to the kindness that bears with weakness:
For years the people had suffered harsh actions and heavy oppression, and now part of the people rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not turn our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we see the kindness that bears with "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them.
The young men did not give Rehoboam a new idea. They gave him back his own.
Rehoboam turns away from the counsel of wisdom to follow the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). So they could be nothing but the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. If he had stood before his father and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed some of that wisdom on to others... he would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18)... But no, the men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart.
Threatening scorpions looked like firm leadership. One writer calls it the advice of nature, and follows where it led.
They advise Rehoboam to take a course that looks very commendable to nature. It seems to take a strong line and to keep up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and he threatens the protesters with violent and extreme punishment (1 Kings 12:12-15). The people answer the king's violence with violence of their own. They stone the king's officer, and the division is complete (1 Kings 12:16-19).
Even by his father's standards the words went too far:
Though Solomon had been demanding, he was wiser than to speak in this cruel way to the people. But Rehoboam did not have the wisdom of his father. He and the young men ought to have realized they could not get away with such arrogant treatment of the people.
Rehoboam did not invent the heavy yoke. One writer traces the crisis back to Solomon's sin and to the household Rehoboam grew up in.
Surrounded by such a crowd of foreign wives, is it any wonder that Rehoboam turns out to be a foolish son?... His first act was an act of extreme folly. It looked more like the cruel rule of a tyrant than the wisdom that should have marked the son of Solomon. This folly was the immediate cause and occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes, but it was the consequence and fruit of Solomon's sin... In his later years Solomon made Israel's yoke heavy and disciplined them with whips, but Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head.
Scripture says the turn of events came from God (v. 15). That does not move the blame off anyone who acted.
"So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which He spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam." Did that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle, and you will find it again and again in the word of God. A prophecy is in no way approval of what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
Israel's leaders wanted a strong king. One writer sets this verse beside the words of another son of David.
The man they wanted was a strong, proud king — a kind of superman!... The leaders could hardly be unaware that He was the direct descendant of David and the heir to Israel's throne. But He spoke in the very opposite way to another of David's sons, who said, "whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke." Now they heard Christ saying, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light!"
- Yoke of pride. The advisers Rehoboam chose only echoed his own thoughts. Flattery won his ear, and the scorpion threat was his own pride spoken aloud.
- Yoke added. The people asked him to lighten the load. He promised to increase it, and called cruelty strong leadership.
- Yoke refused. Harsh words drew a harsh answer. The people stoned the king's officer, and the kingdom split.
- Yoke inherited. The folly grew out of Solomon's sin. One rash speech brought years of discontent to a head.
- Yoke reversed. God had foretold the division, yet prophecy excuses no one. David's greater Son offers a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.
And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed saying, Come again to me on the third day.
Rehoboam had told the people to come back in three days, and now they are back. Jeroboam and the whole nation stand before the new king to hear how he will rule, and behind his answer stands a word God had already spoken.
A long build-up of grievance had come to a head, and it met Rehoboam at the very start of his reign.
1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 give the history. King Solomon dies and his son Rehoboam comes to the throne. At once a crisis arises. For years the people had faced harsh treatment and heavy bondage, and now some of them rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7).
The verse names Jeroboam first, and that name carries a history. He came back to the king already knowing what a prophet had said about him.
"So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day." He was in the plot. He knew the prophecy well, and now he had a chance to take advantage of it… "For the cause was from the LORD, that He might fulfil His word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Did that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle, and you will find it all through the word of God. A prophecy is in no way an approval of what is predicted.
Their complaint about the yoke was not rebellion for its own sake, and a generous reply would have won them for life.
The old men who had been his father's honoured counsellors knew the temper of the people well from long experience. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked. Suppose the new king had granted their reasonable demands. Suppose he had been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them. Then, as those old counsellors said, they would have been his loyal subjects forever.
One writer sets the yoke the people complained about against the yoke of Christ.
These men complain to the king about the yoke his father had put on them: "Your father made our yoke grievous." The words show that it had not always been so. Christ's yoke will never be grievous on His people. To His own He will always remain the same as they have known Him in the day of suffering and of grace: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Rehoboam spent the three days taking advice, but he preferred the advisers who echoed him back to himself.
Rehoboam turns from the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). They could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's own thoughts… But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart.
The kingdom broke apart through the king's own folly, yet God had already spoken of it.
The history of Rehoboam shows us the swift fall of the royal power which God had established. The king's folly brought it about, but it was only the fulfilment of the Lord's word through Ahijah.
The split that began on this third day never closed. One writer points to where the healing comes.
Rehoboam's foolish resolve brought their discontent to a head, and the tribal jealousy that had been sleeping now bursts into flame… A prophet had told Jeroboam that he would rule over them. This man is the one appointed to carry out God's judgment. A split opens in Israel, and only the true and wise King will heal it when He comes and sits on the throne.
- The appointment — the three-day pause was a real chance to answer well. Kindness then would have won loyal subjects forever.
- The assembly — Jeroboam comes back at the head of the people, knowing the prophecy about himself. A prophecy is never God's approval of the act that fulfils it.
- The answer — his chosen advisers mirrored his own thoughts back to him, so the counsel he took was his own pride.
- The division — the king's folly caused the break. It also fulfilled the word God spoke through Ahijah.
- The healing — the heavy yoke of a foolish king points us to the King whose yoke is easy. The split waits for Him to take the throne.
And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the advice of the old men,
Rehoboam is newly king, and the nation has waited three days for his reply to one fair plea: lighten the load your father laid on us. His answer decides the fate of the kingdom, and it raises two questions: why did he speak this way, and why did God let it stand?
The trouble was not that Rehoboam lacked advisers. He had two sets, and he took the wrong one.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He did not take advice from the men of experience who might have helped his youth. He took it from the young men, who only urged on his rashness.
His harsh answer was not a slip of temper. The young men only handed back to him what was already in his heart.
If he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1). He would have known too that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), and many other precepts. But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is, in the end, only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with looking down on your neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
One writer hears in the old men's advice the same note the New Testament strikes for anyone who leads God's people.
The old men, who are rich in experience, tell Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the weaknesses of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes upon them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
The same writer names what replaced it. The other advice looked strong and responsible.
Such is the spiritual advice of the old men; the counsel of nature, as given by the "young men," is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that looks very commendable to nature — take a strong line, and keep up authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes a proud and unreasonable stand. He threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline. The people answer the king's violence with their own violence. They stone the king's officer, and the result is division.
Commentators agree that this speech triggered the split. But they trace the crack further back. One points to Solomon's sin, another to the state of the people.
This folly was the immediate cause and occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes. Yet it was also the consequence and fruit of Solomon's sin, and the beginning of the public display of divine wrath. In his later years Solomon made Israel's yoke heavy and disciplined them with whips. But Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
God's hand was behind the king's harsh words. Does that excuse the men who acted? One writer answers directly.
A prophecy in no way approves what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts that the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
- Word. The people asked for kind words. One harsh reply cost Rehoboam ten tribes.
- Heart. The word only voiced what was already inside; the flatterers he chose were the mirror of his own pride.
- Root. The harsh word broke a kingdom already cracked — by Solomon's sin and by the low state of the people.
- Hand. Behind the king's weak hand was God's mighty hand in discipline, carrying out a judgment spoken long before.
- Blame. God's purpose behind an act never makes the act right. Prophecy foretells evil; it never approves it.
and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but *I* will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.
Rehoboam had just heard two opposite pieces of advice about the people's plea for a lighter burden. This verse gives his answer — a heavier load and a harsher punishment — and that one speech broke up the kingdom of Israel.
Rehoboam asked two sets of advisers. One writer explains why the second set could tell him nothing new.
The young men could not be anything other than the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. Suppose he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips. Then he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1), and that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), along with many other teachings. But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is in the end only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour; this lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
The problem was not a lack of wise voices at court.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, did not inherit his father's wisdom, but whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He took counsel not with the experienced men who might have helped his youth. He turned to the young men, who only pushed him on in his rashness.
Another writer weighs the reply against Solomon's own record.
Though Solomon had been demanding, he was wiser than to speak in this cruel way to the people. Rehoboam and the young men ought to have realized they could not get away with such arrogant treatment of the people.
The older men had advised something quite different. One writer sets their counsel beside the Lord's words to His disciples.
Rehoboam consults with the old men who had stood before Solomon to drink at the source of wisdom. Their counsel is that of Jesus to His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26).
This speech was not a single accident. One writer traces its root back to Solomon.
His first act was one of extreme folly, more like the cruel despotism of an eastern tyrant than the wisdom that should have marked the son of Solomon. This folly was the immediate cause of the revolt of the ten tribes. But it is also the fruit of Solomon's sin, and the beginning of the public display of divine wrath. Solomon in his later years made Israel's yoke heavy; he disciplined them with whips. Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head. The tribal jealousy that had been quietly burning now blazes out with greater force.
Commentators then face a further question: did God's hand in these events excuse the men who acted?
Did that excuse Jeroboam? A prophecy is in no way a sanction of the act it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts that have ever been done by the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man.
Another writer holds both sides together.
Certainly it was not pleasing to God that Rehoboam should answer the people in the cruel way he did, but God was sovereignly working for His own glory.
The word "yoke" comes back later, in the mouth of another descendant of David.
He spoke in quite the opposite way to another of David's sons, who said: "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it." Now they heard Christ saying, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light!" Why was His yoke easy? The answer lies in Himself.
- Yoke asked — The people asked for a lighter load, and the older advisers pointed the king to the place of a servant.
- Yoke doubled — Rehoboam picked advisers who echoed his own heart. Pride, not policy, chose his words.
- Yoke inherited — The harshness did not begin with him; it was the fruit of Solomon's sin coming into the open.
- Yoke broken — The kingdom split, and God carried out His purpose. Yet foretelling an act never excuses the one who does it.
- Yoke easy — A later Son of David reverses the sentence, and the reason lies in who He Himself is.