And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.
Israel asked Rehoboam to lighten their load, and he took the question to the friends he grew up with. Their reply is not a policy but a boast, and commentators show how one sentence about a little finger split a kingdom in two.
Advice That Echoed His Own Heart
Rehoboam did not ask the young men to learn something. He asked them to hear what he already wanted. One writer shows why their words won:
H. L. RossierThose who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is simply 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. Even his father, the great Solomon, seems small to him compared with his own greatness.
The same writer names the wisdom Rehoboam threw away. His father's proverbs had warned him: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1). They warned him again: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).
The Counsel He Threw Away
The older advisers had told him to serve the people and speak good words to them. Then they would be his servants forever. Commentators praise that advice, but only so far. It was shrewd, not spiritual:
William KellyIt was not the noblest ground, it is true. It was not the ground that would have left him in both liberty and responsibility. That would have been the true ground. It ought to have been his ground, if he meant to serve Jehovah by watching over the best interests of Jehovah's people. But they spoke according to their measure… 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.
What the Boast Claims
The picture is crude. His little finger outweighs his father's thighs. The lightest touch of his rule will press harder than the full weight of Solomon's.
Leslie M. GrantThese young men had some authority in government. They wanted to use that authority as cruel overlords of the people. They advised Rehoboam to tell the people he would be more demanding than his father. He would admit that his father had disciplined them with whips. But he would discipline them with scourges, since his little finger would be thicker than his father's waist.
The people asked for relief. The answer his friends wrote promises the opposite. It even trades the whip for the scourge.
Rights Without Responsibility
The flaw in the advisers was not their age alone but their idea of what a throne is for. One writer contrasts the seasoned men who knew the nation with the young circle who did not:
C KnappHe might have calmed the discontent caused by his father's forced labour levy. He needed only to listen, wisely and humbly, to the older men who had been his father's honoured counsellors. They knew the temper of the people well from long experience… But he abandoned their wise counsel. He fell under the influence of a handful of inexperienced novices and young court favourites. Like him, they thought more about the king's rights than about his responsibility to govern righteously. So he replied with about as rash and insolent a speech as was ever spoken from a throne to a civilised nation.
The same writer names the principle behind the disaster. Authority is God-given. Crushing people with it is not.
C KnappGod commands submission to the governing authorities. But tyranny over the souls and bodies of men is nowhere approved in His word. Rulers who try it must learn the results at their own cost. There are many proofs of this in Scripture, as in history. Government is of God, and therefore of divine appointment; but God frowns on every abuse of power.
The Finger That Could Not Hold a Kingdom
Days later, reality tested the boast:
C KnappRehoboam found it hard to believe that the ten tribes had really refused his yoke. So he confidently sent Hadoram, his tax collector, to collect the payment he had imposed. This unwise act brought matters to a crisis, and the angry people stoned him. He had boasted so proudly that his "little finger" should be "thicker than his father's thighs." Now the king shamefully "hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem."
Summary
- Chosen — Rehoboam did not want counsel. He wanted agreement. The young men gave him back his own heart.
- Refused — The older men offered a way of serving that would have kept the people for good. Commentators call it sound policy, not faith. He threw even that away.
- Boasted — A little finger thicker than his father's thighs, whips traded for scourges. He promised to press harder than Solomon on people begging for relief.
- Abused — Government is God's appointment. Oppression is not. Rulers who claim rights without responsibility must learn the cost.
- Collapsed — Days later the man with the thicker finger ran for his chariot. One sentence had cost him ten tribes.