1 Kings 12:6-11

B. THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COUNSELORS 12:6-11

TRANSLATION

(6) And King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had stood before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, How do you counsel me to respond to this people? (7) And they spoke unto him, saying, If you will be a servant to this people today, serve them, respond to them, and speak unto them good words; then they will be your servants forever. (8) But he rejected the counsel of the elders who had advised him, and consulted with the young men with whom he had grown up, who stood before him. (9) And he said unto them, What do you counsel, that we may respond to this people who have said unto me, Lighten the yoke which your father placed upon us. (10) And the young men who grew up with him said unto him, Thus you shall say to this people who have spoken unto you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but as for you, lighten our yoke! Thus you shall speak unto them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father! (11) And therefore though my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

COMMENTS

Rehoboam turned first to the older men who were experienced in statecraft from their service in the court of Solomon and asked them for their advice about handling the dissidents (1 Kings 12:6). They advised Rehoboam to be a servant unto the people for this dayto accede to their demands and make reasonable concessions to them. If the new king would so humble himself this once and momentarily refrain from exercising autocratic kingly power, he would gain the allegiance of the Northern tribes forever (1 Kings 12:7). Playing the role of a servant for the one day would gain for the new king many servants forever!

Rehoboam had other ideas. Having so recently tasted the sweets of royalty, the rash and imperious young king was not in a compromising mood. Spurning the advice of his father's counselors, Rehoboam turned to young men who served as his personal courtiers and counselors. These were men who had grown up with Rehoboam in Solomon's harem (1 Kings 12:8). Of these friends and advisers Rehoboam asked the same question which he had asked of the elders with three slight changes. (1) He emphasized the pronoun you in the Hebrew as though he anticipated a very different answer from that which he had heard from the elders. (2) In the words that we may respond he identified these young men with himself. (3) He repeated the request of the dissidents, no doubt expressing his contempt for their audacity by the tone of his voice (1 Kings 12:9).

The young men sensed already what their friend and king wanted to hear. The author of Kings seems to express contempt for these young men by again mentioning that they were the ones who had grown up with Rehoboam. They were accustomed to autocratic rule and warned the king against accepting the crown conditionally. These young men viewed the request of the dissidents as presumptuous and they urged the king to follow a get tough policy with them. They suggested that he use what must have been a proverbial expression, My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father. The meaning of this expression is quite clear: Rehoboam's weakness will be stronger than his father's strength (1 Kings 12:10). They urged Rehoboam to threaten to place additional burdens upon the people. Solomon had chastised them with whips; but the chastisement under Rehoboam would be with scorpions (1 Kings 12:11). Some doubt exists as to whether scorpions is purely a figure of speech reflecting an even greater pain to be administered under Rehoboam (Hammond), or whether it refers to a particular kind of whip, perhaps one with barbed points like the point of a scorpion's sting (Keil). In either case scorpions would constitute an ominous threat. The advice of the young counselors was based on the idea that appeasement would not work. Any attempt to placate the people by kindly words, they feared, would be interpreted as weakness. They advised him to assert his authority unmistakably.