05.06.2014 New Testament: 1Ki 12.12–15

To read the Bible in a year, read First Kings 12–13 on May 6, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

After Solomon died, Israel approached his son Rehoboam, asking him to make the burden of his father lighter, but he asked the people for three days to make a decision. He consulted with his father’s advisers, then with the men who had grown up with him. This was the result,

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat (1 Kings 12.12–15).

The advice of Solomon’s advisers was not good simply because they were old, nor was the advice of Rehoboam’s friends bad simply because they were young, but Solomon’s advisers had tested-wisdom, and Rehoboam’s friends did not have it.

We can gather from this, that Solomon’s advisers must not have agreed with him when he made the burden of the people heavy and punishment overly brutal. They were probably not surprised to see Israel approach Rehoboam with the request of lighter burdens. Therefore, they encouraged Rehoboam to go easy on the people.

Truth is truth, whether coming from the young or the old, but when it comes to matters of advice, be sure to consider tested-wisdom.