We should not think that the comparatively young king sought a second opinion from his contemporaries with an open mind. We are told at this point that Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of those we might call the elder statesmen before he had even heard the counsel of his cronies (1 Kings 12:8). He was looking for advice that would be more pleasing to him.
Rehoboam summarized the demands that the people presented him with and asked for their advice as to how he should respond. His summary of the demand is succinct, but we must confess that it does no injury to the request and places it squarely before the young men for their consideration.
One question that perhaps we ought to ask is whether the younger men knew the advice that their elders gave to the king. Second, did they know that Rehoboam was displeased with the old men’s advice?
If the young men knew these things, we might fairly suggest that they acted on the principle that the king should be told what the king wanted to hear. Such behaviour certainly was followed by the false prophets that we shall meet in later portions of this book and the whole of 2 Kings. True prophets were ignored because they so often told the kings what they did not want to hear.
The answer that these men give to Rehoboam is not a general answer, but they suggest the specific words that his answer to the people should contain. Their suggested answer is found in 1 Kings 12:10–11.
The answer is found in two parts. First, there is a comparison between Rehoboam and Solomon. It is made up of language that suggests that Solomon was weak in comparison to his son. Some commentators suggest that the language is a softened way to speak of Rehoboam’s male organ. This situation is suggested because the phrase translated my little finger
literally means my little one.
1 Yet the translation that appears in the ESV and a great number of English translations contains traditional reading.
The second part of the answer compares Rehoboam to Solomon in the exercise of workload and discipline of the people in their forced labour. They advise the king to acknowledge that Solomon placed a heavy burden of work, but Rehoboam plans to increase it. The word used to speak of the burden is yoke,
which is an item that is used with labouring beasts that are used to plow or to pull heavy loads. Thus, the young men advise him to speak to his people as though they were animals.
Discipline is another manner in which these advisors suggest that Rehoboam’s superior strength will show itself to the people. Solomon used the whip, and the new king will use the scourge. The term scorpion is not to be taken literally any more than a wooden yoke was contemplated on the necks of people. A scourge was a whip of particular ferocity embedded with metal pieces that would make its sting feel like that of a scorpion.
8 Mais Roboam laissa le conseil que lui donnaient les vieillards, et il consulta les jeunes gens qui avaient grandi avec lui et qui l'entouraient.