Today's Reading: 1 Kings 12

Choosing the Right Counselors

After his death, Solomon's son Rehoboam succeeded him as the king of Israel. One of Rehoboam’s first challenges came in the form of a demand from the populous to lighten their burden of forced labor and heavy taxation. Led by a man named Jeroboam (the son of Nebat from the tribe of Ephraim), the nation approached the new king and petitioned him to lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that his father had imposed on them.

Throughout the history of mankind, heavy taxation has repeatedly been the cause of revolt and revolution. There seems to be a pattern among successful nations that, as the nation prospers, the government grows. As the government grows, more taxes are imposed to cover the expenses of operating the government and its burgeoning bureaucracies. As taxes increase, the citizens become more and more burdened, more and more dissatisfied, and look for some relief. In the end, if these levels of excessive taxes are not lowered, the people revolt and the government is at risk of being overthrown.

This is the situation that faces Rehoboam in the early days of his reign – should he listen to the people and lower their burden? Or should he continue “the previous administration’s” policy of big government and high taxes? He doesn’t know what to do, so he turns to his teams of advisers.

The elder team of advisers gives him wise counsel and tells him to “give them a favorable answer.” If you do, they say, you will have won their hearts and “they will always be your loyal subjects.” The younger team of advisers gives him the opposite advice, telling him to display his power and authority by telling them you are going to make their burden even heavier. Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead accepted the opinion of the young men. Predictably, this decision led to revolt, civil war, and the division of the Nation.  The people decided they had had enough and would not put up with his tyranny.

Rehoboam was a leader who did not know two truths about leadership: (1) that a leader is a servant of the people, not the other way around; (2) the best counsel is often found in the older, wiser advisers. The elder men had observed Solomon and knew from experience what would work and what wouldn’t work with the people. Sadly, Rehoboam took the wrong advice. He listened to the counsel of those who knew nothing about leadership, nor how to elicit a loyal following from the people.

The lesson for us is this: Choose your counselors wisely and give greater credence to those with experience and a reputation for godly wisdom. “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”