1Ki 12:8-11 | KingComments | STEP | Rehoboam doesn’t want to submit to the elders’ counsel and act as a servant. He rejects their counsel. Instead of consulting the LORD, he turns to his contemporaries and consults with them. These young men are in his service. Like him, they do not seek the good of the people. They only think about their own position, while they realize that Rehoboam is only interested in that too. The young men give him the counsel to be hard. He must make his power well felt, so that everyone knows who is in charge. They give him the advice to add to the yoke that Solomon has laid on the people and about which they complain. By the saying “my little finger is thicker than my father’s loins”, the young men mean that Rehoboam must tell the people that his power is much greater than that of his father. Their counsel is typically that of youth. They give him the counsel to act even harder than Solomon. That’s part of youth. They want to prove themselves. It does not fit to the Christian; he must learn to lose himself and is called to flee the lusts of youth ( ).

‏ 1 Kings 12:8-11

The Counsel of the Young Men

Rehoboam doesn’t want to submit to the elders’ counsel and act as a servant. He rejects their counsel. Instead of consulting the LORD, he turns to his contemporaries and consults with them. These young men are in his service. Like him, they do not seek the good of the people. They only think about their own position, while they realize that Rehoboam is only interested in that too. The young men give him the counsel to be hard. He must make his power well felt, so that everyone knows who is in charge.

They give him the advice to add to the yoke that Solomon has laid on the people and about which they complain. By the saying “my little finger is thicker than my father’s loins”, the young men mean that Rehoboam must tell the people that his power is much greater than that of his father.

Their counsel is typically that of youth. They give him the counsel to act even harder than Solomon. That’s part of youth. They want to prove themselves. It does not fit to the Christian; he must learn to lose himself and is called to flee the lusts of youth (2Tim 2:22).