LISTEN TO THE ADVICE OF YOUR ELDERS

PROCLAMATION

“Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime.  ‘How would you advise me to answer these people?’ he asked. … But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.”  1 Kings 12:6-8 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. (1 Kings 11:42-43)  When Jeroboam, Solomon’s son who had rebelled against him in his old age and then fled to Egypt, heard that Rehoboam was king he returned to Israel. (1 Kings 12:2-4)  Jeroboam asked King Rehoboam to lighten the burden which Solomon had placed on him and said that he would serve him.  Rehoboam told him the go away for three days and then return, to allow him to consider his request.  Then he consulted the elders of Israel and rejected their advice.  He decided to follow the advice of the young men that he grew up with.  This eventually caused him to lose the support of the people (1 Kings 12:16-17) and led to the division of Israel with only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin supporting Rehoboam.  Jeroboam became king of the ten northern tribes, and he built shrines and two golden calves to be their gods and led them to worship idols. (1 Kings 12:28-33)

APPLICATION

All too often the young ignore, reject, and do not follow the advice of their elders.  They feel that they know better and that their elders are “old fashioned”, uninformed, and out of touch with reality.  If they listen to any advice it is usually that which comes from their friends and peers.  Rejecting good advice usually results in bad outcomes.  Only after they mess up and get into trouble do the young realize that their elders, their father and mother, really did know what was best for them. (Proverbs 5:12-14 and 30:17)  Listen to the advice of your elders for with age and experience comes some wisdom.