1 Kings 12:7

7 They said, "You should be like a servant to them today. If you serve them and give them a kind answer, they will serve you always."

1 Kings 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 12:7

And they spake unto him, saying
They gave their advice as follows:

if thou wilt be servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them;
condescend to them, behave in an humble manner towards them, for this day however, and gratify and oblige them; though indeed a king is but a servant to his people, and his administration of government a doing service to them; hence Antigonus ^F6, a king, mild, humble, and gentle, perceiving his son to behave in a fierce and violent manner towards his subjects, said to him, my son, dost thou not know that our glorious kingdom is a servitude?

and answer them, and speak good words unto them;
give them a soft answer, and speak kindly and gently to them, and make them fair promises, and give them reason to expect that their requests will be granted:

then they will be thy servants for ever;
such conduct would so win upon them, and make such an impressions upon them, that they would for ever after entertain high opinion of him, and be strongly affected and attached to him, and readily serve him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Apud Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 20.

1 Kings 12:7 In-Context

5 Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days, and then come back to me." So the people left.

6 King Rehoboam asked the older leaders who had advised Solomon during his lifetime, "How do you think I should answer these people?"

7 They said, "You should be like a servant to them today. If you serve them and give them a kind answer, they will serve you always."

8 But Rehoboam rejected this advice. Instead, he asked the young men who had grown up with him and who served as his advisers.

9 Rehoboam asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who said, 'Don't make us work as hard as your father did'?"