1 Kings 12:7

7 They answered him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever."

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 He said to them, "Go away for three days, then come again to me." So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?"

7 They answered him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever."

8 But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and now attended him.

9 He said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, "Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?"