1 Kings 12:7

7 They replied, "Today if you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Kings 12:7 In-Context

5 Rehoboam replied, "Go home for three days and then return to me." So the people left.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, "How do you advise me to respond to these people?"
7 They replied, "Today if you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever."
8 But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
9 He asked them, "What message do you advise that we send back to these people who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?"
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