1 Kings 12:8

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.

1 Kings 12:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 12:8

But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given
him
He did not rightly relish it, nor cordially receive it; it did not suit with his haughty temper, he could not brook it, to stoop to his people; he thought it a lessening of his dignity to do anything that looked like courting their favour; and therefore determined not to take the advice given him by the old men, but to seek for other:

and consulted with the men, that were grown up with him, and which
stood before him;
the sons of nobles, with whom he had his education, and who were his companions from his youth upwards, and who were now officers in his court, and of his privy council, being his favourites, and those he consulted on this occasion; and though they are called young men, as they were in comparison of the old men, yet since they were contemporary with Rehoboam, who was now forty one years of age, they must be about forty, or not much under, and at an age to be wiser than they appeared to be.

1 Kings 12:8 In-Context

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'?"

10 The young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus you should say to this people who spoke to you, "Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us'; thus you should say to them, "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.