Bible Studies

How Not To Decide

by Terry Barlow
02/06/16
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   In the story of Solomon's son Rehoboam (1 Kings 12) I noticed something about the decision-making process I hadn't seen before.  Rehoboam rejected the advice of his elders before he had even heard and compared it to that of his younger peers.  Such a comparison process would have exposed the flaws of the harsher counsel of the young.  Not that the counsel of the young is always harsh.  The counsel his elders gave him in this case, that of adopting a more merciful policy toward the subjects of his kingdom, was apparently not what he wanted to hear.  His mind and heart were closed even though he was outwardly asking for their advice.  The harsh and merciless approach his peers recommended was the counsel he embraced, because it was already taking shape within him before he ever asked anyone. 
  I can remember at least one other case when elders got it right involving the woman taken in adultery.  When Jesus asked those without sin to cast the first stones, it was the elders who walked away first.  (John 7 v53 - John 8 v11)
  It was the author John Steinbeck who commented once that people tend to listen to advice from others and then proceed to do what they were already intent on doing anyway.  Tragically true in this case of a young king about to fracture apart his own kingdom, or better put, the kingdom God had committed and entrusted to him through his father the great King Solomon.

 "There is safety in a multitude of counselors." (Proverbs 11 v14)  But one has to actually be listening!