Rehoboam's Frat-House
No.184: November 10, 2023
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Dear Friends,
Let’s do a little Bible study today—1 Kings Chapter 12.
When King Solomon died his son Rehoboam took over as king. All the Israelites came to make an appeal to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Rehoboam sent them away and told them to come back three days later for their answer.
He then consulted the elders who had served his father and asked for their advice. They said, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
Rehoboam snorted and rolled his eyes. Okay, the text doesn’t quite say that, but it does indicate his immediate reaction: “But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him.” He then consulted “the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.” That order is important. He did not reject the elders after getting a second opinion. He rejected them straightaway and then went to his buddies who would tell him what he wanted to hear. They did not disappoint:
Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’—tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’
Rehoboam loved this advice. The text tells us what happened when the people assembled again three days later:
Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
That’s a vivid scene! Notice some things.
The contrast between “elders” and “young men” is obvious, and is clearly presented as a contrast between wisdom (after all, these elders had advised the wisest man who’d ever lived) and folly. And these young men—among whom Rehoboam is included because it tells us he “grew up” with them—clearly despise their elders.
The elders think that political leadership is about service. They use the word three times in their reply: “If you will be a servant to these people, and serve them … they will serve you.” These young men think it is about power and lording it over people; they want to make the burdens heavier, not lighter.
These young men are also pretty cruel. Scourge people with scorpions? That’s an A+ sadistic fantasy.
These young men glory in their masculinity and they do so with vulgarity. “My little finger is thicker than…” is not a reference to Rehoboam’s pinky finger. Sorry to shock you—the Bible will do that from time to time—but they are suggesting that Rehoboam make a reference to the size of his manhood. This is the crude locker-room talk of juvenile frat-boys, would-be Alpha Males strutting their stuff. Macho men of the inner circle, these young men puff up their paragon of masculinity, Rehoboam, and encourage him to be “real man” unlike his weakling father. Note that Rehoboam doesn’t repeat the line about the size of his you-know-what when he actually talks to the people. Vulgarities are for inside jokes amongst friends.
Keep an eye out for any political movements full of young men who despise their elders, thirst for power, exhibit cruelty, brag about their masculinity, and routinely engage in vulgar and ribald inside jokes when amongst themselves.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
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