Wisdom of the Aged

I was reading in my bible this morning from 1 Kings 12. This comes right after Solomon's heart turns from the Lord to the foreign gods of his many (700!) wives. Chapter 12 v.1-11 is all about his son Rehoboam's stupidity.

After Solomon dies, the people of Israel talk with Rehoboam and ask him to not be as harsh as on them as his father was. So it says in v.6 "Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, 'How do you advise me to answer this people?' And they said to 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'."

Sounds pretty good to me. Rehoboam however didn't seem to think so. v.8 says, "But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him"

Long story short, his friends tell him to be more harsh on the people than Solomon was. Instead of listening to the counsel of those who were older and wiser than he was, he opted for the advice of the kids he grew up with. At that point, the kingdom divided and all but the tribe of Judah turned against him. They even stoned the guy who Rehoboam sent to implement the forced labor (v.18).

Moral of the story?

We should never disregard the counsel of those who are older and wiser than us. Proverbs 13:20 says, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

They might not always be right, but more often than not they will be. I forget who said, Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. The trusted men and women of God who are older and wiser than us have a lot more history under their belt than we do. We would do well to welcome their counsel.