2 Chronicles 10:12-19: in context

When the people ask the new king Rehoboam to lighten the heavy burden his father Solomon had laid on them, Rehoboam seeks counsel. The elders who had served his father advise him to speak kindly to the people and win their loyalty. But Rehoboam rejects their seasoned counsel and follows instead the advice of the young men who had grown up with him, who tell him to answer harshly: my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. He speaks roughly to the people, and the result is disaster: ten tribes reject him, and the kingdom is torn apart.

Rehoboam's ruin traces to a specific folly: he rejected wise counsel for foolish advice that suited his own inclinations. The elders' counsel was wise, born of experience: deal gently with the people, and they will be loyal. But Rehoboam did not want to hear it; he preferred the advice of his peers, which flattered his desire to assert his power and answer the people harshly. He abandoned the seasoned wisdom of the elders for the reckless advice of the young men who told him what he wanted to hear, and it cost him most of his kingdom. The wise counsel was available; he rejected it for advice that suited his own inclinations, and reaped the consequences. This is a folly we are prone to: rejecting wise counsel in favor of advice that flatters our own desires. When we face a decision, wise counsel is often available, from those with experience, from those who see clearly, from those willing to tell us what we need to hear rather than what we want. And there is a temptation to reject it, especially when it does not suit our inclinations, and to seek instead the advice that agrees with what we already want to do, the counsel that flatters rather than corrects us. The way of a fool, the proverb says, is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel. To reject wise counsel for advice that merely confirms our own inclinations is the path Rehoboam took, and it led to disaster. This searches how we handle counsel. When wise counsel is offered, especially counsel that does not suit our inclinations, do we heed it, or do we reject it in favor of advice that tells us what we want to hear? Rehoboam abandoned the elders' wisdom for the young men's flattery, and it tore his kingdom apart. In an abundance of counselors, the proverb says, there is safety; but only if we heed the wise ones. This calls us to seek and heed wise counsel rather than the advice that merely flatters our desires. The counsel that corrects us, that does not suit our inclinations but is wise, is often the counsel we most need and most resist. Rehoboam's folly warns us not to reject wise counsel for flattering advice, but to listen to wisdom even when it does not tell us what we want to hear, lest we, like him, reap the consequences of a proud refusal to heed the wise.

When wise counsel is offered me, especially counsel that does not suit my inclinations, do I heed it, or do I reject it in favor of advice that flatters my desires and tells me what I want to hear, and can Rehoboam, who abandoned the elders' wise counsel for the young men's reckless advice and tore his kingdom apart, warn me to seek and heed wisdom even when it does not agree with what I already want to do, lest I reap the consequences of a proud refusal to listen?