Category: Advice

“Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel” (Proverbs 27:9). Men have always understood and benefitted from the advice of others. That is, if it is good advice. You may remember Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, who inherited the reign of his father in Israel. When he ascended the throne, he was told by the “whole assembly of Israel” to “lighten the burdensome service of your father” with the promise if he did so, “we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:1-4).

Rehoboam asked his father’s advisors what to do. They told him to grant the people’s request, telling him if he did, “then they will be your servants forever” (7). Instead of following their sage advice, he instead listened to his peers, who lacked the wisdom the elders supplied.  The young men suggested he say, “And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” (11). This was a direct cause of the northern tribes rejecting him in favor of Jeroboam. It led the chronicler of the Kings to write, “So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (19). Continue reading “(10 of 13) The Sweet Counsel of a Friend” →