A ruler's wisdom is not only the personal wisdom that Solomon so excelled in, but also governmental wisdom, which is completely different. A wise ruler should also know what should be done and what should not be done. Rehoboam did not understand this
When Rehoboam came to power he was 41 years old, a mature man who is supposed to know what he is going towards. And yet he consulted with various personalities to know what he should do towards accepting the yoke of power. These feelings arose when the representatives of the people asked him to relieve them of the burden that his father Solomon had placed upon them, as it is written: "Your father made it difficult for us and you have now lightened the hard work of your father and the heavy burden that he placed on us and we serve you" (4 Kings 7:11). This face testified to distress and in order not to return their faces empty, Rehoboam asked to reign in his mind for three days to give them an answer. He addressed both the elders who accompanied Shlomo his father and his peers. A wise move, to hear two generational age groups, each of which has a different world view. The elders said to him, "If today you will be a slave to this people and you will serve them and answer them and speak good things to them and you will be slaves all the days" (XNUMX Kings XNUMX:XNUMX). The young men, those who grew up with him in the royal house, advised him to reply to the public representatives with the following words: "Father of nations, you have a heavy burden and I will add more to you. My father will torment you with whips and I will torment you with scorpions" (XNUMX Kings XNUMX:XNUMX). Rehoboam adopted this approach and from the moment she communicated it to the public, the masses of the people expressed their displeasure and said that it was better for them to part with the house of David and when Adorem came to them to collect the tax he was beaten to death.
Among the lines one can also hear criticism of Solomon due to the high tax burden he imposed on the masses of the people to finance his construction projects. The elders did not ask the people to worship God, but to be a servant to the people and not for nothing. He must serve the people, be attentive to the masses and their needs. Not to be inside the ruling bubble and do only what is good for the ruling system. The collected funds are supposed to serve the public as a whole. Only when he behaves like this will the ruler win the love of the people. If he uses these funds only for governmental needs, he will lose his basis of legitimacy, and this is indeed what happened to Rehabam.
A ruler's wisdom is not only the personal wisdom that Solomon so excelled in, but also governmental wisdom, which is completely different. A wise ruler should also know what should be done and what should not be done. Rehoboam did not understand this
