1 Kings 12:1-15
"12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.
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?” 7 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.” 8 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. 9 And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat."
Rehoboam's reaction in this story presents an interesting study. The question at issue was what his reaction was going to be to the approach of the people (3, 4), with their request for relief from the burdens imposed upon them by Solomon. It is clear enough from the latter part of his reign that, in his obsession for wealth, the nation was taxed mercilessly and was now ripe for revolt, It was likewise clear that what they had stood from Solomon they would not be prepared to stand from his son. But Rehoboam does not seem to have been conscious either of this or of the fact that it was a time of testing for him that was quite crucial in its significance. Why was he so obtuse? The elder men of the court, who had been his father's advisers, could see very plainly what was likely to happen and urged upon him a wiser policy of restraint and relaxation of oppressive measures, but the new king heedlessly disregarded their advice in favour of that of the younger courtiers who had been his companions before he came to the throne. The truth is, his senses and insight had been so blunted by the atmosphere of magnificence in which he had lived in his father's court, that he had become in- sensitive to the real responsibilities of government. This is something that must ultimately be laid at Solomon's door, for he was obviously too pre-occupied with his sinful ways in his later years to have either time or inclination to train his son in the ways of kingship and in the paths of righteousness. That was the real fault, and in this case, the sins of the father had ruinous and disastrous consequences in the son. Solomon sowed the wind, and he reaped the whirlwind in his degenerate posterity.