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The Older Generation Are Stupid - 1Kg. 12
The Older Generation Are Stupid - 1Kg. 12
The battle cry when I was in college: "Don't trust anyone over 30." Of course, many of our professors who were behind this were themselves over 30.
Here in 1 Kings 12, we get to see what happens when the son of Solomon refused to pay heed to the proverbs of his father! Instead of the advice and counsel of those who were wiser and more experienced, Rehoboam joined himself with and listened to the young men. Such impudence was a rejection of many generations and the wisdom and knowledge that they had attained.
Job was counseled: "Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers. “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?" (Job 8:8–10). Later, Job stated: “Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding." (Job 12:12). God himself said in the Law: "You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:32). A proverb taught: "A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 16:31).
From the beginning in Israel, the elders among them were their leaders. Moses took the elders of Israel with him when he appeared before Pharaoh ( Ex. 3:16-18). Moses later chose 70 from among the elders of Israel to assist him in governing the people (Num. 11:16-25). In the law, it was the elders of the city who were setup as judges (Deut. 19:11-12; 22:15-18; 25:7). It was the elders of Israel who met and appointed David as king (2 Sam. 5:3)
Lack of respect for the aged and their wisdom was often mentioned as the product of an evil and troubled age. "And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable." (Isaiah 3:5). "… A nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young." (Deuteronomy 28:50). "Princes were hung by their hands; Elders were not respected" (Lamentations 5:12).
Ignoring the many generations of wisdom that had been gathered, he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him" (1K. 12:8). The result was catastrophic and immediate! The glory, power, and fame he sought disappeared. The kingdom was split, his 'authority' as king was destroyed.
This respect for the wisdom of the aged continued into the NT. In the NT, the LORD requires the leaders in the church to be elders: "When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed" (Acts 14:23). Respect was to be shown to them: "Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers," (1 Timothy 5:1). "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses" (1 Timothy 5:19). It is the older women who are to teach the younger women (Titus 2:3-4).
Each generation faces this same challenge: even as my generation, so with the present generation. Of course we know the common proverb: "there is no fool like an old fool". While such does include the truth that one doesn't automatically become wise with age, it is built upon the concept that wisdom usually does come with age and experience. For us that are 'of age', have you gathered the wisdom of your years so that you are wise? For you that are yet young, are you so full of your age that you are like Rehoboam? Hugh DeLong
