Leadership & Love

1 Kings 12:4 “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.’”
***
Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, seems to engage in some rather Machiavellian acts, killing those who oppose his rule quickly and violently. Later acocunts of his great wealth and wisdom seem to obscure the fact that many men were required to do the work for such great success. Rehoboam, assuming his father's throne, has an opportunity to learn from his father's example. His willingness to seek council is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, everything goes downhill from there. The advice of the old men to Rehoboam, to be a servant leader and to, in a sense, love the people more than himself, is an encouragement towards Christ-like leadership. The young men, on the other hand, encourage a secular leadership style which would, in many situation, help a dictator maintain power, but may over time embitter the people and cause destruction. Machiavelli didn't believe in love and certainly didn't see love as an essential virtue for princes of states. What he didn't know/believe is what the old men of Rehoboam's kingdom knew: that's God's Kingdom is not of this world, and earthly, political stability is not the be-all-end-all of [P]eace. A King who loves and serves his people is a better king, even if it weakens the country because eventually we all return to dust and when we do, we will have to account for the way we lived.