When Jeroboam heard that King Solomon was dead, he left Egypt and returned to Israel. The people reminded Rehoboam that his father had imposed heavy workloads on them and asked if he would lighten what was demanded of them. Rehoboam asked for three days to think over their request. When he asked his advisors how he should respond to the demand, they told him that if gave in on this, the people would support him forever.
[The former leader made great achievements and imposed great demands of others. How does a successor duplicate success without duplicating the demands? How does a new leader choose which of the predecessors ways to repeat and which to modify? How should achievement be measured, anyway?]
On the other hand, his younger advisors told him to say he would make their workloads even heavier. He ignored the advice of the elders and went with the younger people. He told the workers, "My father made your workload heavy, but I'll make it even heavier! My father disciplined you with whips, but I'll do it with scorpions!" [Scorpions? Is that a metaphor?]
Rebellion followed. Rehoboam had to flee to Jerusalem.
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