2 Chronicles 10:7

2Ch 10:7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

Ver. 7. If thou be kind to this people.] "If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them." {1Ki 12:7} {See Trapp on "1Ki 12:7"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them--In the Book of Kings [Kg1 12:7], the words are, "If thou wilt be a servant unto this people, and wilt serve them." The meaning in both is the same, namely, If thou wilt make some reasonable concessions, redress their grievances, and restore their abridged liberties, thou wilt secure their strong and lasting attachment to thy person and government.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(7) If thou be kind to this people.—A free paraphrase of, “If to-day thou become a servant to this people and serve them” (Kings)—words which may have seemed inappropriate to the redactor, in connection with the king, but which form a pointed antithesis to the last clause of the verse, “they will be thy servants for ever.”

And please them.—Be propitious to them, receive them graciously (raçah). (Gen_33:10.) Kings, “answer them.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. if thou be kind to this people, and please them] The Chronicler has softened the forcible words of the parallel passage (1Ki_12:7), “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them.” The words which were too blunt for Rehoboam were also too blunt for the Chronicler.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Please. 3 Kings xii., "serve." By a little condescension, thou mayst establish thy throne. (Calmet) --- The people did not complain, till they saw the riches of the nation wasted on wicked women (Tirinus) and idols. (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Vers. 7, 8. Rehoboam was now (1Ki_14:21; 2Ch_12:13; but cf. 2Ch_13:7) forty-one years of age; he was just too old to find any excuse for inability to gauge either the experience, and value of it, of the "old," or the inexperience, and foolishness of it, of the immature human heart. According to the modern phrase, he was just ripe to have known and bethought himself of this. But all rashly Rehoboam casts the die. The sound judgment, real knowledge, opportune and practical advice of the "old men," uttered evidently off so kind a tongue, should have been indeed now "as good as an inheritance; yea, better too". (Ecc_7:11, margin) The reading of the parallel is well worthy to be noted, (1Ki_11:7) with its manifestly pleasantly and skilfully worded antithesis, "If thou this day will be a servant to this people then they will be thy servants for ever. " Our words, however, have their own exquisite beauty about them, If thou wilt be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them. One might fancy that Saul, and David, and Solomon, and angels themselves bended over the scene, and looked and listened and longed for wisdom and love and right to prevail. The young men that had grown up with him. While this expression throws light as above on that which speaks of Rehoboam"s old men counsellors, it wakens the question how men of forty-one years of age can be called "young," as Rehoboam was not living in patriarchal aged times. And the question is emphasized by the language applied to Rehoboam in 2Ch_13:7, where he is described as "young and tenderhearted," and unable, for want of strength of character and of knowledge, to "withstand vain men" (as he surely shows too clearly now) It has been suggested ("Speaker"s Commentary," 2:562, Note C) that ak (21) should be read for am (41) in the two passages quoted above (1Ki_14:21; 2Ch_12:13) The suggestion seems good, and it is certainly reasonable for the requirements of both matter and manner.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If thou be kind, &c. - Moderate counsels are generally best. Gentleness will do what violence will not do. Good words cost nothing but a little self-denial, and yet they purchase great things.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.