Elderly Wisdom

In last April’s conference, Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk called “Learning the Lessons of the Past”. He told the story of when he was in business as a car dealership, he went and visited with the Ford Motor Company about a “spectacularly successful product”. After the sales pitch, Elder Ballard’s father, who was also in the business, cautioned him about selling that particular model at his dealership. Elder Ballard was wooed by the sales pitch and became the first – and the last – Edsel dealer in Salt Lake City. The Edsel was a flop and it was an expensive lesson for Elder Ballard. He says “Now, there’s a powerful lesson for all of you in this experience. When you are willing to listen and learn, some of life’s most meaningful teachings come from those who have gone before you. They have walked where you are walking and have experienced many of the things you are experiencing. If you listen and respond to their counsel, they can help guide you toward choices that will be for your benefit and blessing and steer you away from decisions that can destroy you.”

I was reading recently in the Old Testament about a similar situation. There's no doubt as to the wisdom possessed by King Solomon. He was the King who had two women come to him claiming to be the rightful mother to a certain baby. In order solve the problem, King Solomon ordered the baby to be cut in half and one half given to each of the women. The real mother, however, would rather have the baby saved alive and given to the fake mother, than to see it killed. The fake mother agreed to half it. Obviously King Solomon knew who the rightful mother was and gave her the child. The scriptures are full of praise for Solomon and his wisdom. However, King Solomon did not pass his wisdom to his son Rehoboam. Soon after King Solomon passed away, a group of people led by a man named Shechem, came to him claiming they had been grievously yoked by Solomon, and they wanted to know if Rehoboam, the new king, was going to ease their burdens. Rehoboam told them to give him some time to think about it and went and spoke to his “old men” who told him “If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.” (2 Chronicles 10:7 & 1 Kings 12:7) Then the scriptures say “But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him”. What did the young men tell him to say? Well, you can read for yourself, but in layman’s terms he told them “if you think my dad was hard on you, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Because of Rehoboam’s callous response, the children of Israel who followed Shechem split off from the rest of Israel (Judah & Benjamin) and formed their own kingdom. As the scriptures further state, these two kingdoms constantly fought one another and were both eventually taken captive by other kingdoms, thus leading to the scattering of Israel.