Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 12:10

"And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou speak unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father`s loins." — 1 Kings 12:10 (ASV)

Thus you shall speak. —The advice of the young men—the spoiled children of a magnificent and luxurious despotism, of which alone they had experience—is the language of the arrogant self-confidence, which mistakes obstinacy for vigour, and, blind to all signs of the times, supposes that what once was possible, and perhaps good for the national progress, must last forever.

It is expressed in needlessly and absurdly offensive language; but it is, as all history shows—perhaps not least the history of our own Stuart dynasty—a not infrequent policy in revolutionary times; holding that to yield in one point is to endanger the whole fabric of sovereign power; relying on the prestige of an authority proudly confident in itself; and trusting to intimidate by threats the classes long subject to despotic oppression, and consequently despised by those who wield power. It can succeed only when popular disaffection is superficial, or when a nation is exhausted by revolutionary fanaticism and failure.