Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 12:7

"And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever." — 1 Kings 12:7 (ASV)

If thou wilt be a servant.—Both policies suggested show how corrupt and cynical the government of Israel had become.

For the advice of the old counselors has no breadth of policy or depth of wisdom. It is simply the characteristic advice of experienced and crafty politicians. These individuals had seen the gradual development of despotic power and still remembered the comparative freedom of earlier days. They understood at once the dangerous vehemence of popular excitement and the ease with which it may be satisfied by temporary concessions. Perhaps they also desired to defeat that private ambition, which was using the natural sense of grievance for its own purposes.

It is to give good words, and to be for the moment a servant to the people, with, perhaps, the intention of abolishing certain excessive grievances, but by no means of yielding up substantial power. Whether it was in itself more than superficially prudent, would depend on the seriousness of the grievances and the social and political condition of the people.