This attitude provides an interesting parallel to Exod. 5.7–8, where Pharaoh’s answer to the request of Moses and Aaron follows the same lines: ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks . . . let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks . . . you shall by no means lessen.’ The similarity between Pharaoh’s attitude and that of Reho-boam’s young counsellors is the most striking demonstration of the enstrangement of the king from his people; this is tyranny unmasked.
