When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful.

Who are good counselors? Good counselors are counselors who give good advice and their advice is applicable and works. Their advice is geared towards peace and stability in a kingdom or nation.

This proverb reminds me of a Bible story about a young king called Rehoboam son of King Solomon. When king Solomon died, he succeeded him. At the very beginning of his reign, the people of Israel came to him with a petition that he should relieve them of the high taxes which his father imposed on them.

The good counselors of the kingdom told him to consent to the request of the people but he ignored them. He had other counselors who were his friends. He rather listened to his friends and refused to grant the request of the people. Guess what happened! The people revolted. Certainly, he lost his peace of mind – he and the entire kingdom. Eventually, he lost about half of his kingdom.

This king had good counselors on one hand and bad counselors on the other. He listened to the bad ones and he lost. I guess he learned his lesson the hard way.

Many years ago in Russia, a man called Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin who was a trusted counselor or friend of the Russian royal family was responsible for the chaos that erupted in the country, leading to the overthrow and death of the royal family.

This happened because this fellow Rasputin who was a mystic and self-proclaimed holy man befriended the Russian royal family and his bad advice or bad counsel led to the ruin of the reign of the Russian emperor Nicholas II.