Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 11:13
Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; [but] will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
13. but will give one tribe ] The reference is to the tribe of Judah from which the southern kingdom took its name. Benjamin which went with Judah was so small as to be hardly worth accounting of, and Simeon was also absorbed in Judah. The same form of words is used below (1Ki 11:32) in the account of Ahijah’s action, though it is expressly said in a previous verse ‘Take thee ten pieces.’ One reason for the close union of Benjamin with Judah was that the territorial division between the two tribes was such as to make the Temple the common property of both. The city of the Jebusite, which David conquered, and all the ground north of the valley of Hinnom was in the tribe of Benjamin.
for Jerusalem’s sake, which I have chosen ] In Deu 12:5 it is signified that God will choose some place out of all the tribes ‘to place His name there,’ and in 1Ki 14:21 Jerusalem is expressly called ‘the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there.’ Hence the place was an object of Jehovah’s unchanging regard.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
One tribe – i. e., (marginal reference) the tribe of Judah. Benjamin was looked upon as absorbed in Judah, so as not to be really a tribe in the same sense as the others. Still, in memory of the fact that the existing tribe of Judah was a double one 1Ki 12:2 l, the prophet Ahijah tore his garment into twelve parts, and kept back two from Jeroboam 1Ki 11:30-31.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Will give one tribe – for David my servant’s sake] The line of the Messiah must be preserved. The prevailing lion must come out of the tribe of Judah: not only the tribe must be preserved, but the regal line and the regal right. All this must be done for the true David’s sake: and this was undoubtedly what God had in view by thus miraculously preserving the tribe of Judah and the royal line, in the midst of so general a defection.
And for Jerusalem’s sake] As David was a type of the Messiah, so was Jerusalem a type of the true Church: therefore the OLD Jerusalem must be preserved in the hands of the tribe of Judah, till the true David should establish the NEW Jerusalem in the same land, and in the same city. And what a series of providences did it require to do all these things!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How but one tribe, when he had both Judah and Benjamin, 2Ch 11:12?
Answ. Either Benjamin is swallowed up in Judah, because it was comparatively very small, and their habitation much intermixed with that of Judah: or one, to wit, of that kingdom which he here threatens to rend away from him, i.e. of the kingdom of Israel, and that was Benjamin; one beside Judah, which was his own tribe: or but one, because Benjamin was not entirely his, but part of it adhered to Jeroboam, as Beth-el, 1Ki 12:29, and Ephrain, 2Ch 13:19, both which were towns of Benjamin, Jos 18:22. Or if God promised to give one, and gave him two, I suppose that was no great injury to him.
For Jerusalems sake; not, surely, for its merits; but because he had chosen it, as it follows, to be the seat of his temple and worship; it being Gods usual method
to give to him that hath, and to continue and multiply favours to them whom he hath begun to favour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. I will give one tribe to thysonThere were left to Rehoboam the tribes of Judah, Benjamin,and Levi (2Ch 11:12; 2Ch 11:13);and multitudes of Israelites, who, after the schism of the kingdom,established their residence within the territory of Judah to enjoythe privileges of the true religion (1Ki12:17). These are all reckoned as one tribe.
1Ki11:14-40. SOLOMON’SADVERSARIES.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Howbeit, I will not rend away all the kingdom,…. The whole kingdom of Israel:
but will give one tribe to thy son; but it seems he had both Benjamin and Judah, and only ten tribes were rent from him; the reason of this mode of expression may be, either because he gave him one of the tribes of Israel, besides that of Judah, which was his own tribe; or only the tribe of Judah is meant, the whole tribe of Benjamin not being his, since Bethel, and some other places in that tribe, were in the possession of Jeroboam; or rather both these are called but one, because their inheritances lay together, and were mixed with one another; and particularly both had a share in the city of Jerusalem, and the kingdom always after the division went by the name of Judah only: and this tribe was given
for David my servant’s sake; because of the promise to him, that there should not want one of his seed to sit on his throne, 1Ki 9:5
and for Jerusalem’s sake, whom I have chosen; to have the house of his sanctuary and worship in, and therefore thought fit to have one rule there, that, would have a regard to his service in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. One tribe The tribe of Judah, to which David belonged, and into which the tribe of Benjamin seems to have been absorbed. 1Ki 12:21.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“ However that may be I will not rend away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”
Furthermore, because He had promised to David that his throne and his kingship would last for ever and had guaranteed the permanence of his house (2Sa 7:16) he would not take the whole kingdom out of his son’s hands, but would give him one more tribe other than Judah. And He would do this ‘for David My servant’s sake, and ‘for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen’.
The notion that YHWH had chosen Jerusalem has never been stated before. But that choice had been made by David when he had brought the Ark into Jerusalem and placed it in a Sacred Tent at which sacrifices were offered, and YHWH had therefore ‘chosen it’ for David’s sake (compare 1Ki 8:16-21 where no city had been chosen before). This was where David’s kingship had been set up, and this was therefore where it would be continued. This was quite important, for strictly, now that Solomon had turned away from YHWH, Jerusalem should have been doomed (1Ki 9:7-9). But for David’s sake it was to be spared, because as David’s city YHWH had chosen to watch over it. Jerusalem was not eternally chosen. It was chosen for David’s sake.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ki 11:13 Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; [but] will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
Ver. 13. I will not rend away all. ] Here is a second mitigation of the sentence. See 1Ki 11:12 . The Lord is gracious and full of compassion: he quickly repenteth him of the evil, and leaveth a blessing behind him.
One tribe.
For David my servant’s sake.] Five times in this chapter is David honoured with this title, and therein God’s dear respects unto him expressed: but all of mere mercy. How this message wrought upon Solomon is uncertain. Some hold that hereupon he repented; others judge otherwise, and that (1.) Because he replied nothing; (2.) Because that after this he sought to slay Jeroboam, to prevent the rending away of his kingdom threatened, as Saul did to slay David.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
one tribe. Benjamin reckoned as part of Judah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Howbeit: 1Ki 11:39, 2Sa 7:15, 2Sa 7:16, 1Ch 17:13, 1Ch 17:14, Psa 89:33-37
one tribe: 1Ki 11:35, 1Ki 11:36, 1Ki 12:20
for David: 1Ki 11:11, 1Ki 11:12, 1Ki 11:32, Deu 9:5, 2Ki 13:23, 2Ki 19:34, Psa 89:49, Psa 132:1, Psa 132:17, Isa 9:7, Jer 33:17-26, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33
for Jerusalem’s: Deu 12:5, Deu 12:11, 2Ki 21:4, 2Ki 23:27, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14, Isa 14:32, Isa 62:1, Isa 62:7, Jer 33:15, Jer 33:16
Reciprocal: Deu 17:20 – right hand 1Ki 4:1 – over all Israel 1Ki 11:34 – Howbeit 1Ki 12:16 – now see 1Ki 12:17 – the children 2Ki 17:18 – the tribe 2Ch 10:16 – David 2Ch 21:7 – as he promised 2Ch 33:7 – which I have Neh 11:18 – the holy Psa 132:10 – thy servant Isa 37:35 – and for Isa 38:5 – God Luk 1:69 – in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
11:13 Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; [but] will give one {g} tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
(g) Because the tribes of Judah and Benjamin had their possessions mixed, they are here taken as one tribe.