However, I will not tear 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.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 13. One tribe. Besides that of Juda, his own native tribe. Challoner.—That of Benjamin had been so reduced, that it scarcely deserved the name of a tribe. It was also invariably connected with the adjoining tribe of Juda; as many of the other tribes, after the captivities of Assyria and Babylon, went by the common title of Jews. Tirinus.—The Levites, and many of the Israelites, came to inhabit in the land of Juda, for the sake of the true religion. Calmet. 12:17. 2 Chronicles 11:13. 16. Jeroboam banished the tribe of Levi from his dominions, that he might more easily introduce a change of religion among his subjects. The two kingdoms were thus almost equal in strength. Calmet.—Chosen for the abode of holiness, and the seat of government. Salien.—One tribe … and Jerusalem; which latter may denote the tribe of Benjamin. Worthington.