(but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),
Ahijah tore a new cloak into twelve pieces and handed ten of them to Jeroboam. In God's sentence, the kingdom Solomon built was already broken. God held back one tribe only. The two reasons He gives for keeping it have nothing to do with Solomon.
Kept back, but not for Solomon
The verse says who keeps the one tribe, and then gives the two reasons why. One writer follows both reasons back to David and to Jerusalem, and also names who was counted inside that "one tribe":
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord told Solomon that because he had done this, and had not kept His covenant and His statutes, He would surely tear the kingdom away from him and give it to his servant. Yet the Lord would not do this while Solomon was alive, because the Lord respected Solomon's father David. Solomon's son would suffer the shame of a broken kingdom instead. Even so, God would leave one tribe to that son — again for David's sake, not for Solomon's sake. Judah was that tribe, though Benjamin, very small and weak, was counted with it. God granted this also for Jerusalem's sake, because His choice of that city stood despite the failure and disobedience of all Israel.
What the tearing was punishing
The split that followed is often blamed on Rehoboam. One writer traces it further back:
A. J. PollockIn the hour of Solomon's idolatry, God decreed the ruin of his kingdom. For David's sake God put off the judgment during Solomon's own day. But in the days of Rehoboam, his proud and foolish son, Jeroboam the son of Nebat rebelled and snatched ten of the twelve tribes out of his hand. Rehoboam was about to go to war to win back what he had lost. Shemaiah, the man of God, stopped him with a word from God: this division was from God. Division was the judgment for idolatry.
Why "one" and not "two"
Judah and Benjamin both stayed with David's house, so the count in this verse puzzles readers. A reference work on the tribes explains how Benjamin drops out of the count:
Morrish Bible DictionaryWhen the kingdom divided, Benjamin stayed with Judah, but Israel seized a large part of Benjamin's land. At times Benjamin seems to drop out of sight. Ahijah said that God had kept one tribe for the house of David — as if Benjamin counted as cut off in judgement, 1 Kings 11:36. People spoke of the two tribes together as "Judah," while they called the ten tribes "Israel."
David and Jerusalem, named together
The verse gives two reasons, not one. One writer sees them bound together long before Ahijah spoke:
J. G. BellettDavid and Jerusalem were linked by ancient decree in one covenant of peace and joy.
A small kingdom, but a steady one
Ten tribes sound like the better share. Yet Jeroboam's throne changed hands again and again, while the one tribe kept something the ten never had:
William KellyWhat mercy! "a light always." The kingdom was greatly reduced — reduced in size and in glory. But mark the difference from the ten tribes, the much larger part that went to the other king. They would shift their load from time to time. The family that governed them changed again and again, and one man after another rose up. It began with a rebellious servant, and it would not end with him. Many a rebellious servant would rise up against the king of Israel, and so the ruling family would change over and over again. Not so with Judah. They were reduced to what God calls only one tribe — His way of saying in the strongest possible terms how completely their glory had shrunk. Still, there the light shall be always.
What the surviving line was carrying
Keeping one tribe back kept a family line going. That line had somewhere to arrive:
Henri L. RossierFor this future Son to be "the offspring of David," David's line had to be kept alive until He appeared. That is why God had promised David "to give to him always a lamp, and to his sons" (2 Chron. 21:7). Now, how was this lamp going to shine in the royal house until the promised Son appeared? How was it to pass through man's poisoned air and moral darkness without being put out? If it went out, David's true Heir could never appear. Satan understood this. If he could put out the lamp, all God's purposes for the "Just Ruler over men" would come to nothing. But the Son of David appeared in the world, despite all the enemy's efforts to put out this light.
Summary
- Cause — Solomon's idolatry tore the kingdom. Rehoboam's folly was only the occasion, and God held the blow back past Solomon's lifetime for David's sake.
- Concession — God keeps the one tribe for David's sake and Jerusalem's, never for Solomon's. The mercy is borrowed, not earned.
- Count — "one tribe" means Judah with Benjamin inside it. Benjamin was small, and Ahijah spoke of it as though cut off.
- Contrast — the ten tribes got size and endless changes of dynasty; the one tribe got a light that never went out.
- Continuance — that light was David's line, kept burning through the dark until the Son of David came.