Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.
Solomon turned to other gods, and it cost him the kingdom. Yet God kept one tribe back, so that David's lamp would not go out in Jerusalem.
The judgment and its limit
God's charge sounds like it is aimed at the whole nation. One writer points to the one man behind it:
H. L. Rossier"They have forsaken Me," says the Lord, "and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways…" (v. 33). "They" was Solomon, the king! No doubt all the people later followed that same path, but at this moment one man had sinned — the king. Set before God in a position of responsibility for all the people, his unfaithfulness brought judgment upon Israel.
God spared little, and not for Solomon's sake:
Leslie M. GrantGod would leave one tribe to that son, also for the sake of David, not for Solomon's sake. Judah was that tribe, though Benjamin, very small and weak, was included with Judah. Also, this concession was for Jerusalem's sake, for God's choice of that city remained in spite of the failure and disobedience of all Israel.
Why grace is the reason given
God keeps coming back to David as the reason for what He spares. One writer weighs grace against glory:
H. L. RossierIn verse 34 God, ever coming back to the grace He had shown to David, adds: "And to his son I will give one tribe, that David My servant may have a lamp always before Me…" (v. 36). Grace is more in God's eyes than all glory, or rather, grace is the most precious part of glory, for it is, so to speak, at the head of all divine perfections.
A lamp that burns "always"
The word "always" carries the promise. One writer sets Judah's line beside the northern kingdom:
William KellyWhat mercy! "a light always." The kingdom was greatly reduced — smaller in size and in glory. But here is the sharp difference from the ten tribes, the much larger part that went to the other king. They would change rulers from time to time. The family that governed kept changing, and one man after another rose up. … Not so with Judah. Judah was reduced to what God calls only one tribe — His way of saying as strongly as possible how far their glory had shrunk. Even so, there the light will be always.
(Older translations render the word as "light" rather than "lamp"; the sense is the same.)
What the lamp stands for
The lamp appears in other passages too, joined to anointing and to light:
Samuel RidoutIn the Old Testament we find anointing and the lamp together: "There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for My Anointed" (Ps. 132:17). David himself was spoken of as "the light of Israel" (2 Sam. 21:17); and, in a far higher sense, our Lord Jesus declares Himself "the Light of the world" (John 8:12).
The lamp had to keep burning until the promised Son came, and an enemy had every reason to put it out:
Henri L. RossierFor this future Son to be "the offspring of David," David's line had to continue 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 appearing of the promised Son? How was it to pass through man's poisoned air and moral darkness without going out? If it went out, David's true Heir could never appear. Satan understood this. If he could succeed in extinguishing the lamp, all of God's counsels concerning the "Just Ruler over men" would come to nothing.
The chosen city
The city was God's own choice. One writer traces that choice forward:
Hendrik Leendert HeijkoopFrom 1 Kings 11:36 we know that the place referred to in Deuteronomy was Jerusalem. Psalm 78:68 shows us that God chose Mount Zion, which He loved, to place His Sanctuary there. Further on we see (verse 7) that God made this place known in connection with His servant David. David is a picture of the Son of David, who in Matthew 18:20 speaks about the place connected with His Name, where He wants to be among His own.
Where the lamp burns now
So where does the lamp shine today? One writer answers:
C. H. MackintoshIf it is asked, where does this lamp shine now? Not on earth, for Jerusalem, the place of its earthly display, is "trampled underfoot by the Gentiles." But the eye of faith can see it shining with undimmed brightness "in the true tabernacle." There it will keep shining "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." And then… the blessed lamp will come out from the place where it now shines, and cast its cheering rays on the dark path of the oppressed and sorrowing remnant.
Summary
- The sin — the failure was Solomon's own. He held the throne, so his unfaithfulness brought judgment on the whole nation.
- The sparing — God kept back one tribe, Judah, with small, weak Benjamin joined to it. He did it for David's sake and for the city He had chosen, not for Solomon's.
- The grace — God keeps coming back to the grace He showed David. Grace stands at the head of all His perfections.
- The lamp — a light that would burn always. The northern throne changed hands again and again. Judah's lamp had to keep burning until David's true Heir appeared.
- The shining — no one sees the flame in Jerusalem today. Faith sees it burning elsewhere, ready to come out again and light the dark path of a suffering people.