1 Kings 11:13

13 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 Yerushalayim's sake which I have chosen.

1 Kings 11:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 11:13

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, ( 1 Kings 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.

1 Kings 11:13 In-Context

11 Therefore the LORD said to Shlomo, Because this is done of you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
12 Notwithstanding in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake: but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13 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 Yerushalayim's sake which I have chosen.
14 The LORD raised up an adversary to Shlomo, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom.
15 For it happened, when David was in Edom, and Yo'av the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, and had struck every male in Edom
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.