1 Kings 14:21

21 And Rehoboam son of Solomon hath reigned in Judah; a son of forty and one years [is] Rehoboam in his reigning, and seventeen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah chose to set His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother [is] Naamah the Ammonitess.

1 Kings 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 14:21

And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah
Over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when Jeroboam reigned over the other ten:

Rehoboam [was] forty one years old when he began to reign;
being born one year before his father Solomon began to reign, and so it might have been expected he would have begun his reign more wisely than he did:

and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem;
not half so long as his father and grandfather, being neither so wise nor so good a prince as either of them:

the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to
put his name there;
to have a temple built for him, and his worship carried on in it; which was an aggravation of the sin of Rehoboam, that he should reign in such a place, and yet be guilty of the crimes he was; the three first years he reigned well, but afterwards forsook the law of the Lord, ( 2 Chronicles 11:17 ) ( 12:1 )

and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess;
and which is observed again, ( 1 Kings 14:31 ) , she being the instrument of drawing him into idolatry, which it is very probable she practised in the days of Solomon, ( 1 Kings 11:5 1 Kings 11:7 ) .

1 Kings 14:21 In-Context

19 And the rest of the matters of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

20 And the days that Jeroboam reigned [are] twenty and two years, and he lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Nadab his son in his stead.

21 And Rehoboam son of Solomon hath reigned in Judah; a son of forty and one years [is] Rehoboam in his reigning, and seventeen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah chose to set His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother [is] Naamah the Ammonitess.

22 And Judah doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and they make Him zealous above all that their fathers did by their sins that they have sinned.

23 And they build -- also they -- for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and shrines, on every high height, and under every green tree;