1 Kings 11:13

13 nec totum regnum auferam sed tribum unam dabo filio tuo propter David servum meum et Hierusalem quam elegi

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 dixit itaque Dominus Salomoni quia habuisti hoc apud te et non custodisti pactum meum et praecepta mea quae mandavi tibi disrumpens scindam regnum tuum et dabo illud servo tuo

12 verumtamen in diebus tuis non faciam propter David patrem tuum de manu filii tui scindam illud

13 nec totum regnum auferam sed tribum unam dabo filio tuo propter David servum meum et Hierusalem quam elegi

14 suscitavit autem Dominus adversarium Salomoni Adad Idumeum de semine regio qui erat in Edom

15 cum enim esset David in Idumea et ascendisset Ioab princeps militiae ad sepeliendos eos qui fuerant interfecti et occidisset omne masculinum in Idumea