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 Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
One tribe - i. e., (marginal reference) the tribe of Judah. Benjamin was looked upon as absorbed in Judah, so as not to be really a tribe in the same sense as the others. Still, in memory of the fact that the existing tribe of Judah was a double one 1-Kings 12:2 l, the prophet Ahijah tore his garment into twelve parts, and kept back two from Jeroboam 1-Kings 11:30-31.
Will give one tribe - for David my servant's sake - The line of the Messiah must be preserved. The prevailing lion must come out of the tribe of Judah: not only the tribe must be preserved, but the regal line and the regal right. All this must be done for the true David's sake: and this was undoubtedly what God had in view by thus miraculously preserving the tribe of Judah and the royal line, in the midst of so general a defection.
And for Jerusalem's sake - As David was a type of the Messiah, so was Jerusalem a type of the true Church: therefore the Old Jerusalem must be preserved in the hands of the tribe of Judah, till the true David should establish the New Jerusalem in the same land, and in the same city. And what a series of providences did it require to do all these things!
Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; [but] will give one (g) tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.
(g) Because the tribes of Judah and Benjamin had their possessions mixed, they are here taken as one tribe.
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.
I will give one tribe to thy son--There were left to Rehoboam the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi (2-Chronicles 11:12-13); and multitudes of Israelites, who, after the schism of the kingdom, established their residence within the territory of Judah to enjoy the privileges of the true religion (1-Kings 12:17). These are all reckoned as one tribe.
One tribe - Benjamin was not entirely his, but part of it adhered to Jeroboam, as Bethel, 1-Kings 12:29, and Hephron, 2-Chronicles 13:19, both which were towns of Benjamin.
*More commentary available at chapter level.