John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 11 This chapter relates the false steps Solomon took, notwithstanding all his wisdom, in marrying strange wives, and worshipping other gods, 1 Kings 11:1 upon which the Lord threatens him to rend the kingdom in his son's time, 1 Kings 11:9 and he raised up adversaries against him, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:14 of which last an account is given, and of his being...
John Gill
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...
Matthew Henry
This chapter begins with as melancholy a "but" as almost any we find in all the Bible. Hitherto we have read nothing of Solomon but what was great and good; but the lustre both of his goodness and of his greatness is here sullied and eclipsed, and his sun sets under a cloud. I. The glory of his piety is stained by his departure from God and his duty, in his latter days, marrying strange wives and...