1 Kings 11 Chapter Introduction

This chapter concludes the description of Solomon’s reign as king of Israel. The author describes how Solomon built shrines to foreign gods in Jerusalem so that his wives could worship there. This made Yahweh so angry that he made some of Solomon’s enemies powerful enough to resist him. Yahweh also sent a prophet to a man named Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s officials, to tell him that he would become the king of ten of the Israelite tribes`.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Further phrases that the author uses to conclude accounts of kings’ reigns

In 11:41–43, the author uses the same phrases to describe the end of Solomon’s reign that he used to describe the end of David’s reign in 2:10–11. He says for how many years Solomon ruled as king and describes his death and burial. However, he begins by making an additional statement, that further details of Solomon’s reign are “written in the book of the matters of Solomon.” This is the first instance of this kind of reference to another book for further details, but after this the author will make such a reference regularly as he concludes the account of the reign of a king. So that your readers will appreciate the role of this reference, be careful to translate it consistently in each of its occurrences.

Long quotation within quotation

The prophet Ahijah speaks a long message from Yahweh to Jeroboam in 11:31–39. Most of it is a quotation within a quotation. The author quotes what Ahijah said, and Ahijah quotes what Yahweh told him to say. If it would be clearer in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. For example, Ahijah begins in 11:31 by telling Jeroboam, “For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold me, tearing the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and I will give ten tribes to you.” You could translate this as, “For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says that he is about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten tribes to you.” You can continue to translate the message that way in subsequent verses. For example, in 11:32, Ahijah continues, “But one tribe will be to him for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city upon which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel.” You could translate that as, “But he says that one tribe will be to him for the sake of his servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city upon which he has chosen from all of the tribes of Israel.” (See: figs-quotesinquotes)

If Jeroboam was to rule ten of the twelve Israelite tribes, how was only one tribe left for David’s descendants to rule?

In 11:30–32, the prophet Ahijah tears his robe in twelve pieces and tells Jeroboam to take ten of them. Ahijah explains that this shows that Yahweh will make Jeroboam the king of ten of the Israelite tribes. He says further that one tribe will remain for David’s descendants to rule. But that leaves one tribe to be accounted for. The explanation is that Yahweh, speaking through Ahijah, assumes that Jeroboam will understand that by “one tribe,” he means the united tribe of Judah and Benjamin. The author was able to assume that readers would understand this as well, so he does not explain it in the text. As the story. later shows (in 12:21), Judah and Benjamin had become closely aligned. Jerusalem was on the border between those two tribes, with much of the city in the territory of Benjamin. The Benjaminites could easily come to the worship in the temple. So by this time, Judah and Benjamin had come to be considered as one tribe. Since modern readers generally do not have this information, it may be helpful to indicate this explicitly in your translation. Notes will suggest possible ways to do that in various contexts. (See: figs-explicit)