1 Kings 11 · a question people ask
What did "but not forever" mean?
The verse doesn't say how long, or how the affliction would end: "I will afflict the offspring of David for this, but not forever" (11:39). Inside 1 Kings the LORD keeps what he said in 11:36. Of Rehoboam's son Abijam (14:31) it says, "Nevertheless for David’s sake, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem" (15:4), and 2 Kings says, "the LORD would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his children always" (2 Kings 8:19). Later the LORD's word came to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:15) of the two kingdoms made one: "They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (Ezekiel 37:22), and "My servant David will be king over them" (Ezekiel 37:24). In the New Testament the angel tells Mary of her son (Luke 1:30-31), "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David" (Luke 1:32), "and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever" (Luke 1:33). None of these verses quotes 11:39. These notes set them beside it without saying which of them 11:39 had in view.
The verses
“I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”
“I will afflict the offspring of David for this, but not forever.’””
“Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.”
“Nevertheless for David’s sake, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem;”