1 Kings 14 · a question people ask
Was Judah any better than Israel?
Not in this chapter. "Judah did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight" (14:22), "above all that their fathers had done" (14:22), with "high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree" (14:23). What Judah had was the LORD's promise for David's sake, given when the kingdom was torn: "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" (11:36). The next chapter says it again of Rehoboam's son: "Nevertheless for David’s sake, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem" (15:4). The chapter doesn't say Judah was kept because it was better; it says Jerusalem was "the city which the LORD had chosen" (14:21).
The verses
“Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Judah did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.”
“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.”
“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;”