1 Kings 15:4

Nevertheless [ כִי but, sed, sondern, Gesen. 393] for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp [Better than margin, candle . The word is "always used figuratively of progeny." See note on 1 Kings 2:26 ; and of 2 Samuel 21:17 ; Job 18:5 , Job 18:6 ; Psalms 132:17 ] in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem [But for David's piety, that is to say, his family would have been dethroned, if not destroyed, as was that of Jeroboam ( 1 Kings 14:10 ), of Baasha ( 1 Kings 16:2 ), of Ahab ( 2 Kings 10:11 ), etc. Abijah was the third prince of that line who had permitted idolatrous worship, so that that dynasty had richly deserved to forfeit its position. The stability of the family of David on the throne for nearly 400 years, amid all the changes and chances of that period, and whilst in Israel there were "nine changes of dynasty within 250 years" is, as Rawlinson remarks, very "difficult to account for on mere grounds of human reason"]: