Did the prophet Ahijah give 1 or 2 tribes to Rehoboam the son of Solomon?

[tonychanyt]

Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, 1 Kings 11:

29 at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. 30Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. 31And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes 32(but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel)

10 + 1 = 11. The numbers did not add up to 12. What's with the missing tribe?

Keil and Delitzsch suggested this:

the numbers are intended to be understood symbolically and not arithmetically. Ten as the number of completeness and totality is placed in contrast with one, to indicate that all Israel was to be torn away from the house of David

Alternatively, 1 Kings 12:21:

When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

The kingdom of Rehoboam/Judah consisted of two tribes. LXX reflected that, Brenton Septuagint Translation, 1 Kings 11:

32 Yet he shall have two tribes, for my servant David's sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

Symbolically, it was 10 tribes against 1. Actually and arithmetically, it was 10 territorial tribes against 2.

 

[David Kent]

The one tribe would have been Benjamin. Solomon already had the tribe of Judah.