1 Kings 12:17

Children of Israel. This phrase seems to have a double significance. First, it indicates that in the territory of Judah there were those who were not members of the tribe of Judah. In addition to Benjamin, which had its part with Judah, many priests and Levites and people “out of all the tribes of Israel” later forsook the north and joined themselves with Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chron. 11:12–17). Second, although Israel henceforth was to mean primarily the northern kingdom in antithesis to Judah, the phrase “children of Israel” was probably intended to remind the reader that true children of Israel were also to be found in Judah and that the northern kingdom possessed no exclusive right to this proud title.