What does 1 King 14:21 mean?

1 King 14:21 KJV
And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam [was] forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name [was] Naamah an Ammonitess.

1 King 14:21 MKJV
And 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 chose out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name [was] Naamah, an Ammonitess.

1 King 14:21 NKJV
And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam [was] forty-one years old when he became king. 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, an Ammonitess.

1 King 14:21 KJV 2000
And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

Interlinear KJV

And Rehoboam /R@chab`am/ the son /ben/ of Solomon /Sh@lomoh/ reigned /malak/ in Judah. /Y@huwdah/ Rehoboam /R@chab`am/ was forty /’arba`iym/ and one /’echad/ years /shaneh (in pl. only),/ old /ben/ when he began to reign, /malak/ and he reigned /malak/ seventeen /sheba`/ /`asar/ years /shaneh (in pl. only),/ in Jerusalem, /Y@ruwshalaim/ the city /`iyr/ which the LORD /Y@hovah/ did choose /bachar/ out of all the tribes /shebet/ of Israel, /Yisra’el/ to put /suwm/ his name /shem/ there. And his mother’s /’em/ name /shem/ was Naamah /Na`amah/ an Ammonitess. /’Ammowniyth/

Jamieson Fausset-Brown

1Ki 14:21-24. REHOBOAM’S WICKED REIGN.

 21. he reigned … in Jerusalem–Its particular designation as “the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there,” seems given here, both as a reflection on the apostasy of the ten tribes, and as a proof of the aggravated wickedness of introducing idolatry and its attendant vices there.  

his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess–Her heathen extraction and her influence as queen mother are stated to account for Rehoboam’s tendency to depart from the true religion. Led by the warning of the prophet (1Ki 12:23), as well as by the large immigration of Israelites into his kingdom (1Ki 12:17; 2Ch 11:16), he continued for the first three years of his reign a faithful patron of true religion (2Ch 11:17). But afterwards he began and encouraged a general apostasy; idolatry became the prevailing form of worship, and the religious state of the kingdom in his reign is described by the high places, the idolatrous statues, the groves and impure rites that with unchecked license were observed in them. The description is suited to the character of the Canaanitish worship.

Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman Commentary

Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, And therefore was born a year before Solomon came to the crown: for he reigned but forty years, 1Ki 11:42.

He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, A great honor to him, of which he was not worthy; and therefore God shortened his days, and did not let him reign so long as Jeroboam.

His mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. It is much that David should suffer Solomon to marry one of this country, unless she was proselyted, as the daughter of Pharoah is supposed to have been. He himself, indeed, had married the daughter of Talmal king of Geshur; but the son he had by her proved so wicked, that it might have been a caution to him not to marry his son, especially him he intended for the heir of his crown, to a stranger; who, if she was proselyted, yet many think she did not so change her religion, but that she instilled ill principles into her son, and corrupted him. Nay, was one of those women that enticed Solomon to idolatry; for women of Ammon are reckoned among his strange wives.

Thomas Scott

Verse 21. Rehoboam having been born one year before David’s death, and having had his education in the best years of his father’s reign, had abundant opportunity of becoming a wiser man than he proved to be. Naamah is supposed to have been the daughter of Shobi the Ammonite, who was kind to David in Absalom’s rebellion ( Note, 2Sa 17:27-29); and Shobi having been proselyted to the religion of Israel, David took his daughter to be the wife of his son Solomon, perhaps out of gratitude for his kindness. He had himself married the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur; but the character of Absalom, his son by her, should have cautioned him against such marriages. (Notes, 2Sa 3:2-5; 13:37-39.) It is very doubtful whether Naamah ever cordially embraced true religion; and as Solomon worshipped the gods of Ammon among the rest, it has been thought that she at last became one of his seducers.