And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
When Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah. Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. This seasonable and gracious interposition was designed to prevent the miseries of civil war, in attempting to undo a schism which had originated in the divine decree, and been pre-intimated by His commissioned prophet (1 Kings 11:31). The army, overawed by the divine prohibition, dispersed, and the king was obliged to submit.