Rehoboam, not taking seriously the secession of the northerners, dispatches Adoram (possibly identical with the Adoniram of Solomon's reign), the chief tax collector, to collect taxes from the north.

Adoram is stoned, and Rehoboam, who had apparently followed him throughout his journey, has to flee in haste to Jerusalem.

Rehoboam returns to Jerusalem and organizes a sizable army to suppress what he still sees as a rebellion against the crown.

Its size is given as one hundred and eighty thousand men by I Kings and by II Chronicles.

Shemaiah the prophet proclaims that it is God's will that the United Monarchy be divided, and Rehoboam immediately abandons his plans.

Rehoboam will nevertheless skirmish against the forces of Jeroboam throughout the remainder of his reign.

A vast majority of the Levites depart the Kingdom of Israel for the Kingdom of Judah because they are being recruited as pagan priests by Jeroboam.