1 Kings 12:24

Thus saith the Lord
A common preface the prophets used when they spoke in the name of the Lord:

ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of
Israel;
and that because they were their brethren; though that is not the only reason, another follows:

return every man to his house, for this thing is from me;
it was according to the will of God, as Josephus rightly says ^F15; it was by his ordination and appointment, though Jeroboam and the people sinned in the way and manner in which they brought it about; and therefore to fight against Israel, in order to regain the kingdom, would be fighting against God, and so to no purpose:

they hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to
depart according to the word of the Lord;
they knew Shemaiah was a prophet of the Lord, and they believed the message he brought came from him, and therefore hearkened and were obedient to it; and with the consent of Rehoboam were disbanded, and returned to their habitations, being satisfied with, and submissive to, the will of God, both king and people.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8. sect. 3.)