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. (1 Kings 12:21)
The tribe of Benjamin had previously been more closely connected with Ephraim than with Judah. The long feud between David and Saul, the Benjamite (1 Sam. 9:1), the wars of Joab and Abner, between the servants of David and those of Benjamin (2 Sam. 2:2, 12-31; 3:1-27), and the call to arms against David by Sheba, the Benjamite (2 Sam. 20:1), all indicate the antipathy of Benjamin against Judah. But the establishment of the capital at Jerusalem, on the border between the two tribes (Joshua 15:8; 18:16), helped to bring about a change, and henceforth the lot of Benjamin was to be one with that of Judah.
An hundred and fourscore thousand.
At the time of Davi’s census Judah numbered 500,000 (2 Sam. 24:9). Some time later Abijah was able to muster an army of 400,000 (2 Chron. 13:3).