1 Kings 12:12
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
On the appointed third day Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam at Shechem to receive his answer to their request for relief from their yoke and burdensome rule. He had used the three-day interval to consult his advisers about that request. He rejected the older men's counsel to answer kindly and to please the people, and instead followed the younger men's counsel to assert his authority.
When the people came he answered them roughly and harshly, threatening to make the yoke heavier and to punish more severely, with scorpions rather than whips. That response was an unwise and unfeeling exercise of power revealing pride in position and authority. It was an irreparable mistake, for instead of discerning God's purpose for Israel and granting decided reforms in government, he announced his intent to continue and increase the evils introduced under Solomon's reign.
The king's refusal to listen happened because the cause was from the Lord, to perform the word spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, thus fulfilling the prediction concerning the rending of the kingdom. When all Israel saw that the king would not listen, thousands already stirred by Solomon's oppressive measures renounced any portion in David and any inheritance in the son of Jesse, told Israel to go to their tents and David to see to his own house, and departed in rebellion against the house of David. The rebellion divided the twelve tribes, so that Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam, who continued to reign only over those dwelling in the cities of Judah, while the ten northern tribes made Jeroboam their ruler.