1 Kings 13:3

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD. ²And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, "O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.'" ³That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: 'Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.'"⁴Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back. ⁵And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. ⁶Then the king responded to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him as it was before. ⁷Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." ⁸But the man of God replied, "If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. ⁹For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'" ¹⁰So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 4:3-5, Exodus 4:8, Exodus 4:9, Exodus 7:10, Deuteronomy 13:1-3, 1 Samuel 2:34, 2 Kings 20:8, Isaiah 7:11-14, Isaiah 38:6-8, Isaiah 38:22, Jeremiah 44:29, Matthew 12:38-40, John 2:18, 1 Corinthians 1:22

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 13:2 - General 1 Kings 13:5 - General Isaiah 37:30 - this shall Isaiah 44:26 - confirmeth John 6:30 - What

Cross-References

Genesis 12:6
Abram traveled through the land to the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Genesis 13:8
So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.

Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which the Lord hath spoken,.... As a confirmation of the truth of what the prophet had said, and for the proof of his being a true prophet of the Lord:

behold, the altar shall be rent; of itself, by an invisible hand, by the power of God:

and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out; signifying it should be entirely demolished, not only shaken but destroyed, so as not to be capable of retaining the ashes on it; this was an emblem of the utter abolition of idolatry here in future times.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He gave a sign - A sign of this kind - an immediate prophecy to prove the divine character of a remote prophecy - had scarcely been given before this. In the later history, however, such signs are not unfrequent (compare 2 Kings 19:29; Isaiah 7:14-16).

The ashes ... shall be poured out - i. e., “The half-burnt remains of the offerings shall be ignominiously spilled upon the ground.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 13:3. And he gave a sign — A miracle to prove that the prophecy should be fulfilled in its season.