1 Kings 13:3

3 At that time the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign that the LORD mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.'"

1 Kings 13:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 13:3

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.

1 Kings 13:3 In-Context

1 A man of God came from Judah by God's command to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing at the altar burning incense.

2 By the LORD's word, the man of God cried out to the altar: "Altar! Altar! The LORD says this: Look! A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice on you, Altar, the very priests of the shrines who offer incense on you. They will burn human bones on you."

3 At that time the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign that the LORD mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.'"

4 When the king heard the word of the man of God and how he cried out to the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand that Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God grew stiff. Jeroboam wasn't able to bend it back to himself.

5 The altar broke apart, and the ashes spilled out from the altar, just like the sign that the man of God gave by the LORD's word.