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1 Kings 13:1-14:20

The Altar Was Rent

Lyrics · 1 Kings

The Altar Was Rent

1 Kings 13:1-14:20

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the 1 Kings collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
1 Kings
Collection
1 Kings
Musical styles
World Music
[Verse 1] A man of God from Judah arrives while Jeroboam burns incense at Bethel. The altar will split and its ashes pour out as an immediate sign. The altar splits exactly as the prophecy declared. The man of God refuses reward or food because of God's command. [Pre-Chorus] The word was rare until the silence broke, Then truth stood upright in the words God spoke. [Chorus] The Altar Was Rent, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in appointed time. [Verse 2] The man of God returns and eats in violation of the command. A true word of judgment announces that his body will not reach his fathers' tomb. A lion kills him on the road while leaving the donkey untouched. He tells his sons to place his bones beside the prophet when he dies. [Bridge] When his son Abijah falls sick, Jeroboam sends his wife disguised to Ahijah. Though blind, Ahijah identifies her and announces disaster on Jeroboam's house. Abijah alone will receive burial because some good is found in him. The child dies at her return, and Jeroboam later dies after a troubled reign. [Final Chorus] The Altar Was Rent, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in the final time. [Outro] The word went out and did not fall in vain. The prophet left the truth upon the plain.

Named in this songJeroboamBethel

About the passage

1 Kings 13: A true word, a lying prophet, and an unturned king

A man of God confronts Jeroboam’s altar with a prophecy naming Josiah and an immediate sign that authenticates the distant warning. Jeroboam’s attempt to seize him ends with a useless hand and a broken altar, and the king must ask the very messenger he threatened to pray for his restoration. The man of God then refuses royal food and reward because his commission forbids eating, drinking, or returning by the same route. He keeps that command until an older prophet claims an angel has revised it. The Book of 1 Kings calls the claim a lie. Yet at the meal, a genuine word of judgment does come through the same older prophet, and the deceived messenger dies by a lion for disobeying the command he originally received. The old prophet retrieves and buries him, asks eventually to share his grave, and insists that the prophecy against Bethel will still come true. The chapter closes with the most consequential refusal to return: despite signs, mercy, warning, and death, Jeroboam does not turn from his high-place system.

Study 1 Kings 13 in depth

1 Kings 14: A disguise fails, and gold gives way to brass

Jeroboam tries to hide the identity of the one person sent to seek a prophetic word, but the disguise is useless before Ahijah ever sees her. The blind prophet has already been told who is coming and why. What begins as an inquiry about a sick child opens into judgment on Jeroboam’s house and, beyond it, Israel’s future uprooting. The child alone in that household is marked for burial and mourning, and his death occurs exactly at the threshold named in the prophecy. The chapter then turns south and refuses to let Jerusalem’s chosen status excuse Judah. Rehoboam’s kingdom adopts condemned practices, Shishak removes treasures from temple and palace, and Solomon’s golden shields are replaced with brass. Royal ceremony continues, but the cheaper metal makes the decline visible without a speech explaining it.

Study 1 Kings 14 in depth