1 Kings 18:38

1Ki 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that [was] in the trench.

Ver. 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell.] In answer to the prophet’s prayer, and for the conversion of the people. Plutarch giving a reason why the Cretans pictured Jupiter without ears, saith, Non convenit ab eo audiri quenquam qui omnium sit dominus atque princeps: It is not fit that he should hear any one, who is himself lord of all. But our God taketh no such state upon him; he prepareth his people’s hearts, and then causeth his ears to hear; {Psa 10:17} he is near to his suppliants, and rich in mercy to those that call upon him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 18:38. The fire of the Lord fell — And not only, as at other times, (see the margin,) consumed the sacrifice and the wood, in token of God’s acceptance of the offering, but licked up all the water that was in the trench, exhaling and drawing it up as a vapour, to descend (with other water, to be raised from the adjoining sea) in the intended rain, which was to be the fruit of this sacrifice and prayer, more than the product of natural causes. And this was not all. To complete the miracle, the fire consumed the stones of the altar, and the very dust, to show that it was no ordinary fire, and perhaps to intimate that though God accepted this occasional sacrifice from this altar, yet for the future they ought to demolish all the altars on their high places, and for their constant sacrifices make use of that at Jerusalem only. Moses’s altar and Solomon’s were consecrated by fire from heaven; but this was destroyed, because it was to be used no more. We may well imagine, what a terror this fire struck on guilty Ahab, and all the worshippers of Baal, and how they fled from it as far and as fast as they could, saying, in their hearts, Lest it consume us also, Num 16:34.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18:38-39 Whether by lightning strike or more supernatural means, the Lord sent fire to consume everything, including all the water in the trench. This was convincing proof that the Lord is God. The continuing story demonstrates conclusively that the Lord, not Baal, has control over fire, water, and the weather.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell] It did not burst out from the altar; this might still, notwithstanding the water, have afforded some ground for suspicion that fire had been concealed, after the manner of the heathens, under the altar.

Pindar's account of the Rhodians' settling is the isle of Rhodes, and their first sacrifice there, bears a near affinity to the account here given: the shower of gold descending on the sacrifice offered up without fire, to show the approbation of their god, is little more than a poetic account of the above transactions.

Καιτοι γαρ αιθουσας εχοντεςπ

Σπερμ ' ανεβαν φλογος ου

Τευξαν δ ' απυροις ἱεροις

Αλσος εν ακροπολει· κεινοισι μεν ξαν -

θαν αγαγων νεφελαι·

Πολυν ὑσε χρυσον

Pind. Olymp. Od. 7, ver. 86.

The Rhodians, mindful of their sire's behest,

Straight in the citadel an altar reared;

But with imperfect rites the Power addressed,

And without fire their sacrifice prepared;

Yet Jove, approving, o'er the assembly spread

A yellow cloud, that dropped with golden dews.

WEST.

Consumed the burnt-sacrifice] The process of this consumption is very remarkable, and all calculated to remove the possibility of a suspicion that there was any concealed fire.

1. The fire came down from heaven.

2. The pieces of the sacrifice were first consumed.

3. The wood next, to show that it was not even by means of the wood that the flesh was burned.

4. The twelve stones were also consumed, to show that it was no common fire, but one whose agency nothing could resist.

5. The dust, the earth of which the altar was constructed, was burned up.

6. The water that was in the trench was, by the action of this fire, entirely evaporated.

7. The action of this fire was in every case downward, contrary to the nature of all earthly and material fire. Nothing can be more simple and artless than this description, yet how amazingly full and satisfactory is the whole account!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

38. Then the fire of the Lord fell] In the LXX. we have ‘and there fell fire from the Lord out of heaven.’

burnt sacrifice] R.V. burnt-offering as in 1Ki_18:33. To mark the might of Him who sent the fire, it not only consumes the victims and licks up the water, but devoured wood, stones and dust alike.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal,.... The four hundred and fifty that were upon the spot; for the number of the people of Israel, now gathered together, were equal to it; nor was it in Ahab's power to hinder it, and he might himself be so far surprised and convicted as not in the least to object to it:

let not one of them escape: that there might be none of them left to seduce the people any more:

and they took them; laid hold on them, everyone of them:

and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon; which ran by the side, and at the bottom of Mount Carmel, into the sea; See Gill on Jdg 4:7, Jdg 5:21.

and slew them there; intimating, that it was owing to the idolatry they led the people into that rain had been withheld, and the brooks were dried up, as this might be; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, that the land might not be defiled with their blood, but be carried down the river after it: these he slew not with his own hand, but by others he gave orders to do it; and this not as a private person, but as an extraordinary minister of God, to execute justice according to his law, Deu 13:1 by which law such false prophets were to die; and the rather he was raised up and spirited for this service, as the supreme magistrate was addicted to idolatry himself.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The fire of the Lord fell - This cannot have been a flash of lightning. It was altogether, in its nature as well as in its opportuneness, miraculous. Compare the marginal references for the conduct of the people.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Trench, as if it had been of an inflammable nature. Julian himself was forced to acknowledge this miracle. "This, says he, once happened under Moses, and, a long while after, again under Elias, the Thesbite."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

38. The fire of the Lord fell — See marginal references. This miraculous fire descended from heaven in flaming proof that it was no result of fraudulent practice. Chrysostom says he was personally knowing to fraudulent practices of idolaters whereby fire was kindled on the altar by means of a concealed excavation underneath; and an old tradition says that these priests of Baal had a man hidden under their altar on Carmel, but he was suffocated before he could kindle the fire. “There is an exultant triumph in the words in which the sacred historian describes the completeness of the conflagration. The fragments of the ox on the summit of the altar first disappear; then the pile of wood, heaped from the forests of Carmel; next the very stones of the altar crumble in the flames; then the very dust of the earth that had been thrown out of the trench; and lastly, the water in the trench round the altar is licked up by the fiery tongues, and leaves the whole place bare.” — Stanley.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then the fire of the Lord Jehovah. Not lightning, but supernatural light and heat emanating from God Himself. (Cf. Leviticus 1Ch_21:26; 2Ch_7:1; Heb_12:29) fell, and consumed Heb. ate up, devoured the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones in calcem redigit, Cler., and the dust Bahr translates die Erde, and understands this to be the earth with which the altar of twelve stones had been packed. Similarly Rawlinson. But it is very doubtful whether rp pulvis, could be used in this sense. It may mean dry earth, but this altar had been deluged with water, and licked up is clearly onomatopoetic, like our lick ; Germ. lecken; Gr. leicw, etc. It expresses well the action of tongues of flame the water that was in the trench.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Consumed - Solomon's altar was consecrated by fire from heaven; but this was destroyed, because no more to be used.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the fire of Yahweh fell

"the fire of Yahweh came down"

licked up

The fire is compared to a thirsty person drinking water. (See: Personification)

Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!

This phrase is repeated for emphasis.

translationWords

Yahweh

consume

Baal

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.