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.
Read Chapter 18
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
In the time of Elijah, also, fire came down when he challenged the prophets of the heathen to light up the altar without fire. When they could not do so, he poured water three times over his victim, so that the water ran around about the altar; then he cried out, and the fire fell from the Lord from heaven and consumed the burnt offering. You are that victim. Contemplate in silence each single point. The breath of the Holy Spirit descends on you; he seems to burn you when he consumes your sins. The sacrifice that was consumed in the time of Moses was a sacrifice for sin, wherefore Moses said, as is written in the book of the Maccabees: “Because the sacrifice for sin was not to be eaten, it was consumed.” Does it not seem to be consumed for you when in the sacrament of baptism the whole outer person perishes? “Our old self is crucified,” the apostle exclaims. Herein, as the example of the Fathers teaches us, the Egyptian is swallowed up—the Hebrew arises renewed by the Holy Spirit, as h...
Elijah, who on mount Carmel abolished the sacrifices of the pagan priests, ministers of vanity, through the burnt offering which he offered to the living God, gives us a living image of the burnt offering that the Emmanuel made on Mount Golgotha, bringing to an end through his own sacrifice which was offered only once, all the sacrifices prescribed by Moses, as well as the burnt offerings which the pagans offered to their infamous gods. “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.” You acted justly, Elijah, and quite wisely! Your fire will consume the stones, and the worshipers of the stones will blush for their shame. It will consume the wood, and those who make their gods out of carved wood will be upset and will turn away from their madness. It will consume the bull, so that nobody may ever worship the bull. - "On the First Book of Kings 18.26–38"
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 The bite."
