Leviticus 9:24

The very ancient Jewish tradition has been widely adopted that the sacred fire of the altar originated in this divine act, and that it was afterward preserved on the altar of the tabernacle until the dedication of the temple, when fire again “came down from heaven.”2 Chronicles 7:1. But according to the sacred narrative the altar-fire had been lighted in a natural way before this occasion. (CompareLeviticus 8:16;Leviticus 9:10,Leviticus 9:13, etc.;Exodus 40:29.) It would therefore seem that the fire which “came out from before the Lord” manifested itself, according to the words ofLeviticus 9:24, not in kindling the fuel on the altar, but in the sudden consuming of the victim.