Elijah

===Fire on Mount Carmel===
The challenge to the priests of Baal had the two-fold purpose of demonstrating that the God of Israel was greater than Baal, and that it was he who was the giver of rain. According to J. Robinson, "Some scholars have suggested that the pouring of water was a piece of [[sympathetic magic]]."<ref name=Robinson>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GfagN_c7kHoC&dq=Elijah+and+naphtha&pg=PA212 Robinson, J. and Robinson, Joseph. ''The First Book of Kings'', Cambridge University Press, 1972, p. 212]{{ISBN|9780521097345}}</ref>

[[Hugo Gressmann]] suggested that the fire that destroyed the offering and altar was lightning, while [[Ferdinand Hitzig]] and others<ref>{{citation-attribution|1=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d-1XAAAAIAAJ&dq=Elijah+and+naphtha&pg=PA284 Balkwill, F.H. "the Sacred Fire of Israel", ''The Twentieth Century'', Volume 60, 1906, p. 277]}}</ref> thought the water poured on the sacrifice and into the ditch might have been flammable [[naphtha]]. Baptist scholar [[H. H. Rowley]] rejects both views.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m2856&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF| title = Rowley, H.H., "Elijah on Mount Carmel", p. 210 et seq., The John Rylands Library, University of Manchester}}</ref> Robinson dismisses the suggestion of naphtha with the view that the priests of Baal would have been aware of the properties of naphtha.<ref name=Robinson/> [[Julian Morgenstern]] rejects the idea of sympathetic magic, but supports the interpretation of white naphtha possibly ignited by a glass or mirror to focus the sun's rays, citing other mentions of sacred fire, as in 2 Maccabees 1:18–22.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=otEUAAAAIAAJ&dq=Elijah+and+naphtha&pg=PA65| title = Morgenstern, Julian. ''The Fire Upon the Altar'', Brill Archive, 1963, p. 65| last1 = Easley| first1 = Gene| date = June 1994}}</ref>