2 Kings 1:10

“And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, if I be a man of God, etc.] As I am, and thou shalt know it by the following token, though thou callest me so jeeringly: then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty; this he said not in a passion, and from a private spirit of revenge, but for the vindication of the honour and glory of God, and under the impulse of his spirit, who was abused through the insult on him as his prophet: and there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty; a flash of lightning, which destroyed them at once; the Lord hearkening to the voice of his prophet, in vindication of him in his office, and of his own glory.”

“let fire come down--rather, "fire shall come down." Not to avenge a personal insult of Elijah, but an insult upon God in the person of His prophet; and the punishment was inflicted, not by the prophet, but by the direct hand of God.”

“The charge of cruelty made against Elijah makes it needful to consider the question: What was Elijah’s motive? And the answer is: Sharply to make a signal example, to vindicate God’s honor in a striking way. Ahaziah had, as it were, challenged Yahweh to a trial of strength by sending a band of fifty to arrest one man. Elijah was not Jesus Christ, able to reconcile mercy with truth, the vindication of God’s honor with the utmost tenderness for erring men, and awe them merely by His presence (compare John 18:6). In Elijah the spirit of the Law was embodied in its full severity. His zeal was fierce; he was not shocked by blood; he had no softness and no relenting. He did not permanently profit…”

“Let fire, &c. - Elijah did this, not to secure himself, he could have done that some other way: nor to revenge himself, for it was not his own cause that he acted in: but to prove his mission, and to reveal the wrath of God from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 4 Kings (2 Kings) 1:11”

“If I be a man: Kg2 2:23, Kg2 2:24; Num 16:28-30; Kg1 18:36-38, Kg1 22:28; Ch2 36:16; Psa 105:15; Mat 21:41, Mat 23:34-37; Act 5:3-10 let fire: Or, rather, as the original literally imports, and the LXX render, καταβησεται πυρ, fire shall come down; Elijah's words being simply declarative, and not imprecatory. Num 11:1, Num 16:35; Job 1:16; Psa 106:18; Luk 9:54; Heb 12:29; Rev 11:5 consumed: Dan 3:22, Dan 3:25, Dan 6:24; Act 12:19 4 Kings (2 Kings) 1:11”