“"Ahaziah falls from the gallery of his upper chamber in Samaria." … Ahaziah is the son of Ahab, and after Ahab's death he takes his place and reigns over his people. Now, he falls from the upper chambers of his palace, and his body is seriously injured. Therefore Ahaziah sends some messengers to the god of the Ekronites in order to question him about his injury. It seems that such a piece of advice was given to him by his mother, Jezebel, who for her entire life made her children, namely, Ahaziah and Joram, her slaves, just like Ahab, her husband, had been a slave to her. Ahaziah's present action, as well as what his brother did after him—their shameful end and the hardness of their heart in the adoration of their idols until their death—are perfectly in keeping with the abominable actions and wicked will of their mother, Jezebel. So, Elijah, who had learned from a vigilant [i.e., an angel] what Ahaziah was doing, came out to meet his messengers and ordered them, by the word of the Lord, to return to their master and announce to him the news of his departure from this world, because he had rejected the Lord and had taken refuge in the god of Ekron, hoping that he would heal him.”

“But the stubborn king did not fear the word of the prophet and said in his heart, "He lies." And so he did not pay attention to his warning, which exhorted him to get rid of the reason of his evils and to repent. He persevered in his stubbornness and, instead of repenting of his pride and being converted, grew more stubborn and sent a captain of fifty with some guards to arrest the prophet of God and lead him to the tribunal. Now, after hearing that the fire had come down and had consumed the captain with his fifty men on the occasion of their effrontery, he sent some others, and again the fire consumed them and made them perish. And [divine] justice decrees this sentence quite rightly, because those who had seen the fire, which had come down at the prayer of Elijah, and had not believed or were converted, were necessarily scorched by the second descent of the fire. And the same punishment was prepared for the third one, who was sent after them, if the terrifying spectacle of the fire had not made him wise. He avoids appearing like his comrades: he arrives after the prophet, humbly kneels down before him and, on the one hand, repeats the order of the king, but on the other, gives him the option whether to obey the word of the king or not.”

“These wretched men are apt to censure the writings of the Old Testament saying, "How was it just for blessed Elijah to burn two captains with their soldiers by means of fire brought down from heaven?" How justly and mercifully this was done, dearly beloved, we want to indicate briefly to your hearts. In the days of the Old Testament, any crimes or offenses committed among the people were ordered to be physically punished. Thus it is written, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Indeed, some were punished in order that the rest might fear bodily punishment and refrain from sins and offenses. Now, in the time of the prophet, blessed Elijah, all the Jewish people had abandoned God and were sacrificing to idols, not only refusing to honor God's prophets but even very frequently trying to kill them. For this reason blessed Elijah was aroused with zeal for God and caused some to be punished physically, so that those who had neglected the salvation of their souls might be healed in heart by fearing bodily death. We should consider that not so much blessed Elijah as the Holy Spirit did this. We know that the same thing was done through blessed Peter in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, for through him they incurred the destruction of death themselves in order that an example might be given to the rest. Therefore, as it is written, "Great fear seized all who heard of this." Examples are given to everyone whenever punishments are inflicted on sinners. Because the Jews thought only of their body and refused to be solicitous for the salvation of their soul, with God as judge they suffered punishment in the very body to which they had devoted so much care.”

“And in another place, concerning the captains of the hosts who went up to bring him down with the others who were with them, it is written that he commanded and spake with Godlike authority, and the fire of God came down from heaven and burnt them all up. "If I be a prophet, as thou sayest, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and the fifty who are with thee," and straightway and without delay, the fire descended from heaven upon the unclean, and it burnt into them as it came down, and to the word of the prophet there was actual fulfilment.”

“After the death of Ahaziah, since he had no children who could inherit the kingdom, his brother Jehoram became king. This did not occur because the Law prescribed anything of the sort, but because this was the custom of their neighbors, which the children of Israel had observed by now for many years. But God gives another rule for the kingdom of the children of Judah: he binds them to the family of David, and it is in this manner that the kingship was constantly transmitted from the father to the son or the next of kin—but they refused this succession only once, at the time of Jechonias, who became king after Zedekiah, brother of his father, because Jechonias was deported to Babel and Zedekiah was forced to take his place and stop the fall of the monarchy.”