While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. (Job 1:16)
The LXX omits “of God.” This fire is considered by many commentators to be lightning, but such an assumption is not necessary. Whatever the destructive agent was, the ancients would regard it as coming from God. The facts of the great controversy, so strikingly demonstrated in the present experience, were not understood, and men attributed to God that which was often the work of the adversary. Even with the mischievous devices of Satan revealed, acts that God permits are often attributed to God.