Reference: Thunder
American
And lightning are significant manifestations of the power of God, and emblems of his presence, Ex 19:16; 1Sa 2:10; 12:17; Ps 18:13. Thunder is poetically called "the voice of the Lord" in the sublime description of a thunder-storm in Ps 29:11;
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
The God of glory thundereth;
The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars;
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon," etc.
See also Job 37:1-5; 40:9; Jer 10:13. In illustration of Ps 29:9, Moffat, while describing the thunder-storms of South Africa, say that the antelopes flee in consternation; and that he has observed the Bechuanas starting off early on the morning following such a storm in quest of young antelopes prematurely born. In Ps 78:48, "hot thunderbolts" means lightning.
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And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Yea, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place. Hear, O, hear the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth. read more. He sends it forth under the whole heaven, and his lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain [the lightnings] when his voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of LORD makes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. And in his temple everything says, Glory.
LORD will give strength to his people. LORD will bless his people with peace.
He also gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
Easton
often referred to in Scripture (Job 40:9; Ps 77:18; 104:7). James and John were called by our Lord "sons of thunder" (Mr 3:17). In Job 39:19, instead of "thunder," as in the Authorized Version, the Revised Version translates (ra'amah) by "quivering main" (marg., "shaking"). Thunder accompanied the giving of the law at Sinai (Ex 19:16). It was regarded as the voice of God (Job 37:2; Ps 18:13; 81:7; comp. Joh 12:29). In answer to Samuel's prayer (1Sa 12:17-18), God sent thunder, and "all the people greatly feared," for at such a season (the wheat-harvest) thunder and rain were almost unknown in Palestine.
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And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to LORD that he may send thunder and rain, and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of LORD in asking a king for you. So Samuel called to LORD, and LORD sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared LORD and Samuel.
Hear, O, hear the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth.
Have thou given the horse [his] might? Have thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook.
Thou called in trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they hastened away.
and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he added to them the name Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder;
The multitude therefore that stood by and heard, said thunder occurred, others said, A heavenly agent has spoken to him.
Fausets
Rare in the clear air of Palestine in harvest time or summer, which shows how its coming at Samuel's call unto Jehovah was by divine agency (1Sa 12:17-18). God so blessed the Holy Land that the ingathering of fruits and the threshing in the open air were unimpeded by rain. Its coming then would be as unseasonable and calamitous as "honour" conferred on a "fool" (Pr 26:1). Symbolizing divine wrath and judgment (Ex 19:16; Ps 29:3-9; 1Sa 2:10). Thunderings are figuratively spoken of as "voices of God" (Ex 9:28 margin, compare Joh 12:29-30). Job 26:14, translated "and how faint is the word whisper that we hear of Him! but the thunder (i.e. the majestic fullness) of His power (in antithesis to 'the whisper') who can understand?" (1Co 13:9-12.) Job 39:19, "hast thou clothed his (the horse's) neck with thunder?" i.e. majesty (Umbreit): or his arched neck inspiring fear as the thunder does; but Maurer, "with his trembling, quivering mane."
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Entreat LORD, for there has been enough of [these] mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to LORD that he may send thunder and rain, and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of LORD in asking a king for you. So Samuel called to LORD, and LORD sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared LORD and Samuel.
Lo, these are but the periphery of his ways. And how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?
Have thou given the horse [his] might? Have thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
The voice of LORD is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders, even LORD upon many waters. The voice of LORD is powerful. The voice of LORD is full of majesty. read more. The voice of LORD breaks the cedars. Yea, LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox. The voice of LORD splits the flames of fire. The voice of LORD shakes the wilderness. LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of LORD makes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. And in his temple everything says, Glory.
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.
The multitude therefore that stood by and heard, said thunder occurred, others said, A heavenly agent has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice occurred not for my sake, but for your sakes.
But we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, then what is in part will be abolished. read more. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned as a child, but when I became a man, I abolished the childish things. For now we see by polished metal, in dimness, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know just as also I was known.
Hastings
There is no finer description of a thunderstorm than that of Ps 29. In a land of high mountains and deep gorges, split throughout its length by the great cleft of the Jordan, the effect of thunder is peculiarly terrible. In Palestine it is confined almost entirely to winter (1Sa 12:17 f.), but the writer once witnessed a terrific storm late in April, among the Gilead uplands. It is invariably accompanied by rain. According to poetic and popular Ideas, thunder was the voice of God (Ps 104:7; Job 37:4 etc.), which a soul gifted with insight might understand and interpret (Joh 12:28 f.; cf. Mr 1:11; Mt 3:17 etc.). It is the expression of His resistless power (1Sa 2:10; Ps 18:13 etc.), and of His inexorable vengeance (Isa 30:30 etc.). Thunder plays a part in afflicting the Egyptians (Ex 9:23 ff.), at the delivery of the Law (Ex 19:16; 20:18), and in discomfiting the Philistines (1Sa 7:10). It is not guided by caprice, but by the will of God (Job 28:26; 38:25). It appears largely in the more terrible imagery of the Apocalypse. For 'Sons of Thunder,' see Boanerges.
W. Ewing.
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And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth, and LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled.
And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.
Those who strive with LORD shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in heaven. LORD will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten down before
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to LORD that he may send thunder and rain, and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of LORD in asking a king for you.
When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain [the lightnings] when his voice is heard.
Who has cleft a channel for the water flood, or the way for the lightning of the thunder,
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they hastened away.
And LORD will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the coming down of his arm with the indignation of [his] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast and tempest and hailstones.
And lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And a voice occurred out of the heavens, Thou are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Father, glorify thy name. A voice therefore came out of heaven, saying, I both glorified it, and I will glorify again.
Morish
This is of rare occurrence in Palestine, and is regarded in scripture as being the voice of God in power, both in the O.T. of the past and in the Revelation of the future. Ps. 29; Ps 77:18; 104:7; Re 4:5; 6:1; etc.: compare also Joh 12:29. In Ps 78:48, in recounting the plagues of Egypt, the flocks are represented as being consumed by HOT THUNDERBOLTS. The word is resheph, and is also translated 'coals,' 'burning coals,' 'burning heat.' Doubtless lightning is referred to, as when the 'fire of God' fell from heaven and burnt up Job's sheep. Job 1:16.
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While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God fell from heaven, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee.
The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook.
He also gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they hastened away.
The multitude therefore that stood by and heard, said thunder occurred, others said, A heavenly agent has spoken to him.
And out of the throne proceeds lightnings and voices and thunders. And seven lamps of fire burned before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
And I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four beings saying like the sound of thunder, Come and see.
Smith
is hardly ever heard in Palestine form the middle of April to the middle of September; hence it was selected by Samuel as a striking expression of the divine displeasure toward the Israelites.
Rain in harvest was deemed as extraordinary as snow in summer,
and Jerome states that he had never witnessed it in the latter part of June or in July. Comm. on
In the imaginative philosophy of the Hebrews, thunder was regarded as the voice of Jehovah,
Job 37:2,4-5; 40:9; Ps 18:13; 29:3-9; Isa 30:30-31
who dwelt behind the thunder-cloud.
Thunder was, to the mind of the Jew, the symbol of divine power
etc., and vengeance.
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Those who strive with LORD shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in heaven. LORD will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to LORD that he may send thunder and rain, and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of LORD in asking a king for you.
Hear, O, hear the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth.
After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain [the lightnings] when his voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of LORD is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders, even LORD upon many waters. The voice of LORD is powerful. The voice of LORD is full of majesty. read more. The voice of LORD breaks the cedars. Yea, LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox. The voice of LORD splits the flames of fire. The voice of LORD shakes the wilderness. LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of LORD makes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. And in his temple everything says, Glory.
Thou called in trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.
And LORD will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the coming down of his arm with the indignation of [his] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast and tempest and hailstones. For through the voice of LORD the Assyrian shall be dismayed. With his rod he will smite [him].