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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When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.
"Now I'll conclude with this: my heart is trembling violently; it feels like it's about to leap from my body! Listen carefully to his thundering voice; to the sound that rumbles from his mouth. read more. He releases his lightning throughout the sky, to the ends of the earth. His thunder roars after it; his majestic voice will thunder; and no one can trace them once his voice has been heard. "God thunders with his wondrous voice; he does awesome works that we don't comprehend.
Do you have strength like God? Can you create thunder with a sound like he can?"
Then the LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Most High sounded aloud, calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.
The voice of the LORD causes deer to give birth, and strips the forest bare. In his Temple all of them shout, "Glory!"
The LORD will give strength to his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. A Davidic Psalm for the dedication of the Temple.
When his voice sounds there is thunder from the waters of heaven, and he makes clouds rise up from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings wind out of his storehouses.
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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When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I'll call upon the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and understand that you have done a great evil in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves." Samuel called upon the LORD that same day, and the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
Listen carefully to his thundering voice; to the sound that rumbles from his mouth.
Do you have strength like God? Can you create thunder with a sound like he can?"
Then the LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Most High sounded aloud, calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.
Your thunderous sound was in a whirlwind; your lightning lights up the world; the earth becomes agitated and quakes.
In a time of need you called out and I delivered you; I answered you from the dark thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Interlude
They flee at your rebuke; they rush away at the sound of your thunders.
Zebedee's sons James and his brother John (whom he named Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder),
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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Pray to the LORD! There has been enough of God's thunder and hail! I'll let you go, and you need not stay any longer."
When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I'll call upon the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and understand that you have done a great evil in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves." Samuel called upon the LORD that same day, and the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
Indeed, these are the fringes of his ways, and how faint is the whisper we've heard of it! But who can comprehend the thunder of his might?"
The voice of the LORD was heard above the waters; the God of glory thundered; the LORD was heard over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. read more. The voice of the LORD snaps the cedars; the LORD snaps the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them stagger like a calf, even Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD shoots out flashes of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD causes deer to give birth, and strips the forest bare. In his Temple all of them shout, "Glory!"
Like snowfall in summer or rain at harvest time, so honor is inappropriate for a fool.
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!" The crowd standing there heard this and said that it was thunder. Others were saying, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus replied, "This voice is for your benefit, not for mine.
For what we know is incomplete and what we prophesy is incomplete. But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with. read more. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways. Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully 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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When Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. The LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.
When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.
All the people experienced the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram's horn, and the smoking mountain. And as the people experienced it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
The LORD will shatter his enemies those who contend against him. Who is holy? The one who will thunder against them in the heavens. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, and he will increase the strength of His anointed one."
While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines approached to attack Israel. But that day the LORD thundered against the Philistines and threw them into panic, and they were defeated before Israel.
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I'll call upon the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and understand that you have done a great evil in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves."
He set in place ordinances for the rain; and determined the pathway for thunder that accompanies lightning.
His thunder roars after it; his majestic voice will thunder; and no one can trace them once his voice has been heard.
Then the LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Most High sounded aloud, calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.
They flee at your rebuke; they rush away at the sound of your thunders.
And the LORD will make heard yes, he will make heard his majestic voice, and make his arm seen descending in raging anger and in a flame of consuming fire, with a cloudburst, thunderstorm and hailstones.
Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him!"
Then a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with you!"
Father, glorify your name."
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 this messenger was still speaking, another came and announced, "A lightning storm struck and incinerated the flock and the servants while they were eating. I alone escaped to tell you!"
Your thunderous sound was in a whirlwind; your lightning lights up the world; the earth becomes agitated and quakes.
They flee at your rebuke; they rush away at the sound of your thunders.
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!" The crowd standing there heard this and said that it was thunder. Others were saying, "An angel has spoken to him."
Flashes of lightning, noises, and peals of thunder came from the throne. Burning in front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God.
Then I saw the lamb open the first of the seven seals. I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Go!"
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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The LORD will shatter his enemies those who contend against him. Who is holy? The one who will thunder against them in the heavens. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, and he will increase the strength of His anointed one."
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I'll call upon the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and understand that you have done a great evil in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves."
Listen carefully to his thundering voice; to the sound that rumbles from his mouth.
His thunder roars after it; his majestic voice will thunder; and no one can trace them once his voice has been heard. "God thunders with his wondrous voice; he does awesome works that we don't comprehend.
Do you have strength like God? Can you create thunder with a sound like he can?"
Then the LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Most High sounded aloud, calling for hail stones and flashes of fire.
The voice of the LORD was heard above the waters; the God of glory thundered; the LORD was heard over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. read more. The voice of the LORD snaps the cedars; the LORD snaps the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them stagger like a calf, even Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD shoots out flashes of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD causes deer to give birth, and strips the forest bare. In his Temple all of them shout, "Glory!"
In a time of need you called out and I delivered you; I answered you from the dark thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Interlude
Like snowfall in summer or rain at harvest time, so honor is inappropriate for a fool.
And the LORD will make heard yes, he will make heard his majestic voice, and make his arm seen descending in raging anger and in a flame of consuming fire, with a cloudburst, thunderstorm and hailstones. Indeed, the Assyrians will be shattered at the LORD's voice, when he strikes them with his scepter.