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 happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
My heart trembles at this also, and it leaps out of its place. Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes out of His mouth. read more. He loosens it under the whole heavens, and His lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He will not hold them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things, and we do not understand.
And have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of Jehovah causes the does to calve, and uncovers the forests; and in His temple all of it is saying, Glory!
Jehovah will give strength to His people; Jehovah will bless His people with peace.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
When He utters His voice, there is a noise of many waters in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.
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 happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah, and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, that which you have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking a king for you. And Samuel called to Jehovah, And Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared Jehovah and Samuel.
Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes out of His mouth.
Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with a mane?
And have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of Your thunder was in the sky; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
At Your rebuke they flee; at the voice of Your thunder they hurry away.
And He put on James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, the names Boanerges, which is, the Sons of Thunder.
Then the crowd who stood by and heard said that it thundered. Others said, An angel spoke 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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Pray to Jehovah, for it is enough. Let there be no mighty thunderings and hail. And I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.
And it happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah, and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, that which you have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking a king for you. And Samuel called to Jehovah, And Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared Jehovah and Samuel.
Lo, these are the edges of His ways; but what a whisper of a word we hear of Him! And the thunder of His power who can understand?
Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with a mane?
The voice of Jehovah is on the waters; the God of glory thunders; Jehovah is above many waters. The voice of Jehovah is in power, the voice of Jehovah is in majesty. read more. The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; yea, Jehovah breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He also makes them to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of Jehovah goes through flames of fire. The voice of Jehovah shakes the wilderness; Jehovah shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of Jehovah causes the does to calve, and uncovers the forests; and in His temple all of it is saying, Glory!
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not becoming for a fool.
Then the crowd who stood by and heard said that it thundered. Others said, An angel spoke to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sakes.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when the perfect thing comes, then that which is in part will be caused to cease. read more. When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant, I reasoned as an infant. But when I became a man, I did away with the things of an infant. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am 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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And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heavens. And Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and the fire came down to the ground. And Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
And it happened on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet was exceedingly loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled, and stood afar off.
The foes of Jehovah shall be broken to pieces. He thunders in the heavens upon them. Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth. And He shall give strength to His king, and exalts the horn of His anointed.
And it happened as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But Jehovah thundered with a great noise on that day on the Philistines, and troubled them. And they were beaten before Israel.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah, and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, that which you have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking a king for you.
When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning to thunder;
After it a voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He will not hold them when His voice is heard.
Who has cut a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderclaps;
Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
At Your rebuke they flee; at the voice of Your thunder they hurry away.
And Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and the bringing down of His arm shall be seen with raging anger and flame of a devouring fire, cloudburst and storm and hailstones.
And lo, a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Father, glorify Your name! Then there came a voice from the heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it 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 still speaking, there also came another and said, The fire of God has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and destroyed them. And I only have escaped alone to tell you.
The voice of Your thunder was in the sky; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
At Your rebuke they flee; at the voice of Your thunder they hurry away.
Then the crowd who stood by and heard said that it thundered. Others said, An angel spoke to Him.
And out of the throne came lightnings and thunderings and voices. And seven lamps of fire were burning in front of the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures like a sound of thunder, saying, 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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The foes of Jehovah shall be broken to pieces. He thunders in the heavens upon them. Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth. And He shall give strength to His king, and exalts the horn of His anointed.
Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah, and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, that which you have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking a king for you.
Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes out of His mouth.
After it a voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He will not hold them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things, and we do not understand.
And have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice; hailstones and coals of fire.
The voice of Jehovah is on the waters; the God of glory thunders; Jehovah is above many waters. The voice of Jehovah is in power, the voice of Jehovah is in majesty. read more. The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; yea, Jehovah breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He also makes them to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of Jehovah goes through flames of fire. The voice of Jehovah shakes the wilderness; Jehovah shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of Jehovah causes the does to calve, and uncovers the forests; and in His temple all of it is saying, Glory!
You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not becoming for a fool.
And Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and the bringing down of His arm shall be seen with raging anger and flame of a devouring fire, cloudburst and storm and hailstones. For through the voice of Jehovah, the Assyrian shall be beaten down, who struck with a rod.