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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On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.
At this also my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen carefully to the thunder of his voice, to the rumbling that proceeds from his mouth. read more. Under the whole heaven he lets it go, even his lightning to the far corners of the earth. After that a voice roars; he thunders with an exalted voice, and he does not hold back his lightning bolts when his voice is heard. God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
Do you have an arm as powerful as God's, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
The Lord's shout bends the large trees and strips the leaves from the forests. Everyone in his temple says, "Majestic!"
The Lord gives his people strength; the Lord grants his people security.
He rained hail down on their cattle, and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.
When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.
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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On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves." So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel.
Listen carefully to the thunder of his voice, to the rumbling that proceeds from his mouth.
"Do you give the horse its strength? Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
Do you have an arm as powerful as God's, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind; the lightning bolts lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)
Your shout made the waters retreat; at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off --
to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, "sons of thunder");
The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had 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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Pray to the Lord, for the mighty thunderings and hail are too much! I will release you and you will stay no longer."
On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves." So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel.
Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"
"Do you give the horse its strength? Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
The Lord's shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water. The Lord's shout is powerful, the Lord's shout is majestic. read more. The Lord's shout breaks the cedars, the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young ox. The Lord's shout strikes with flaming fire. The Lord's shout shakes the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The Lord's shout bends the large trees and strips the leaves from the forests. Everyone in his temple says, "Majestic!"
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.
The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, "This voice has not come for my benefit but for yours.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. read more. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just 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 extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.
On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.
All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking -- and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.
The Lord shatters his adversaries; he thunders against them from the heavens. The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth. He will strengthen his king and exalt the power of his anointed one."
As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by Israel.
Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves."
When he imposed a limit for the rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
After that a voice roars; he thunders with an exalted voice, and he does not hold back his lightning bolts when his voice is heard.
Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains, and a path for the rumble of thunder,
The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
Your shout made the waters retreat; at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off --
The Lord will give a mighty shout and intervene in power, with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
And a voice from heaven said, "This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight."
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight."
Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I 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 this one was still speaking, another messenger arrived and said, "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants -- it has consumed them! And I -- only I alone -- escaped to tell you!"
Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind; the lightning bolts lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
He rained hail down on their cattle, and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock.
Your shout made the waters retreat; at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off --
The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him.
From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne
I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, "Come!"
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 shatters his adversaries; he thunders against them from the heavens. The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth. He will strengthen his king and exalt the power of his anointed one."
Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves."
Listen carefully to the thunder of his voice, to the rumbling that proceeds from his mouth.
After that a voice roars; he thunders with an exalted voice, and he does not hold back his lightning bolts when his voice is heard. God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
Do you have an arm as powerful as God's, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted.
The Lord's shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water. The Lord's shout is powerful, the Lord's shout is majestic. read more. The Lord's shout breaks the cedars, the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young ox. The Lord's shout strikes with flaming fire. The Lord's shout shakes the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The Lord's shout bends the large trees and strips the leaves from the forests. Everyone in his temple says, "Majestic!"
In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.
The Lord will give a mighty shout and intervene in power, with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, with a driving rainstorm and hailstones. Indeed, the Lord's shout will shatter Assyria; he will beat them with a club.