THUNDER . There is no finer description of a thunderstorm than that of Psalms 29:1-11 . 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 ( 1 Samuel 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 ( Psalms 104:7 , Job 37:4 etc.), which a soul gifted with insight might understand and interpret ( John 12:28 f.; cf. Mark 1:11 , Matthew 3:17 etc.). It is the expression of His resistless power ( 1 Samuel 2:10 , Psalms 18:13 etc.), and of His inexorable vengeance ( Isaiah 30:30 etc.). Thunder plays a part in afflicting the Egyptians ( Exodus 9:23 ff.), at the delivery of the Law ( Exodus 19:16; Exodus 20:18 ), and in discomfiting the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 7:10 ). It is not guided by caprice, but by the will of God ( Job 28:26; Job 38:25 ). It appears largely in the more terrible imagery of the Apocalypse. For ‘Sons of Thunder,’ see Boanerges.
W. Ewing.