Thunder. Thunder is hardly ever heard in Palestine, from 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. 1 Samuel 12:17. Rain, in harvest, was deemed as extraordinary as snow in summer, Proverbs 26:1, and Jerome states that he had never witnessed it, in the latter part of June or in July. Amos 4:7.
In the imaginative philosophy of the Hebrews, thunder was regarded as the voice of Jehovah, Job 37:2; Job 37:4-5; Job 40:9; Psalms 18:13; Psalms 29:3-9; Isaiah 30:30-31, who dwelt behind the thunder-cloud. Psalms 81:7. Thunder was, to the mind of the Jew, the symbol of divine power, Psalms 29:3. etc., and vengeance. 1 Samuel 2:10; 2 Samuel 22:14.