THUNDER (thiln'cler), (Heb. rah'am, a peal; Sept. Bpovril, broit-lay', thunder, also 57, kole, and Oovh,foh-nat, a sound). This sublimest of all the extraordinary phenomena of nature is fioeii cally represented as the voice of God, which the waters obeyed at the creation (Ps. civ:7; comp. Gen. i:9).
For other instances see Exod. ix:28 (Hebrew, or margin) ; Job xxxvii :4, 5; xl :9 : Ps. xviii : 13 ; and especially Ps. xxix, which contains a magnificent description of a thunder storm. Agree ably to the popular speech of ancient nations, the writer ascribes the effects of lightning to the thunder : 'The voice of the Lord breaketh the ce dars' (ver. 5; comp. I Sam. ii AO. Thunder is also introduced into the poetical allusions to the passage of the Red Sea in Ps. lxxvii :18. The plague of hail on the land of Egypt is very nat urally represented as accompanied with 'mighty thunderings,' which would be literally incidental to the immense agency of the electric fluid on that occasion (Exod. ix :22-29. 33, 34). It accompa nied the lightnings at the giving of the law (xix: i6; xx :18). Sec also Ps. lxxxi :7, which prob ably refers to the same occasion : 'I answered thee in the secret place of thunder' literally, 'in the covering of thunder,' i. e. the thunder clouds. It was also one of the grandcurs attending the divine interposition described in 2 Sam. xxii :14 ; comp. Rs. xviii :13. The enemies of Jehovah are threatened with destruction by thunder ; perhaps, however, lightning is included in the mention of the more impressive phenomenon (I Sam. ii :to). Such means are represented as used in the de struction of Sennacherib's army (Is. xxix :5-7 ; comp. xxx :3o-33). Bishop Lowth would under stand the description as metaphorical, and in tended, under a variety of expressive and sublime images, to illustrate the greatness, the sudden ness, the horror of the event, rather than the man ner by which it was effected (New Translation, and notes in loc.). Violent thunder was em ployed by Jehovah as a means of intimidating the Philistines, in their attack upon the Israelites, while Samuel was offering the burnt offering (I Sam. vii :to ; Ecclus. xlvi :17). Homer represents
Jupiter as interposing in a battle with thunder and lightning (Iliad, viii. 75, etc.; xvii. 594 ; see also Spence's Polymetis. Dial. xiii. p. 211). Thun der was miraculously sent at the request of Sam uel (I Sam. xii. 17, 18). It is referred to as a natural phenomenon subject to laws originally appointed by the Creator (Job xxviii :26; xxxviii: to tremble, and subdues their stubbornness (Mark iii:17; Rev. xiv :2). (3) Terrible and destructive calamities are likened to thunder (Is. xxix:6). (4) The noise of an army is called the thunder of the captains (Job' xxxix :25). The war horse's neck is clothed with thunder, his neighing for the battle and his pawing of the ground resound; but the word might be rendered, clothed with a cheerful tremor or triumphant shaking (Job xxxix :19). (5) The lightnings and thunderings proceeding from God's throne, denote the majesty of his appearance, the enlightening and heart affecting publication of his will, and the awful judgments which he, as our great Sovereign, sends upon the earth (Rev. iv :5). (6) The voices, thunderings, lightnings, earthquakes, and hail, fol lowing on Christ's casting the fire of his ven geance on the earth, during the seven trumpets, 25; Ecclus. xliii :17) ; and introduced in visions (Rev. iv :5 ; vi :1 ; viii :5 ; xi : 9 ; xiv XVI :18 ; xix :6; Esther [Apoc.] xi:5).
Thunder enters into the appellative or surname given by our Lord to James and John—Boaner ges; says St. Mark, 'sons of thunder' (iii :17). Schleusner here understands, the thunder of elo quence, as in Aristoph. (Achar. 53o). Virgil ap plies a like figure to the two Scipios: 'Duo ful mina bell? vi. 842). Others understand the allusion to be to the energy and courage. etc., of the two Apostles (Lardner's Hist. of the Apostles and Evangelists, chap. ix. sec. 1). The ophylact says they were so called because they were great preachers and divines. Others suppose the allusion to be to the proposal of these Apos tles to call fire from heaven on the inhospitable Samaritans (Luke ix:53, 54). It is not certain when our Lord so surnamed them. (See Bo/or