J. A. Sklbik.
THUMMIM.— See Urim AND Thummim.
THUNDER (nsn, ^povr^) is the loud sound which accompanies the discharge through llie atmo.sjihere of electricity from the clouds. It seems to follow the lightning flash after an interval jiroportioned to the observer's distance from the place of dis- turbance. Thunderstorms are fre<|uent in Pales- tine during the winter season, but very rarely occur at any other time of the year (Schwarz, Palestine, .327). They are always accompanied by rain or hail. In the OT thunder is lioth poetically describc'd and popularly regarded a.s the voice of God. It is .spoken of as a voice in Ps 77" 104', Sir 43" (cf. 1 S 7'"). In several passages (E.x 9'"<'- 19" 20i», 1 S 12"- '«, Job 28-«'38--*)' thunder 'or 'thunder- ing' is simply the tr. of ni'^'ip (' voices'), and even where Sip is rendered 'voice' the verb oyj (' to thunder') in the context sometimes shows that thunder is meant (2 S •^2", Job 37*- » 40", Ps 18" 29»; cf. the use of ipuival in Rev 4» 8» ll'» IC"). Ps 29 is tliroughout a sublime poetic descrip- tion of a thunderstorm and its effects, tliough the noun Ci'T does not once occur in it, but only the often repeated [ihrase .iLT-Sip. Tlio sequence of thunder after lightning is referred to in Job 37*, Sir 32'°, and the general connexion of the two phenomena in Job 28-" SS'". In Ps 104' the creative voice of (!od which bade the waters go to their appointed place (Gn !•) is identified with thunder. Thunder accompanied by hail is enumerated in Ex 9*"' as the seventh of the Plagujs op EgvpT (see vol. iii. p. 891). From Ps 77'" it would appear that it was a thundercloud which came between the Israelites and the Egyptians at the crossing of
the Red Sea, and this is probably alluded to in Ps 81'. Thunder was one of the impressive pheno- mena amidst which the Law was ^iven at Sinai (Ex 19" 20"). A thunderstorm decided the issue of a battle between Israel and the Philistines (1 S 7'°, Sir 46"), and another served to deepen the im- pression made by Samuel's warning to Israel when tliey desired a king (1 S 12"'"*). 'fhis latter e\cnb was all the more significant becau.se it occurred at a most unusual season, — that of wheat harvest.
In Job 39'-' thunder is used figuratively for the noise of battle ; and in Job 26'^ the difference between a whisper and thunder is used to illustrate the contrast between wliat man sees of God's waj's, and the reality of God's power. In Sir 40" tlio goods of tlie unjust are said to go off in a noise like thunder; and in Mk 3" 'sons of thunder' is the interpretation of the title (ioavqprfis given by Jesus to the sons of Zebedee (see BOANERGES). In Is 29° thunder is among the metaphors describing the disasters impending on Ariel, and it appears in a similar connexion in Rev 8' 10". Like other convulsions of nature, it enters largely into the imagery of the Apocalypse (4° U"). Voices like thuntler are mentioned in 6' 14' 19°, and in 10^- * actual thunders are conceived to have an articulate meaning. In view of this last fact, and of the close OT association between thunder and tlie voice of God, it seems probable th.at the ' voice out of heaven ' (Jn 12™' '") was a thunder-peal, as indeed most of those present thought, and that its signi- ficance was recognized and interpreted by Jesus alone. A similar construction may be put on the voices in the narratives of the Baptism and Trans- figuration of Jesus, and the whole subject is illus- trated by the Jewish doctrine of the ^'P"nj, which was always supposed to be preceded by a thunder- clap (Barclay, Talmud, p. IC, note).
The Greek word Kcpavfii, like Lat. fulmen, de- notes thunder and lightning together. It is used in Wis 19'" of the punislmient of the Egyptians at the Exodus (EV ' thunders'), and in 2 RIac 10*" of certain human missiles of destruction (AV ' light- nings,' KV ' thunderbolts '). Kcpaivudis is the LXX tr. of ['El in Is 30**, where all the phenomena of a thunderstorm occur in the context as metaphors for the disasters awaiting As.syria. AV renders F?} 'scattering,' RV 'blast,' RVm 'crash,' De- lit /«ch 'cloud-burst.'
ill Ps 78** 'thunderbolt' is the tr. of ^y-i (mg. 'hailstone'). For the meaning of this word see under CoAL, 4. vol. i. p. 4.-)!''. In Job 39'" AV has 'thunder' as a mislran.slation of .icp (RV ' quivering mane '). J AMES PATRICK.
THYATIRA (Qu&Tetpa.) was an important and wealthy city in the northern part of Lydia, in a district which was in early times sometimes a.ssigned to Mysia ; and it was sometimes called 'the last city of the My.sians," owing to the un- certainty about national boundaries in Asia Minor. In its situation in the open fertile valley of the Lycus, a stream that flows .south-west from the RIysian frontier to join the Ilcrmus, it must have been a settlement (doubtless a large village beside a temple, after the Anat<dian fiishion) from the ear- liest time ; and according to I'linj' and Stephanus it was then called Pelopia Euijipa Semiramis ; but these seem to be mere epithets, and the name Thyateira is probably an old Lydian word, mean- ing 'the town or citadel of Thya': Teira occurs as a Lydian city name. But the importance of Thj'atira bcg.m when it was refounded with a colony of Macedonians bj- Seloucus Nikator be- tween B.C. 301 and 281. t Its history as a Greek