THUNDER
394
THURIBLE
17); and is introduced in visions (Rev. iv, 5: vi, 1 ; viii, 5; xi, 19; xiv, 2; xvi, 18; xix, G; Esther [Apoc] xi, 5). So in Kev.x, 3, 4, "seven thunders." See Skven. It is adopted as a comparison. Thus '• as lightning is seen before the thunder is heard, so modesty in a jierson before he speaks recommends him to the favor of the auditors" (Ecclus. xxxii, 10 ; Rev. xix, G, etc.). The sudden ruin of the unjust man is compared to the transitory noise of tliunder ( Ecclus. xl, 13) ; but see Arnald, ad loc. One of the sublimest metaphors in the .Scriptures occurs in Job xxvi, 14, " Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of liim [y^iy, a mere whisper] ; but the thunder of his power, who can understand';'" Here the whisper and the thunder are admirably op- posed to each other. If tlie former be so wonderful and overwhelming, how immeasural)ly more so the latter? In the subUme description of tlie war-horse (Job xxxix), lie is said to perceive the battle afar off " by the thunder of the captains, and the shouting" (ver. •2b). That part of the description, however (ver. 19), " hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?" appears to be a mistranslation. To the class of mistranslations must be referred every instance of the word " thumierbolts" in our version, a word which corresponds to no reality in nature. See
THUNDKUr.OI.T.
It is related (.John xii, 28) that Jesus said, " Fiither, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heav- en, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Some of the people that stood by, but had not heard the words distinctly, said it had "thundered," for the v^oicc came from heaven; others who had caught the words supposed that God had spoken to Jesus by an angel, conformably to the Jewish opinion that God had never spoken but by the ministry of angels. Per- haps, however, thunder attended the voice, either a lit- tle before or after; comp. Exod. xix, IG, 19; Rev. iv, 5; vi, 1. See Bath-Kol.
Thunder enters into the appellative or surname given by our Lord to James and John — Boanerges, o tcrriv, v'toi jifJOiTiic, says Mark, "sons of thuniler" (iii, 17). Schleusner here understands the thunder of elo- quence as iu Aristoph. (.4 cha?: 530). Virgil applies a like figure to the two Scipios," Duo fulmina belli" (J5,'«. vi, 842). Others understand the allusion to be to the energy and courage, etc., of the two apostles (Lardner, f/lsf. of the Apostles and Ecan- gelists, ix, 1 ; Suicer, Thesaurus, s. v. BpovTi)). Theophylact says they were so called because they were great preachers and divines, log fieya- XoKqpvKaQ Kal ^EoXoyticoTaTovc- Others sup- pose the allusion to be to the proposal of these apostles to call fire from heaven on the inhospit- able Samaritans (Luke ix, 53, 54). It is not certain when our Lord so surnamed them. — Kitto. See BoANEKf;ES.
In a ptiysical point of view, the most noticeable feature in connection with thunder is the extreme rarity of its occurrence during the summer months in Palestine and the adjacent countries. From the middle of April to the middle of Septemlier it is hardly ever heard. Robinson, indeed, menlious ^ an iustauce of thunder in the early part of ^Mav h'' {Researches, i, 430), and Russell in July {Aleji/i'. ii, 289) ; but in each case it is stated to be a w »t unusual event. Hence it was selected by Samuel as a striking expression of the Divine displeasure towards the Israelites: "Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call upon the Lord, and he shall send thunder aud rain" (1 Sam. xii. 17). Rain in harvest was deemed as extraordinary as snow in summer (Prov. xxvi, 1), and Jerome asserts that he had never witnessed it in the latter part of June, or in July {Comment, on Amos iv, 7); the same observations api)ly equally to thunder, which is rarely unaccompanied with rain (Rus- sell, i, 72; ii, 285). — Smith. Lieutenant Lynch,
in the month of May, witnessed a thunder - storm in the mountains of Moab, near the Dead Sea. He says, " Before we had half ascended the pass, however, there came a shout of thunder from the dense cloud which liad gatliered at the summit of the gorge, fol- lowed by a rain, compared to which the gentle showers of our more favored clime are as dew-drops to the over- flowing cistern. The black and threatening ck)ud soon enveloped the mountain-tops, the lightning play- ing across it in incessant flashes, while the loud thun- der reverberated from side to side of the appalling chasm. Between the peals we soon heard a roaring and continuous sound. It was the torrent from the rain-cloud, sweeping in a long line of foam down the steep declivity, bearing along huge fragments of rock, which, striking against each other, sounded like mimic thuntler" (Ej-pedition, p. 353). See Lightning.
Thunderbolt (^'»?;"!', resheph, a fiame, or "coal," Cant, viii, 6; hence lightning ; fig. for arroio, Psa. Ixxvi, 3; ot fever, Dent, xxxii, 24). In accordance with the popular notion, "hot thunderbolts" (Psa. Ixxviii, 48, n"'SU3"i, Sept, T<ij TTvpi, Vulg. igni) means "lightnings." "Then shall the right-aiming thunderbolts go abroad" (Wisd. v, 21), i3oXiCt(; ciaTpnTrwi', " flashes" or "strokes of lightning." " Threw stones like thunderbolts" (2 Mace, i, 16), avvtKipai'Vioaav. The word conveys an allusion to the mode in which lightning strikes the earth. See Lightning.