Thunder

When Israel gathered at Mt Sinai it would be the first time that the people themselves would hear the voice of Adonai.  Previously God spoke only to Moshe and Aaron.  They had witnessed His actions in the plaques and the Sea of Suf separating but now they would meet Adonai themselves:
 
Exodus 20:18. All the people saw (Royim: to see, to look at, regard, learn, observe, watch, find out, consider, give attention to, discern) the thunder (ha Kolot: voice, thunder, sound, noise), the lightning, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled. Standing at a distance,
 
Exodus 20 records the natural realm of our world being invaded by the supernatural, of heaven descending upon earth.  The Hebrew unlocks a heavenly mystery that allows us to contextually understand, to powerfully comprehend what’s actually happening at this Mt Sinai encounter.  First ALL the people “Royim” they regarded, observed, gave attention to, they perceived, discerned the Thunder.  And what is that thunder? His instructions, His commands, His words ushering forth in a Multitude of voices so that everyone, all humanity, all nations, every tribe, every nation, every tongue would hear and understood exactly what He was saying without translation or interpretation.  
 
This is why this verse is so critically important!  Apostasy and deception comes through interpretation.  When you hear the voice of Adonai yourself, when you yourself read God’s infallible word you are not receiving error or mistranslation.  The Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit will help you discern and walk in absolute truth but only of your willingness to receive and trust in that absolute truth.  All of the apologetics and confusion would disappear if Gods children would clear their mind, read the whole word, and ask God what truth is then obey.  It requires humility, openness, and contrite heart.  Adonai spoke His word from the top of Mt. Sinai which does not come back null or void.  Once again remember who departed Egypt:
 
Exodus 12:38. A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds.
 
God did not speak from Mt Sinai in a single voice, in Hebrew only.  He spoke, He released, He cast forth from Mt Sinai a Kolot, a multitude of voices, the known languages of all humanity, to all of His creation that ushered forth like thunder.  You weren’t just hearing the word, every one of your five-human senses were stimulated, seeing, feeling, tasting, hearing, smelling, and perceiving Adonai, His Kingdom, and His power and presence.  Thunder is the only way the word can attempt to describe the power, the sound, the invasion of the natural by the supernatural, the profound presence of God's voice.  David experienced this when in distress he cried out to the God of Israel
 
Psalm 18:6-13. In my distress I called to ADONAI; I cried out to my God. Out of his temple he heard my voice; my cry reached his ears. 7 "Then the earth quaked and shook, the foundations of the mountains trembled. They were shaken because he was angry. 8 Smoke arose in his nostrils; out of his mouth came devouring fire; sparks blazed forth from him. 9 He lowered heaven and came down with thick darkness under his feet. 10 He rode on a keruv; he flew, swooping down on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his hiding-place, his canopy thick clouds dark with water. 12 From the brightness before him, there broke through his thick clouds hailstones and fiery coals. 13 "ADONAI also thundered (ra`am {raw-am'}: Thunder, roar, to cause to thunder, to cause trembling) in heaven, Ha'Elyon sounded his voice -hailstones and fiery coals.
 
No modern sci-fi movie could capture this image of power, majesty, terror and fear that it evokes.  When Adonai heard David’s cries He ROARED in heaven!  Hailstones and fiery coals rain down when He roars!! When Pharaohs army pursued us to the Sea of Suf upon our departure from Egypt Adonai heard our cry and interceded on our behalf:
 
Exodus 14:24-25. Just before dawn, ADONAI looked out on the Egyptian army through the column of fire and cloud and threw them into a panic. 25 He caused the wheels of their chariots to break off, so that they could move only with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "ADONAI is fighting for Isra'el against the Egyptians! Let's get away from them!"
 
Thunder is one of the many attributes, one of the phenomena in which the presence of Adonai is manifested and it is also one of His instruments in chastising His enemies.  This same Exodus 14 scenario is recounted in Psalm 77 and according to the psalmist, it was a thunder-cloud that came between us and the Egyptians as they pursued us at the Red Sea.
 
Psalm 77:18-20. The sound of your thunder (ra`am {raw-am'}: Thunder, roar, to cause to thunder, to cause trembling) was in the whirlwind, the lightning flashes lit up the world, the earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way went through the sea, your path through the turbulent waters; but your footsteps could not be traced. 20 You led your people like a flock under the care of Moshe and Aharon.
 
What a portrait this paints:  Adonai didn’t just looked out from the pillar, HE ROARED, He thundered!  It invoked fear and dread, it was a manifestation, a release of heavenly power upon the earth.  When HE roared Pharaoh’s army was destroyed!  Adonai manifests in Thunder to get our attention as well as to fight our enemies.  When we battled the Philistines in the time of Shm’uel it was the thunder (roar) of Adonai that interceded on our behalf giving us the victory:
 
I Samuel 7:8-10. The people of Isra'el said to Sh'mu'el, "Don't stop crying out to ADONAI our God for us, to save us from the power of the P'lishtim." 9 Sh'mu'el took a baby lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to ADONAI. Then Sh'mu'el cried to ADONAI for Isra'el, and ADONAI answered him. 10 As Sh'mu'el was presenting the burnt offering, the P'lishtim advanced to attack Isra'el. But this time, ADONAI thundered (ra`am Kol Gadol{raw-am'}: Thunder, roar, to cause to thunder, to cause trembling:  Kol: thunder, multitude of voices, Gadol:  Large, big, great) violently over the P'lishtim, throwing them into such confusion that they were struck down before Isra'el.
 
This is profoundly supernatural!  Adonai isn’t just roaring, this is a violent roar, a force and power that threw the Philistines into such confusion and chaos that Israel defeated them! Later, when the Israel asked Sh’mu’el for a king over them he prayed to God for a thunder-storm to appear during the dry harvest season to put the fear of Adonai into the people because they were rejecting God for a king:
 
I Samuel 12:17-18. Now is wheat harvest time, isn't it? I am going to call on ADONAI to send thunder and rain. Then you will understand and see how wicked from 18 ADONAI's viewpoint is the thing you have done in asking for a king "called to ADONAI, and ADONAI sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people became very much afraid of ADONAI and Sh'mu'el.
 
Sh’mu’el’s threat put fear into the hearts of the people, they’d previously experienced the Lord’s Thunder (Roar) revealing the power of heaven to their senses!  It was by this same power that Adonai established all creation as we read in Jeremiah.
 
Jeremiah 10:12-13. God made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his understanding. 13 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses
 
This separation of the upper and lower waters (HaShamayim and Mayim) of Creation was accomplished by the voice of God, thunder.  Thunder is used to denote, describe, reveal the power of God to us.  Adonai’s challenge to Job includes this thunder in the storm of His presence.  After chapters of questioning God and His purposes and lack of presence in Job’s travail and tribulation:
 
Job 40:6-9. ADONAI answered Iyov out of the storm: 7 "Stand up like a man, and brace yourself; I will ask questions; and you, give the answers! 8 "Are you impugning my justice? Putting me in the wrong to prove yourself right? 9 Do you have an arm like God's? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

The most poetical description of the thunder of Adonai is given in Psalm 29.  This psalm is recited in traditional SHABBAT liturgy (which we do) when returning the Torah to the Ark:
 
Psalms 29 (TLV). A psalm of David. Ascribe to Adonai, O sons of God, ascribe to Adonai glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to Adonai the glory of His Name. Bow down to Adonai in the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of Adonai is over the waters. The God of glory thunders— Adonai is over mighty waters. 4 The voice of Adonai is powerful. The voice of Adonai is full of majesty. 5 The voice of Adonai breaks the cedars. Yes, Adonai shatters cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of Adonai hews out flames of fire. 8 The voice of Adonai shakes the desert. Adonai shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of Adonai makes the deer writhe in birth and strips forests bare, and in His Temple all are saying, “Glory!” 10 Adonai sits enthroned over the flood. Yes, Adonai sits as King forever. 11 Adonai gives strength to His people. Adonai blesses His people with shalom.
 
This Psalm gives a majestic description of the omnipotence of God.  The cedars of Lebanon are the same as our giant Redwood Sequoia in northern California! The power of His Thunder, His roar cracks these giant trees like kindling, His roar causes pregnant animals to go into labor yet that roar also brings Shalom, peace in the midst of the storm.  God uses the storms of life to test us. What He really wants is for us to dwell in Him above the storms. Things may look very bleak down here, but nothing can disturb God’s throne above the clouds. Thunder is God's instrument to invoke awe and righteous fear into those who do not yet fear The Lord.  His Thunder is associated with the prophetic, thunder claps when the 7 seals of Revelation are opened.  So much context and understanding has been lost due to poor translation of biblical texts over the millennia.  There’s another profound example of His Thunder in the beginning with Adam & Eve:

Genesis 3:8 (TLV). And they heard the sound of Adonai Elohim going to and fro in the garden in the wind of the day. So the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Adonai Elohim in the midst of the Tree of the garden.
 
What the English describes is Adonai taking a morning or evening stroll like a grandparent who casually calls out to His creation, to Adam to see where he is!  He then coincidently happens to find out that all of His creation has fallen, corrupted by sin!  The same false narrative is found in most of the English translations of this story! The Lord then calls out in:
 
Genesis 3:8-10. They heard the voice(Kol: voice, thunder, sound, noise) of ADONAI, God, walking (mithalech: going, moving, walking) in the garden at the time of the evening breeze (Ruach: time of the moving of the Spirit), so the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of ADONAI (Paniym: Face of God), God, among the trees in the garden. 9 ADONAI, God, called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard your voice (Kol: voice, thunder, sound, noise) in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself."

Let’s put this into Context, Adonai said back in:
 
Genesis 2:16-17. ADONAI, God, gave the person this order: "You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die."
 
The Hebrew gives a far different story of Genesis 3.  A more accurate understanding from the Hebrew reads like this:  
 
Genesis 3:8: “They heard, felt, experienced the Roar, the Thunder of Adonai Elohim moving into the garden in the Ruach, in the Spirit Spirit driven storm of the moment.”
 
They moment they ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve heard Adonai Roared, He Thundered.  They literally felt His rage, His disappointment, His anger.  Adonai’s Presence, His Spirit moved at the time every day.  They didn’t have the annual Moedim Feast cycles, they had a daily Moedim with Adonai!  Adonai wasn’t caught off guard; He was completely aware of what had just happened.  Adam and Eve weren’t caught off Guard either!  They’re hiding from the Face of God because they heard and felt His Thunder, they knew immediate judgment would befall them when they ate this fruit and the Thunder they experienced proved it.  When they heard Him Roar, His Thunder they became sacred and hid themselves.  Yet out the thunder they also hear Him call out to them: Where are You?  Their answer will hold them accountable for their actions.  
 
It’s this understanding of Adonai’s Divine power, the heavenly thunder that reveals how we as Yeshua’s Talmidim are to move, walk, and live.  Yeshua uses Thunder to describe His Talmidim!  Those who walk live and walk in His likeness:
 
Mark 3:16-17. Shim`on, to whom he gave another name, "Kefa"; 17 Ya`akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan, Ya`akov's brother -- to them he gave the name "B'nei-Regesh" (Sons of Thunder (bronte {bron-tay'}": Thunder, Roar));

This spotlights two ordinary brothers, instantly responsive to Yeshua, who gave them a nickname to reveal both their natural fervor and the new purposes God would forge in them. The verse reminds us that the Lord who calls also crafts, harnessing personality for His glory and shaping raw thunder into enduring faithfulness.
 
Blessings and Shalom, Rabbi Eric S Carlson