Psalms 18:12

The Lord also thundered in the heavens,.... By his apostles and ministers, some of which were Boanergeses, sons of thunder, whose ministry was useful to shake the consciences of men, and bring them to a sense of themselves, Mar 3:17;

and the Highest gave his voice; the same with thunder; for thunder is often called the voice of the Lord, Job 37:5; compare with this Psa 68:11; the Targum interprets it, "he lifted up his word"; the same effects as before follow,

hail stones and coals of fire; See Gill on Psa 18:12.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Psa 18:12 At the brightness [that was] before him his thick clouds passed, hail [stones] and coals of fire.

Ver. 12. At the brightness that was before him, &c.] i.e. At his bright presence, his thick clouds (wherein he was enveloped) passed, or did cleave, as it were, in sunder; whence came hailstones mixed with coals of fire, or lightnings out of the clouds; which God maketh at once airy seas and airy furnaces; fetching fire out of the midst of water, and hard stone out of the midst of thin vapours.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 18:12. At the brightness that was before him, &c. — Schultens, Waterland, and some others, translate this verse, At his lightning, his clouds swelled and burst out into hail-stones and balls of fire. The meaning is, that through the lightning his clouds fermented, that is, swelled, and, as it were, boiled over, being rarefied by the heat. In the former part of this description, the clouds are represented as condensed, heavy, and lowering, ready to burst out with all the fury of a tempest; and here, as beginning to disburden and discharge themselves, by the eruption of the lightning in fire, flames, and hail-stones mixed. The abrupt manner in which the burning coals and hail-stones are mentioned, points out the sudden and impetuous fall of them. The words rendered coals of fire here signify living, burning coals. Where the lightning fell it devoured all before it, and turned whatever it touched into burning embers. See Chandler and Dodd.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. (Psa 18:12). From the blaze before him his clouds passed—hail and coals of fire. The dark clouds which enveloped him are now described as penetrated by the light within. Passed, i. e. passed away, were dispelled. The last clause may be construed as an exclamation such as an eye-witness might have uttered. The combination is borrowed from Exo 9:24. (Compare Psa 78:47-48.) Hail, as an instrument of the divine vengeance, is also mentioned in Jos 10:11.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Out of this obscurity, which impresses the beholder with awe and dread, He reveals Himself by sudden light and the means of His terrible wrath (Jos 10:11; Psa 78:47).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed] The word נגה nogah signifies the lightning. This goes before him: the flash is seen before the thunder is heard, and before the rain descends; and then the thick cloud passes. Its contents are precipitated on the earth, and the cloud is entirely dissipated.

Hail-stones and coals of fire.] This was the storm that followed the flash and the peal; for it is immediately added-

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. At the brightness, etc. The Psalmist again returns to the lightnings which, by dividing and as it were cleaving the clouds, lay open the heaven; and, therefore, he says, that the clouds of God (that is to say, those which he had set before him, in token of his anger, for the purpose of depriving men of the enjoyment of the light of his countenance) passed away at the brightness which was before him These sudden changes affect us with a much more lively sense of the power and agency of God than natural phenomena which move on in one uniform course. He adds, that there followed hail-storm and coals of fire; for when the thunder separates and rends asunder the clouds, it either breaks out in lightnings, or the clouds resolve themselves into hail.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) At the brightness.—This is obscure. Literally, From the brightness before him his clouds passed through (Heb., avar—LXX., διῆλθον; Vulg., transierunt) hail and fiery coals. In Samuel it is “From the brightness before him flamed fiery coals,” which is the description we should expect, and, doubtless, gives the sense we are to attach to our text. Through the dark curtain of clouds the lightnings dart like emanations from the Divine brightness which they hide. The difficulty arises from the position of avaiv, “his clouds,” which looks like a subject rather than an object to avrû. It has been conjectured, from comparison with Samuel, that the word has been inserted through error, from its likeness to the verb. If retained it must be rendered as object, “Out of the brightness of his presence there passed through his clouds hail and fiery coals.” And some obscurity of language is pardonable in a description of phenomena so overpowering and bewildering as “a tempest dropping fire.” A modern poet touches this feeling:—

“Then fire was sky, and sky fire,

And both one brief ecstasy,

Then ashes.”—R. BROWNING, Easter Day.

In the Authorised Version the thought is of a sudden clearing of the heavens, which is not true to nature, and the clause “hailstones and coals of fire” comes in as an exclamation, as in the next verse. But there it is probably an erroneous repetition, being wanting in Sam. and in the LXX. version of the psalm. Notice how the feeling of the terrible fury of the storm is heightened by the mention of “hail,” so rare in Palestine.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. The best rendering of this obscure verse seems to be:

From the brightness before him there passed through his thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

The flashes of lightning, accompanied by hail (Exo_9:23-24), are as it were rays of the “unapproachable light” in which He dwells, piercing through the dense clouds which conceal Him. The text in 2 Sam. which has only, “at the brightness before him coals of fire were kindled,” is evidently mutilated.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At the brightness that was before him - From the flash - the play of the lightnings that seemed to go before him.

His thick clouds passed - or, vanished. They seemed to pass away. The light, the flash, the blaze, penetrated those clouds, and seemed to dispel, or to scatter them. The whole heavens were in a blaze, as if there were no clouds, or as if the clouds were all driven away. The reference here is to the appearance when the vivid flashes of lightning seem to penetrate and dispel the clouds, and the heavens seem to be lighted up with a universal flame.

Hail-stones - That is, hailstones followed, or fell.

And coals of fire - There seemed to be coals of fire rolling along the ground, or falling from the sky. In the corresponding place in 2Sa 22:13 the expression is, “Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.” That is, fires were kindled by the lightning. The expression in the psalm is more terse and compact, but the reason of the change cannot be assigned.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

At his glorious and powerful appearance

his thick clouds passed away, i.e. vanished, (as this word is oft taken, as Psa 90:5,6; Isa 29:5; Hab 3:10) being dissolved into showers of hail-stones, &c.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 12. Suddenly the terrible artillery of heaven was discharged; the brightness of lightning lit up the clouds as with a glory proceeding from him who was concealed within the cloudy pavilion; and volleys of hailstones and coals of fire were hurled forth upon the enemy. The lightnings seemed to cleave the clouds and kindle them into a blaze, and then hailstones and flakes of fire with flashes of terrific grandeur terrified the sons of men.

Ver. 12. Coals of fire. The word signifies, living burning coals. Where the lightning fell, it devoured all before it, and burned whatever it touched into burning embers. Samuel Chandler.

None.

Psalms 18:13*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Up to this point, from Psa_18:7, we have a description of the prelude and portents of deliverance. Jehovah has now descended to the scene of action, and the dreadful battle begins.

At the brightness… before him—At the effulgence of his divine glory which preceded him.

His thick clouds passed—That is, the storm clouds charged with thunderbolts passed on to the point where they were to accomplish the judicial purpose of God.

Hail stones and coals of fire—The clouds were surcharged, armed, with hail and fire. The description is highly military.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed. The "brightness" intended is probably that of lightning. The "thick clouds" are riven and parted asunder for the lightning to burst forth. Then come, almost simultaneously, hail stones and coals of fire; i.e., hail like that which fell in Egypt before the Exodus, (Exo_9:22-34) when "there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail" (ver. 24) a fire which "ran along upon the ground," or some very unusual electrical phenomenon (see the comment on Exodus in the "Homiletic Commentary," p. 208).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At - His glorious and powerful appearance. Passed - Or, passed away, vanished, being dissolved into showers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the darkness of waters that are in the thick clouds of the skies are the darkness that is about Him. Lest you say that within the darkness there is no light, Scripture tells us: From the brightness before Him, and from within His partition, His thick clouds that are about Him are split, and hail and coals of fire pass through them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.