Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 18:12
At the brightness [that was] before him his thick clouds passed, hail [stones] and coals of fire.
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed] The word 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-
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Out of this obscurity, whichimpresses the beholder with awe and dread, He reveals Himself bysudden light and the means of His terrible wrath (Jos 10:11;Psa 78:47).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
At the brightness [that was] before him, The lightning that came out of the thick clouds; which may denote, either the coming of Christ to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, which was swift and sudden, clear and manifest; or the spreading of the Gospel in the Gentile world, in which Christ, the brightness of his Father’s glory, appeared to the illumination of many; see Mt 24:27; and both may be intended, as the effects following show;
his thick clouds passed; that is, passed away; the gross darkness, which had for so many years covered the Gentile world, was removed when God sent forth his light and truth; and multitudes, who were darkness itself, were made light in the Lord;
hail [stones] and coals of fire; the same Gospel that was enlightening to the Gentiles, and the savour of life unto life unto them, was grievous, like hail stones, and tormenting, scorching, irritating, and provoking, like coals of fire, and the savour of death unto death, to the Jews; when God provoked them, by sending the Gospel among the Gentiles, and calling them: or these may design the heavy, awful, and consuming judgments of God upon them, which are sometimes signified by hail storms; see Re 8:7. In 2Sa 22:13, it is only, “through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) At the brightness.This is obscure. Literally, From the brightness before him his clouds passed through (Heb., avarLXX., ; 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 avr. 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 18:12. At the brightness that was before him At his lightning his clouds swelled, and burst out into hailstones and coals of fire. Schultens, Chandler, &c. The meaning is, that at the brightness or lightning which proceeded from God, his clouds fermented, i.e. being rarefied by the heat, swelled and boiled over. Thus Hesiod represents the whole earth, the currents of the ocean, and the great sea, as fermenting and boiling, when Jupiter threw abroad his thunder and lightning. See Theog. ver. 695, 696. In the former part of this description, the clouds are represented as condensed, heavy, and louring, ready to burst out with all the fury of a tempest; and here, as beginning to disburthen and discharge themselves, by the eruption of the lightning in fire, flames, and hailstones, mixed: the abrupt manner in which the burning coals and hailstones are mentioned, points out the sudden and impetuous fall of them. The word gachalei, rendered coals, signifies living, burning coals. Where the lightning fell, it devoured all before it, and turned whatever it touched into burning embers. Chandler.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
At the: Psa 97:3, Psa 97:4, Hab 3:4, Hab 3:5, Mat 17:2, Mat 17:5
hail: Exo 9:23, Exo 9:24, Jos 10:11, 2Sa 22:13-15, Rev 16:21
Reciprocal: Exo 19:9 – Lo Exo 20:21 – thick Deu 32:24 – burning heat 2Sa 22:12 – made Job 41:21 – General Psa 97:2 – Clouds Pro 12:26 – but Isa 50:3 – General Eze 10:2 – coals Eze 13:13 – and great Eze 38:22 – an overflowing Hab 3:11 – at the light of thine arrows they went Rev 8:7 – hail Rev 11:19 – and great
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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.