Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 97:4

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"His lightnings gave shine unto the world" [Psalm 97:4]. This is great joy. Do we not see? Is it not clear? His lightnings have shined unto the whole world: His enemies have been set on fire, and burnt. All that gainsaid has been burnt, and "His lightnings have given shine unto the world." How have they shone? That the world might at length believe. Whence were the lightnings? From the clouds. What are the clouds of God? The preachers of the truth. …

Exposition on Psalm 97 ↗

Jerome

"His lightnings gave light to the world." This is what is said in Jeremiah: "The Lord who made the world in his wisdom, who brought clouds from the end of the earth, made lightnings into rain." "His lightnings gave light to the world." The philosophers who are accustomed to dispute about the natures of things say that, unless clouds coming against each other are dashed together, fire cannot slip out of them; but when they have been driven, by a certain contest among themselves, into thunders, then lightning slips out of them. …

Homily 73, on Psalm 96 (Alternate Series) ↗