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Lightning (2)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

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LIGHTNING (ἀστραπή).—There are 3 references to lightning in the Gospels, one of these being duplicated (in Mt. and Lk.).

1. Luke 10:18 ‘I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.’ The word ‘beheld’ (ἐθεώρουν), being in the impf., indicates a continuous contemplation. Taken in conjunction with the aorist participle ‘fallen’ (so Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , not ‘fall’ as in Authorized Version , the Gr. being πεσόντα), this cannot mean that in a pre-existent state Jesus beheld the fall of Satan taking place, i.e. when the devil was cast out of heaven, as described in Paradise Lost. The meaning of the expression should be arrived at through the context, where we read of the Seventy returning to Jesus with joy, and exclaiming, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name’ (Luke 10:17), in reference to their successful exorcism. This meaning seems to be that the news brought to Jesus by His disciples did not take Him by surprise, because at the very time when they were carrying on their successful work He was looking at the prince of the demons lying fallen (so Holtzmann, Plummer, etc.),—a highly figurative expression which need not point to an actual vision. Jesus had the intuitive assurance that His arch-enemy was defeated already. Therefore the disciples were able to cast out the demons. The situation may be illustrated by the parable of the strong man bound by a stronger so that his house can be robbed (Mark 3:27), Satan being the strong man, Christ the stronger, the demons the vessels that are taken from the house, which may be either the world or the possessed victims. There is no indication when Satan fell (as perhaps at the Temptation of Jesus). He is contemplated as fallen. Still the aorist points to a definite action, and the comparison with lightning emphasizes this point. Possibly our Lord was alluding to Isaiah 14:12. A similar idea appears in Revelation 12:9. Wellhausen regards the verse in Lk. as apocryphal; but Jesus frequently used apocalyptic imagery. In the Koran (Sura 72) the demons are cast out of heaven at the coming of Mohammed, the angels bombarding them with stars.

2. Matthew 24:27 ‘For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of Man’ (cf. Luke 17:24). The idea seems to be that of widespread and unmistakable evidence. The coming of the Son of Man will be seen everywhere, and that very manifestly (so Plummer, Wellhausen, etc.). A second thought, the suddenness of the flash (Plummer), is not so apparent, if it is even present at all, in this application of the idea of lightning to the Parousia. For the apparent contradiction between this thought and that in Luke 17:20 see Observation.

3. The one other Gospel reference to lightning is in the description of the angel of the Resurrection (Matthew 28:3), whose appearance is ‘as lightning,’ the idea being dazzling brightness.

W. F. Adeney.