Can it rain frogs, fish or other strange things?
It may never rain cats and dogs, but on rare occasions fish, shells, and frogs have indeed fallen from the sky.
In 1984, live six-inch [15 centimeters] flounders (fish) fell on a London neighborhood. It is thought that a waterspout had lifted them to cloud level from the Thames River, then later dropped them several miles away. The fish were probably as surprised as the people who saw them fall.
More recently, the fishing port of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England experienced a shower of fish on August 6th, 2000.
Similar stories are told of remarkable “showers” from other locations near open water. In one memorable storm in England in 1844, people held out hats to catch dozens of falling frogs. Such small creatures, once airborne, might be carried aloft for an hour or more within the strong updrafts of a thunderstorm.
These stories remind us of the plague of frogs that occurred long ago in Egypt (Exodus 8). At that time, however, the frogs came onto the land from the rivers and ponds. This plague was much more extensive that a rare fall of frogs during a local storm.
Food from the sky
Manna was an unusual, beneficial substance that God sent from the sky. This “bread of angels” (Psalm 78:25) gave nourishment to the Israelites during their forty years of wanderings in the desert. Exodus 16:14 describes the manna as “thin flakes like frost on the ground.” Psalm 78:24 says God “rained down manna for the people to eat.”
Natural explanations of this manna have ranged from a honeydew substance made by insects to resin from trees. Numbers 11:7 says the manna indeed looked like resin, but it was clearly a miraculous gift from God (Deuteronomy 8:3).
It did not fall on the Sabbath, and stopped forever on the day that the Israelites began to eat the grain of Canaan (Josh. 5:12).
More information
Author: Dr. Donald DeYoung, Ph.D. (Physics). Excerpted from Weather and the Bible, pg. 79, published by Baker Book House. Supplied by Films for Christ (used with permission). Copyright © 1997, 2002, Films for Christ, All Rights Reserved—except as noted on attached “Usage and Copyright” page that grants ChristianAnswers.Net users generous rights for putting this page to work in their homes, personal witnessing, churches and schools.
