So Samuel called unto the Lord,.... Not in an authoritative way, or by way of command, but by prayer; so the Targum renders the clause in the preceding verse,
"I will pray before the Lord:''
and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; immediately, though there was no appearance of it; it was harvest time, and a fine harvest day. Josephus says p he sent thunder, lightning, and hail, a terrible storm and tempest it was:
and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel; the Lord that sent this tempest, and Samuel who had such power with God in prayer. Clement of Alexandria q thinks that from hence the Greeks borrowed their fable concerning Aeacus invoking God, when there was a drought in Greece; and as soon as he prayed, immediately there was thunder, and the whole air was covered with clouds; but perhaps they rather framed it from the instance of Elijah praying for rain r, at whose request it came, 1 Kings 18:42.
p Antiqu. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 6. q Stromat. l. 6. p. 630. r Vid. Schmid. in Pindar. Nemea, Ode 5. p. 110.