The Beijing Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning signal for thunder and lightning early on Thursday but residents were shocked when the warning went on to include a rare summer hailstorm. The hailstones were not particularly large, averaging about the size of ping pong balls, though this was sufficient to cause considerable damage, affecting more than 30,000 people and destroyed 1,200 acres of crops.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the hailstorm were the photos on social media showing oddly shaped hailstones powerfully reminiscent of the spiked shape of the coronavirus.
Large size hail dropped from Beijing’s sky yesterday, on #China‘s traditional Dragon Boat Festival.
People are scared, because they say the hail looks like Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/AIfec2XqLS
— Shirley Yu (@shirleyzeyu) June 25, 2020
Despite the unseasonal aspect of the storm, it was strangely fitting that the hail interrupted the Dragon Boat Festival traditionally held around the time of the summer solstice. The festival is held on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar, which is the source of the festival’s alternative name, the Double Fifth Festival. The fifth lunar month is considered an unlucky month and the fifth day is a bad day of every month. According to Chinese tradition, natural disasters and illnesses are common in the fifth month.
The devastating storm was also consistent with the Bible’s description of the seventh pre-Exodus plague which struck Egypt. That plague mixed elemental opposites: fiery bolts of lightning intermingled with icy hail.
The hail was very heavy—fire flashing in the midst of the hail—such as had not fallen on the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. Exodus 9:24
The Israel Bible gives a poignant explanation of why the seventh plague, a combination of fire and ice, is appropriate for the turbulent times we live in.
“The hail contains both fire and ice, yet the fire does not melt the ice and the water of the ice does not extinguish the fire. They are able to exist in harmony for the purpose of fulfilling God’s will. Similarly, the medieval commentator Rashi comments (Gen. 1:8) that the Hebrew word for heaven, ‘shamayim,’ comes from the Hebrew words ‘aish’ (fire) and ‘mayim’ (water), as the two came together in harmony to make up the heavens. This serves as a powerful lesson of peace and is referenced in the daily Jewish prayer service. The following supplication appears multiple times in the liturgy: ‘He Who makes peace in His heights (between fire and water), may He make peace, upon us and upon all Israel.’”
#Hailstorm in #Beijing on the Dragon Boat Festival(today), shaped like #CCPvirus. #端午节 #北京 下 #冰雹 形状酷似 #中共病毒 pic.twitter.com/HHpv2QtJJ8
— Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) June 25, 2020
In fact, Jewish sources predict that all of the plagues will reappear in the final Redemption but in even more powerful forms. It is written in Midrash Tanchuma, homiletic teachings collected around the fifth century, that “just as God struck the Egyptians with 10 plagues, so too He will strike the enemies of the Jewish people at the time of the Redemption.”
This concept was explained by Rabbi Bahya ben Asher, a 13th-century Spanish commentator, who wrote, “In Egypt, God used only part of His strength. When the final redemption comes, God will show much, much more of His power.”
More photos of #CCPVirus like hail in #Beijing, today. 端午节北京下冰雹 越看越像 #中共病毒 https://t.co/3GGmSBmIXQ pic.twitter.com/G0iEduVCyZ
— Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) June 25, 2020
Rabbi Yosef Pinto, an internationally acclaimed Israeli mystic rabbi who currently lives in Morocco, made a statement about the coronavirus hitting China in February. The rabbi cited the Prophet Ezekiel as his source.
I will pour out my anger upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will destroy the wealth of No. I will set fire to Egypt; Sin shall writhe in anguish and No shall be torn apart; and Noph [shall face] adversaries in broad daylight Ezekiel 30:15-16
In modern Hebrew, ‘Sin’ (סין) is the name for China.