The Powers of Nature are Transcended to Various Degrees

Miracle may be defined as something which takes place by divine power outside the ordinary course of nature. Miracles thus defined fall into three classes according to the extent to which they transcend this powers of nature. Thus certain things never could under any circumstances be done by natural powers, e.g., the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the Resurrection of the dead, etc. Others, again, could be done by unaided nature, but not under the particular circumstances in question, e.g., nature gives life, yet cannot give it to a dead body, hence the raising of a dead man is a miracle. Lastly certain wonderful things take place which are only to be considered as miracles when we regard the way in which they happen, e.g., certain drugs can cure a fever, but no drug can cure a fever on the instant; nature, again, can cause darkness, but not such darkness as that of the ninth plague in Egypt. All the miracles given below will fall into one or another of these three categories.

Exod. 4:2-4, Moses rod is turned into a serpent, cp. 7:10.

Exod. iv. 6-7, His hand becomes leprous.

Exod. 7-12, The ten plagues of Egypt.

Exod. 13:21-22, llie pillar of cloud and fire, cp. Numbers 14:14.

Exod. 14, The passage of the Red Sea.

Exod. 15:23-26, The healing of the waters of Mara.

Exod. 16:13, The quails, cp. Numbers 11:31-34.

Exod. 16:13-36, The Manna, cp. Numbers 11:2-9.

Exod. 17:6, Water from the rock at Rephidim, cp. Numbers 20:11.

Exod. 40:32-36, The Glory of the Lord, commonly termed by the Rabbis the Shechinah, cp. Lev. 9:23, Numbers 9:15-23, 10:11, 12:10, 16:43, Deut. 1:33.

Lev. 9:24, Fire descends on the holocaust, cp. 2 Macc. 2:10.

Lev. 10:2, Fire destroys Nadab and Abiu.

Numbers 11:1, Fire destroys the murmurers.

Numbers 12:10, Mary is smitten with leprosy

Numbers 16:31, The earth opens and swallows Dathan and Abiron.

Numbers 16:35, Fire destroys the children of Core.

Numbers 17:1-10, Aaron s rod blossoms miraculously.

Numbers 21:6-9, The fiery serpent and the Brazen Serpent.

Numbers 22:28-30, Balaam s ass speaks to him.

Jos. 3, The miraculous passage of the Jordan.

Jos. 6, The walls of Jericho fall.

Jos. 10:12-14, The sun and the moon stand still, cp. Ecclus. 46:5.

1 Sam. 5:3-5, The fall of Dagon.

1 Sam. 5:6-12, Plagues on the Philistines.

1 Sam. 6:19, The slaughter of those who looked into the ark!

1 Sam. 12:18, Thunder and rain out of due season at Samuel's prayer.

2 Sam. 24, The plague, owing to the census of the people; its cessation.

3 Kings 8:10, The Shechinah on occasion of the consecration of Solomon's temple; cp. 2 Paral. 5:13-14.

3 Kings 13:4-6, The withering of Jeroboam's hand, its restoration at the prophet's prayer, the rending of the altar.

3 Kings 17, Elias calls a famine on the earth; he is fed by ravens; he multiplies the oil and meal; he raises to life the widow's son.

3 Kings 18, Elias calls down fire from heaven on the sacrifice; and wins rain by his prayer.

4 Kings 1, Elias calls down fire from heaven on the two captains with their two bands of fifty.

4 Kings 2, Elias is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot; his mantle descends on Eliseus who crosses the Jordan by its means; Eliseus sweetens a spring of water; bears come and destroy his mockers.

4 Kings 3, Eliseus supplies the troops with water in the desert.

4 Kings 4, Eliseus multiplies the oil; he raises a child to life; he purifies the poisoned food; he multiplies food.

4 Kings 5, Naaman is miraculously healed in the Jordan; his leprosy attaches itself to Giezi, Eliseus servant, because of his dishonesty.

4 Kings 6, Eliseus makes iron to swim; he blinds the Syrian troops and leads them into Samaria.

4 Kings 8, The bones of Eliseus miraculously give life to a dead man, cp. Ecclesiasticus xlviii., 14.
4 Kings 19, An angel slays 85,000 of Sennacherib's troops, cp. 2 Paral. 32 and Isaias 37.

4 Kings 20, Ezechias life is prolonged by fifteen years, the shadow on the dial of Achaz going back ten degrees in proof of this, cp. II. Paral. xxxii., Isaias xxxviii.

2 Paral. 7:1, Fire descends on Solomon's holocausts, cp. 2 Mace. 2:10.

2 Paral. 14:12, Asa gains a miraculous victory over the Ethiopians.

2 Paral. 26:19, the miraculous leprosy of Azarias.

Daniel 1:15, Miraculous preservation of the health of Daniel and his companions.

Daniel 3:24, 48, 91, 93, Their miraculous preservation in the furnace.

Daniel 5, The writing on the wall.

Daniel 6, Daniel in the lion s den.

Daniel 8:45-50, Daniel s miraculous knowledge.

Daniel 14, Daniel again in the lions den; the transportation of the Prophet Habacuc.

2 Macc 3, The divine punishment of Heliodorus.

2 Macc 15, A sword is divinely bestowed on Judas Maccabeus.


By Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.