Wheel

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) Any instrument having the form of, or chiefly consisting of, a wheel.

(2): (n.) A spinning wheel. See under Spinning.

(3): (n.) A firework which, while burning, is caused to revolve on an axis by the reaction of the escaping gases.

(4): (n.) A potter's wheel. See under Potter.

(5): (n.) An instrument of torture formerly used.

(6): (n.) A circular frame turning about an axis; a rotating disk, whether solid, or a frame composed of an outer rim, spokes or radii, and a central hub or nave, in which is inserted the axle, - used for supporting and conveying vehicles, in machinery, and for various purposes; as, the wheel of a wagon, of a locomotive, of a mill, of a watch, etc.

(7): (n.) A circular frame having handles on the periphery, and an axle which is so connected with the tiller as to form a means of controlling the rudder for the purpose of steering.

(8): (v. t.) To put into a rotatory motion; to cause to turn or revolve; to cause to gyrate; to make or perform in a circle.

(9): (v. t.) To convey on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle; as, to wheel a load of hay or wood.

(10): (v. i.) To roll forward.

(11): (v. i.) To go round in a circuit; to fetch a compass.

(12): (v. i.) To change direction, as if revolving upon an axis or pivot; to turn; as, the troops wheeled to the right.

(13): (v. i.) To turn on an axis, or as on an axis; to revolve; to more about; to rotate; to gyrate.

(14): (n.) A rolling or revolving body; anything of a circular form; a disk; an orb.

(15): (n.) The burden or refrain of a song.

(16): (n.) A turn revolution; rotation; compass.

(17): (n.) A bicycle or a tricycle; a velocipede.

Holman Bible Dictionary

The Bible describes both a functional use and symbolic meaning for the wheel. The wheel was indispensable for transportation. It was used on wagons, carts, and chariots, and the word wheel could be a synonym for any of these vehicles ( Ezekiel 23:24; Ezekiel 26:10; Nahum 3:2 ). In Solomon's Temple, there were ten stands upon which rested ten lavers. Each of the stands were adorned with four wheels each (1 Kings 7:30-33 ).

Ezekiel's vision of the great wheel in the sky (1 Kings 1:4-28; 1 Kings 10:1 ) was a symbol of God's presence. There were four cherubim around the throne. Beside each, there was a wheel which “sparkled like chrysolite” (1 Kings 1:16 NIV). Ezekiel described the rims of the wheel as “high and awesome,” and “full of eyes” ( 1 Kings 1:18 NIV). The exact meaning of these mysterious images is unknown. Perhaps they represented the wheels of God's invisible chariot moving across the sky (“chariots of the sun,” see 2 Kings 23:11 ) or the wheels of God's throne (Daniel 7:9 ).

Other symbolic uses of the wheel are a whirlwind (Psalm 77:18 NIV) and God's judgment, as a wheel is driven over the wicked ( Proverbs 20:26 ). Jeremiah described God's redemption as the reshaping of marred clay on a potter's wheel (Proverbs 18:13 ). See Chariots .

Brad Creed

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

Psalm 83:13 (a) We may believe that it is a type of a rolling, moving mass, with no anchorage, no certain dwelling place, and no goal. It describes the enemies of GOD, and their fickle character.

Ecclesiastes 12:6 (c) It is generally believed that this refers to the human heart which fails at the end of the journey, and therefore cannot again pump the blood. It occurs in the midst of the story of old age in which various parts of the body become unfit for service.

Jeremiah 18:3 (a) This type represents the processes of GOD wherein He molds and shapes either a person or a nation into the kind of vessel He desires. It represents the training He gives, and sometimes the whipping necessary in order that He may obtain the result He wishes to have.

Ezekiel 1:15 (b) Wheels always represent progress, motion, purpose, accomplishment. In this Scripture the wheels represent the power of GOD in action. The wheel within a wheel represents the inner motions, purposes and desires of our Lord within Himself. These cause the outer actions which we see, and which are represented by the big wheels. The rims of these wheels reach unto Heaven to inform us that the purposes and works of GOD are higher than ours, too high for our comprehension. The eyes on the wheels represent the omniscience of the Spirit of GOD, who knows full well what He is doing, and understands all the purposes of GOD. He sees the end from the beginning, and nothing is hidden from His sight. (See also Daniel 7:9).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

WHEEL . The various parts of a cart or chariot wheel are enumerated in connexion with the bronze wheels of Solomon’s lavers ( 1Ki 7:30; 1 Kings 7:32 f.). In RV [Note: Revised Version.] v. 33 reads: ‘And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves were all molten’ (cf. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ). In carts and chariots the essential parts were, of course, of wood. The felloes were made in segments dowelled together. For illustt. see Wilkinson. Anc. Egy . i, 234 ff. The finest specimen of a Roman chariot wheel as yet found has the felloe, ‘which is formed of a single piece of wood bent,’ and the nave shod with iron, the latter being also ‘bushed with iron’ (Scott, Hist. Rev ., Oct. 1905, p. 123, with illust.). For the potter’s wheel, see Potter. Wells and cisterns were also furnished with wheels, over which the rope passed for drawing up the water-bucket ( Ecclesiastes 12:6 ). See also Cart, Chariot.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

King James Dictionary

WHEEL, n.

1. A circular frame of wood, iron or other metal, consisting of a nave or hub, into which are inserted spokes which sustain a rim or felly the whole turning on an axis. The name is also given to a solid circular or round piece of wood or metal, which revolves on an axis. The wheel and axle constitute one of the mechanical powers. 2. A circular body. 3. A carriage that moves on wheels. 4. An instrument for torturing criminals as an examination made by the rack and the wheel. 5. A machine for spinning thread, of various kinds. 6. Rotation revolution turn as the vicissitude and wheel of things. 7. A turning about a compass.

He throws his flight in many an airy wheel.

8. In pottery, a round board turned by a lathe in a horizontal position, on which the clay is shaped by the hand.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Psalm 83:13 , translated "rolling thing" in Isaiah 17:13 . Mr. Thomson, for many years a missionary in Syria, thinks the wild artichoke may here be referred to. This plant sends out numerous stalks or branches of equal length in all directions, forming a globe a foot in diameter. These globes become rigid and light as a feather in autumn, and thousands of them fly rolling and bounding over the plains, the sport of every wind. This "rolling thing" furnishes the modern Arabs with a current proverb and a curse.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Psalm 83:13Isaiah 17:13

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

James 3:6Course

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hwēl  : (1) אופן , 'ōphan , is the usual word ( Exodus 14:25 , etc.). In Proverbs 20:26; Isaiah 28:27 the rollers of a threshing wagon are meant (see Agriculture ). (2) גּלגּל , galgal , "rolling thing," generally in the sense of "wheel" (Isaiah 5:28 , etc.), but the Revised Version (British and American) in Ezekiel 10:2 , Ezekiel 10:6 , Ezekiel 10:13 has "whirling wheels ," an advantageous change. The "wheel ... broken at the cistern" in Ecclesiastes 12:6 is the windlass for drawing the water, and by the figure the breakdown of the old man's breathing apparatus is probably meant. In Psalm 83:13 , the King James Version has "wheel," but this translation (that of the Septuagint) is quite impossible; the Revised Version (British and American) "whirling dust" (sucked up by a miniature whirlwind) is perhaps right, but the translations proposed are end-less. (3) גּלגּל , gilgal , Isaiah 28:28 , the roller of a threshing wagon. (4) אבנים , 'obhnayim , Jeremiah 18:3 . See Potter . (5) פּעם , pa‛am , Judges 5:28 , literally, "step" (so the Revised Version margin), and the sound of horses' hoofs is intended. (6) τροχός , trochós , Sirach 33:5; James 3:6 (the King James Version "course"). In the former passage, "The heart of a fool is as a cart-wheel," the changeableness of a light disposition is satirized. In James the figure is of a wheel in rotation, so that a flame starting at any point is quickly communicated to the whole. Just so an apparently insignificant sin of the tongue produces an incalculably destructive effect.

The phrase "wheel of nature" ( τροχὸς τῆς γενέσεως , trochós tḗs genéseos ) is used here for "the world in progress." It is not a very natural figure and has given rise to much discussion. the King James Version accents trochós ("course") instead of trochós (" wheel"). but the language throughout is metaphorical and "course" is not a sufficiently metaphorical word. The translation "birth" for geneseōs (so the Revised Version margin). i.e. "a wheel set in motion by birth." is out of the question. as the argument turns on results wider than any individual's existence. "Wheel of nature" is certainly right. But a comparison of life to a wheel in some sense or other (chiefly that of "Fortune's wheel") is common enough in Greek and Latin writers, and, indeed the exact combination trochos geneseōs is found in at least one (Orphic) writer (full references in the commentaries of Mayor and W. Bauer). It would seem, then, that James had heard the phrase, and he used it as a striking figure, with entire indifference to any technical significance it might have. This supposition is preferable to that of an awkward translation from the Aramaic. See Course .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography InformationMcClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Wheel'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/w/wheel.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.