Whirlwind

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a wind which rises suddenly from almost every point, is exceedingly impetuous and rapid, and imparts a whirling motion to dust, sand, water, and occasionally to bodies of great weight and bulk, carrying them either upward or downward, and scattering them about in different directions. Whirlwinds and water spouts are supposed to proceed from the same cause; their only difference being, that the latter pass over the water, and the former over the land. Both of them have a progressive as well as a circular motion, generally rise after calms and great heats, and occur most frequently in warm latitudes. The wind blows in every direction from a large surrounding space, both toward the water spout and the whirlwind; and a water spout has been known to pass, in its progressive motion, from sea to land, and, when it has reached the latter, to produce all the phenomena and effects of a whirlwind. There is no doubt, therefore, of their arising from a similar cause, as they are both explicable on the same general principles. In the imagery employed by the sacred writers, these frightful hurricanes are introduced as the immediate instruments of the divine indignation: "He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath,"  Psalms 58:9 . "God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind,"  Isaiah 17:13 . "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet,"  Nahum 1:3 . All these are familiar images to the inhabitants of eastern countries, and receive some elucidation from the subjoined descriptions of English travellers. "On the 25th," says Bruce, "at four o'clock in the afternoon, we set out from the villages of the Nuba, intending to arrive at Basbock, where is the ferry over the Nile; but we had scarcely advanced two miles into the plain, when we were enclosed in a violent whirlwind, or what is called at sea the water spout. The plain was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened by a shower in the night time. The unfortunate camel that had been taken by Cohala seemed to be nearly in the centre of its vortex; it was lifted and thrown down at a considerable distance, and several of its ribs broken; although, as far as I could guess, I was not near the centre, it whirled me off my feet, and threw me down upon my face, so as to make my nose gush out with blood: two of the servants, likewise, had the same fate. It plastered us all over with mud, almost as smoothly as could have been done with a trowel. It took away my sense and breathing for an instant; and my mouth and nose were full of mud when I recovered. I guess the sphere of its action to be about two hundred feet. It demolished one half of a small hut, as if it had been cut through with a knife, and dispersed the materials all over the plain, leaving the other half standing." "When there was a perfect calm," observes Morier, "partial and strong currents of air would arise, and form whirlwinds, which produced high columns of sand all over the plain. Those that we saw at Shiraz were formed and dissipated in a few minutes: nor is it the nature of this phenomenon to travel far; it being a current of air that takes its way in a capricious and sudden manner, and is dissolved by the very nature of its formation. Whenever one of them took our tents, it generally disturbed them very materially, and frequently threw them down. Their appearance was that of water spouts at sea, and perhaps they are produced in the same manner." And Burchell remarks: "The hottest days are often the most calm; and at such times the stillness of the atmosphere was sometimes suddenly disturbed in an extraordinary manner. Whirlwinds, raising up columns of dust to a great height in the air, and sweeping over the plains with momentary fury, were no unusual occurrence. As they were always harmless, it was an amusing sight to watch these tall pillars of dust as they rapidly passed by, carrying up every light substance to the height of from one to even three or four hundred feet. The rate at which they travelled varied from five to ten miles in the hour: their form was seldom straight, nor were they quite perpendicular, but uncertain and changing. Whenever they happened to pass over our fire, all the ashes were scattered in an instant, and nothing remained but the heavier sticks and logs. Sometimes they were observed to disappear, and in a minute or two afterward to make their reappearance at a distance farther on. This occurred whenever they passed over rocky ground, or a surface on which there was no dust, nor other substances sufficiently light to be carried up in the vortex. Sometimes they changed their colour, according to that of the soil or dust which lay in their march; and when they crossed a tract of country where the grass had lately been burned, they assumed a corresponding blackness. But to-day the calm and heat of the air was only the prelude to a violent wind, which commenced as soon as the sun had sunk, and continued during the greater part of the night. The great heat and long-protracted drought, of the season had evaporated all moisture from the earth, and rendered the sandy soil excessively light and dusty. Astonishing quantities of the finer particles of this sand were carried up by the wind, and filled the whole atmosphere, where, at a great height, they were borne along by the tempest, and seemed to be real clouds, although of a reddish hue; while the heavier particles, descending again, presented, at a distance, the appearance of mist or driving rains."

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Whirlwind represents two Heb. words sûphâh (  Job 37:9 ,   Proverbs 1:27 etc., also tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘storm’ in   Job 21:13 ,   Psalms 83:15 ,   Isaiah 29:6 etc.), and sa‘ar or sÄ•‘ârâh (  2 Kings 2:1 ,   Job 38:1 ,   Jeremiah 23:19 etc., also tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘tempest,’ and ‘stormy wind,’   Psalms 55:8;   Psalms 83:15;   Psalms 107:25 ,   Ezekiel 13:13 etc.) The words do not necessarily mean ‘whirlwind,’ and are applied to any furious storm. From the context, however, in certain passages, we gather that whirlwind is intended a violent wind moving in a circle round its axis (  2 Kings 2:1;   2 Kings 2:11 ,   Job 38:1 etc.). It often works great havoc in its path, as it sweeps across the country. Drawing up sand, dust, straw, and other light articles as it gyrates, it presents the appearance of a great pillar an object of fear to travellers and dwellers in the desert. Passing over the sea, it draws up the water, and the bursting of the column causes the water-spout. God spake to Job from the whirlwind (  Job 40:6 ); the modern Arabian regards it with superstitious dread, as the residence of demons.

W. Ewing.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Suphah , from a root "sweeping away," and Searah "tossed about." In  Psalms 77:18 "Thy thunder was in the heaven," literally, "in the wheel," i.e. the rotation of the visible heavens phenomenally round the earth, but the Septuagint, the Chaldee, and the Vulgate "in a whirl," whirled about.  Ezekiel 10:13 translated "it was cried unto them whirling"; they were called to put themselves into rapid revolution.

Jehovah speaks the word which sets the machine of providence in motion, "the wheel (cycle) of creation" or "nature";  James 3:6, Ton Trochon Geneseos , one fourfold wheel, two circles cutting one another at right angles. A "whirlwind" moving on its own axis is not meant in  2 Kings 2:11. In  Job 37:9 "out of the south (literally, chamber, God's unseen regions in the southern hemisphere) cometh the whirlwind" ( Isaiah 21:1); the south wind driving before it burning sands comes from the Arabian deserts upon Babylon ( Zechariah 9:14).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Psalm 77:18  2 Kings 2:11 Job 38:1 Job 40:6 Isaiah 5:28 Jeremiah 4:13 Hosea 8:7 Amos 1:14 Zechariah 7:14 Zechariah 9:14

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This is often referred to in the Old Testament as one of the means wielded by God in His judgements on the earth. It is twice connected with the south.  Job 37:9;  Isaiah 21:1;  Isaiah 40:24;  Isaiah 41 :16;  Jeremiah 23:19;  Jeremiah 30:23 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center; a vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion.

(2): ( n.) Fig.: A body of objects sweeping violently onward.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Hosea 8:7 (b) We have proved that this is typical of the experience in the life of some of GOD's people. They indulge in sinful practices (the wind), but forget that the results may be tremendously great and damaging as a result of that indulgence (the whirlwind).

King James Dictionary

WHIRLWIND, n. whirl and wind. A violent wind moving in a circle, or rather in a spiral form, as if moving round an axis this axis or the perpendicular column moving horizontally, raising and whirling dust, leaves and the like.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hwûrl´wind ( סוּפה , ṣūphāh (  Proverbs 1:27   10;  Proverbs 10:25   10;  Isaiah 5:28   10;  Isaiah 17:13   10;  Isaiah 66:15   10;  Hosea 8:7   10;  Amos 1:14   10; Nab  Amos 1:3 ), סאר , ṣa‛ar ( Habakkuk 3:14;  Zechariah 7:14;  Hosea 13:3;  Psalm 58:9;  Daniel 11:40 ), סערה , ṣe‛ārāh ( 2 Kings 2:1;  Job 38:1;  Job 40:6;  Isaiah 40:24;  Isaiah 41:16;  Zechariah 9:14 )): When two currents from opposite directions meet, a circular motion results called a whirlwind. On the sea this takes up small particles of water from the sea and condenses some of the moisture in the clouds above, forming a great funnel-shaped column. They are quite common off the coast of Syria. Considerable damage might be done to a small ship overtaken by them. In the desert sand is taken up in the same way, causing terrible sandstorms which are greatly dreaded by caravans. Most of the references in the Bible do not necessarily imply a circular motion, and the word "tempest" might be used in translation.

Storms usually come from the Southwest. "Out of the ... south cometh the storm" ( Job 37:9 ); yet in Ezekiel's vision he saw a whirlwind coming out of the north ( Ezekiel 1:4 ). Elijah "went up by a whirlwind into heaven" ( 2 Kings 2:11 ). The whirlwind indicates the power and might of Yahweh: "Yahweh hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm" ( Nahum 1:3 ); He "answered Job out of the whirlwind" ( Job 38:1 ).

Most of the Scriptural uses are figurative ; of destruction: "He will take them away with a whirlwind" (  Psalm 58:9;  Proverbs 1:27;  Proverbs 10:25;  Hosea 13:3;  Daniel 11:40;  Amos 1:14;  Habakkuk 3:14;  Zechariah 7:14 ); of quickness: "wheels as a whirlwind" ( Isaiah 5:28;  Isaiah 66:15;  Jeremiah 4:13 ); of the anger of God: "A whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury" ( Jeremiah 23:19 the King James Version); of punishment to the wicked: "A continuing whirlwind ... shall fall ... on the wicked" (  Jeremiah 30:23 the King James Version).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

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