WIND, etc. (1:11-1 ; Sept. 71-peiy2a, dvei.tos ; Vulg.
spiritzts, ventus). The Hebrew word signifies air in motion genemlly, as breath, wind, etc. Both the Sept. words occur in the following definition of wind by Aristotle (De Mundo, c. 4, 9) : "Aveuor abb d'np 6cms xa2 rpetikta Wind is nothing else but a laige quan tity of air flowing, which is also called irveiMa.' So also Plato has me-yci?up 7rveNtart for a high wind (Plura'an, SeC. 24, edit. Forster). Josephus also uses 7rvernha f3taiov for a violent wind (Antiq. XiV. 2. 2), as Lucian also does, gialco 7mi/hart (Ver. Hist. lib. i. tom. p. 714). The Vulgate word spiritus, from stir°, to breathe," blow ' is applied in like manner in Latin, as by Virgil (zi'n. xii. 365). The Hebrew word is used—r. Fcr the wind as a natural phenomenon (Gen. iii. 8 ; Job XXi. 18 ; XXX. 15, 22 ; xXXVIL 21 ; Ps. L 4 ; ciii. 16 ; Prov. xxx. 4 ; Eccles. i. 6 ; xi. 4 ; Is. vii. 2 ; xvii. 13 ; xl. 7 ; Jer. x. ; -16 ; Amos iv. 13). It is poetically ascribed to the immediate agency of God (Ps. cxxxv. 7 ; cxlvii. ; comp. Baruch vi. 61). In the N. T. it occurs in Matt. xi. 7 ; xiv. 24 ; Mark iv. 39 ; John iii. 8 ; Acts xxvii. 4 ; Eph. iv. 14 ; James i. 6 ; Rev. vi. 13 ; vii. Throughout the N. T. the word is doEp.os, except in our Lord's illustration, John iii. 8. In the Apocrypha Gemos occurs in Wisdom v. ; xiii. 2, etc. ; but rvelip.a in xvii. ; Ecclus. v. 9 ; xxii.
18 ; Song of the Children xxvi. 42. 1,Ve might perhaps attribute the exclusion of the word 7rvernha, for the wind,' from the N. T., to its having be come almost entirely appropriated to heavenly things.' In Acts ii. 2, we have 71- Mt translated wind ;' Vulg. spiritus. It means the same in Homer (//. v. 697), rvoth for 71,07) popecco, the breath or blast of Boreas ;' comp. Job x.xxvii. to, Sept. In Gen. iii. 8, the cool of the day,' or rather wind of the day,' indicates the evening, since in the East a refreshing breeze arises some hours before sunset ; Vulg. ad auram post vier/ diem. Comp. Cant. ii. ; iv. 6 ; where the words until the day break and the shadows flee away' should be rendered until the day breathe or blow' (i.e. till evening) : Heb. MDT" ; Sept. Bea rve0av ; Vulg. aspire'. The evening breeze is still called, among the Persians, the breeze of the day' (Chardin, Voyage, t. iv. p. 48). In Amos iv. 13, God is said to create the wind.' Although this idea is very conformable to the Hebrew theory of causation, which does not recognise second .causes, but attributes every natural phenomenon immediately to the divine agency, yet the ,passage may perhaps be directed against the worship of the winds, which was common among ancient nations. Comp. Wisdom xiii. 2. Herodotus relates it of the Persians (i. 131). The words of our Saviour, a reed shaken with the wind' (Matt. xi. 7), are taken by some in the natural, and by others in a metaphorical sense. The former view is adopted by Grotius, Beza, Campbell, Rosenm.,'Schleusner, and Wetstein ; and is confirmed, as Rosenmiiller observes, by the antithesis of the rich man, whose magnificence all gladly survey. The comparison is adopted to reprove the fickleness of the multi tude (comp. ver. 15, and Eph. iv. 14.). 2. The wind occurs as the medium of the divine interposi tion, or agency (Gen. /. 2 ; Vili. I ; Exod. xv. to ; NI1M. Xi. 31 ; Kings xviii. 45 ; xix. ; Job i.
19 ; Is. xi. 5 ; Jonah i. 4). In the N. T. the wind was supernaturally employed at the day of Pente cost, like the sound' and fire' (Acts. ii. 3). In deed our Lord's illustration (John iii. 8), and the identity of the Hebrew and Greek words signifying breath, wind, and spirit, lead to the inference, that the air in motion bears the nearest resemblance of any created object 'to divine influence, and is there fore the most appropriate medium of it [SPIRIT]. To this class of instances we refer Gen. i. 2, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.' Along with Patrick and Rosenmiffler we construe the phrase, 'a wind of .God,' a wind em ployed as the medium of divine agency. Rosen
miiller compares Ps. civ. 3o ; cxlvii. S ; Is. xl. 7. Dr. Lee refers to 1 Kings xviii. 12 ; 2 Kings ii. 16 ; and Ps. xxxiii. 6 ; Is. xi. 4. In the two latter passages, he observes that the word is equi valent to power, etc. The commotions of the elements, etc , through means of which the petu lance of Elijah was reproved (i Kings xix. 1), are best understood as having occurred in vision (comp. Dan. ii. 35 ; Zech. v. 9). 3. The wind is used metaphorically in the following instances : The wings of the wind' denote the most rapid motion, 2 Sant. xxii. r, where the phrase may be a poet. ical representation also of the incident recorded 2 Sam. v. 24 ; Ps. civ. 3. The onomatopceia in the two former passages, in Hebrew, is remarkable. Anything light or trifling is called wind (Job vii. 7 ; Is. xli. 29 ; Ps. lxxviii. 39 ; comp. Eph. iv. 14 ; Ecclus. v. 9). Violent yet empty speech is called a strong wind,' or a mere tempest of words (Job viii. 2). Vain knowledge' is called nrrivi, knowledge of wind (Job xv. 2) ; vain words,' words of wind (xvi. 3). Many expressive phrases are formed with this word. To inherit the wind,' denotes extreme disappointment (Prov. xi. 29) ; to hide the vvind,' impossibility (xxvii. t6) ; to labour for the wind,' to labour in vain (Eccles. v. 16) ; to bring forth wind,' great patience and pains for no purpose .(Is. xxvi. 18 ; comp. Hos. viii. 7; xii. 1) ; to become wind,' to result in nothingness (Jer. v. 13). The four winds denote the four quarters of the globe (Ezek. xxxvii. 9) ; to scatter to all winds,' to disperse completely (Ezek. v. to ; xii. ; xvh. 21) ; to cause to come frorn all winds,' to restore completely (xxxvii. 9). The wind hath bound her upon her wings,' means de portation into a far country (Hos. iv. 19) ; to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind,' unwise labour and a fruitless result (viii. 7) ; to feed on the wind,' to pursue delusory schemes (xii. 1) ; to walk in wind,' to live and act in vain (Micah ii. I) ; to observe the wind,' to be over cautious (Ecclus. xi. 4) ; to winnow with evexy wind,' to be credulous, apt to receive impressions (Eccles. v. 9). Com parisons.—Disappointment, after high promise or pretension, is as wind without rain ' (Prov. XXV. 14) ; the desperate speeches of an afflicted person are compared to wind (Job vi. 26). Symbolically. —Empires are represented as having wings, and the wind in their wings,' denotes the rapidity of their conquests (Zech. v. 9). The wind is often used as the symbol or emblem of calamities (Is. xxxii. 2 ; xii. 16 ; ivii. 13 ; lxiv. 6) ; destruction by the Chaldman army (Jer. iv. 11, 12 ; comp. Wisd. iv. 4 ; v. 23 ; xi. 20). The windy storm' (Ps. lv. S) denotes Absalom and his party. The wind is the frequent emblem of the divine chastise ments (Is. xxvii. ; Jer. xxii. 22 ; t, etc.) Beautifid expressions occur, as in Is. xxvii. S, He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind ;' that is, God cloth not aggravate the misfortunes of mankind by his chastisements ; to 'make a weight for the winds' (Job xxviii. 25). lifistranslations. —In Ps. lxxviii. 39, He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again,' should probably be rendered, a spirit going away and not returning.' All the versions make the words relate to the soul of man. Homer has a very similar description of death (//. ix. 4oS). In Eccles. i. 5, 6, the translation is faulty, and the sense further obscured by a. wrong division of verses. The passage should be read : The sun also ariseth and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth, going to the south and circulating to the north. The wind is continually whirling about, and the wind returneth upon its whirlings.' All the ver ' sions give this rendering; our version alone mis takes the meaning. The phrase ' brought fOrth wind,' is understood by Michaelis as an allusion to the female disorder called empneumatosis, or windy inflation of the womb (Syntagma, Comment. vol.