Wheel (Hastings' Dictionary)

Various Heb. words are so translated. 1. □:;:(< turnings, wheels. In Jer 18' this word (used elsewhere only Ex 1", where moh.=scUa parturienlis) refers to the potter's wheel. In Syria this is commonly two horizontal discs of wood joined together by an upright pillar or axle. On the upper disc the clay is put which is to be formed into a vessel, while the lower one is t\irned by the feet of the potter. 2.

[S'n refers to cliariot wheels in Ex 14^, Nah 3^ Ezk I""- ; in 1 K 7'"-'- to the wheels of the bases of the lavers of the temple ; in Pr 20-'«, Is 28-'', to the rollers of a threshing -waggon. 3. Sj^a, a rolling thinj;, a wheel. In Ps S3" it is applied to the dust raised by a whirlwind, ' whirling dust.' In Ec 12" it refers to the wheel of a cistern or well ; to chariot wheels in Is 5^, Jer 47', Ezk 10'- " li' 26'" ; and in Dn 7' to wheels of throne of burning lire.

Another form S;^3 is found in Is 28-'*, and is applied to the rollers of a thresliing-waggon. 4. c;j5 beat, steji, in Jg 5^ probably refers to the noise made by chariots, or to the step of the horses drawing them. It is evident from Scripture that chariots were frequently used in Syria and Palestine, and the wheels must have been very strongly made to with- stand the rocky roads over which tliey were driven.

On the old road near the mouth of the Nuhr el- Kelb, or Dog Kiver, a few miles north of I'eirrtt, along which both Assyrian and Egyptian armies passed, the marks of the chariot wheels are still to be seen, deeply engraved in the rock. After the Mohammedan invasion, wheeled carriages ceased to be used, and it was only about the middle of this century that they were reintroduced by Europeans.

The wheels of the ancient Egyptian chariots had six spokes (D'p^'n), which connected the nave (i:s'n) with the felloes or rim (33). Slits were made in the tyre, through which bands were pa-ssed and fastened round the rim. The axle-tree (T) was fixed to the body of the chariot, and its ex- tremities were rounded where they passed through the wheels. The wheels were secured by pins.

The wheel evidently had its origin in the roller, then discs of wood were used, and in India wheels are often made of planks of wood nailed together and then cut into a circular shape. On the ' wheel of nature,' Ja 3' RV, see esp. Mayor, in loc. W. Cai^LAW. WHELP.-iJ, lit. ■ eon ' (Job 4" 28»), -mi (Jer 51" Ezk 19'»-», Nah 2"- '»), (tki'./xxos (1 Mac 3* used of the young of the lion (see Lion)) ; in 2 S 17', Pr 17", Ilos 13", of bears' cubs (see IJKAU). In the last three passages the Heb.

is simply Sirp ' bereaved,' the words ' of her whelps' being supplied in EV. WHIRLWIND Cn'Ci aa'ar, m^:) fg-drdh, n^iD ft'fpkd/i). — The terra is applied generally to any violent destructive wind. The same words are often translated in other passages by ' storm ' or •tempest,' e.g. Ps 55" S3'» (both ^a'ar); Is 29" isCarah): Am 1", Jon 1*-" (all three saar).

The 'whirlwind' of AV is rendered 'tempest' by RVin Jer 23" 25^ 30=^ (aU se-ardh); 'stormy wind' in Ezk 1^ (ruah fe'drah) ; 'storm' in Job 37" and Is 17" (both suphdk). The term 'whirl- wind ' is used botli in a ph3'sical and a symbedical sense.

In the former we may take the passage descriptive of the rapture of Elijah in 2 K 2', as also that in Job 21 '» 37", Is 17" 21', Ezk 1<, Am 1", Nah P, Ps 107-^ 148'; but in the remain- ing passages the terra is used figuratively : of chariots (Is 5=* 66", Jer 4", Dn ll-""), the passion- ate acts of man (Ps .15"), the ruin brought upou man by his sin (Hos S' ami ol't. ), or the anger of God against the wicked (Pr l^andoft.

); nor can the term be considered inapt from what we know of the destructive effect of rotatory storms in some countries.

To such storms the references in the Bible must be considered to refer ; but, strictly speaking, whirlwinds differ essent ially from C3-clones, which arise from uneciual distribution of atniosjiheric pressure over horizontal areas ; whereas whirlwinds, tornadoes, dust-storms, and waterspouts are different forms of atmospheric movement conseqtient on a vertical disturbance of the equilibrium of tlie air.

When occurring over the sea or inland lakes the rotatory movement gives rise to waterspouts ; wlien over tlie land, and especially over a sandy desert, a dust-storm, a cause of terror to caravans and wandering Arabs, is the result. As this is the form which is most usual in liible lands, it may be referred to in a little further detail.

When a dust-storm is about to commence, the air is unusually stagnant and sultry ; presently a tall column of sand approaches, moving in a certain direction, and drawing into itself as it moves alon^ sand, dust, and liglit bodies whirling around the centre of the colunm. Sometimes several of these columns move over the surface, each gyrating independently round its own axis.

Observations made on such phenomena appear to show that the air of the surface is strongly drawn in towards tlie base of each column, and that it ascends along the central axis of the whirlwind. The onlj' course of safety for the traveller over the desert, on the approach of a dust-storm, is to descend from his camel, throw himself on the ground, and completelj' cover his head with his mantle, till the storm passes away. In the tales of the Arabian Nigliln, and gener.

ally in the folk-lore of the East, ti.e travel- ling dust-pillar is regarded as a favourite abode of the 'afrit or gen ius luci. During the storms that precede the rain at the end of summer (September and October), the wind hustles along in front of it, to the depth of some three feet above the ground, a vast col- lection of thistle-tops and various seed-vessels.

They hasten along so that before the rain comes they may find each in its little hollow or crevice a resting-place in which to die and become fruit- ful. In places where the wild artichoke abounds, lis in the great open plain betweni the t\vo Leba- iions, the rushing wind siia]is off the dry, gUilm- lur, dahlia-like tops, and urges them along, like the jumping chariots (Nah 3) of the As.syriaii king.

They move with military precision, now charg- 916 WHITE WIDOW inc at the double-quick, and then wheeling to right or left, as if imitating some phantom fugleman, or obeying some ghostly word or command. Thomson is of opinion that this must be the ' wlieel ' of I's 83'", rolling thing of Is 17" (''jW) ; in both instances RV 'whirling dust' (Land and Book, S. Pal. 212). The driving power of the storm is exemplified in Ex 10"-'», Nu 11", 1 K 19".

Very often the whirlwind or tempest is accom- panied by rain and dark clouds. The wind whistles and moans, and seems to come from all directions at once, flinging out scuds of fine spray and dis- charging torrents of rain. The cold is often such as to cause loss of life to men and animals. Tents and booths are wrecked, and the ' overflowing shower' (Ezk 38") created by it undermines houses and tears down vineyard walls.

It is a sort of cloud-burst, and is called by the Arabs a seil, that is, B,flood. Like the suddenness of its onslaught (Pr 1") is the rapidity of its disappearance (Pr lO'-^, Is 52«). It is referred to in Ps 18''«, Jer 23'", and its leading featiires are given in the parable illus- tration with which Christ closed His Sermon on the Mount (Mt T^''"). G. M. Mackie and E. HULL.