Tempest

TEMPEST tem'-pest (ce`-arah, or  se`-arah, "a whirlwind," zerem, "overflowing rain"; cheimon, thuella):

Heavy storms of wind and rain are common in Palestine and the Mediterranean. The storms particularly mentioned in the Bible are:

(1) the 40 days' rain of ~the great flood of Noah (Genesis 7:4);

(2) hail and rain as a plague in Egypt (Exodus 9:18);

(3) the great rain after the drought and the contest of Elijah on Carmel (1 Kings 18:45);

(4) the tempest on the sea in the story of Jonah (1:4);

(5) the storm on the Lake of Galilee when Jesus was awakened to calm the waves (Matthew 8:24; Mark 4:37; Luke 8:23);

(6) the storm causing the shipwreck of Paul at Melita (Acts 27:18).

Frequent references are found to God's power over storm and use of the tempest in His anger:

"He maketh the storm a calm" (Psalms 107:29); He sends the "tempest of hail, a destroying storm" (Isaiah 28:2). See also Job 9:17; 21:18; Isaiah 30:30. Yahweh overwhelms His enemies as with a storm: "She shall be visited of Yahweh of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest" (Isaiah 29:6). Yahweh is a "refuge from the storm" (Isaiah 25:4; 4:6).

Alfred H. Joy

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'TEMPEST'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.