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 (Ge 7:4);

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

(3) the great rain after the drought and the contest of Elijah on Carmel (1Ki 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 (Mat 8:24, Mar 4:37, Luk 8:23);

(6) the storm causing the shipwreck of Paul at Melita (Ac 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" (Ps 107:29); He sends the "tempest of hail, a destroying storm" (Isa 28:2). See also Job 9:17, Job 21:18, Isa 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" (Isa 29:6). Yahweh is a "refuge from the storm" (Isa 25:4, Isa 4:6).

Alfred H. Joy