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.
WHITE.— See Colours, vol. i. p. 458".
WHITE OP AN EGG (nnS in, EV Job 6«, RVm
'juice of purslain'). — The allusion should per- haps be understood to be to the juice of some insipid plant, probably Por^»/(^ert oleracca, L., the common purslane. 'White of an egg' (lit., on tliis view, 'slime of the yolk') is a Itabbinic interpret.ition, and is still accepted by A. B. Davidson, Duhm, ct al. The comparison in the other member of the parallelism is with ' unsavourj-,' whicli would be better rendered 'insipid.' G. E. POST.
WHOLE, WHOLESOME. — The Anglo-Sax. hdl became in Middle Eng. hole ; the spelling whole is due to a dialectic pronun. (as in whoop, whore *) and obscures the connexion of the word with hale, heal, holy. ' Hole ' as well as ' whole ' is used by Tindale, as Ex 5" ' see that ye del3fver the hole tale of brj'cke.'
1. The earliest meaning is healthy, as in Mt 9'- 'Tliey that be whole need not a i)hysician, but they that are sick ' (ol luxvofre^). So Udall, Ent>:- rnvs' Paraph, i. 28, ' Yf thine iye bee clere and wholle, it geveth sight to all the membres ' ; Hall, Worl:^, iii. 461, 'We are not the same men sick and whole'; Calderwood, Histonj, 140, 'Mr. Patrick Adamsone, called commonly Bishop of St. Andrews, had keeped his Castle, like a fox in a hole, a long time, diseased of a great seditie, as he himself called his disease. . . . When the King Cometh to St. Andrews, he becometh a whole man.'
2. Next, made healthy, healed, as in Mk S^ ' Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague ' {(adi vyi-ns) ; so Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine —
* He called his wound a little hurt, Whereof he would be quickly whole.'
3. Then, unbroken, entire, as in Dt 27' ' Thon shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones' (RV 'unhewn'); 2 S 1" 'my life is yet whole in me'; Pr l"* 'Let us swallow tin ni up alive as the grave ; and whole, as those that go down into the pit ' ; Is 14™'- " ' Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina ' (RV ' O Philistia, all of thee'). Cf. Erasmus, Crede, 139, 'with pure and whole faith.'
Wholesome occurs in AV but twice, Pr 15* 'a
wholesome tongue' (lV.?5> »V^-i, LXX facris yXwaa-q^,
RVm ' the healing of the tongue '), and 1 Ti 6'
' and consent not to wholesome words ' (iryialvouat
' Hot ia spelt ' whol ' in Dt Oi" AV 161L
XA70IS, RV ' sound words,' RVm ' healthful '). Id both places the word means health-giving, healing. In the latter place there is at least a hint of thai moral meaning which ' wholesome ' had in older English = soul -healing, saving ('heUsam'). This meaning is found in the Pr. Bk. Psalter, Ps 20* 28''. See Driver's Par. Psalt. p. 48.5, and the quo- tations there. .See also art. Healt H.
J. Hastings. WHORE.— See Harlot.
WIDOW* (nx"-*! 'almand; x^p" ! vidua. Thft absence of any term for ' widower ' shows t hat the wife was considered of less importance to t'le hus- band than vice versa).